The effect of stimulant medication on academic performance, in the context of multimodal treatment, in attention deficit disorders with hyperactivity: two case reports.

Stimulant medications enhance performance on attentional, memory, and perceptual laboratory tasks and improve behavior in the majority of children with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity. Most investigators, however, fail to find academic improvement. This report presents two cases in which stimulant medication in the context of multimodal treatment led to considerable gain in academic performance. One case was diagnosed as a combination of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity and overanxious disorder of childhood. In the other case, disordered conduct was the complicating factor. The necessity of using a multimodal approach in children who suffer from multiple behavioral impairments is emphasized.