ADHDFamilies

Here’s one from the alternative medicine files.  Brian Mullen, a University of Massachusetts Amherst Doctoral Engineering Student developed the vest and claims that it may help with anxiety by delivering a “portable hug” wherever necessary. (Info from Natural News)

I for one will have to wait and see just how well this system works in clinical trials.  It’s not that I’m against natural therapies or alternative therapies.  I just wonder if an ADHD affected person really will see a benefit from this.  If it’s used on children, will they be likely to have an ammotional dependancy on this type of device?  I don’t know, and I want some answers before I consider ever using one of these units, either for my kids or for myself.

A lot of serious news concerning ADHD has occurred since I last had a chance to update, but I thought I’d start out with a walk on the lighter side.  ADD has become a common term when describing forgetfulness.  So much so that many people make light of the condition as a whole, often without realizing that what they have just described is actually pretty close to the way that those of us with ADHD actually live our lives.

I found the following piece at thriftymommy.com.  It’s meant as a play on ADHD, but I defy anyone with ADHD to tell me that this doesn’t feel quite normal on some days.

I hope you get a chuckle out of it!

Thank goodness there’s a name for this disorder.
Somehow I feel better even though I have it!!

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention
Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway,
I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage,
I notice mail on the porch table that
I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table,
put the junk mail in the garbage can un der the table, and notice that
the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back
on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think,
since I’m going to be near the mailbox
when I take out the garbage anyway,
I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table,
and see that there is only one check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to
my desk where I find the can of Pepsi I’d been drinking.

I’m going to look for my checks,
but first I need to push the Pepsi aside so that I don’t accidentally
knock it over.

The Pepsi is getting warm,
and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi , a vase of flowers on the
counter catches my eye–they need water.

I put the Pepsi on the counter and
discover my reading glasses that
I’ve been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water
the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water
and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I’ll be looking for the
remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so I decide
to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the
flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers,
but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table,
get some towels and wipe up th e spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to
remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

the car isn’t washed
the bills aren’t paid
there is a warm can of Pepsi sitting on the counter the flowers don’t
have enough water, there is still only 1 check in my check book, I can’t
find the remote, I can’t find my glasses, and I don’t remember what I
did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really
baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I’m really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem,
and I’ll try to get some help for it,
but first I’ll check my e-mail….

Don’t laugh — if this isn’t you yet, your day is coming!!

Feels petty familiar to me!  Does it reind you of anyone that you know?  How about yourself?

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.

It’s not often that I find a post on this subject that I approve of. Generally when asked about chores or household duties and kids with ADHD too many people feel that the child should be allowed a lot of slack in the process… If they have the child doing anything at all.

I call BULLSH*T! And so does the Mean Mom in her blog post titled “Chores for 13-year-old ADHD Son“.

The fact of the matter is, a 13-year-old child with ADHD should be able to handle almost any or all of the same chores a13-year-old child without ADHD can handle. Something a lot of people often seem to forget is that if you want your child to have any ind of success in his or her life, you need to provide structure. Structure lends a sense of calm, which helps ease distractions. Chores can provide this kind of structure. So can homework, school activities and social functions such as church or regular YMCA trips, among other things.

I think my mother knew this instinctively. My routine as a child on a school day was unforgiving. Up, fed, dressed and off to school. When I got home I was allowed 1 hour to “decompress” from the day doing anything I pleased, then it was homework, my bedroom got cleaned, dinner was served and we helped with the dishes and any household chores were done. After that our time was our own until lights out. This schedule was unwavering, and even though I fought against it for a very long time, I finally just accepted that this was the way things were and dropped into routine. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was comforting for me to know exactly what was going to happen next.

I have carried this need for structure into my adult life. Even to this day I cannot allow myself to deviate from routine or I simple “shiny out” and fail to accomplish the things that I know have to be done during the day. As an adult I thank my mother for the discipline she instilled in me as a child, and your children will one day as well.

Take it from me, they will.

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.