Doctors with Attention Deficit

Students Claim ADHD to Get Drugs

Students who want to try ADHD medication for recreational purposes or to boost their grades find it all too easy to convince physicians they have ADHD

Though the U.S. government defines Adderall as a Schedule 2 drug, getting doctors to prescribe Adderall is a snap for college students looking for an easy way to ace their exams. One University of Massachusetts student reporter decided to interview her fellow students to investigate the matter. During one such interview, a fellow student claimed she held her primary health care doctor in the palm of her hand when she begged him to refer her to a psychiatrist who offers evaluations for attention deficit disorder (ADD).

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Transparent Questions

During the psychiatrist’s assessment, the student responded to a series of transparent questions like, “Do you have a hard time concentrating or focusing?” The student said it took no mental gymnastics to figure out what responses would generate a diagnosis of ADD so that she would be entitled to the drugs she sought. However, the student was canny enough to only posit a certain number of symptoms so that she wouldn’t be too obvious in her quest to be diagnosed with a disorder she didn’t have.

The upshot was that the unwitting psychiatrist found she had nine out of nine signs of ADD without the addition of the nine signs that would have added the “H” of hyperactivity to the diagnosis (ADHD). Less than 30 minutes after the examination began, the student had a prescription for Adderall in her hot little hand.

Little Uniformity

The reporter discovered that there is little uniformity in the diagnostic criteria used by physicians to diagnose ADD. Therefore, speaking of a “test for ADD” is misleading. Of the three students the reporter interviewed, two answered a series of questions or were asked to describe their symptoms while the third student was given a more complex diagnostic test.

In the case of the student described above, there was some “prepping” of the patient: the psychiatrist told her that ADD has nine symptoms and that if someone had a certain number of these symptoms, they can be prescribed medications to help them concentrate.

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The student who received the most rigorous testing was also diagnosed with ADD and given Concerta, a medication similar to Adderall.

The upshot is that a student need not undergo a standard test in order to get a prescription for Adderall, which is an amphetamine. It’s more about finding the doctor who doesn’t mind writing out a script for the student who complains of ADD/ADHD symptoms. In every case, the goal is a legal method for procuring drugs that can be used to help students stay awake for all-night cramming during the final exams period.

Diane Fedorchak, director of Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS), says that only some 5% of the study body suffers from ADHD while another 8% of U of M students report using stimulants like Ritalin, Adderall, or Concerta during the past 30 days without benefit of a prescription.

Related articles

• Ritalin and Adderall Abuse (community.cognibeat.com)
• Most Kids With ADHD Take Medication (webmd.com)
• Adderall Alters Brain, Claims a Young Life (abcnews.go.com)

Literacy Skills in the Making

Your children know a great deal about reading before they ever hold a book in their hands. What is the nature of these very early literacy skills and how can parents turn their children into bookworms?

A young child’s understanding of reading and other related skills in the days before he is ready to read is called emergent literacy. There are several reading-related concepts that a child must have under his belt before he can begin the actual process of learning to read. But to begin with, a child needs to acquire three main skills before beginning his reading education, or for that matter, his education in general.

* Communication—a child should become familiar with spoken language and be able to communicate through speech.

* Alphabet—a child should understand the concept of letters and have the ability to name the individual letters of the alphabet.

* Exposure to Written Words—a child should be exposed to many stories and books before he is of an age to attend school. This is the way toward motivating a child to learn to read.

Get Busy

If you’ve ever looked on in envy as you saw a neighbor’s child always with a book in hand, you can now curtail the jealousy and begin to get busy. It is in your hands to turn your child into a reader. But the process begins as soon as your child is born.

Spend time reading to your child each day. Take care to choose books with simple story lines and colorful illustrations that will excite your child’s mind. As you read aloud, inject lots of expression in your voice. Let him feel the emotions expressed in the text through the feeling you put into the reading.

