ADHD drugs serve to mask problem behaviors. ADHD drugs are classified in the same category as: cocaine, Opium, and Morphine. What does this mean to me as a parent? The potential risk of addiction and abuse on your child’s brain is high. Over 3 million children are taking ADHD medications throughout the USA. Over 5 million are diagnosed with ADHD throughout the United States of America.

Ina recent study researchers state that over One million children and Teenagers are mis diagnosed for ADHD and many experts believe that ADHD has zero neurological markers and can be that children are inattentive and at times struggle with focusing issues and need to work on this behavior.

Many ADHD diagnosis are driven by large class rooms and teachers over worked whom are overwhelmed in managing many children. Many experts state ADHD behaviors have to do with a child and his or her emotional and or intellectual maturity.

A study that reviewed over 10,000 articles on ADHD medications state that a child’s sleep is impaired while taking ADHD medications. The sleep impairment was connected with : emotional, behavioral, and cognitive functioning in children and teenagers according to this study. Inattention and defiance for connected to the lack of sleep or poor sleeo in children taking ADHD medications: Adderal and Ritalin medications.

Short term side effects can be : insomnia, irritability, tearfulness, toxic psychosis, nervousness, nausea, dizziness, personality changes, headaches, heart issues, tiredness, drowsiness, blood pressure changes, chest pains, abdominal pains, anorexia, weight loss, depression, suicidal thoughts, tics, bizzare behaviors tourettes syndrome.

Long term side effects may include: normal growth is inhibited, height and weight may be impaired, immune system problems and more research is coming out.

An ADHD child may just need a more involved teacher with an imagination to capture the child’s imagination. An ADHD child may need more tools to focus and pay attention at home as well as at school

ADHD diagnosis has increased almost 50% in the past ten years and medication prescriptions are close to a Thirty percent increase approx. in the past decade.

Children that are on ADHD medications are more likely to be at risk for bullying and being abused. This study was done in the Journal of Child Psychology.

Many children and teenagers are prescribed stimulant medication to address their ADHD and these medications are the most commonly sold and shared among children and teenagers throughout Arizona and the USA. Over 20 percent in a survey state they have been asked or approached to sell their medications or to share some pills with them even though they obviously do not have a prescription for the medication ( ADHD).

Many experts believe : parenting and Behavior modification, Family counseling , CBT therapy, are the absolute best ways to manage ADHD symptoms and teach your child life long skills to manage his behavior’s and mood.

One of the best researched approach per 100 years of research regarding children and behavior  is an approach that combines individual counseling with parenting tips and family system tips to modify behavior. All of these elements are vital in creating desired change in your child or teenager.

Many studies recently show that ADHD children that are : restless, impulsive, lack focus and concentration can be treated with behavioral counseling and therapy. Recent research shows that for a child with ADHD to learn complex cognitive tasks he or she must be able to fidget and squirm and being sedated with a pill is not suggested to help children and teeens.

Before stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, and Adderall began their rise to popularity in the 1970s, treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) focused on behavioral therapy. But as concerns build over the mounting dosages and extended treatment periods that come with stimulant drugs, clinical researchers are revisiting behavioral therapy techniques. Whereas stimulant medications may help young patients focus and behave in the classroom, research now suggests that behaviorally based changes make more of a difference in the long-term. ADHD drugs are tested for 8-12 weeks in experiments and most children stay on the drug for years not knowing how it impacts the brain. Many children suffer withdrawal symptoms and behavioral changes when taken off the drugs similar to what a drug addict experiences when stopping long term drug use.

Recent research findings suggest that behavioral and cognitive therapies focused on reducing impulsivity and reinforcing positive long-term habits may be able to replace current high doses of stimulant treatment in children and young adults.

Lifeworksaz.com David Abrams MAPC LPC CAGS has been working with ADHD children and teens using a combination of cognitive therapies, behavior modification, play therapy, and more to teach children how to manage ADHD with excellent results.

Recent surveys indicate that 12 percent of all children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD’s core symptoms include hyperactivity, inattention, inability to perform monotonous tasks and lack of impulse control. Children with ADHD have trouble in school and forming relationships, and 60 percent will continue to suffer from the disorder well into adulthood if they do not receive counseling and therapy.

