ADHD in college students

Shawn Roberts

Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is a learning disability that affects many college students. The problem with ADHD is that there is very little concrete data to study from. The most doctors can do is diagnose someone with the disability and prescribe a medical treatment such as Adderall or Ritalin. These pills have extreme side effects though such as high blood pressure, loss of appetite, stunting of growth, and difficulty sleeping. These side effects cause many of the afflicted to choose not to take the pill as a safety precaution for other conditions. It is, however, something that should not be overlooked as it affects between 2-4% of college students as found by studies given on News-medical.net. Students with ADHD have shown difficulty paying attention, following instructions, completing tasks, procrastination, disorganization, and much more. They have also shown to struggle in their overall grades, largely due to the inability focus. This inability to focus has made it so that some students cannot multi task with things such as note taking and class participations.

Some colleges have started to take action and help those with this problem by offering services such as note takers, and recording devices. This has become a controversial issue in some schools though. There are some schools that only offer this service to student athletes which leads many to complain. ADHD is a learning disability so why do schools only help some of the disabled? Shouldn’t all of the handicapped be given the opportunity to negate their disability?