Another way to help your child gain reading comprehension is to tell her the story in your own words. The story comes alive for your child as she hears it through the device of natural conversation and a parent’s voice.

After Napping

Most people choose to read to children only at night, just before kids go to sleep. But in terms of encouraging reading skills, you want your child well-rested. After a nap is the optimum time to read to your child. Both of you should be relaxed and calm.

Offering a baby a book to play with is another great way to give her a chance to interact with words, illustrations, and pages. There are cloth or plastic books and sturdier children’s books that are terrific for this purpose.

The main idea here is to expose your child to lots of language. This is the key to helping her develop her vocabulary and communication skills. When your baby reaches toddlerhood, start reciting nursery rhymes with her and hesitate here and there to allow her a chance to fill in the words. Participatory recitation of rhymes is a very big step toward reading readiness. Your child will also memorize the rhymes. Developing word memories is yet another crucial part of learning to read.

Take your child to the library and make it a regular special jaunt for the two of you. Read her favorite stories to her again and again. Ask open-ended questions like, “What do you think will happen next?”

Network with other parents and share techniques for honing your child’s pre-reading skills. If you give it your best effort, you may just end up with a bookworm for a child. What could be more wonderful?

This post has been copied in its entirety with the kind permission of www.cognibeat.com

Understanding Dyslexia

Dyslexia for Laymen

The term “dyslexia” comes from two Greek words that mean: “a difficulty with words.”

Dyslexic people may have trouble with spelling, organization, and carrying out instructions. They may also confuse left and right.

In school, the dyslexia child begins to experiences failure in the classroom, but may not understand why she is failing.

The result may be poor self-esteem, great frustration, and extreme loss of confidence. This may make the child reluctant to attend school.

Helping your child begins with getting an accurate diagnosis. Sometimes the school takes responsibility for this, but you may need to consult with an educational psychologist, which may be expensive.

Dyslexia is a popular subject for research at present, as no one yet understands to the fullest extent what causes this condition.

A good way to understand dyslexia is to compare the condition with colorblindness. Colorblind people are of equal intelligence and gifts. So are dyslexics.

If you find out your child is dyslexic, it’s important not to assume they can’t succeed. Today, there are proven methods for helping the dyslexic child bridge the gap in all areas of difficulty.

Because you can’t see that a child has dyslexia just by looking at them, the condition may go undetected by teaching staff. As a result, a teacher might label a dyslexic child as “slow” or “lazy.”

Dyslexic Adults

Dyslexic adults may have some emotional scarring from a difficult schoolroom past, at a time when dyslexia was little understood and underdiagnosed.

If their peers laughed at their awkward attempts at reading, they would have felt quite upset. They may have therefore developed a fear of reading aloud.

Getting evaluated for dyslexia as an adult may have several benefits. For one thing, if you are a student, a dyslexia diagnosis may mean you can have extra time to complete your examinations. A diagnosis may also prompt you to think again about your choice of career.

The main thing to remember is that dyslexia is not a disease, and therefore cannot be cured, but there is no reason to think that a cure is necessary. Dyslexia comes to people who have unique minds and have their own, unique, strengths and weaknesses.

This article was based on material from: http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/world_of_dyslexia.html

Related articles

• Dyslexia in Chinese Children (community.cognibeat.com)
• Dealing with the Stress of Dyslexia (community.cognibeat.com)
• Math Dyslexia (community.cognibeat.com)

Wakefield’s Fraud

BMJ says Autism/Vaccine Study Data was Falsified

British medical journal, BMJ, finds that the 1998 study linking autism with the MMR vaccine was based on falsified data.

An investigation published by the esteemed British medical journal BMJ has determined that a study authored by Dr. Andrew Wakefield was an “elaborate fraud” now believed to be responsible for wreaking long-term damage on public health. Wakefield’s study claimed that autism was linked to childhood vaccines.

Falsified Data

According to BMJ, Wakefield falsified the 12 patient medical histories used to support his contention of a link between vaccines and autism in a study he conducted in 1998.