Over 3 million U.S. children and adolescents with ADHD were being treated with stimulant drugs. New research reveals that these drugs are not necessarily the panacea they have been thought to be. Research outcomes suggests that if ADHD children and adolescents could learn good study habits early on, medication could become less necessary.

Other research has examined the role of behavioral interventions not only for school-age children, but also for their parents. Parents of children with ADHD tend to exhibit more parenting-related stress and difficulties than do those of non-afflicted offspring. After training parents in stress management and giving them behavioral tools to help their children, significant improvement in their children’s ADHD-related behavior appeared.

Cognitive therapy may also boost improvement: In a 2011, showed that children with ADHD show extra activity in brain areas associated with “task-irrelevant” information during working memory tasks (those that depend on one’s ability to hold and focus on information for immediate reasoning and recall), suggesting that they have less efficient cognitive control. Cognitive therapy and counseling can improve control and ability to focus.

Decades of research on treatment for ADHD children and teens show that medication alone will not produce positive long term results in children and adolescents. Behavioral therapy is one of the only type of counseling treatment’s that produces effective results. Looking at your child’s social and behavioral issues is key as well as looking at your parenting style and communication style with your children. All of these areas must be addressed to create huge positive changes at home with your child and with your family and at school with peers.

An ADHD child does display: inattentiveness, impulsivity, hyperactivity, and more. Most children and teenagers that have ADHD show challenges in these areas as well: daily life activities, school academics and school performances, behavioral issues at school, relationships issues with family members and peers at school and outside of school, defiance with parents, noncompliance with parents.

How your child with ADHD will do in adulthood is influenced by four things: (1) whether you use effective parenting skills; (2) how your child gets along with other children; (3) his or her success in school; and (4) whether behavioral treatments can be successfully applied to these critical areas. This is done by teaching skills to parents, teachers, and the children themselves. If learned and implemented by parents and teachers, these skills help the children overcome their problems in daily life functioning. Because ADHD is a chronic condition, teaching skills that will be valuable across the child’s lifetime is especially important. Lifeworks Arizona Counseling has expertise working with children and parents to address ADHD symptoms mentioned above to create success with the family and child.

Effective outcomes must combine counseling and therapy for the child one on one. It also must include parenting and behavioral modification therapy with parent or parents. If teachers are involved than keeping them in the loop as well as having a 504 or IEP that addresses these specific issues with strategies is important.

Having a system that addresses behaviors daily is important. Having parents involved in the behavior modification is essential. Working with the child or teen and parent weekly is important to modify and extinguish undesirable behaviors and it is just as important to reinforce positive behaviors.

Change will happen if you are dedicated to the process with someone who has a history of success with children and families.

There are many excellent techniques and skills when combined together that will make a huge impact on your child’s behavior at home and at school with ADHD or other challenges.

Before stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, and Adderall began their rise to popularity in the 1970s, treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) focused on behavioral therapy. But as concerns build over the mounting dosages and extended treatment periods that come with stimulant drugs, clinical researchers are revisiting behavioral therapy techniques. Whereas stimulant medications may help young patients focus and behave in the classroom, research now suggests that behaviorally based changes make more of a difference in the long-term. ADHD drugs are tested for 8-12 weeks in experiments and most children stay on the drug for years not knowing how it impacts the brain. Many children suffer withdrawal symptoms and behavioral changes when taken off the drugs similar to what a drug addict experiences when stopping long term drug use.

Recent research findings suggest that behavioral and cognitive therapies focused on reducing impulsivity and reinforcing positive long-term habits may be able to replace current high doses of stimulant treatment in children and young adults.

Lifeworksaz has been working with ADHD children providing counseling skills to parents and teens using a combination of cognitive therapies, behavior modification, play therapy, and more to teach children how to manage ADHD with excellent results.

Recent surveys indicate that 12 percent of all children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD’s core symptoms include hyperactivity, inattention, inability to perform monotonous tasks and lack of impulse control. Children with ADHD have trouble in school and forming relationships, and 60 percent will continue to suffer from the disorder well into adulthood if they do not receive counseling and therapy.

Over 3 million U.S. children and adolescents with ADHD were being treated with stimulant drugs. New research reveals that these drugs are not necessarily the panacea they have been thought to be.Research outcomes suggests that if ADHD children and adolescents could learn good study habits early on, medication could become less necessary.

