One major problem with Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder kids is their difficulty in getting along with others – either because they are too shy or too aggressive. If your child is in this painful situation, here are a few things you can start doing in your family to help her get along better with others.1. Have a friendly home
Teach your child how to make friends by making and keeping friends yourself. Besides, the children of their parents’ friends are often natural choices for friends for children.
So have a friendly home and invite people over often. Be hospitable to other children, especially children with interests similar to your child’s – turn-taking, tracking conversations, and cooperating come more easily when children are involved in something interesting.
2. Teach small talk
Give your ADD/ADHD child specific instructions on how to make good conversation: don’t give one-word answers to questions (always answer plus something relevant), ask others about their interests, listen when they talk, if that is not possible pick up another thread from the same conversation, be positive (talk about happy things and don’t complain too much).
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It’s easy to just take your child to school and leave her home every time you want to do something useful or relax. But spending time with your ADD/ADHD child is an investment, and if you know or care to pick up something about ADD/ADHD behavior management, you might even end up having a good time with her. Here are some tips from a parent who has been there…1. Go to Green Areas
You don’t need to be a scientist to know that areas with lots of greenery seem to calm ADHD children down, though scientific studies have shown this to be true. If you have a proper park or zoo nearby – not just a few square meters of grass surrounded by concrete – go there everyday with your kids (but even the patch of grass is better than nothing). If the park or zoo or picnic area is more than an hour’s drive away, go at least once a week.
These places are probably the only areas ADHD children can be their natural selves without having others get irritated with them. Some ADHD adults remember times trekking or fishing with their parents as the only time they got to bond with them.
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Ty Pennington, the host of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will be answering calls along with some of the nation’s top ADHD authorities at the toll-free telephone hotline, 1-888-ASK-ADHD on August 9th, 2004. Shire US Inc. will host the sixth annual ADHD Experts on Call Monday,from 8 A.M. to midnight EDT.
http://www.adhdexpertsoncall.com/
Here’s a little Ty trivia. Did you know Ty’s mom is a licensed psychologist?
A quote from her site, http://www.psychology.am/:
“Dr. Yvonne V. Pennington is a licensed psychologist, ADHD and Depression Therapy Specialist, licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed professional counselor, registered play therapist / supervisor, and certified sandplay therapist. With 30 years experience she is able to assist couples, families and individuals to effectively change behavior. Particularly skilled with ADD / ADHD (attention deficit disorder / attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) children and adults, she works with both kids groups and ADHD adult individuals to facilitate behavior management changes and positive role modeling.”
Oregonian newspaper reporter Kristi Turnquist wrote a great article the other day that can be viewed online. The Title of the article is, Building awareness of ADHD and it features Ty Pennington of “Trading Spaces” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition“.
Ty recently appeared in a classroom of Sherwood Middle School for a question and answer session. An unusual spot to find such a busy TV star, even more unusual was how he ended up there in this town of less than 10,000 people.
Cathy Jensen, school psychologist sent an e-mail to Ty back in September was hoping he would at least send an e-mail back to her. Cathy was shocked at Ty’s response, he wanted to visit the school and meet with the students enrolled in the school’s Bridge Program, a classroom of students with mental and behavioral issues such as ADHD.
Ty shared about growing up with ADHD and how his life changed when he found the right treatment that worked for him, in this case Adderall XR.
Here’s a quote from the article:
Standing before the Sherwood Middle School class, Pennington looks much as he does on TV, tall and lean, wearing casual jeans and an outdoorsy jacket. He’s cheerful, even when talking about serious topics. The students listen attentively as Pennington tells them what an out-of-control kid he was. “One day my mom sat down in the hallway and just broke down crying,” he says, “because I was such a handful and a nightmare.”
You can read the complete article at: http://www.oregonlive.com/living/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/living/1100696131146760.xml
I was at the library today and stopped to check out the new book section, when I spotted a new book on the subject of ADHD, I pulled it off the shelf to take a closer look at it.
The title of the book is Born to be Wild: Freeing the Spirit of the Hyperactive Child and it’s written by the mother of a hyperactive son, or as she prefers, a highly active son. I’m only half way throught the book, but wanted to share this gem from page 92. On the subject of embracing ALL of our children’s traits.
“I believe what we really need to do is learn how to integrate the shadows with the light, the bad with the good, and the negative with the positive behavior. We must embrace all of our child’s traits, not just the ones that we perceive to be of value. For all characteristics, both good and bad, for the essence of the divine nature. Without their impulsive behavior, there is no natural intuition. Without their daydreams, there is no imagination or creativity. And without their obstinacy there is no perseverance.”
Written as only a parent of an ADD/ADHD child could write.
“Problem Solver Guide for Students with ADHD” is written by Harvey C. Parker, Ph.D. Dr. Parker is a clinical psychologist, author, and consultant to schools and educational agencies. He is also co-founder and former Executive Director of CHADD, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
The book covers a variety of topics, but for the most part focuses on steps that parents and teachers can take to insure academic success for the child with ADHD. Being only 163 pages in length, this small trade paperback format book covers all this material with a good overview. The chapters have plenty of bullet points that make it an easy read, but at times it left me with a desire for more information. For instance chapter 11 explains the process of creating an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for your child. There are entire books written on this subject, the one I recommend is “The Complete IEP Guide“.