"It's one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors," said Fiona Godlee, editor-in-chief of BMJ, in an interview with CNN. "But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data."

Wakefield’s medical license was revoked in May. But according to an editorial accompanying the BMJ report, taking away Wakefield’s ability to practice medicine can’t stem the damage already done. “…the damage to public health continues, fueled by unbalanced media reporting and an ineffective response from government, researchers, journals and the medical profession."

Wakefield defended his work in an interview with CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” insisting that the fruit of his research had been, “grossly distorted,” and that he was the victim of, “a ruthless, pragmatic attempt to crush any attempt to investigate valid vaccine safety concerns.”

Parental Panic

Wakefield’s report on vaccines and autism sent parents into a panic that led to a significant decrease in the number of children receiving the MMR vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, and rubella. In Britain, vaccination rates took a sharp drop from the time the report was published, and fell to just 80% by 2004. At the same time, a sharp rise in measles cases has been observed.

The panic was not limited to residents of Britain, and in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 2008 saw more cases of measles than in any other year since 1997, a year prior to the publication of Wakefield’s report. The CDC reported that over 90% of those infected had either not received the vaccine or that their vaccination status was undetermined.

BMJ opines that the effect of the vaccination scare on the rate of infectious disease does not supersede the fact that so much effort, emotions, and resources were wasted on a bogus issue instead of finding the true causes of autism and ways to help children with autism and their families.

CNN Reporter: Autism study motivated by 'money'

Washington Post: Autism/vaccine link: Another nail in the coffin

Related articles

• Autism/MMR Vaccine Study Faked: FAQ (webmd.com)
• Doctor defends retracted austism study (cnn.com)
• Andrew Wakefield: Autism Vaccine Fraud or Conspiracy Victim? (cbsnews.com)

Writing on the Wall

Handwriting Issues Persist in Autistic Teens

New research finds that handwriting issues persist into adolescence in autistic teens.

A recent study has found that handwriting issues affecting autistic children tend to persist into adolescence. The results of this research were published in the November 16, 2010 issue of Neurology, a publication put out by the American Academy of Neurology.

Study subjects included 2 dozen boys and girls aged 12-16 years. Half of them had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, and all of them scored within normal range for perceptual reasoning on IQ tests.

Scrambled Sentence

The researchers had the teens take the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment Test, which makes use of a scrambled sentence to remove the possibility that fluent readers will gain an advantage in terms of speed. The teens were asked to copy the sentence, "the brown jumped lazy fox quick dogs over,” and were instructed to make the letters all the same sizes and shapes as those used in the sample. They were asked to use their best handwriting for this purpose.

The teens’ handwriting received scores in five different categories: spacing, size, alignment, form, and legibility. The teenagers were also examined to assess their motor skills and assigned ratings in categories such as timed movement and balance.

Out of a possible 204 points total for the handwriting assessment, the teens with autism scored an average of 167 points, while the teens without autism scored an average of 183 points. There is a statistical significance in the difference between these two averages. The teens with autism were also discovered to have impaired motor skills.

Possible Strategy

The researchers found that handwriting issues in autistic teens could be predicted by perceptual reasoning scores. Perceptual reasoning is the ability to use reason to solve problems in nonverbal material. "That reasoning skills can predict handwriting performance suggests a possible strategy by which adolescents with autism could learn and utilize compensatory strategies to overcome motor impairments," said study author Amy Bastian, PhD.

According to Bastion, while it’s true that autistic teens tend to have handwriting issues, there are a variety of techniques that can be used to improve the quality of their handwriting, for instance making adjustments to pencil grip, stabilizing a writing hand by holding it with the opposite hand, or taking more time to write the letters. “These therapies could help teens with autism to progress academically and develop socially," Bastion said.

Bastion is affiliated with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD. The Autism Speaks Pre-Doctoral Fellowship and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) underwrote the study.