Other research has examined the role of behavioral interventions not only for school-age children, but also for their parents. Parents of children with ADHD tend to exhibit more parenting-related stress and difficulties than do those of non-afflicted offspring. After training parents in stress management and giving them behavioral tools to help their children, significant improvement in their children’s ADHD-related behavior appeared.

Cognitive therapy may also boost improvement: In a 2011, showed that children with ADHD show extra activity in brain areas associated with “task-irrelevant” information during working memory tasks (those that depend on one’s ability to hold and focus on information for immediate reasoning and recall), suggesting that they have less efficient cognitive control. Cognitive therapy and counseling can improve control and ability to focus.

Will medication teach your child life skills? Will meds teach your child values and respect? Will meds help build your child’s self esteem? Confidence? Will medication help your child learn appropriate social and relationship skills? Will medication teach your child or teen have to become motivated and find passion and purpose for the future? Behavior and life skills and counseling can do all the above. There are other things that can help your ADHD child like physical exercise.

Recent research and past research show children and teenagers who took part in a regular physical activity program showed important enhancement of cognitive performance and brain function. Exercise research demonstrate a causal effect of a physical program on executive control, and provide support for physical activity for improving childhood cognition and brain health.

The improvements in this case came in executive control, which consists of inhibition (resisting distraction, maintaining focus), working memory, and cognitive flexibility (switching between tasks).

Exercise programs improved math and reading test scores in all kids, but especially in those with signs of ADHD. (Executive functioning is impaired in ADHD, and tied to performance in math and reading. Studies suggest that physical activity can have a positive effect on children who suffer from ADHD.”

The Journal of Attention Disorders found that just 26 minutes of daily physical activity for eight weeks significantly allayed ADHD symptoms in grade-school kids. .

The number of prescriptions increased from 34.8 to 48.4 million between 2007 and 2011 alone. The pharmaceutical market around the disorder has grown to several billion dollars in recent years while school exercise is on the decline.

A multi-country study that found that obese teenagers go on to earn 18 percent less money as adults than their peers, even if they are no longer obese. The rapid increase in childhood and adolescent obesity could have long-lasting effects on the economic growth and

Physical activity improves mood and cognitive performance by triggering the brain to release dopamine and serotonin, similar to the way that stimulant medications do without side effects.

In conclusion there a wide array of things that can help your child: individual counseling, Behavior modification plan customized to your child, DBT skills, CBT skills, Exercise, Parenting skills, stress management skills and more.

The head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of  Adelaide states that children are being over diagnosed and over prescribed medications for ADD as well as ADHD. There has been a three hundred percent increase between children  3- 7 years old. The Professor states that alternative interventions are needed instead of giving children methylphenidate hydrochloride  commonly sold under the brand Ritalin.

The head Doctor states that the prescription simply dampens the behavior however does not address the root of the behavior. Medications will not teach life skills, problem solving , how to regulate stress and emotions, how to develop healthy social skills,academic skills, sports skills, how to develop coping skills, how to interact with family, healthy life choices. The medication will not help parents develop better relationships with their child and this must happen to improve the child’s behaviors.

Stimulant drugs like Ritalin and many other drugs damage the brains of growing children and teenagers and suppress behavior regardless of a diagnosis or any other disorder. The adverse effects of these drugs on your child go back over forty years. Animals in studies lose their passion, spirit, and vitality. Obsessive and compulsive behaviors are seen in those that take these stimulants.

In some ADHD children, drug induced compliant behavior may be accompanied  by: isolation of your child, withdrawal, and over focused behaviors. Many medicated children will appear “zoned out” “similar to a robot or a zombie. Many children will become more socially isolated by taking these medications and will suffer from social interactions at school as well as at home.

The zombie “look” may look like your child is compliant however it is associated by experts in Psychiatry with drug toxicity and is really not an improvement just a sedation of the child that will not last with the same medication. These medications can cause 20-30 percent decrease  of blood flow to the brain and the brain in adults that were treated with these medications have shown brain atrophy.

These medications are highly addictive and research shows children have higher rates of drug addiction later on in life connected to early use of ADHD medications like the ones mentioned. Tics and obsessive compulsive behaviors go hand and hand with these stimulants.

ADHD  is the expression of a normal child who is bored. frustrated. frightened. angry, or emotionally injured. undisciplined. lonely, too far behind in class. too far ahead of the class. or otherwise in need of special attention that is not being provided.

