Treating kids with ADHD will involve more than just the quick fix provided by medication; they need help on the educational, behavioral, and social level too.  As such, the best way to treat ADHD is through a comprehensive, multi-modal approach – a treatment that involves various techniques like diet, detoxification, and psychosocial treatments.

Psychosocial treatments are among the more well-studied non-medical treatments for ADHD. Also known as behavior modification or behavior therapy, psychosocial treatments are a series of behaviorally-oriented treatments designed to correct the problems posed by ADHD symptoms in daily life.  Children with ADHD are plagued by problems that go beyond hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention.  Inability to make friends, poor academic performance, and defiance of authority are just some of the difficulties they have to deal with everyday. It’s important that they overcome these problems because their presence will make a long-term impact on a child’s relationships and academic success. Below are some of the psychosocial techniques that can help your child:

Behavior modification

Behavior modification consists of specific techniques taught by a therapist, which parents and teachers can use in their everyday interaction with ADHD kids.  The goal of behavior modification is to promote desirable behaviors and limit the occurrence of undesirable ones through a series of rewards and consequences.  During a behavior modification program, adults can learn how to give instructions to children, how to provide consequences when a child disobeys commands, and the appropriate response to children’s behavior. Aside from stopping negative behaviors, this approach can also be used to develop new skills. To learn this approach, speak with a mental health professional with experience in behavior modification for ADHD children.

Parent training

Although many of behavior modification’s techniques sound like basic parenting, there are a number of parents who still need some coaching to apply them effectively.  If you think you need help enforcing discipline and other rules, you could benefit from parent training. Parent training will teach you how to use commands, establish structure at home, and praise good behaviors. Sessions can either be done in groups or through individual coaching

Social skills training

Teaching a child to get along with others is an important yet easily overlooked component in ADHD treatment. Studies show that ADHD kids who overcome problems making friends or keeping friends generally do better late in life. If your ADHD child experiences social difficulties, he or she might benefit from social skills training – an approach that teaches social skills and behavioral skills considered important by other kids (e.g. sports skills), while decreasing antisocial behaviors. Social skills training is done in various settings, from summer camps to office clinics.  When integrated with a comprehensive treatment approach, social skills training can do much to decrease unwanted behaviors in three settings- at home, at school, and at the playground.

Even with proper management, many ADHD symptoms continue to persist into adolescence and adulthood.  Hyperactive behavior tends to decrease with age, but disorganized behavior, poor impulse control, and disorganized behavior are common among teens and adults with ADHD.  Many have difficulty filtering out irrelevant stimuli and focusing on the task at hand, particularly when they are in monotonous situations or are unmotivated.

These ADHD symptoms can also make an impact on one’s personal life, causing conflict, low self-esteem, and emotional instability.  The good news is that these problems can be treated naturally through a form of cognitive behavioral therapy called dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).

DBT was originally developed to treat adults with borderline personality disorder, a condition characterized by rapidly shifting moods, impulsive behavior, and difficult relationships.  Like all types of cognitive behavioral therapy, DBT is a collaborative venture between the client and therapist. This approach fosters behavioral change using compassion, validation, and acceptance for the adult suffering from the disorder.  Through listening, teaching, and “homework” assignments, adults who go through DBT are taught techniques to manage emotions, improve motivation, and promote healthy behaviors.

Since clinical trials on DBT demonstrated improvements on social adjustment, anger management, and impulse control, DBT has been adapted as a natural treatment for ADHD. These adaptations provide skills training in group sessions rather than at one-on-one sessions with a therapist.  Once a week, adults learn the skills they need from a therapist and review practical applications of these skills in various situations.

In 2002, researchers developed a 13-week DBT skills training group composed of adults with ADHD.  The group was trained in three of four skills modules from traditional DBT groups, but was given special focus on acceptance, managing emotions, mindfulness, and dealing with crisis.  The goal of these modules is to teach adults to focus on relevant tasks, accept and deal with life events without engaging in high-risk or impulsive behaviors, and avoid becoming a victim of strong emotions.  In addition, the adults in the group were taught behavioral analysis so they can understand the feelings, thoughts, and triggers that lead to problematic, impulsive behaviors. While the group size was small, the adults experienced reduced ADHD symptoms when the 13-week program was over, and had no trouble putting a stop to impulses or focusing on important tasks.

So if you or someone you love with ADHD has trouble managing extreme emotions, has no control over impulses, or engages in self-harming behaviors like substance abuse, consider signing up for a DBT group and see if this form of therapy can help manage symptoms.

