According to a new study, a child’s risk of being diagnosed with ADHD may be tied to the state of the mothers health before giving birth.

Thomas Ray, the author of the study, implies “that the diagnoses and health care utilization that a mother receives prior to having her child is predictive of having a child who is diagnosed with ADHD.”

Mr. Ray goes on to state “Our study raises the possibility that certain types of mothers — those who get or seek diagnoses and who use more health services — may be more likely to seek ADHD diagnoses for their children,” The researchers are not clear wheteher the increase in diagnoses of ADHD are due to biological, environmental or psychosocial factors — or some combination of these factors.

The study was carried out among three groups of mothers: mothers of children without ADHD, mothers of children with ADHD and mothers of children with asthma.  They found that mothers of children with ADHD spent, on average, $1000.00 more on the year prior to and the year following giving birth compared to the other two groups and that they had more illnesses than the mothers of children with asthma did.

My two cents:

I’m really not sure what this study proves, but then I’m from a demographic that this study didn’t cover.  I have both ADHD and asthma.  My parents didn’t spend a massive lot of money on health care until I began having trouble breathing.  There is no indication of mental health problems or other massive health problems with my mother until she died, in fact she was extremely healthy until she contracted lymphoma.  So at least in my case this study proves nothing.

I would be very interested to see the entire study, unfortunately the article I cite here does not cite a link to the original work.  If anyone has this information, I would love to look it over so that I can get a better understanding of how this researcher came to these conclusions, or whether there is a predisposition for him to feel that this problem existed.

Popularity: 77% [?]

Give any kid a lot of sugar and they’ll be bouncing off the walls, right?  Maybe not.  According to a report by 60 Second Psych, a Scientific American podcast, a study has shown that it may not be true at all. In fact, one study suggest that the increased hyperactivity may be more in the mind of the observer than in the actions of the children who are wolfing down those candy canes.

In the stdy in question a group of 30 boys were given a galss of sugar-free Kool Aid®.  Some of the mothers were told that their kids were given a drink that was very high in sugar, while others were told the actual contents of the drink.  The mothers who thought their children had consumed a lot of sugar tended to report more hyperactive behavior than before the child was given the drink.

So this Christmas go ahead and let the kids have one or two extra cookies.  If they’re hyper, it’s probably because of the presents and all the relatives hanging around, not the sugar.

Merry Christmas!

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This is one of those times where my vocabulary fails me.  I really don’t know how exactly to explain what they’ve accomplished here, but it looks big!  If my understanding is correct, the information discussed in this article could lead to new forms of treatment for any number of conditions of which innatention is a prevailing factor.

The plus side is that doctors are now using advanced technologies to test the actual effects of medication on subjects, rather than just looking to see what the presented effects of the medication might be.  That in itself is progress.

Any thoughts on this one folks?

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The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle ran an article on December 14th by Lynnette M. Lewis that discusses the needs of responsibilities of both employees and employers in regards to dealing with ADHD in the workplace.  While the article focuses primarily on adult women with ADHD, I feelthat the information presented is valuable to  both employers and employees in a wide range of businesses and definitely bears reading.

Miss lewis outlines some procedures and adjustments that cam be made to the infrastructure of any business to better harness the creative potential of employees with ADHD, most of which I find not only fascinating but incredibly on-point.  Definitely a must read.

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One of the predicaments facing every blog owner is the use of photos.  Running out and grabbing picures off the internet can result in copyright suits, or at the least, angry fellow bloggers or website owners who don’t appreciate you stealing their work or their bandwidth.  It’s a fact that blogs with pictures tend to get more in the way of readership.  The posts are more attractive to the eye, and images break up the text, making it easier to read.  So where do you get those blog pictures?

One answer is a new service called acobox. They allow you to grab the photo you need and link to it from their site. No server space needed, no copyright hassles, no worries. Signup takes only a few seconds and finding an image is a snap as well.  the image to the right of this paragraph is hosted there, and i can think of a lot of uses for it here at ADHDFamilies.

So far the choices of images is not as large as some sites that charge for them, but over time I’m sure tht will change.  Still, it’s a heck of a way to get the images you need for your blog without the worry of hassling with the legalities, and it’s absolutely free, so why not run out and check them out for yourself.  The only thing you have to gain is a few professional grade photos for your next blog post.

Popularity: 20% [?]