Related articles

• Handwriting Problems Hard to Outgrow With Autism (webmd.com)
• For Teens with Autism, Handwriting Problems May Persist (nlm.nih.gov)
• Autism and Handwriting: Part 2 (psychologytoday.com)

Gabrielle Mathiesen and The Open Book Project

British businesswoman Gabrielle Mathiesen is an inspiration. Not only did she not allow her battle with dyslexia keep her down, she used her impairment as a motivating force to achieve an important goal.

Inspirational business women Gabrielle Mathiesen has succeeded despite her struggles with dyslexia, but also says it gave her the drive to work harder to achieve her goals

Open Book Report
Mathiesen has created Open Book, an ambitious project that aims to give dyslexics and those with other reading difficulties a means by which they can manage business transactions. It struck Mathiesen that while the hearing impaired are guided in various buildings and businesses by signs depicting the yellow sign with the symbol of an ear or staff members wearing tags with this sign; the dyslexic community and those with reading difficulties are provided no similar assistance for their literacy issues. As such, she came up with an open book sign to provide assistance to individuals with literacy issues.

Inspirational business women Gabrielle Mathiesen has succeeded despite her struggles with dyslexia, but also says it gave her the drive to work harder to achieve her goals.



A Laughingstock

Mathiesen can still imagine herself the laughingstock of her classmates as the teacher poked fun of her poor literacy skills. Back in the 1950′s and 60′s, dyslexia was a non-issue as far as educators and parents were concerned. Dyslexia sufferers were left to struggle without understanding or sympathy. But today Mathiesen is a successful and independent business woman who says that dyslexia is the reason she arrived where she is today.

Daily Challenges

The young-looking blonde woman says that dyslexia still challenges her on a daily basis, but this reminds her of her aim to get involved and provide help to others with dyslexia. To that end, Mathiesen started an organization for dyslexic children and adults called Literally Challenged. The organization provides the assistance to dyslexics that she and others of her generation never received.

Literally Challenged

Literally Challenged offers help to people with literacy issues and learning disabilities. The latest project of Literally Challenged is Open Book, intended to provide a series of front-line aids to those with literacy issues as they go about their everyday business. The hearing impaired have their by now well-known yellow sign depicting an ear, meant to signal that assistance is provided to the individual with a hearing problem. Now those with literacy skills will have an open book sign to help alert them to trained staff and other forms of assistance available to those with literacy issues.

Open Book's Facebook Logo - click it to see their profile

Pictorial Advice

Mathiesen has come up with the concept of a CD that can help businesses like banks, for instance, to offer a pictorial version of instructions and advice on how to do various transactions, such as applying for a mortgage. Some major UK banks have already put out feelers about how they might work with Literally Challenged to develop such a CD. This can be taken as a sign that businesses understand that dyslexia is a real impairment and pervasive within the general population.

Reduced Workload

Mathiesen says that a well-crafted CD will reduce the workload of business staff while it gives customers with literacy challenges the information they need before committing to a contract. The inspired and inspiring businesswoman says that many dyslexics end up going to loan sharks so they won’t have to deal with complicated bank forms. She believes that a one-stop CD could stop this practice which tends to have tragic repercussions for those who struggle with literacy skills.

Another concept that Mathiesen would like to bring to fruition is the transformation of online written material to voice for the dyslexic computer user.


This article has been copied with kind permission of www.cognibeat.com and can be found here.

Where the Girls Are

Back in the ‘90s, the word was that schools weren’t doing enough to accommodate girls. We were told our girls would suffer permanent damage. A decade later the experts have reversed themselves. Now they say it’s the boys who are being shortchanged.

This time, at least the talking heads are making sense. We know they’re telling the truth when they say that boys have trouble with schoolwork, repeat grades, get suspended, and end up with learning disabilities more often than girls.



