Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

What to Do After Your Child’s ADHD Diagnosis

Excerpt from: Lifescript (click for full article)

 

Your child has just been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). What are your next steps? Read on to find out about treatments and more...

You know your child is bright and engaged. So why is he doing so poorly in school? Why are teachers reporting that he can’t sit still and concentrate on tasks, or that he disrupts class? The problem – and the answer – isn’t as uncommon as you might fear.

About 6% of the population in most developed countries is born with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is characterized primarily by inattention and hyperactivity.

When a child is diagnosed with ADHD, “often there’s enormous relief for the family,” says Susan Zuckerman, Ph.D., a psychologist in White Plains, N.Y. “Finally, parents know ADHD is the reason for the challenging behavior of their ADHD child. It isn’t the child’s fault or theirs.”

Knowing there’s a neurological diagnosis changes how parents respond to their child, Zuckerman adds.

“Parents become much more patient,” she says. “Some of the yelling stops, frustration eases and parents now really want to help their ADHD child manage the disorder.”

People Who Normally Practice Sport Have a Better Attention Span Than Those With Bad Physical Health

Excerpt from: Science Daily (click for full article)

 

This research has been carried out by scientists from the University of Granada.

New scientific evidence seems to confirm the famous Roman saying "Mens sana in corpore sano." Researchers from the University of Granada have demonstrated that people who normally practice sport have a better cognitive performance than those with bad physical health. More specifically, the results of this research indicate that the former have a better sustained attention span (they react more rapidly to an external stimulus introduced randomly while carrying out a monotonous task). Their autonomic nervous system also appears to work better when dealing with cognitive loads over a longer time period.

In an article published in the latest edition of the journal PLoS One scientists compared the cognitive performance in specific tasks such as sustained attention, time-oriented attention (generating expectations of when an event will occur) and time perception.

Viewpoint: ADHD Isn’t A Metaphor

Excerpt from: Time (click for full article)

 

Let’s say that rates of ADHD diagnoses among kids in America are continually rising. Let’s say that stimulant medication use — both prescribed by doctors, and as the result of illegal trade with friends —  is on the rise, too. What do we make of that information? What do we do with it? In particular, how do we use it to improve children’s and teenagers’ lives?

The answers speak volumes about where we are as a society and where we ought to be headed.

The default response, every time we get news about any sort of uptick in the diagnosis and treatment of children’s mental disorders, is to issue condemnations of bad parents, bad doctors, bad teachers, and bad schools. (Not to mention big bad pharma, of course, which, it seems, will never rise from the bed of nails it has built for itself  over the years.)

The raw, unanalyzed, not-yet-peer-reviewed numbers that the New York Times, bizarrely, led the paper with last week don’t answer any of those questions. And since the CDC won’t verify their accuracy (precisely because they haven’t yet finished processing their own numbers), I’m not going to repeat them here. And I don’t need to. Previous surveys have shown a steady rise in the rate of ADHD diagnoses over the years. Previous research has also raised disturbing questions about the possibility that some children without actual ADHD are now being diagnosed and medicated for it.

Readers Share: My Proudest ADHD Moment

Excerpt from: ADDitude (click for full article)

 

We asked ADDitude readers to finish this sentence: "My proudest moment as an ADDer is..."

When I learned ADD-friendly study techniques in my junior year of high school and, for the first time, made the honor roll in both semesters of my senior year. I went on to get great grades in college. I love showing how intelligent I am. -An ADDitude Reader

When I set up my son's IEP and watched his personality bloom. It has helped his self-confidence to the point that he tells me about the great day he's had at school when I get home from work. -Jamye, Colorado

For the first few years of his diagnosis, my son was in the denial stage. He fought taking meds and didn't want to be "different." One day, out of the blue, he came to me and said, "Mom, I know I have ADHD and I think I can help other kids like me. You know that book Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Well, I'm going to write Diary of an ADHD Kid!" -D., Minnesota

It's Different for Girls with ADHD

Excerpt from: The Atlantic Wire (click for full article)

 

The idea that young adults, particularly women, actually have ADHD routinely evokes skepticism. As a fairly driven adult female who had found the strength to sit through biology lectures and avoid major academic or social failures, I, too, was initially perplexed by my diagnosis. My peers were also confused, and rather certain my psychiatrist was misguided. “Of course you don’t have ADHD. You’re smart,” a friend told me, definitively, before switching to the far more compelling topic: medication. “So are you going to take Adderall and become super skinny?” “Are you going to sell it?” “Are you going to snort it?”