Stimulant medication may be the most widely-used treatment for ADHD, but more and more parents are looking into natural ADHD treatments after learning about the debilitating side effects of these drugs.  Still, the transition from ADHD medications to natural treatments isn’t always easy. A lot of lifestyle adjustments have to be made, and it takes weeks for any positive changes to appear.   For this reason, parents prefer the quick fix of medication over drug-free treatments, especially if the symptoms are severe. But if there was a way to beat your child’s symptoms without medication and its side effects, wouldn’t you take it?  Here are the most popular ways to beat ADHD without medication.

Create a routine

Did you know that many ADHD symptoms can be avoided with a good routine?  For instance, lack of sleep normally makes adults cranky and fatigued during the day, but this brings about hyperactive behavior in children. To make sure your child gets at least 8 hours of sleep each night, establish a regular bedtime and waking time.  Having a regular dinner time also helps; the closer dinner is to bedtime, the harder it will be for your child to fall asleep because the body is too busy digesting.

Eliminate “bad” foods

Artificial flavoring, coloring, and preservatives can trigger ADHD because of the chemicals they contain.  Parents observe that eliminating foods with artificial additives have done much to improve their child’s behavior. Start by using 100% fruit juice instead of juice boxes, juice mixes, and soft drinks, which are artificially colored and flavored.  Avoid all brightly-colored foods, as these are definitely full of food dyes. As much as possible, cook from scratch and avoid bottled sauces, which contain artificial preservatives.

Exercise and sports

ADHD kids – especially the hyperactive ones – need a physical outlet for all their pent-up energy. Studies show that thirty minutes of exercise and physical activity is just as effective at reducing symptoms as medication. Enroll your class in an after-school sport, or buy equipment like a trampoline or a skateboard.  Unstructured activity like jumping and skating is just as beneficial as participating in organized sports.  

Provide supplements

Many case of ADHD are caused by a lack of nutrients in a child’s diet.  Even with a healthy, balanced diet, your child might not be getting the nutrients he or she needs.  With the advice of a health care professional, supplement your child’s meals with an omega-3 fish oil capsule, multivitamin, or amino acids.

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Children with ADHD are by no means easy to deal with, even when they’re already taking ADHD treatments that will help them focus or keep them calm. When the treatments don’t quite deliver the results they promise, families and teachers get frustrated and feel at a loss as to what to do next. Let’s examine five reasons that explain why ADHD treatments sometimes fail.

Denial

You’d be surprised at how many parents come to me only when they have reached the last straw. Parents are often deny that their child has a problem until a major crisis occurs – the child has to repeat a grade, the parents shrug off the symptoms as normal childhood behavior, or perhaps they fear the ADHD stigma and would rather leave their child out of the doctor’s office. A child is more conducive to ADHD treatments when the disorder is detected early in life; kids diagnosed in late childhood or their teens are a little more complex.

Too much faith in ADHD medications

One of the most common myths about ADHD is that medications alone can treat a child.  I have had countless parents come to me saying that medications improved their child’s grades, but do nothing to improve his behavior or attitude. What most parents keep forgetting is that medications are designed to help an inattentive brain focus; they do not improve mood or teach behavioral skills. In fact, stimulants do not even treat the possible underlying causes of ADHD. That is why many children who take these drugs tend to retain many of their frustrating ADHD symptoms.

Failing to change the environment

ADHD symptoms are influenced by the child’s environment. You cannot expect an ADHD child to sit down and focus on homework when he is surrounded by video games and other distracting stimuli.   Establish a daily routine for your child, one that will minimize distractions, teach responsibility, and reinforce good behavior.  Be firm and consistent about the consequences of deviating from this routine

Leaving the child in the dark

Parents know best, but have you ever asked your child what he thinks about his treatments? It’s important that your child take a proactive role in his ADHD recovery, learn to control his own behavior, and decide what interventions work best.   Listen to your child’s needs. If your child requests for a tutor to help him at school, do it. If your child thinks that extracurricular activities will help him make more friends, encourage him.  Find solutions together and let your child have a say in his own recovery.

Quitting too early

If you’re using natural interventions like ADHD diets or neurofeedback to treat ADHD, remember that they don’t deliver instantaneous results like medications do.  Treating ADHD naturally takes time and patience.  Don’t give up on a treatment after seeing no improvements in one week. Give it at least a month and if you really don’t see any positive changes, discuss a different intervention with your child’s doctor.

