04/03/98

Reader Opinions About ADD-ADHD (Part 1)

In response to last week's article entitled The ADD-ADHD Bandwagon, the following excerpts from reader letters describe several different approaches parents and educators have used successfully to help children with attention, concentration and impulsivity, when these behaviors interfere with learning or school adjustment. Open lines of communication among parents, teachers and physicians are key components for success, as is the flexibility to change approaches to meet each child's ever-changing needs. Thank you everyone, for the outpouring of thoughtful letters on this complex topic.

• When my son was just starting school, the teacher pulled me in for a conference. She told me my son was hyperactive and should be put on the drug Ritalin. I was pretty scared because I didn't think my son was any different than other children. He loved life and was active, but I was worried maybe something was wrong with him after speaking with his teacher. My son's doctor performed a few tests on him and said he felt my son was borderline. He recommended controlling his diet rather than medicating him. I began to cut way back on the junk food in his diet and it made a big difference in his behavior. -- Reduce Junk Food

• When my son was around the age of 5, I thought he might be hyperactive. He had a short attention and didn't want to stay with anything for very long. He was my first child and I was an inexperienced father. Through consultation with our family doctor, and a look at our lifestyle, we found that our son was not "hyper," but was under the influence of artificial flavors and colorings. After reducing these additives, the problem disappeared. As parents we realized that if it hadn't been the additives, it would have been something else. We needed to look for the root cause. -- Look for the Root Cause

• My son attended a Catholic School where the teacher told me, "Your son just won't behave. He has no attention span. He is obsessed with violence." I was stunned because my children only watch a half-hour of PBS (public television) per day. I was also told he needed a psychiatric evaluation. Both the pediatrician and the psychiatrist agreed that he was a bright, energetic and precocious child. They suggested I take him out of that school, which I did. I put him in the public school where he is thriving. -- Change Environments

• When I was ten years old, I had stress headaches, forgot where I left things, couldn't pay attention in class and missed important announcements. I was taking Tylenol with Codeine for the migraines and noticed myself "spacing out." When I told my neurologist about this, he diagnosed me as ADD and put me on Ritalin. I am thankful every day because of it. My grades skyrocketed and I don't forget or miss things. -- Ritalin Helped Me

• My daughter was labeled ADHD, but I refused to put her on Ritalin or any other medication. I tried giving her an all natural vitamin with pyncnogenol that I found on the Internet. I'm happy I did. She is a healthy, thriving third grader who can finally concentrate. I know of a thirteen-year-old boy who had been on Ritalin and other medications, whose mother was at her wits-end because their doctor wanted to prescribe a medication that required monitoring her son's liver function. I told her about the pyncnogenol, which she decided to give to her son. The boy told his mother after taking it that it was the first morning he had awakened not in a fog. -- Try Vitamin Supplements

• One reader reports that Dean Edell, M.D. and Bruce Williams, Special Educator, each host national talk radio shows. Both men say that ADD-ADHD only exists in this country and is unheard of in Europe.-- Is This a USA Disorder?

• I am a classroom teacher and agree that medication is not for everyone who has ADD-ADHD. However, if such a child is not on medication, he or she must develop strategies and skills to cope with the characteristics and behaviors associated with ADD-ADHD. These strategies may come from parents and teachers, or from the child's physician. Children should also be part of the decision-making process, to include their thoughts as well.

  What frustrates me are the parents who decide to use neither medication nor teaching strategies to help their child achieve success at school. Some parents are under the impression that their child will simply outgrow ADD-ADHD. I don't think that happens. Not all teachers are on the bandwagon to medicate. Many of us work diligently every day to do whatever is necessary to help our students achieve success. I don't tell parents what to do, but I do make recommendations based on my observations and knowledge of their child. For each student to reach success, doctors, parents, students and teachers must work together toward a common goal. Medication may not be the answer, but sometimes it is part of the answer. We should utilize all of our tools to help students have a meaningful and purposeful education, where success is attainable.--- Use All the Tools

• I am an administrator for special education services in a public school district. I concur with your balanced position on the subject of ADD-ADHD. Confronted by otherwise conscientious and hardworking teachers who tell me that they have tried everything I have found that classroom modifications and the use of Functional Behavior Assessments are quite helpful. For example, some students thrive when given the liberty to get out of their seats when they need to, at their own discretion, or to work standing up. Yes, this adds a new layer of supervision for the teacher, but these students also benefit from the opportunity to make decisions and to receive feedback about how they have chosen to work. These students have a heightened need to develop decision-making skills and to have the opportunity to learn to be who they are without receiving negative feedback. The Functional Behavior Assessment helps educators look deeper than the external level of variables to achieve behavioral consequences. In many cases we've found patterns of behavior related to times of the day, or external as well as internal events, which help us anticipate and address the pertinent variables before the student becomes highly active or distractible. -- Use Functional Behavioral Assessments

Tune in next week for (Part 2) of Reader Opinions About ADD-ADHD.

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.