Some of the adverse side effects can be: child anxiety, agitation, insomnia nd aggression so you might see a more docile child at times however these other symptoms will have a negative impact for your child moving forward and you have not addressed the root cause of his behavior and he or she has not learned how to deal with life, life challenges, peers, emotions, and much more.

Counseling child ADHD:SCOTTSDALE, Chandler, Tempe, Goodyear AZ, Arcadia, Phoenix Arizona

ADHD Diagnosis is on the rise with one in five children diagnosed with ADHD in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Chandler, Goodyear, Arizona.

ADHD medications are tested for 8-12 weeks and most however your children stay on these medications for years or decades. Do you want your child on a medication when you do not know what the long term effect is of these medications? Dr Breggin has numerous books out on medication. He is a Harvard graduate and physician/ Psychiatrist. Some of his published books are : medication madness, toxic psychiatry and many more. He has great concern that many of these medications are addictive and that they alter your child’s brain that is still developing.

The absolute best evidence based research approach per 100 years of research regarding children and ADHD behavior  is an approach that combines individual counseling with parenting tips and family system tips to modify behavior. All of these elements are vital in creating desired change in your child or teenager. Lifeworks AZ provides this. Working on: boundaries, social skills, communication, self esteem, impulsivity, focus, over coming challenges, organization, healthy behaviors, healthy habits is vital and no medication will give this to your child.

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry stimulant drugs used to treat ADHD do not improve children’s

symptoms long term. Children did not fare better as far as: inattention, hyperactivity, and social functioning. on these medications versus

children not on medications for ADHD. Researchers are confused by the results that attention, focus and self control should improve however, children not on medications for ADHD do just as well as children not on medications.. Researchers are confused by the results that attention, focus and self control should improve however grades do not improve for children in the long term.

Children do better with behavioral therapy combined with medication than without counseling and therapy according to research.

Obesity

Research shows in AZ a link between ADHD and obesity, but whether one leads to the other is unclear. One way to better understand the link is to follow children through to adolescence. Over thirty percent of children and teens in Arizona and Scottsdale, Phoenix AZ are overweight and obese. There appears to be a connection and a correlation between weight and ADHD.

The new study, which followed almost 7000 children in Finland, found that those who had ADHD symptoms at age eight had significantly higher odds of being obese at age 16. Children who had ADHD symptoms were also less physically active as teenagers.

Alcohol/ Tobbaco

A new study revealed a significantly higher prevalence of substance abuse and dependence and tobacco use by adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) vs those without ADHD. Medications for ADHD do not counter the risk for substance abuse or substance dependence.

One million more U.S. children were taking medication for ADHD between 2003-04 and 2011-12. Twenty five percent of children meet the diagnosis for ADHD so is it a true disorder or is it just children that can not sit still for hours on end. Many adults can not sit in a classroom for an hour without wanting to get up and stay focused.

When children struggle with focusing on tasks, staying organized, controlling their behavior and sitting still, they may be evaluated for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Clinicians, however, shouldn’t stop there, according to a new study. Research shows these youth

Had adverse situations arise at home and that trauma can impact an ADHD diagnosis.

Experts state that children will have best long term results with behavioral counseling and therapy versus just taking a drug or medication. behavior management techniques for parents and coping skills and tools for children combined with behavior modification and skills training for children show excellent results. Behavioral interventions work if parents can commit to counseling with a specialist for behavior modification.

Lifeworks AZ  counseling scottsdale, Phoenix, Chandler,has a specialization working with children and parents helping with ADHD symptoms as well as other emotional andbehavioral problems including: defiance , hyperactivity, conduct disorders, depression, anxiety, anger management, goal setting, focus, attention, goal setting, respectful behaviors, ADHD, and more. You can contact lifeworks az therapy and counseling .David@lifework

Before stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, and Adderall began their rise to popularity in the 1970s, treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) focused on behavioral therapy. But as concerns build over the mounting dosages and extended treatment periods that come with stimulant drugs, clinical researchers are revisiting behavioral therapy techniques. Whereas stimulant medications may help young patients focus and behave in the classroom, research now suggests that behaviorally based changes make more of a difference in the long-term. ADHD drugs are tested for 8-12 weeks in experiments and most children stay on the drug for years not knowing how it impacts the brain. Many children suffer withdrawal symptoms and behavioral changes when taken off the drugs similar to what a drug addict experiences when stopping long term drug use.