Let’s look at the statistics: in some schools, boys make up ¾ of the student population in special education classes. Five times more boys commit suicide, and 4-9 times more boys are being doped up with Ritalin.

Emotional Standpoint

From an emotional standpoint, things may be even worse: when students are polled, both sexes state their teachers like the girls best and that boys are disciplined more often than girls.

Girls are pulling down better grades than their male peers and more girls are taking advanced academic courses. Though boys once held the advantage in math and science, the gap has narrowed. Girls are taking the same number of advanced math courses as the guys, and even more high-level classes in chemistry and biology.

Girls have always had the advantage over the boys in literacy schools and this is still the case. In Canada, 11th grade males write as well as 8th grade girls.
Leaping Higher

In terms of higher education, female college enrollment has been ahead of male college enrollment for the past three decades, since 1980. With every leap in male college attendance, the female leap is higher. From 1997-2007, the increase in female enrollment almost doubled that of males. While male enrollment increased at a rate of 32%, female enrollment increased by almost 63%. By 2009, not quite 74% of female high school graduates were enrolled in college, while the number of male graduates enrolled in college stood at around 66%.

In an attempt to close the gap in academic achievement between men and women, educators have suggested that elementary school classrooms implement the following suggestions:

* Whenever possible, separate the sexes

* Foster better bonding between teachers and male students

* Accept that boys have more energy and channel it toward character development and learning

* Pay closer attention to the less “alpha” males: those who are more sensitive and less competitive

* Allow boys to move around during class

* Allow boys to express themselves in a physical manner. Let them hug the teacher and roughhouse during recess

* Provide positive male role models, in particular from grade 5 and above

* Chairs should not be lined up in rows prior to grade 3

* Schedule lots of storytelling time to facilitate the male brain in developing descriptive verbal skills and imagination

* Offer boys lots of objects they can touch and experience with their senses, in particular during reading and writing classes.


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The Nonuniformity of Dyslexia Symptoms

If you’ve been wondering if your child might have dyslexia, you might have turned to the web to look for a list of dyslexia symptoms. Not long into your search, you begin to feel confused: every website lists a different set of dyslexia symptoms. Why can’t the collective “they” on the worldwide web get their act together? Why does the list of symptoms differ from one site to the next?

The fact is that dyslexia cannot be defined according to a set list of symptoms, since every case is unique. Some cases may be so mild there are almost no discernible symptoms while other cases are so severe that the manifestations of the condition are devastating. In addition to the level of severity of the condition, dyslexia is often accompanied by other learning difficulties such as ADD or ADHD.

Brain Differences

It is also important to consider the fact that dyslexia is caused by a physiological impairment of the brain. There are actual physical differences in the brains of dyslexics which can be seen in imaging studies. These deficits are not “standardized.” Dyslexia, in this light, is almost a catch-all term encompassing many difficulties and levels of difficulties, according to the individual.

MRI scans of dyslexic brain vs. non-dyslexic brain

Functional Brain Mapping

Still, early diagnosis is crucial for a number of reasons. For one thing, it is important to make a child’s educator aware that the child has an actual deficit. This is important even from a psychological standpoint: children with dyslexia should be met with understanding and a helpful attitude by their educators. Without a firm diagnosis, it’s possible an educator might adopt the attitude that your child “just isn’t trying hard enough.” Such an attitude may have an adverse effect on your child’s self-esteem, compounding his problems even further.
Youth Factor

Also, youth is an important factor in ameliorating reading difficulties and other issues relating to literacy skills and math. The earlier we discover the nature of the problem, the sooner we can get the child the help he needs to cope and improve. The brain is capable of making changes throughout the entire lifespan, but certain types of brain changes—specific characteristics of neuroplasticity—are more available at a younger age.

Genetic Predisposition

Despite the impossibility of building a cut and dried list of dyslexia symptoms, a parent may notice some differences in his child that lead him to suspect dyslexia. If you think your child might have dyslexia, have him tested when he turns five. This is even more important for children who have dyslexia or ADD/ADHD in their families, since there may be a genetic factor predisposing a child to these learning difficulties.