Video games have long been thought to worsen ADHD, but current research seems to be turning the tables on popular opinion. L. Eugene Arnold, M.D. of Ohio State University is working to develop a video game system that improves ADHD through neurofeedback.

How Neurofeedback Video Games Might Help with ADHD

According to Dr. Arnold, it’s all about the child’s brain waves. Studies have reported that children with ADHD tend to have slower brain waves than others. Their minds tend to linger at the theta frequency, which is associated with the tuning out of stimuli. As a result, ADHD kids tend to be unable to focus on certain tasks at hand.

What neurofeedback gaming hopes to achieve is stimulating the brain to operate at the beta frequency, which is associated with calm, focused states. Dr. Arnold, with the cooperation of Smartbrain Technologies in California, is developing a video game system that attaches painless electrodes to the gamer’s scalp, allowing the machine to read the frequency of the player’s brain waves. If the waves operate at the beta level, the game plays smoothly. If they drop to the theta frequency, however, the player loses control over the game and cannot progress.

What this hopes to achieve is to develop a method of training ADHD children to work more at the beta brain wave frequency, improving their ability to focus. Dr. Arnold notes that although his current findings seem promising, there is much more research to be done before he can determine whether or not his system is effective in improving ADHD.

Criticisms

Not all experts are convinced by Dr. Arnold’s research, however. Numerous studies have identified video games as a major distraction for children; a study conducted in Iowa State University found that children and adults had more attention problems the more often they played video games. Although many supporters of video games argue that modern games actually require a lot of focus and reward the player for performing structured tasks, video games continue to distract children from their real-life responsibilities.

In addition, video games tend to deprive children of two important developmental activities: physical outdoor play and interaction with peers. While some video game developers have taken steps forward by encouraging cooperative play and incorporating motion controls in their games, these continue to be inadequate replacements for real play and real communication.

Video Games and Your ADHD Child

So what does this all mean for your child? Should she be allowed to play video games, or should she be kept away from them? The answer, according to experts, is balance. Video games can be used as a reward for responsibility fulfillment, or as a small treat during the weekends. Some kids show an amazing degree of focus and concentration when they play video games, and studies have found that the right types of games can be very mentally-stimulating. The key is to limit playtime so that kids can prioritize more important behavior; the American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, recommends limiting television and video game time to a maximum to two hours a day.

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In the United States, parents of ADHD kids have it a little easy during summer. From New York to California, ADHD summer camps are popping up all over the country, allowing kids with ADHD to learn social skills, keep up with schoolwork, enjoy a new hobby, and make new friends who share the same symptoms. Aside from providing a variety of activities and a structured schedule, the ideal ADHD summer camp should also have therapists, medical personnel, and counselors on-board.

Of course, not all summer camps are created equal.  When comparing various ADHD camps, parents should make sure that the camp has the structure and facilities to cater to their child’s unique needs. Some questions you might want to ask are:

• What is the student-to-counselor ratio? The smaller the ratio, the better the counselor can keep an eye on your child.
• Can you accommodate my child’s ADHD diet, or do you provide a special diet for the campers?
• What happens during a typical day at camp? Can I see the daily schedule of activities?
• What opportunities are there for my child to build social skills and ADHD coping skills?

There are many ADHD summer camp options to choose from, but here is a small list to help you get started.  This list is not by any means a personal recommendation, and parents should always do their own research before deciding on a camp for their child.

Success Oriented Achievement Realized (SOAR) – SOAR is a wilderness adventure camp for boys and girl ages 8 to 18 who have ADHD and/or learning disabilities. For over 30 years, SOAR programs have helped special needs kids develop social skills, self-confidence, and problem-solving techniques, all while having the summer of their lives. SOAR is available in California, Florida, Wyoming, North Carolina, Peru, and Costa Rica. For more information, visit http://www.soarnc.org/.

Frontier Travel Camp – Based in Miami, Frontier Travel Camp offers group tours in the United States and Europe for kids with learning disabilities. Social workers and special education instructors work round the clock to keep campers safe and happy. Frontier also welcomes campers with physical limitations. For more information, visit http://www.frontiertravelcamp.com/.

The Learning Camp – Twelve years ago, a mother of a child with dyslexia and ADHD founded The Learning Camp at the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. Today, The Learning Camp provides outdoor adventures, tutoring, and academic programs to ADHD boys and girls between the ages 7 to 14. Learn more at http://www.learningcamp.com.

