Calming the chaos: disparities and gaps in the treatment of hyperactivity in children has caught some lawmakers' attention.

• Author: Johnson, Tahra
• Position: HEALTH CARE

Living around Luke is exhausting. "It's like living inside a tornado," says June Cleavers, Luke's mother. Luke is 6 years old and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) a year ago. He has difficulty staying focused, paying attention and controlling his behavior--all classic symptoms of this neurobehavioral disorder.

"Luke often will raise his hand and start asking a question at the same time," says his first-grade teacher, Kira Sonberg. "Kids with the disorder have trouble planning, breaking down multistep projects and speaking in turn. Their brains are wired in a way that makes it extremely challenging to wait in turn to speak."

Luke causes constant interruptions in the classroom and is so fidgety he can't sit still long enough to finish his homework. Cleavers says many of the adults in Luke's life "wish they could just give him something to calm him down."

Luke is one of about 6.4 million children between the ages of 4 and 17 who have been diagnosed with ADHD--one of the most common childhood disorders in this country. Between 2003 and 2011, the rates of diagnosed cases increased about 5 percent annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Medication, together with behavior therapy, is the recommended treatment. As the kids get older or when their symptoms worsen, however, the use of behavioral therapy tends to decrease while the use of prescription drugs increases. And that has some parents, doctors and lawmakers concerned that the drugs may be overused.

Lawmakers, specifically, have been questioning whether state policies could be inadvertently hindering access to other treatments, like behavioral therapy.

Why Medicate?

"Medication is incredibly effective for many students with ADHD," says Sonberg. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, for many children, medication reduces their hyperactivity, helps them focus and even improves their physical coordination. "For many children," she says, "once they take medication, they are able to focus and learn the content easier. Even for some children with substantial behavioral therapy, medication is still needed to show progress and to function in the classroom."

Several studies have shown that kids with the disorder do better on standardized math and reading tests while taking medication.

"We do not know what the long-term effects of psychotropic medication are on the developing brains and bodies of little kids," says Ileana...