ADHDFamilies

The American heart Association has released a recommendation to have children diagnosed with ADHD undergo a screening for heart problems before being prescribed stimulant based medication. According to the AHA, these drugs can lead to heart problems or cause severe symptoms in children who have existing heart problems.

The Association is not recommending that children be taken off medication, but they are concerned about the overall health of patients treated for long periods with stimulants, due to the strain it can place on the heart. Dr. Victoria Vetter, a pediatric cardiologist and head of the committee that made the recommendation is quoted as saying “We don’t want to keep children who have this from being treated. We want to do it as safely as possible.”

Way to go people!

It would seem that there is more than one Ratey floating around in the world of ADHD. As a matter of fact, Nancy Ratey is the wife of Dr. John Ratey, who I discussed in my last post on this topic.

Both Dr. and Mrs. Ratey are experts on the subject of ADHD. While her husband focuses on the medical side of the issue, Mrs. Ratey is an educator and life coach who focuses on teaching adults with ADHD how to better manage their time and resources.

Mrs Ratey is also the author of The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents, a book which has received wonderful reviews from other ADHD experts.

Nancy will be holding a free online teleseminar for adults with ADHD through ADHDClasses.com. Registered teleseminar participants will be able to call in during the live class to have their questions answered by Mrs. Ratey in person.

I think this could be a great opportunity for those who are struggling at this point in their lives.

(Original press release for this teleseminar can be found here)

A study published in the March 3rd Online Issue of the American journal of Psychiatry gives results that may not be too favored by proponents of a drug-free treatment regimen for ADHD. The study analyzed data on 112 young men who had been diagnosed 10 years earlier, when they were 6 to 17 years old. Almost 3/4 of the group had been treated with stimulants and 22 were still taking stimulants to control ADHD symptoms at the time of the study.

The findings were that it was no more likely for people that have been treated with these medications to start using illegal or controlled substances later in life.

This is something I could have told you from my own experiences, but hey, it’s nice to be validated.

On February 28th 2008 Judge H. Walter Croskey of the Second District Court of Appeals ruled that children from the ages of 6 to 18 may be taught only by credentialed teachers in public or private schools - or by parents at home if, and only if, those parents are accredited instructors.

Judge Croskey cited a California state law which goes back to the 1950’s in his decision.

The ruling has enraged many parents, home school advocacy groups and notable politicians, such as California State Superintendent of instruction Jack O’Connell and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, both of whom are calling for this ruling to be overturned.

Governor Schwarzenegger has gone as afar as to state that “Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children’s education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don’t protect parents’ rights then, as elected officials, we will.”

All of this stems from a child abuse and neglect accusation in which one of 8 children of a Los Angeles Couple filed a complaint of neglect and abuse with the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, who asked the court to order the children to attend a certified scholl so that they could be evaluated for signs of abuse. the first court denied the request, citing that the parents had a constitutional right to home school their children. Judge Croskey disagreed with this ruling as stated in California State Law.
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The North Carolina company Play Attention claims that the have created a game that will help persons affected by ADHD have better attention spans. These “feedback driven educational systems” utilize a bicycle-like helmet that measures brainwave activities and allows the wearer to control video games with their thoughts.

the official description of the syste, from the developer’s website is:

Play Attention can be used in the comfort of your home. It is powerful learning system that uses a high-tech helmet to read brain signals indicative of focus or concentration. These brain signals control our computer games. Your mind becomes the mouse or joystick! These games not only teach you to improve focus, but also to ignore distractions, develop memory skills, finish tasks, and become organized. These skills can improve school work, improve self-esteem, and make life at home much happier.

While the company seems to lean towards the side of “Bad Parenting contributing greatly to the severity of ADHD symptoms”, this type of technology is very exciting, as it opens new doorways into the study and treatment of ADD, ADHD and other attention-disrupting diseases. I’m looking forward to researching this topic in greater detail. Their website is chock-full of information and goes far more in-depth than I have time for today, but I am about to pass the information along to a few other sites that will very likely want to cover this topic as well.