Camp Huntington – Founded in New York in 1961, Camp Huntington provides therapeutic recreation for kids with special needs and ADHD. This residential camp provides stimulating daily activities that include arts and crafts, computers, woodworking, and opportunities to build self-esteem and make friends. Find out more at http://www.camphuntington.com.

Summit Camp – Another sleepaway camp based in New York, Summit Camp takes in boys and girls ages 8 – 19 that have ADHD, Aspergers syndrome, and verbal or non-verbal learning disabilities. The camp program aims to help kids develop social skills while they enjoy a variety of recreational activities. Learn more at http://www.summitcamp.com.

The most popular ADHD natural treatments involve changing the way kids with ADHD think. After all, a child’s brain is still very malleable and can form new neural pathways to alter the way it thinks and responds to certain situations.  Wouldn’t it be better to just teach a child’s brain how to focus instead of using strong stimulants that cause serious side effects? Neurofeedback and Cogmed Working Memory Training are just some examples of brain therapies that help ADHD kids control their impulses.  Another option is the cognitive training programs from the Brain Potential Institute, which can now be done through the Internet.

The Brain Potential Institute is a Texas-based brain training center that serves hundreds of students with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and other related neurological disorders.  Each student receives an individualized, one-on-one training program design to improve their ability to accept, process, and retain information.  The center also provides sensory and motor therapies to those suffering from sensory processing disorders.

They just made their training programs available to the rest of the world through VOLT – their Online One-on-One Treatment, which is done through Skype. The VOLT program is designed for children and adults who live far from Brain Potential Institutes or whose school and work hours get in the way of training.  VOLT makes use of the many modules of their Genius in Training program, which focuses on different centers of the brain that control auditory processing, memory, language, and speech.

The VOLT program begins with a free screening test designed to measure the child’s ability to handle information in six neurological areas – attention and concentration, central auditory processing, processing speed, verbal fluency, active working memory, visual perception/processing, logic and reasoning, and word attack.   Should you wish to continue with the program, the child will also be given one-on-one tests administered by a certified diagnostician. The results of these tests will determine which brain exercises and techniques are most suited to your child’s needs and strengths.

Learn more about this wonderful training program at http://www.brainpotentialinstitute.com.

A colleague once remarked that in his experience working with families and children with ADHD, fathers rarely participate in behavior modification programs. This phenomenon has more to do with cultural forces than anything else; generally speaking, topics covered in these programs fall under the mother’s domain (time management, organization, and self-control). Such traditional parenting programs seem more relevant to mothers than fathers.  However, the success of a holistic ADHD treatment program requires the involvement and active participation of both parents. Fathers have just as much influence as mothers when it comes to a child’s academic achievement and self-esteem.

University at Buffalo assistant professor Dr. Gregory Fabiano recognizes this and designed the COACHES program for his dissertation. For his research, he recruited kids between 6  – 12 years of age and separated them into two groups – a group of fathers and children who received traditional treatments for ADHD families. This traditional program involves training on how to deal with behavioral problems and other symptoms of the disorder. Another group received the same traditional treatment plus a sports program called COACHES (Coaching Our Acting-Out Children: Heightening Essential Skills).

In the COACHES group, fathers and their kids participated in daily activities for eight weeks. During the first hour, fathers stayed in a group training meeting while their kids worked on soccer drills.  After that, fathers and kids played soccer together as a way for them to apply what they learned.  To make sure that they’ve made the most of the program, fathers are given a homework assignment to practice in the context of the game.  Then dads get to share what they learned to other caregivers at home and continue to implement these techniques.

Dr. Fabiano noted that dads in the COACHES group had lower drop-out rates, were more likely to complete their homework assignments, and rated it as a better treatment. Additionally, dads felt a stronger sense of community in the program and lost their sense of isolation after meeting fellow fathers of ADHD kids.  Instead of feeling defensive about having children with behavioral problems and challenged in sports, they steered things towards a positive direction and helped their child build self-esteem and self-restraint.

You can find out more about the COACHES program at the University at Buffalo Center for Children and Families website. Meanwhile, here are other ways to get fathers more involved in ADHD treatment.

Do activities together and apply parenting skills here

You can actually replicate what the COACHES program does by joining your child in a physical activity he or she can do well – running, martial art, bowling, etc.  This is a great time to cheer you child on and correct any misbehaviors he or she might make. Additionally, the nature of the sport also promotes certain skills like self-control and good sportsmanship.

