Posts Tagged ‘ADD’

Ways to Help You and Your Child Transition Back to School

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Camp is over. (Sigh) We were blessed by a great summer of fun with some wonderful campers!  Now, it is time for them to hit the books!  Whether they are off to public, private or home schooled, here are some tips to help your child get back in the saddle, or rather,  their desk again.

Remember, it is normal for all children to experience back to school anxiety, but especially those with special needs.  Remind your child that he is not the only student who is uneasy about going back to school.  Practicing some of these ideas can have great pay offs in reducing your families stress in the coming days.

~ Be ready as a family. Try to do your back-to-school shopping ahead of time.
~ Talk with your child about things at school and ways they can help.  Ex: Involve them in making healthy lunches.  Encourage them to be responsible for bringing home teacher communication, doing their homework.
~ Get into a routine of getting up and going to bed at the proper time for school.  Everyone benefits from a good night’s rest and a regular routine.
~ Whenever possible, you and your child should meet their teacher before school begins.
~ If your child is attending a new school, take a tour of the school and find out where their classroom is.
~ Get your child’s daily schedule of classes and the school calendar.  Routines, schedules…etc. are a great comfort to most children and teaches them about planning ahead.
~ Find out and follow the school’s drop off and pick up instructions.  Make a plan with your child so that he knows when and where to meet you.
~ Talk to your child about any potential anxiety producers.  Even children who are home schooled may be concerned about a specific academic subject or educational goal for the year.  Just talking about their concerns will often help head off the worry bug.

Encourage, encourage, encourage.  This will go a long way in helping your child to reach their potential this school year.  Point out the positive aspects of starting school like seeing old friends and making new ones as well as the fun of learning new things.  And of course, pray for your child, their classmates and their teachers.

Remember: God knows the plans he has for your child!

Jeremiah 29:11

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Colleen’s Thoughts: Parent’s Struggles, ADHD, Medications, etc…

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

A week ago, I attended the ADDA Southern Region Annual conference. It is always a blessing to go and hear what is on the horizon for children and adults with ADD, ADHD. It is good to meet with others in the field workin
g with this group of children and their families. Those who attend were educators, physicians, various clinicians and parents. I highly recommend that you attend. I always come away with something new to try or ponder. The conference usually bounces back and forth each year alternating between Houston and Dallas.

This year, I had opportunities to visit with a number of parents. While they came to my booth to hear about Charis Hills, I heard stories of heartaches for their children and themselves as they face difficult decisions. The input and pressure from friends and family are not always helpful.

Often in the past, pharmaceutical companies have had booths representing the latest medications. I did not see any at this year’s conference. This year, I only heard about one “new” medication. It is essentially, an old medication typically used to treat high blood pressure, reformulated so that it is longer acting. I heard several success stories related to this. I have spoken with many parents trying to make decisions about whether to put their child on medication or whether to try a new medication. I hear them agonizing over this decision and the difficulty they face when confronted with so many opinions. There are many other suggestions such as vitamins, supplements…etc. on the market. While we all benefit from better nutrition and in particular from eating whole foods rather than processed, these are family decisions. The frustrations that families experience is often increased by well meaning individuals who equate the child’s need for medication with their parenting skills. These attitudes are very archaic and they sadden me. You wouldn’t criticize a parent for putting glasses on their nearsighted child. Makes me question just who is nearsighted.

Each of us face challenges daily. The words that we say can never be taken back. We can encourage one another or say things that tear others down. I attended a Family Camp this past weekend. We were discussing teens and texting, Twittering…etc. I was reminded of a friend’s life verse: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock, my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14. How much better our world would be if we always sought to please Him?

- Colleen

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Top 3 Reputable Online Resources for Parents of Kids with ADHD and ADD

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

The internet (and most likely your email box) is full of sources claiming to have the latest treatment or remedy for ADHD and ADD.  Who should you believe?  Where should you go for information about ADHD that is reputable?  Believe it or not, there are some very good and reliable sources on the internet that are not out to just make a quick buck.  The following three web resources use medical professionals to write their articles and use a peer review process for online articles.  This means that the articles are less likely to be based on rumors and more likely to be based on scientific research and professional experience.  Please feel free to comment and leave links to other great resources.

ADDitude Magazine

ADDitude Magazine

1. ADDitude Magazine

www.additudemag.com

ADDitude Magazine is a very helpful quarterly publication that has tons of information on ADHD and other learning disabilities.

All scientific or medical information in Additude magazine is reviewed before publication by an extensive board of scientists and medical doctors. This sets it apart from many online resources, in that the articles have good science and research behind them.

Many of their articles are available online and cover many topics including, How to Succeed at Work with Adult ADD, How to Stop ADHD Kids from Hitting, and Take it Outside! Treating ADHD with Exercise.

Learning Disabilities Association of America

Learning Disabilities Association of America

2. The Learning Disabilities Association of America

www.ldanatl.org

The LDA of America had been around since 1964 and now is the largest non-profit volunteer organization advocating for individuals with learning disabilities.

Their website is a great resource for general information on types of disabilities, medications and treatments, advocating for your child, and more.  It is  great place to start any research on learning disabilities.

They also have many articles written by medical professionals and experts in various fields. The LDA’s wide selection of online articles include: Medications for ADHD/ADD, Summer Activities for Children with Learning Disabilities, Preventing Parent Burn Out, and Helping the Learning Disabled Adolescent Learn to Drive.

CDC ADHD

CDC ADHD

3. The CDC (Center for Disease Control)

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/ADHD/

The Center for Disease Control has a very informative page about ADHD.  (They also have detailed pages on all other major learning disabilities.)  Their ADHD pages detail facts and figures on ADHD, treatments for ADHD, research, articles, and links to other reputable websites on ADHD.  All articles and studies that appear on the CDC’s website go through an intense scientific peer review process.  The only real downside is that many of the articles are intended for the medical community and can be hard to understand.  However, the Facts Page, Diagnosis Page, and Treatments Page, summarize much of the scientific research into language that is easy to understand.  This is a great site to learn the basics about ADHD and is a good source for articles that delve deeper into the science.

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