This article has been copied with kind permission from www.cognibeat.com and can be found here

In Full Command

Good Readers are Conscious Strategists

What skills do “good readers” draw upon to make for successful reading sessions? How much of this process is conscious?

Experts have struggled to determine the difference between good and poor readers. One measure experts have used to study these differences it to ask readers to describe their thoughts, out loud, as they read. The result of these efforts is the idea that good reading consists of a number of complex skills that are automatic and well-coordinated in practiced readers.



The coordination of reading skills begins before the start of a reading session. Typical (good) readers set goals for their reading. They note the structure and organization of the text and may make mental outlines to help determine the text’s relevance to their goals. As they read, good readers make fast and accurate work of reading the text while processing the meanings of the words at the same time. They also manage to comprehend groupings of words: phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and so forth.

If good readers fail to understand the text on its surface level, they look to see if they can tie in the context of surrounding sentences to help them make sense of those words. They may dig deep into their own acquired knowledge to help them toward comprehending what is read.


Good readers may interact with the material by asking themselves questions on what they’ve read and may reflect on the ideas contained within the text. They use their background knowledge to predict what will happen next. They engage in constant assessment and revise their predictions as the need arises.
They’re Selective

Good readers are selective. They focus on parts of the text that are related to their reading goals. They may skip over parts of the text because they contain information they already know or because the information isn’t relevant to their goals. They may decide they don’t understand the content of what they’re reading or may find that content boring and decide to pass on reading that chapter or even skip an entire book.

If there are gaps in the writer’s descriptions of characters or events, good readers use textual cues to fill them in, or draw on their own background knowledge to make sense of the text. They can create mental images of characters, settings, or events described in text and use those images to help them better understand written passages.

Good readers monitor their own comprehension as they read. If they realize they haven’t understood what they’ve read, they’ll apply techniques to repair their lack of understanding. They may rephrase what they’ve read or look up a word in a dictionary. They may highlight a passage of text and stop and reflect on that passage.
Uses Metacognition

Good reading involves something called metacognition. Good readers are aware of their own mental processes; their thoughts about their own trains of thought. They review their own comprehension strategies and choose those most appropriate to the text.

When good readers are done with their reading sessions, they reflect on the text they’ve covered. They may summarize key points or find other reading materials to help flesh out the same topic.

Good readers apply strategy to their reading. They have numerous techniques they can use to glean the meaning of the texts they read. These are conscious strategies that are within the readers’ control. They decide when to apply which strategies. They are at all times, in full command of the process.


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Shrugging Off the Herd Mentality

Are original-thinking children being short-changed by the system? How can we enlist a child’s creativity and channel it for good?

In the following animation, one alien child’s differences rock the boat too much for the comfort of his peers, parents, and educators, and so he is evaluated, picked apart, and diagnosed as very, very ill; too ill to exist within societal norms. The alien child is sent away—banished and ostracized to outer space. His alien parents give a sigh of relief and move on with their lives, happy to be relieved of their burden: a child who is a creative and original thinker.

Alien Rejects

The child is put through a transformation/gestation process and sent to earth in a womb-like capsule, where it is presumed, he will be reborn a human. As the capsule nears its target, the planet earth, we see in the distance, other similar capsules containing the rejects of their former society, all meant to become earthlings due to their supposed inferiority.

It isn’t easy being an original thinker. Original thinking seems messy, disorganized and downright chaotic. Our compliance with the basic setup of things is, let’s face it: less work for the rest of the herd.

Take the classroom, for instance. The teacher has a curriculum she must cover within a certain amount of time. That’s her job. But not every student learns the same way.

Shushed And Shunted

What happens to the student who cannot make his personal learning style jibe with the state-mandated curriculum of the teacher? How many gifted students have their creative ideas shushed and shunted aside for the sake of order and covering educational ground?