Recent research findings suggest that behavioral and cognitive therapies focused on reducing impulsivity and reinforcing positive long-term habits may be able to replace current high doses of stimulant treatment in children and young adults.

Lifeworksaz has been working with ADHD children and teens using a combination of cognitive therapies, behavior modification, play therapy, and more to teach children how to manage ADHD with excellent results.

Recent surveys indicate that 12 percent of all children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD’s core symptoms include hyperactivity, inattention, inability to perform monotonous tasks and lack of impulse control. Children with ADHD have trouble in school and forming relationships, and 60 percent will continue to suffer from the disorder well into adulthood if they do not receive counseling and therapy.

Over 3 million U.S. children and adolescents with ADHD were being treated with stimulant drugs. New research reveals that these drugs are not necessarily the panacea they have been thought to be.Research outcomes suggests that if ADHD children and adolescents could learn good study habits early on, medication could become less necessary.

Other research has examined the role of behavioral interventions not only for school-age children, but also for their parents. Parents of children with ADHD tend to exhibit more parenting-related stress and difficulties than do those of non-afflicted offspring. After training parents in stress management and giving them behavioral tools to help their children, significant improvement in their children’s ADHD-related behavior appeared.

Cognitive therapy may also boost improvement: In a 2011, showed that children with ADHD show extra activity in brain areas associated with “task-irrelevant” information during working memory tasks (those that depend on one’s ability to hold and focus on information for immediate reasoning and recall), suggesting that they have less efficient cognitive control. Cognitive therapy and counseling can improve control and ability to focus.

Will medication teach your child life skills? Will meds teach your child values and respect? Will meds help build your child’s self esteem? Confidence? Will medication help your child learn appropriate social and relationship skills? Will medication teach your child or teen have to become motivated and find passion and purpose for the future? Behavior and life skills and counseling can do all the above.

Leon Eisenberg was the scientific founder of ADHD ( Attention Disorder Hyperactivity Disorder). In an interview before he passed away back in 2009 he states that ADHD ( Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) is a fictitious disease.  Many experts believe that ADHD is over diagnosed and that medications is over prescribed having negative impact on children’s brains and development.

If we go back thirty or fifty years lets say we have children that could not stay in their seat at school. We had children that could not focus or pay attention. We had children and teenagers that were unmotivated. Back then we did not give children ADD or ADHD diagnosis. We labeled the child lazy, high energy, or unmotivated and we used  parenting skills to address the issues. Today tens of millions of children are over medicated and behaviors are not improving they appear to be getting worse. School shooting are on the rise and aggression is on the rise. Children are not performing better in school according to  many experts. Many experts state that if a diagnosis is available then a drug or medication will be prescribed. Physicians prescribe ADHD medicine including: pediatricians, family physicians, psychiatrists and more.

One out of every ten children takes ADHD medications in the United States of America. Dr Leon Eisenberg stated that ADHD is over diagnosed. The Harvard Psychiatrist stated that we must look at behavioral issues and family and psychosocial issues that are impacting the child. There are many reasons a child might struggle with school. A child may have learning challenges. Some children are impacted by divorce and family challenges. Moving to new schools can be challenging and stressful.

“Throughout his career, Dr. Breggin has been especially concerned about the psychiatric abuse of children and the failure to provide more effective solutions through improved parenting, educational reform and community resources. As the drug companies and organized psychiatry have sought larger markets for pharmaceutical products, children have come under extensive from the psychopharmaceutical complex. The first great assault took place in the form of diagnosing children with ADHD and then medicating them with stimulant drugs. Soon millions of children were defined as mentally dysfunctional or defective and were submitted to brain-damaging psychoactive medications.” ( From Dr Peter Breggin Harvard Psychiatrist)

Stimulant medications that are used for ADHD in children have been tied to  weight gain in adolescent children. Over one hundred and fifty thousand children were tracked  from the age of three till the age of eighteen.

Children that were on ADHD medications reported a much higher BMI ( Body Mass Index) in their teenage years than children that did not take ADHD medications before the age of 12 years old. The study states that the earlier children took ADHD medications correlated with a higher rebound in BMI ( Body Mass Index) at adolescent or in teenage years.

