Please offer your honest opinion as adoptive parents and as birthparents. Is it mean to deny an adopted child sugar? Would your answer be different if the child had plenty of sugar before entering your family as an older adopted child? Then would it be mean to deny the child sugar until adulthood? Would your answer be different if the child was a birth child? Honestly, I struggle with this issue. My teenage daughter entered our family as a four-year-old foster child and we adopted her at the age of six. Several years ago, we realized that sugar has a profound effect on her... more

Whether your child’s food consumption can cause behavior problems or attention problems has long been a controversial topic especially between parents and physicians. You probably know parents who are convinced that sugar makes their child’s ADHD (attention Deficit hyper disorder) worse. There are those who have noticed changes in their child’s behavior after consuming certain processed foods or foods containing artificial dyes. You have probably talked to physicians or read about scientific studies denying any connection between ADHD or behaviors and food.... more

Preschoolers’ age 3 to 5 years, who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), as well as a another disorder, such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder, or an anxiety disorder probably won’t respond to treatment with the stimulant methylphenidate. PATS (Preschoolers with ADHD Treatment Study) was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). While previous reports indicated that low doses of methylphenidate were safe to use at this age, the data analyzed suggested that increasing the dosage... more

I walked around the house today with a role of scotch tape and brightly colored notes. It is the latest countermeasure to jog the memories of the ADHD and FAS children in the house. Living with several children who require constant reminders to stay on task or even to begin a task can wear a person down after 14 years of foster care and adoption. Yes, we all go through training in dealing with special needs adopted children. However, I am not sure that we are ever completely prepared for the reality of 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for years and years.

In... more

This is kinda cool – Ty Pennington, host of Extreme Makeover is going to host ADHD Experts On Call, a one-day event sponsored by Shire. Pennington will host the live one-hour webcast from 12:00-1:00 pm next Wednesday, September 19. The rest of the day (8 am to midnight) a toll-free number is available for talking with “ADHD Experts”.

Keep in mind that Shire is a pharmaceutical company, hence the ADHD “solutions” will likely include medications. Shire manufactures Adderall and Daytrana, including “the patch” –... more

Children with ADHD or learning differences can be easily distracted, especially when completing task that they consider boring, like school. Children who intend to graduate or live an independent life must learn their core subjects. How can they learn if their ADHD prevents them from completing their homework?

Here are some of the things we have done to help our children with ADHD and FAS concentrate. We set the kitchen timer, this sounds simple and it is simple. For an intelligent child with ADHD who enjoys competition, this can be effective. Lane really enjoys beating... more

Lane signed up for his first online college class and it started on Tuesday. He seems to have been in a state of confusion ever since. He kept signing onto the blackboard and not seeing any assignments. Then he would tell me that he didn’t have any assignments and log off. Finally, yesterday I told him that I needed to look at it.

When I followed some logical links, I found the syllabus, the class agenda, and the assignments. I showed him where they were located and told him to get started, assuming all was well. His next excuse, he didn’t know how to do the assignments... more

As odd as it sounds, doctors and researchers are discovering that young children diagnosed with ADHD who also have sleep problems (likely brought on by not being able to breathe correctly while sleeping, due to enlarged tonsils) can benefit from tonsillectomies. A study out of the University of Michigan showed that 50% of the children with ADHD and sleep-disordered breathing in their study improved to the point where they no longer had ADHD.

This article... more

We’ve been having quite a bit of difficulty with our nine year old daughter this school year. She’s in fourth grade and apparently the school work load and homework load really begin to increase in this grade. She can’t seem to get her work done at school even though her teacher has been keeping her in during recess to give her a chance to complete her unfinished work. At conferences this month her teacher reported to me that my daughter manages to find other things to do, like organizing her desk during this recess study period. She... more

Will limiting my ADHD child’s sugar intake make a difference on my child’s attention span, ability to stay focused, or hyper activity? According to medical science, it does not. However, the articles I found, and quoted from below, go on to say that many parents disagree with the findings of medical science.

I personally have tried long-term, sugar intake, limiting for two of my ADD children thinking it would make a difference. For example, if I made cookies... more