One chapter that was placed in a rather odd position in the sequences of chapters is titled, “Seven Principles for Raising a Child with ADHD”. The three chapters leading up to this one and the chapter after that deal specifically with strategies to be implemented by teachers. The seven principles are as follows:
1. Provide unconditional love and positive regard.
2. Spend enjoyable time with your child.
3. Become an ADHD expert.
4. Model good values.
5. Provide structure at home with clear, consistent rules.
6. Monitor compliance with rules and check behavior regularly.
7. Inspire confidence as a parent-coach.
Bottom Line: The book would be a helpful companion to a more comprehensive book about creating an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
ADHD Dad’s Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
See more books about Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder in the new ADHD Bookstore.
Last week, The Patriot Ledger newspaper ran an article titled, “HEALTHY EATING: Nutrition intervention: Treating attention-deficit kids with food, vitamins – not drugs” by Joan Endyke. The focus of the article was treating children’s ADD/ADHD with a change in their diet rather than relying on ADHD medication. The author, a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition and food science, had specific strategies for an ADHD Diet. Here are a few mentioned in this article, I encourage you to read the complete article to see more suggestions:
- Add omega-3 fatty acids
- Provide extra dietary protein
- Limit sugar, soda, juice, candy and refined starches like white bagels and rice
The author mentioned that, “Preliminary – but promising – new research testing Ritalin against nutritional supplements in children with ADHD have found both to be equally effective”. Interested in reading this research, I e-mailed the author and asked how I could find out more about this study. She quickly wrote back that I could view the article on the PubMed site and search for “Outcome-based comparison of Ritalin versus food-supplement treated children with AD/HD”. The abstract is available at the PubMed site, but the full article is available at the Alternative Medicine Review site (Link to PDF).
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Focalin XR(TM) (dexmethylphenidate HCl) extended-release capsules for the treatment of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adults, adolescents and children.
“Focalin XR provides a new treatment option for adults, adolescents and children to address the many difficult symptoms of ADHD,” said Thomas Spencer,M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Assistant Director of the Pediatric Psychopharmacology Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Focalin XR provides patients with a treatment that starts working quickly to alleviate symptoms with the advantage of a once-daily dose.”
“We are pleased to introduce Focalin XR as a valuable treatment to help adults, adolescents and children effectively manage their symptoms of ADHD,” said Paulo Costa, head of Pharma Americas and CEO, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. “Novartis has been a leader in helping ADHD patients since we first introduced Ritalin(R) in the 1960s. The addition of Focalin XR further emphasizes this commitment as it provides a new treatment option to address the many difficult symptoms of ADHD.”
Focalin XR was generally well tolerated. There were no significant changes in patient weight or vital signs, such as sitting pulse or sitting blood pressure, in adults or children. The most common side effects in adults and children include decreased appetite, headache, dyspepsia, anxiety, insomnia, feeling jittery and anorexia.
The approval of Focalin XR for the treatment of ADHD was based on efficacy and safety data from clinical trials involving approximately 320 adults, adolescents and children diagnosed with ADHD. Read more »
Girls with ADHD appear to have a higher risk of developing mental illness by the time they turn 17. This was the finding of a recent study conducted by Harvard Medical School researcher, Joseph Biederman. This study tracked 140 girls with ADHD from ages 12 to 17 and compared them with 122 girls without ADHD. By the time they reached 17, the girls with ADHD were far more likely to be clinically depressed, to have anxiety disorders and to have conduct disorder. 90% of the girls with ADHD in this study had received treatment for their disorder.
Here are the specific findings of the study:
- More than 20% were disruptive vs. 3% of those without ADHD.
- More than one in three suffered major depression, compared with three in 100 of those without ADHD.
- 56% suffered anxiety vs. 19% of those without ADHD.
- 4% drank alcohol vs. 1% of those without ADHD.
- 12% used drugs compared with 4% of those without ADHD.
- Anorexia and bulimia each claimed about 5% of ADHD sufferers.
- 28% smoked vs. 13% of those withour ADHD.
Danielle Fisher recently climbed to the top of Mt. Everest, an accomplishment that made her the youngest person to scale the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. At 20 years of age she took the record from Britton Keeshan (age 22) who climbed the Seven Summits last year. The youngest woman to complete all seven climbs before Danielle was 33 years old.
Quite a feat for a young woman with all the distractions of a young college student. Even more inspirational is the fact that Danielle was diagnosed with Attention Defict Disorder when she was in 6th grade. Focusing on her goal and reaching it proves that children with ADD get do great things!
Here’s a quote from her website:
“Before being diagnosed with ADD in the sixth grade, Danielle recalls that “I was never really great at school. I was smart, but easily distracted and had a hard time turning in assignments.” She has tackled this disability as just another mountain; going at it with determination, strength, and a good support team, including friends, family and counselor.
Danielle says of her diagnosis and treatment, “You have to find a balance between knowing that you need help, and making an effort to push through yourself. I realize that medication helps me. It certainly makes it easier to focus, but I also have to make the personal effort to make my dreams possible.””
Danielle offers this advice for kids and adults with ADD/ADHD:
“Discover what your passions are, because when you are enjoying what you are doing, or working towards something you are excited about, you will be able to focus on that goal. I don’t enjoy every moment I am on the mountain, but the energy and excitement of getting to the top keeps me moving.”
This young woman proves that having ADD/ADHD shouldn’t hold you back from accomplishing your goals. With enough focus, determination and support from friends and family you can conquer the mountains in your life.
http://www.daniellefisher.com/index.cfm
ADHD Dad | July 12, 2008
