A recent exploratory study conducted at a private school reported in December 2008 issue of Current Issues in Education found the use of Transcendental Meditation to be beneficial to 11 to 14 year old students diagnosed with ADHD – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.  This research was the first systematic study of the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on the symptomatology of ADHD, although the study did not include a control group.  However, the 10 students involved in this showed statistically significant gains in measures of ADHD and stress symptoms and executive functions.   According to the researchers, “this research suggests that the technique has potential to improve attention, behavior regulation, and executive function by naturally reducing stress and anxiety and improving brain functioning”.

It is encouraging to see the growing interest in and availability of funding for research dedicated to the investigation of non-medication interventions for ADHD.  Actually, relaxation training has been known for some time to provide benefit to this population.  I have reported on some of the findings in Evidence-Based Psychological Treatment for Children with ADHD, a white paper published in 2007.  I have been using this technique along with others since the 80’s to help these kids.  When combined with parent training, behavior modification and several other evidence based techniques, I have found that children with mild to moderate symptoms can achieve significant improvement at home and at school without medication.  Several years ago I developed Total Focus which makes 6 research based techniques available to ADHD kids and their parents.

Published professional guidelines recommend that children with mild to moderate symptoms receive behavioral interventions prior to moving on to medication.  In the MTA study conducted by the NIMH 30% of the children in the behavioral only group normalized after 14 months.  After 3 years, all of the children in the behavioral only group demonstrated the same improvement in symptoms as those receiving medication and those receiving a combination medication and behavioral intervention.  Even with this information, the rate of inclusion of behavioral intervention has been limited due to financial and time constraints.  A program like Total Focus provides a comprehensive treatment program that is affordable and can fit into the busy schedule of parents, kids and physicians.  The program can be used with or without medication as part of a total treatment program.

           Children with ADHD have numerous organizational difficulties such as not bringing the right books home, sometimes forgetting to complete assignments while at other times working hard on an assignment and then forgetting to turn it in and they also have a tendency to work too quickly on an assignment which leads to simple mistakes that nevertheless bring down grades.  Older students often have difficulty with time management such as knowing how to break down a long assignment into smaller steps or how to approach studying for a test covering multiple units of instruction.

             These difficulties are the result of impairment in what psychologists call executive functioning.  Children with age appropriate skills will be able to master these organization tasks with little or no help from adults.  However, these do not come naturally to kids with ADHD but they can learn these skills and with an appropriate reinforcement program can learn to implement the skills to the point they become a habit. 

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Homework can be challenging for parents and kids when ADHD is in the picture. In order to prevent hassles, the first place to start is at your child’s school.

Try to meet with your child’s teachers and learn what the homework expectations will be for the coming school year. (If the homework assignments seem to be excessive, remember that under 504 plans or an IEP, it is possible for the amount of homework to be modified to accommodate the abilities of the child with ADHD.) At this time, it’s also a good idea to set up regular quarterly meetings or determine a system for communication between parent and teacher to make sure that everybody’s on the same page.

The next step is to set the stage at home. Just prior to the start of school, it’s probably a good idea to have a time to talk about upcoming changes that the start of school will bring. Homework can be presented in the context of “It’s part of the work of a child to do some work at home, just like it is for adults.”  If you or your spouse bring work home from time to time, use that as an example.  Read the rest of this entry »

In ADHD & Me: What I Learned from Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table , Parents of teens with ADHD will not only be informed but encouraged by this book written by Blake Taylor, a college freshman at UC Berkley.  It provides a personal insight into the struggles, and success of a teenage boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Blake’s memoir, written when he was 17, offers, for the first time, a young person’s account of what it’s like to live and grow up with this common condition. Join Blake as he foils bullies, confronts unfair teachers, struggles with distraction and disorganization on exams, and goes sailing out-of-bounds and ends up with a boatload of spiders. It will be an inspiration and companion to the millions of others like him who must find a way to thrive with a different perspective than many of us.

Blake’s mother first suspected he had ADHD when he, at only three years of age, tried to push his infant sister in her carrier off the kitchen table. As time went by, Blake developed a reputation for being hyperactive and impulsive. He launched rockets (accidentally) into neighbor’s swimming pools and set off alarms in museums. Blake was diagnosed formally with ADHD when he was five years old. In this book, he tells about the next twelve years as he learns to live with both the good and bad sides of life with ADHD.

Children with ADHD experience one or more neuropsychological impairment of functions such as concentration, memory, impulse control, processing speed or ability to follow directions.  These impairments are no different from those caused by head injury or neurological disease.  It has been standard practice for trauma or neurology patients to go through cognitive rehabilitation to restore functioning.  Recently, research has shown that children with ADHD may also experience improvement in neuropsychological functioning through a similar process.  Also, this procedure is now being recommended for middle age adults to improve and/or maintain cognitive functions as the progress into later stages.

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I have long believed that behavioral therapy is the key to helping kids with ADHD. In fact, a new study on ADHD said that comprehensive behavioral therapy works as well as medication over the long haul. Also, earlier studies showed that after 14 months, 30% of the behavioral therapy group did just as well as those with medication. Of course, there are no side effects to behavioral therapy—except, perhaps, much happier parents and kids.

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Recently, meditation has been featured in Newsweek as a way to help kids to calm down and focus.

For years it was thought that each of us was born with a generous supply of brain cells, but that we were unable to produce additional cells or make changes in how they function. Fairly recently, neuroscientists discovered the presence of something called “neuroplasticity” which enables the brain to actually grow additional cells or modify the function of existing cells.

Amazingly, cognitive exercises have been found to produce desired changes in not only how the brain works, but how it looks. What this means for parents is that you now have the ability to work with your child to help improve their ADHD symptoms.

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For the parents of a child with ADHD, simple, everyday tasks turn into battles—from getting the child out the door in the morning to getting him to bed at night. My son was diagnosed with ADHD at age 6, so I remember what it was like to have a daily tug of war with an attention disordered child all too well. Parents look for help everywhere.  They may read one book after another and hear a parade of behavioral experts speak who give them parenting tips that don’t seem to work. The more books they read and experts they seek out, the worse their child’s behavior seems to get.

In my practice and in my work with my own son, I discovered a number of techniques and strategies that can help parents improve the behavior of a child with ADHD.  

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Science Daily (May 3, 2008) — Ripping out and tearing down to create a divinely designed home, a la HGTV, is all the rage today — and the economic downturn may be leading more families to renovate rather than relocate. But a new study has found that parents need to be aware that all this interior renovation can put their children’s health at risk due to exposure to lead.

A study published recently by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that this process can increase children’s exposure to lead.  Abnormal lead levels have been found to result in ADHD symptoms.  If parents have any concern regarding their child’s exposure to lead, they should discuss it with their child’s physician.  A simple laboratory test can determine the presence of lead toxicity.  If you are considering renovating your house, you can learn more from the Science Daily article.

A recent Associated Press article reports that a study conducted at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center estimated that lead levels of more than 1.3 micrograms per deciliter may account for more than 500,000 cases of ADHD among children ages 8 to 15 nationwide.

This research is consistent with previous findings.  A recent article in Science Daily on a similar study conducted in 2007 by Michigan State University provides additional information on this topic.  Parents who suspect their child may have been exposed to lead around their home or some other location should share their information with their child’s physician.