8 New Facts About ADHD

Joyfuller23, I agree so much with you. So much is focused on medicating EVERYTHING. Medication has it's place, but lifestyle and other choices are far more important and productive. It's a racket. I cannot get people to realize that the industry is just making money off of them. And I believe wholeheartedly that ADHD is not a true disorder, it is just children and adults acting what people have decided is not the norm. Who is it to say what is and is not normal?

I think this really helped me understand ADHD better, Im going through the process of it right now. My son does good in school, its just at home is where the problem is. His behavior is out of this world and cries about every little thing. He did have heart surgery when he was 1 1/2 {5 now} and has a few learning problems as well. I hoping to get him the treatment he needs, so we can both be at peace.

My brother is now 21. He was diagnosed when he was 6. He did take medicine for years while he received some therapy to work on how to address focusing problems. When he was about 11 or so he was taken off the medicine. He was still permitted to utilize special services at school when he needed them, but we found that block scheduling helped him to only have to focus on a few classes at a time. To this day, he still has his "ADHD" moments as we call them ... but he knows how to cope.

As a mom who suspects ADHD in her 8 year old, I appreciated this article. At one point you mention that depression can mimic the effects of ADHD. I would love to know more about that. How can you determine if the effects are the result of one vs. another? Is the treatment the same? Couldn't an ADHD child also be depressed? While I enjoyed this article, I too would have liked to seen some more holistic measures that can be taken as well.

Yes, ADHD is/has been "overrated" I have noticed that many ADHD children are products of either or both parents being "recreational" drug users (mainly cocaine). Also, SPD is severely underrated and is more prevalent because people know very little about it; INCLUDING psychologist.

Again, Watch these videos about the problems that can be causing it today: http://www.edudesigns.org/SirKenRobinson.html

You've hit a hot spot here! Sir Ken Robinson would definitely agree with the comments joyfuller23 gave here (as I do, as well!) Check out the interesting things HE has to say on the highly educated TED. com videos here: http://www.edudesigns.org/SirKenRobinson.html

I am glad to see that most parents support nutrition and therapeutic methods before medications. I do believe medication is good for severe cases but even some of those cases need to be truely studied before medication and hospitals become a daily part of their lives. Our environment, food and habits and child rearing may be part of the reasons Adhd exist.

missentropy, That is not the exact case. It may be nice to classify some children with allergies and others with ADHD, but many may have both. If you have never witnessed this firsthand, please do not speak about what you do not know. If you have, then I hope you give more substantial evidence behind why you believe ADHD and allergies cannot be grouped together. Medical professionals are the best to involve, but many just want the easy way to solve the "problem," namely medication.

I hope everyone realizes that if a behavior is caused by food (i.e., gluten, wheat, casein, ect.) then it is not ADHD it is a food allergy. I agree that it is not a sickness but it is something children and adults who have it will live with for the rest of their lives. I think Parents did a very good job discussing the different treatments and the necessity to INVOLVE the medical professionals, especially the child's primary care provider.

Breaking up the lessons with more interactions can also reduce the frustrations of the child with ADHD, giving him a break from the endless hours it seems to them that they must control their activity. I still am very surprised at Parents and highly disappointed that Parents would give this much attention to medicating children with ADHD.

This article is treating ADHD like its a sickness, but it is not. Children with ADHD may have trouble sitting still and paying attention, but who says that all children must behave exactly alike in a school setting. Perhaps, we need to think about how our teaching method can become more interactive to benefit all children and reduce the frustrations on the teacher who continuously feel as if they must scold the children who are not sitting still.

I'm sure you already know that medications do not simply act on the one thing you are trying to fix, but they work all over the body in areas you don't want them to work on, which causes the adverse drug reactions. Please do not publish another article that does not show the other options to a particular problem, especially when those options are extremely more safe for the child. I'm disappointed that Parents would publish this.

I highly disapprove of this article. It focuses way too much on medicating children with ADHD. That is NOT the answer for many of ADHD children. Do your research! Many of ADHD cases are allergy based. Gluten, wheat, casein, milk, artificial food dyes and other foods may not present as GI problems in these children, but they sure can greatly affect them. Parents should make every effort to diet control before thinking about medications.

I loved Will Kirby's story and his mother's decision to use life-style to help him cope with the disorder. Seems like the pill-popping has become a way of life for these children rather than teaching them how to manage their disorder and live with it. I do believe that there are many who truly need the meds in order to function, but I think it's more constructive to try other approaches first so that a child learns to LIVE with the issue and deal with it rather than popping pills.

I enjoyed reading about this, my grandchildren suffer from this problem, and it makes life a lot easier when you know the symptoms and ideas on how to handle the problem. My daughter also found out she had this after her daughter was diagnosed with it, and now she understands why she thinks like she does. I never saw any of this in her when she was growing up-always made good grades, didn't have any behavior problems or learning problems.