What If Einstein Had Taken Ritalin? WSJ article

There's a thought-provoking article by Jeffrey Zaslow in yesterday's Wall Street Journal called "What If Einstein Had Taken Ritalin? ADHD's Impact on Creativity."

I'm particularly interested in this because my teenage son takes time-release ritalin, called concerta, to mediate cognitive processing and memory issues resulting from the radiation treatment for his brain cancer four years ago.

Here are some excerpts from the article:

In English classes, kids who once stared out the windows, concocting crazy life stories about passersby, now face the blackboard.

Ritalin and other drugs for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder have helped many children improve their focus and behavior -- to the great relief of parents and teachers. But ADHD support groups offer long lists of out-of-the-box thinkers who had classic ADHD traits such as impulsivity, a penchant for daydreaming, and disorganized lives. [Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, for instance.]

Some researchers now wonder if would-be Einsteins and Edisons will choose different career paths because their creativity and drive are dulled by ADHD drugs. They also worry that the stigma of being lageled with ADHD could lead some kids to lose confidence, and dream smaller dreams.

It's a great article.
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