The research postulates that stimulant medications may retard growth at first, until the body develops resistance to growth inhibition and eventually “rebounds.”

Stimulant drugs for ADHD may: Worsen behavior and thought disturbance in patients with a pre-existing psychotic disorder. These drugs may also slightly increase the risk for auditory hallucinations, paranoia, and psychotic and manic behavior even in patients who do not have a history of psychiatric problems.

Cause a mixed or manic episode in patients who have both ADHD and bipolar disorder.ncrease aggressive behavior or hostility. Patients beginning stimulant drug treatment should be monitored for worsening of these behaviors.Reduce growth and weight gain in children. Children who take stimulant drugs should have their growth monitored. If they do not gain height or weight at a normal rate, they may need to stop taking the drug.

Cardiovascular Risks. All ADHD stimulant drugs carry warnings that they should not be used by patients with structural heart problems or pre-existing heart conditions (high blood pressure, heart failure, heart rhythm disturbances, or congenital heart disease). These drugs have been associated with sudden death in children with heart problems. They have also been associated with sudden death, stroke, and heart attack in adults with a history of heart disease. According to recent large studies, these medications appear to be safe for children and adults who do not have underlying heart disease.

Symptoms of Overdose. Symptoms of overdose include changes in heart rhythm and rate, hypertension, confusion, breathing difficulties, sweating, vomiting, and muscle twitches. If they occur, parents should call the doctor immediately.

Concerns for Abuse. Stimulant drugs can be habit forming, but they are not considered especially addictive, particularly in the doses used for treating ADHD. The primary danger for drug abuse from stimulants appears to occur in young people without ADHD who purchase these drugs illegally. If a child abuses another drug (alcohol, prescription medication) along with the ADHD medication, the chance for serious side effects is increased.

ADHD medication is on the rise exponentially. Medication for all ADHD prescriptions are tested for 8-12 weeks however the medication typically is prescribed for years if not decades. Many parents state numerous side effects on these medications. Some side effects you may experience by using adhd medications are as follows: Insomnia, nervousness, depression, confusion, agitation , irritability, stunted growth and development, nausea, dizziness, loss of appetite, anorexia, headaches, heart issues, drowsiness, high blood pressure, abdominal pain. headaches, seizures.  Researchers do not know the long term side effects of these medications because they only need to be tested for at most 12 weeks.

Ten percent of boys aged 12-17 are on ADHD medications and as we look at teen’s behaviors over the past decades behaviors are getting worse in school, at home, and in society.

Published in the March issue of Clinical Psychology Review, found that teaching parents and teachers how to respond when children do things the right way — as well as when they display harmful or aggressive behavior — is effective, and in some cases more effective, than medication for ADHD. Counseling and therapy will teach both a child and parents ways to empower themselves for success. Learning ways to manage: behavior, manage anger, manage anxiety, manage frustration, build self esteem, build healthy habits at home, build healthy life skills, learn to problem solve, learn social skills, improve on communications skills. A magic pill does NOT exist to teach this children and this is vital for future success in life.

Counseling teaches various ways to reduce the chaos in your life. People with ADHD need visual and auditory cues to remember things, .Therapy might have very specific recommendations, right down to how you organize your backpack, room, and where you put your belongings when you get home from work. That level of specificity can be a huge help with  ADHD.

Over the years, children and adults with ADHD tend to have accumulated a lot of self-doubt. They come to think that many tasks are beyond them and give up. Therapy can help them question these self-limiting beliefs and overcome them. Cognitive behavioral therapy will help children and adults look at thinking that is creating an imbalance or a road block or causing one to be off balance mood wise.

Children, teens, and adults who have grown up with ADHD may lack some important social skills. They might have poor communication or a tendency to interrupt when someone else is talking. ADHD therapy can help people learn how to pick up on social cues and read people better.

Counseling for ADHD will build a strong foundation for life skills . A pill can not and does not teach your child skills!!!!!!

Children with ADD should avoid breads, bagels, muffins, donuts, sugary cereals, cakes…for breakfast. All these substances have sugar or breakdown into sugars that are not going to allow your child the ability to focus at school or anywhere.

The best breakfast would be whole grains, egg whites, some dairy products.

Avoiding white breads, pizza, pasta, potatoes, sugars etc will have a profound impact on your child’s behavior.

