Category Archives: ADHD & Sensory Problems

Diagnosing Sleep Apnea in Young Children Suspected of ADHD

August 16, 2012   admin

Diagnosing Sleep Apnea in Young Children Suspected of ADHD
More and more children ages 3 to 17 in the United States, as well as other countries, are being diagnosed with ADHD each year. US Statistics show a huge increase in kids under age 7 years being diagnosed and treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder particularly in the past three years.
Just in the U.S. alone, the number of kids ages 3 to 17 diagnosed with ADHD has skyrocketed to in excess of 10,000,000 ( Yes…that’s ten million) and that number is expected to increase by 15 to 20 percent over the next year.   Likewise, during this same period, as many as 4 million or 40 percent of those children ages 3 to 17 years, will have been misdiagnosed with ADHD.
Obviously, it’s very important that we diagnose ADHD and other behavior problems carefully and accurately in order to avoid wrongfully labeling a child with ADHD when indeed he or she is not ADHD.
Currently, there are in excess of 95 medical, social, and environmental things that can cause ADHD-like behavior, confusing the diagnosis; causing misdiagnosis of ADHD… Read the rest. One of the most common seen in kids under age

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Learning Styles Problems can cause Bad Grades in ADHD Children

February 28, 2012   admin

Many children with ADHD have learning style problems that once corrected may lead to improved grades and academic performance.
Quite often, children with ADHD have problems learning and remembering what they have learned, because of the principal traits of their ADHD behavior disorder; poor concentration and short attention span.
Even when properly treated with ADHD medications, many of these kids and teens will continue to suffer bad grades and academic failure because ADHD drugs do not treat or cure learning problems. ADHD drugs are used to decrease impulsivity and improve concentration in hopes that by doing so, the ADHD child will be able to better learn.
Many ADHD children will improve grades once treated with one of the medications for ADHD. However, if the child’s learning style does not match his or her learning experience, no amount of any drug will help improve those grades.
What do I mean by “Learning Styles?”
I’m sure you know friends and family who were “touchers”-they had to touch everything in order to understand what was going on or to learn a new skill. We call those persons “Kinesthetic learners” or “hands-on learners.” Kinesthetic learning… Read the rest is just one of several learning

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Principles of Good Discipline in Children and Teens with ADHD

January 26, 2012   admin

Parents and teachers can use good discipline techniques to improve ADHD behavior.
In a previous article we discussed how parents might employ good discipline techniques to improve misbehavior in their ADHD children and ADHD teens. Once again, let me reiterate discipline and punishment are not the same things. They are actually 180 degrees apart in intent and in improving behavior.
The Latin word discipline literally means to teach, while punishment in both ADHD kids and those who are not ADHD is often defined as giving pain or attaching negative consequences to a particular event or behavior. Unfortunately, more than 75% of parents, caregivers and teachers consider the two words and actions to be the same.
It’s been often said that children learn best when nurtured in a positive manner… Read the rest, not when punished or provided with negative reinforcement! If you pause to think about what things were like when you were growing up, I’m sure you can clearly remember learning better and being able to recall what you learned when you were relaxed, not afraid, praised, encouraged and given that proverbial pat on the back for what you had done.
With your childhood experiences firmly in mind, let’s take

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ADHD Treatment using Meditation may help Distractive Behavior

November 29, 2011   developer

ADHD might be effectively treated using meditation to help distractive behavior in both children and adults!
Easy distractibility and inattentiveness are two of the core symptoms or signs of ADHD and really are part of the behavior spectrum that defines attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Many ADHD drugs and forms of cognitive behavior therapy were developed to purposefully target these symptoms of ADHD.
Now, it appears that a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that persons experienced in meditation techniques may have less neuro activity in the parts of their brain “associated with daydreaming and distraction”. The parts of our brains responsible for these distracting thoughts are referred to as “the default mode network”. In contrast, researchers refer to the functional parts of our brain that allow us to focus on task and pay attention as the “attentional network.”
Researchers from the Yale Therapeutic Neuroscience Clinic used MRI scans to analyze brain activity in both novice and experienced meditators as they practiced mindfulness meditation. They discovered that regardless of the type of meditation, experienced meditators had less activity in the default mode network… Read the rest and were more likely to show activity in parts

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Middle Ear Infections can cause Symptoms of ADHD

November 02, 2011   developer

Hearing loss caused by recurrent or persistent middle ear infections in young children may cause symptoms that look just like ADHD.
In previous posts, we’ve discussed how any problem that interferes with a child’s hearing, vision, and other primary senses can cause any and all of the symptoms of ADHD causing him or her to be misdiagnosed as ADHD. These problems are often referred to as “sensory processing disorders” (SPD) and may be present from birth (primary) or acquired as the result of an infection, trauma or some other serious event (secondary).
To refresh your memory, anything that interferes with a child’s ability to interact properly with his or her surroundings-poor hearing-vision problems-touch sensory problems- can cause learning problems and of course, a sensory deficit. For example, the child with what seems to be never-ending ear infections suffers hearing loss and therefore a sensory processing disorder because of the damage caused by persistent infection and pressure in his or her middle ear.
Young children with chronic middle ear infections … Read the restmay sustain damage to the bones and nerves responsible for transmitting sound waves that hit the eardrum to the parts of the brain that interpret electrical impulses into what

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Reading Problems-Getting inattentive ADHD Children to Read

August 02, 2011   admin

Reading problems plague every parent sooner or later-How do you get an ADHD child with inattentiveness to read?
What is the key to getting an ADHD child with mostly inattentive type to read during the summer or even during the rest of the year? Understanding what goes on inside of the ADHDer’s brain and a lot of patience is the quick answer.
Read on, and you’ll discover more why children with ADHD primarily inattentive type don’t like to read and suggestions to help prevent learning problems due to poor reading habits.
Why children and teens with ADHD-inattentive type don’t like to read
It’s important to realize that reading is often a difficult for the ADHD child, whether inattentive or not. ADHD kids think of reading as a chore, when it doesn’t fulfill one of their basic needs:
• The need for immediate gratification and satisfaction
• The need for excitement and hyper-stimulation
• The need to meet or exceed a set or desired goal
• The need for recognition and a measure of self-esteem.
These are often the reasons ADHD and sometimes non-ADHD kids … Read the restand teens give for playing video games and participating in on-line competitive activities. Every child

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ADHD Focus Strategies-Learning Styles Testing

July 25, 2011   admin

Testing for learning styles is an essential part of ADHD diagnosis and is absolutely necessary before trying to plan for ways to improve one’s focus and attention span.
Dr. Stephen Guffanti and I have been added to the Howtolearn.com expert panel for ADHD-behavior problems and recently answered a subscriber’s questions about strategic planning for learning to focus as an ADHD adult. The same principles in evaluating an adult for ADHD apply to both children and teens suspected of being ADHD.
Once a proper and accurate ADHD diagnosis has been made, a parent, educator or healthcare professional must decide what type of learning style the adult, teen or child possesses in order to put together a realistic ADHD treatment plan for learning attention-holding-focus-hyper focusing skills.
I explain to parents, teachers and other doctors that failing to evaluate what type of learner a person is before outlining and prescribing behavioral training is like getting in a car to go on vacation without a roadmap-not knowing how to get there-much less not knowing where you’re headed.
If you’re considering ADHD behavioral therapy or ADHD focus training … Read the restfor your child, teen or spouse, you might want to take a look at this answer and

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