Our Children and ADD/ADHD

[Ululani76]

Within the last 10 years, there has been an increase in the popularity for the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children and specifically Afrikan children in America. Afrikan boys often bear the brunt of it. Nevertheless, our children may be labeled at school or in other circles where adult supervision is in the hands of someone other than the parents. Parents may even feel concerned a bit about their child's behavior after complaints from such caregivers and teachers or simply due to the regular talk about ADD/ADHD these days as if it were like catching the common cold. These concerns lead to a trip to the primary care physician which may ultimately lead to an all-to-quick diagnosis and quick fix of a dangerous prescription for Ritalin or Adderall for the child. The short term and long term side effects of these drugs are nothing to sneeze at. The white world's immediate remedy for any maladies whether real or perceived is the prescription drug and the overuse of it and the misused experimentation of it. For the sake of our children, it is worth getting more than one or two opinions on concerns about our child's behavior. Now this does not mean that the child may not actually have a behavioral disorder, but as these are our future leaders and soldiers in the struggle we must be sure to protect their minds and bodies at all costs. This includes giving them the treatments that are appropriate and effective with the least amount of harm. Behavioural troubles could be caused by a myriad of things including learning challenges, diet and unknown food aversions, stressful home situations, etc. Below is a list that I find to be positive solutions:


50 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Behavior and Attention Span without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion (for detailed information about each way, see The Myth of the ADD Child)Order the book.

1. Provide a balanced breakfast.
2. Consider the Feingold diet
3. Limit television and video games
4. Teach self-talk skills.
5. Find out what interests your child.
6. Promote a strong physical education program in your child’s school.
7. Enroll your child in a martial arts program.
8. Discover your child’s multiple intelligences (link)
9. Use background music to focus and calm.
10. Use color to highlight information.
11. Teach your child to visualize.
12. Remove allergens from the diet.
13. Provide opportunities for physical movement.
14. Enhance your child’s self-esteem.
15. Find your child’s best times of alertness.
16. Give instructions in attention-grabbing ways.
17. Provide a variety of stimulating learning activities.
18. Consider biofeedback training.
19. Activate positive career aspirations.
20. Teach your child physical-relaxation techniques.
21. Use incidental learning to teach.
22. Support full inclusion of your child in a regular classroom.
23. Provide positive role models.
24. Consider alternative schooling options.
25. Channel creative energy into the arts.
26. Provide hands-on activities
27. Spend positive times together.
28. Provide appropriate spaces for learning.
29. Consider individual psychotherapy.
30. Use touch to soothe and calm.
31. Help your child with organizational skills.
32. Help your child appreciate the value of personal effort.
33. Take care of yourself.
34. Teach your child focusing techniques.
35. Provide immediate feedback.
36. Provide your child with access to a computer.
37. Consider family therapy.
38. Teach problem-solving skills.
39. Offer your child real-life tasks to do.
40. Use "time-out" in a positive way.
41. Help your child develop social skills.
42. Contract with your child.
43. Use effective communication skills.
44. Give your child choices.
45. Discover and treat the four types of misbehavior.
46. Establish consistent rules, routines, and transitions.
47. Hold family meetings.
48. Have your child teach a younger child.
49. Use natural and logical consequences.
50. Hold a positive image of your child.

Resources
Armstrong, Thomas. "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children: One Consequence of the Rise of Technologies and Demise of Play?" in Sharna Olfman (ed.), All Work and No Play: How Educational Reforms are Harming Our Preschoolers. Westport CT: Praeger, 2003, pp. 161-176.
Armstrong, Thomas. The Myth of the ADD Child: 50 Ways to Improve Your Child's Behavior and Attention Span without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion. New York: Plume, 1997.
Armstrong, Thomas. "To Empower, Not Control!: A Holistic Approach to ADD/ADHD," Reaching Today’s Youth, Winter, 1998.
Armstrong, Thomas, "ADD as a Social Invention," Education Week, October 18, 1995.
Armstrong, Thomas "ADD: Does It Really Exist?" Phi Delta Kappan, February, 1996.
Armstrong, Thomas. "Labels Can Last a Lifetime," Learning, May/June, 1996.
Armstrong, Thomas. "Why I Believe Attention Deficit Disorder is a Myth," Sydney’s Child [Australia], September, 1996.
Divoky, Diane and Peter Schrag. The Myth of the Hyperactive Child. New York: Pantheon, 1975.
Goodman, Gay, and Mary Jo Poillon. "ADD: Acronym for Any Dysfunction or Difficulty,"
Journal of Special Education, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1992.
Griss, Susan. Minds in Motion: A Kinesthetic Approach to Teaching Elementary Curriculum.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.
Kohn, Alfie. "Suffer the Restless Children," Atlantic Monthly, November, 1989, pp. 90-100.
McGuinness, Diane. When Children Don't Learn. New York: Basic, 1985.
Merrow, John. " Attention Deficit Disorder: A Dubious Diagnosis," (Video). The Merrow Report, 588 Broadway, Suite 510, New York, NY 10012,212-941-8060; 212-941-8068 (fax).
Patterson, Marilyn Nikimaa. Every Body Can Learn: Engaging the Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence in the Everyday Classroom. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press, 1997.
Reid, Robert, John W. Maag, and Stanley F. Vasa, "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a Disability Category: A Critique," Exceptional Children, Vol. 60, No. 3, pp. 198-214.