Children on the healthy regimen will most likely have more focus, and less distractibility.

Thoughts? What do you think? What has worked for your child?
Sent from David Abrams MAPC, LPC, CAGS
602.575.4030
www.LifeWorksAZ.com
Visit My Blog At http://davidstake.blogspot.com

Before stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, and Adderall began their rise to popularity in the 1970s, treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) focused on behavioral therapy. But as concerns build over the mounting dosages and extended treatment periods that come with stimulant drugs, clinical researchers are revisiting behavioral therapy techniques. Whereas stimulant medications may help young patients focus and behave in the classroom, research now suggests that behaviorally based changes make more of a difference in the long-term. ADHD drugs are tested for 8-12 weeks in experiments and most children stay on the drug for years not knowing how it impacts the brain. Many children suffer withdrawal symptoms and behavioral changes when taken off the drugs similar to what a drug addict experiences when stopping long term drug use.

Recent research findings suggest that behavioral and cognitive therapies focused on reducing impulsivity and reinforcing positive long-term habits may be able to replace current high doses of stimulant treatment in children and young adults. Lifeworksaz has been working with ADHD children and teens using a combination of cognitive therapies, behavior modification, play therapy, and more to teach children how to manage ADHD with excellent results.

Recent surveys indicate that 12 percent of all children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD’s core symptoms include hyperactivity, inattention, inability to perform monotonous tasks and lack of impulse control. Children with ADHD have trouble in school and forming relationships, and 60 percent will continue to suffer from the disorder well into adulthood if they do not receive counseling and therapy.

Over 3 million U.S. children and adolescents with ADHD were being treated with stimulant drugs. New research reveals that these drugs are not necessarily the panacea they have been thought to be.Research outcomes suggests that if ADHD children and adolescents could learn good study habits early on, medication could become less necessary.

Other research has examined the role of behavioral interventions not only for school-age children, but also for their parents. Parents of children with ADHD tend to exhibit more parenting-related stress and difficulties than do those of non-afflicted offspring. After training parents in stress management and giving them behavioral tools to help their children, significant improvement in their children’s ADHD-related behavior appeared.

Cognitive therapy may also boost improvement: In a 2011, showed that children with ADHD show extra activity in brain areas associated with “task-irrelevant” information during working memory tasks (those that depend on one’s ability to hold and focus on information for immediate reasoning and recall), suggesting that they have less efficient cognitive control. Cognitive therapy and counseling can improve control and ability to focus.

A chief of the National Institute of mental health systematically did an evaluation on 20 children given Ritalin by their Primary Care Physician. The results are as Follows: The Ritalin produced these negative psychological, moral, and social effects on these children. Children disowned accountability and responsibility for their acting out behaviors. There self esteem was damaged and impaired. There was no family systemic changes to address past family behaviors, changes, challenges, traumas, loss, that may have preceded the hyperactive behaviors.The child became the “identified problem” as if family parenting, environment, and other issues were not adding to the child’s behavior it was 100% the child’s disability and he or she was damaged and defective. Many kids believed they were bad. The kids attributed poor behavior to eating sugar or something external instead of taking accountability for undesired behaviors at home. The study chief stated that the pill or med distracted parents and teachers and docs from paying proper attention to problems going on in the child’s environment. In essence the act of taking a pill relieved everyone involved, child and family, teachers and doctors, for improving the child’s behavioral and emotional issues.

Many experts believe that giving a child a pill allows parents an explanation for their child’s hyperactive behaviors by saying basically that all of his unhealthy behaviors are due to his physiological makeup i.e.( hi or her diagnosis). Parents may be unwilling  to look at how they might have contributed to the child’s behavioral problems.

In my opinion labeling a child with a diagnosis is extremely damaging.  The child begins to see himself as: defective,disabled, and damaged such that he needs to be medicated. The stigma can also impact children that want to join government agencies and the military according to past research. Military applicants had been turned down do to taking ADHD medications which were considered mood altering drugs according to the military.

Parents belief system about a child will affect  our expectations and communication with our children. It can limit parents expectations and encourages a child to not work on self control because after all he has ADHD and only the meds will help him or her with self control issues. Parents believe that their child can not learn normal self control. Parents lower their expectations and truly believe a hyperactive child really can not sit down so parents will not work on behavior modification to right the undesired behaviors.