The answer to all of those questions was no. I would be taking Concerta, a relative of Ritalin. Dr. Ellen Littman, author of Understanding Girls with ADHD, has studied high IQ adults and adolescents with the disorder for more than 25 years. She attributes the under-diagnosis of girls and women—estimated to be around 4 million who are not diagnosed, or half to three-quarters of all women with ADHD—and the misunderstandings that have ensued about the disorder as it manifests in females, to the early clinical studies of ADHD in the 1970s. “These studies were based on really hyperactive young white boys who were taken to clinics,” Littman says. “The diagnostic criteria were developed based on those studies. As a result, those criteria over-represent the symptoms you see in young boys, making it difficult for girls to be diagnosed unless they behave like hyperactive boys.”

ADHD does not look the same in boys and girls. Women with the disorder tend to be less hyperactive and impulsive, more disorganized, scattered, forgetful, and introverted. “They’ve alternately been anxious or depressed for years,” Littman says. “It’s this sense of not being able to hold everything together.”

Hyperactive Kid? Help the Parents

Excerpt from: Daily RX (click for full article)

 

If a child shows signs of a problem like ADHD, addressing it early is the best course of action. But what's the most effective way to address this behavior issue in preschoolers?

A recent study reviewed the evidence for a variety of different methods for addressing children's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The researchers found that parent behavior training has stronger evidence for how well it treats ADHD in preschool children than medication has.

The parent behavior training also did not have negative side effects like the medication did. It also encouraged a stronger relationship between the parent and the child.

Misuse and Abuse of ADHD Meds among college students

Excerpt from: Sharp Brains (click for full article)

 

The mis­use and abuse of pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tion is a grow­ing con­cern. I remem­ber speak­ing with col­leagues 15–20 years ago as reports about the non­med­ical use of stim­u­lant med­ica­tions used to treat ADHD (non­med­ical use is defined as use by indi­vid­u­als with­out a pre­scrip­tion) were first appear­ing in the media. At the time, these were gen­er­ally thought to be iso­lated inci­dents that were being over-dramatized in the press.

It has become clear, how­ever, that this is not the case today and that the non­med­ical use of ADHD meds, as well as mis­use by indi­vid­u­als for whom med­ica­tion is pre­scribed, is an impor­tant prob­lem. At the link above is a brief overview and sum­mary of research on these issues.

A.D.H.D. Seen in 11% of U.S. Children as Diagnoses Rise

Excerpt from: The New York Times (click for full article)

 

Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a medical diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These rates reflect a marked rise over the last decade and could fuel growing concern among many doctors that the A.D.H.D. diagnosis and its medication are overused in American children.

The figures showed that an estimated 6.4 million children ages 4 through 17 had received an A.D.H.D. diagnosis at some point in their lives, a 16 percent increase since 2007 and a 41 percent rise in the past decade. About two-thirds of those with a current diagnosis receive prescriptions for stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall, which can drastically improve the lives of those with A.D.H.D. but can also lead to addiction, anxiety and occasionally psychosis.

Children With Sleep Apnea Have Higher Risk of Behavioral, Adaptive and Learning Problems

Excerpt from: Science Daily (click for full article)

 

A new study found that obstructive sleep apnea, a common form of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), is associated with increased rates of ADHD-like behavioral problems in children as well as other adaptive and learning problems.

"This study provides some helpful information for medical professionals consulting with parents about treatment options for children with SDB that, although it may remit, there are considerable behavioral risks associated with continued SDB," said Michelle Perfect, PhD, the study's lead author and assistant professor in the school psychology program in the department of disability and psychoeducational studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "School personnel should also consider the possibility that SDB contributes to difficulties with hyperactivity, learning and behavioral and emotional dysregulation in the classroom."

The five-year study, which appears in the April issue of the journal SLEEP, utilized data from a longitudinal cohort, the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea Study (TuCASA). The TuCASA study prospectively examined Hispanic and Caucasian children between 6 and 11 years of age to determine the prevalence and incidence of SDB and its effects on neurobehavioral functioning. The study involved 263 children who completed an overnight sleep study and a neurobehavioral battery of assessments that included parent and youth reported rating scales.

Myths and Misconceptions about AD/HD: Science over Cynicism

Excerpt from: National Center for Learning Disabilities (click for full article)

 

Public perceptions of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) are replete with myths, misconceptions, and misinformation about the nature, course, and treatment of the disorder.

While barriers to treatment have been reduced in recent years, there is a climate of blame, shame, embarrassment, and stigma that discourages some from seeking help for debilitating mental health disorders, including AD/HD. There is compelling evidence that a large number of youths with a variety of mental disorders, including AD/HD, are not being served, are inadequately served, or are inappropriately served. Misinformation often demonizes those in need of treatment for AD/HD, and may discourage individuals from seeking appropriate care. Parents may avoid professional help because they are often accused of seeking to medicate overly playful, non-compliant, or mildly disruptive children. More likely, parents are struggling to help their children cope with a serious constellation of problems and are seeking help because previous attempts to reduce the impact of AD/HD have failed.