Teach basic skills

Is your child not fond of sports? Another way to spend time with your child is to teach him or her a skill or hobby you know, such as carpentry, fishing, or rebuilding cars. Even if this hobby is as simple as cooking, take your child with you and use this as a way to bond and boost his or her sense of self-worth.

Support your child’s treatments

Attend doctor’s appointments with your child and find out as much as you can about your child’s condition and treatment. Ask the doctor what you can do to support your child’s treatment plan.

Several months ago, I blogged about how ADHD can be caused by retained primitive reflexes.  For those who missed this, let me give you a brief recap about this condition. Primitive reflexes are an infant’s automatic reaction to certain stimuli, which are designed to protect them from harm and facilitate their neurological development. A baby’s tight grasp on your finger is a good example of a primitive reflex. As the baby grows, the brain integrates these primitive reflexes so they can evolve into higher brain processes like logic and reasoning. However, the integration process can sometimes be problematic, and the baby ends up “retaining” the primitive reflexes into childhood. These retained reflexes can cause symptoms of ADHD and other neurologic problems.

A group of experts from Purdue University recently discovered a simple technique to treat retained reflexes and reduce hyperactivity among children with ADHD.  This technique is no other than re-learning to crawl!

According to Nancy O’Dell, a professor in child development and specialist in learning disabilities, ADHD hyperactive behavior is due to a symmetric tonic neck reflex. This is the reflex babies use when they assume the crawling position – they bend their knees and extend the arms, head, and neck.  Normally, the symmetric tonic reflex disappears when the child’s neurological and muscular development lets limbs move independently for actual crawling. But if a child did not crawl enough or crawl properly, there may be problems with the integration of this reflex and cause issues in childhood.  Some of these issues include ADHD-like behaviors like difficulty writing, inability to sit down, and short attention span.

Right now, Nancy O’Dell is training four teachers on crawling exercises that they can use to help their students stay attentive and calm in class.  The teachers will work with four hyperactive students 15 minutes each day for the next eight months and if they prove to be successful, the exercises may be a regular part of the school curriculum.  The crawling exercises are actually more challenging than they seem because they require the child to hold the neck up while moving on hands and knees.  However, the discomfort is said to go away with time, and results so far have been encouraging.

I’ll be looking into the results of these exercises once the eight-month period is over. You can learn more about this unusual treatment at the Miriam Bender Achievement Center.

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It’s not uncommon for doctors to prescribe powerful stimulants to children who cannot focus at school. In fact, many teachers suggest using Ritalin to control ADHD symptoms in the classroom, even before a child is properly diagnosed.  While it’s hard to blame overworked teachers who have to deal with noisy, hyperactive children every day, a Scandinavian study shows that adding white noise to a classroom is just as effective at helping kids focus than drugs.

The study was lead by Dr. Goran Sunderland from Stockholm University and involved the participation of 51 students at a school in Norway.  Before the experiment took place, their ability to pay attention in class was properly assessed.  Then, the students took a test where they had to remember as many items as possible for a list.  They were then asked to read out all the items they remembered, with white noise in the background or without.  The final results showed that those who had trouble paying attention and remembering items performed better with white noise turned on.

While the study could not explain exactly why white noise was able to help inattentive students, Dr Sunderland theorizes that it may have a positive influence on brain chemistry.  Children and adults with ADHD have low levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which makes the brain under-stimulated and moving at suboptimal levels.  One common symptom of ADHD is fidgeting – children and adults with the disorder can’t stop moving their feet or tapping their fingers. Dr Sunderland believes that this activity is their way of creating the neural noise that the brain needs to increase attention and arousal. Similarly, white noise – a random combination of different sound frequencies – is thought to boost neural activity, allowing the brain to work more effectively and helping the child focus and pay attention.

The study authors predict that their findings could help parents who are uneasy about medicating their child for ADHD. However, more research needs to be done before white noise can be recommended for classroom use, especially those with a mixture of students with and without ADHD.  For children who have no trouble paying attention, white noise is simply distracting noise. Additionally, different brains need different levels of white noise in order to work properly.

However, parents who are looking for ways to help their ADHD children can try to use these findings at home.  If your child has trouble concentrating on homework, try to keep an electric fan or air-conditioner running in the room.  These two appliances are one of the best sources of white noise.  For ADHD children who have trouble sleeping, sleep experts suggest playing a CD or mp3 of beach waves or falling rain to quiet their minds and lull them to sleep.