Today the experts acknowledge that there are many different types of learning styles, for instance visual, audial, and kinesthetic. If a child is a kinesthetic learner, and can only learn through touching, moving, and doing, are we accommodating this child’s needs within the classroom? Are the child’s strengths acknowledged by the system?

Here are some tips teachers can use to foster rather than stunt their creative-thinking students:

* Integrate interesting media into assignments

* Have kids make book covers for their reports

* Students can act out historical events

* Have kids prepare and present speeches

* Use jingles as a musical memorization aid

* Use stories and analogies to get the point across

* Have kids use bright-colored highlighters in assorted colors to emphasize important text

* Student can make models to illustrate science principles—a model of an atom can be a candle with many wicks, or how about an atmosphere cake with different colored layers?

This post has been copied in its entirety with the kind permission of www.cognibeat.com and can be found at http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/12/encouragingcreativity/

ADHD = Big Business

The ADHD Business Niche

The ADHD industry is booming and everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon. Parents are happy to try anything, but are they helping or hurting their children?

Katherine Ellison, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of a memoir entitled, “Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention” is generating a great deal of attention. In a recent article, Ellison wrote about what she calls the “ADHD-industrial complex” in the Washington Post, describing the way commercial entities have co-opted ADHD for themselves, spotting a serious business niche by way of parents who will buy just about anything in their desperation to make their children’s ADHD go away.

Katherine Ellison

At the top of this pyramid is the U.S. pharmaceutical industry which is said to sell over $5 billion worth of ADHD medications per year. The United States and New Zealand are the only countries with permission to market these products to the public.

But prescription drugs aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, and so another industry has sprung up to fill the gap: the alternative medicine route, in which there are any number of creative alternatives to the popular prescription stimulants and psychotropic medications for ADHD. These alternative treatments are for the most part unregulated and tend to be expensive as well. Within this spectrum one can find herbal supplements, magnetic mattresses, dolphin therapy, life coaches, and exercise regimes touted to stimulate certain brain regions.

ADHD is big business.

Marketing Targets

Consider the cause: being the parent of a child with ADHD means coping with impulsivity, forgetfulness, distraction, and inattentiveness. It pays to mention that ADHD has a genetic component—quite often, the parent of a child with ADHD is just as impulsive and distracted as their offspring. Good marketing targets, for sure.

Ellison was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 50, just three months after her son’s diagnosis. As a result, she decided to take a year to look into the disorder and discover the best means of coping from what is on offer. Since her son, like many other ADHD kids, didn’t like the effects of the stimulant medications, she had a huge incentive to look into the Pandora’s Box of alternative treatments.

Silent Meditation

Ellison paid $2,000 to Daniel Amen, a Southern California specialist who can find ADHD with a brain scan, tried Ritalin, extended loans to cover many neurofeedback sessions, and took a five-day silent meditation retreat. Her son was not immune to her experimentation and she doled out fish oil capsules, forced him into two days’ worth of neuropsychological testing to the tune of $4,000, paid for top tutors, and lobbied for him to get special accommodations in his public school, for instance permission to have him chew gum during algebra class.

Katherine Ellison's book

Ellison backs up her experiment by mentioning a 2003 survey which found that 54% of Boston parents of kids with ADHD had given non-medical treatments a try. She also speaks about the despicable idea that pharmaceutical companies are capitalizing on our children. But the journalist points out that at least the prescription medications are regulated. Some of the alternative medications are unsafe for children, especially when misused.

In the end, discovered Ellison, ADHD is a journey that continues. She has discovered that regular exercise and regular jolts of glucose by way of frequent trips to the refrigerator are helpful for her son as are her constant visits to his educators to make sure they stay on the ball.

She also learned that her biggest aid in helping her son was found in keeping her cool, no matter what.

This article has been copied with the kind permission of www.cognibeat.com and can be found in it's entirety at http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/12/bigbusiness/