Exercise May Reduce Distractibility in Children with ADHD

A new study from Dr. Pontifex of Michigan State University, published in the Journal of Pediatrics has found some potential good news for parents of children with ADHD. Especially parents wanting to help their children with as little medication as possible. Dr. Pontifex and his research team had a group of 40 children between the ages of 8 and 10 years old (20 with ADHD, 20 without), participate in one of two different activities (20 minutes of reading while at rest, or 20 minutes of aerobic exercise on a treadmill). After completing the experiment in a way to make sure the only thing that could create the differences observed was related to the exercise, they found that all children (with and without ADHD) performed better on reading and math tasks, including greater accuracy of responses. While the study sample was small and would need to be replicated with a much larger sample to ensure the consistency of the results, the information and results provide some interesting possibilities. Based on these results, 20 minutes of aerobic exercise before tasks that require focus and sustained effort may help children with ADHD perform better and more accurately. Some questions still remain however, for instance, how long after the aerobic exercise can these results be expected to last?

Of other particular interest, not reported elsewhere that I can find, while most other variables examined in this study showed expected statistical significance, one variable that was tested, IQ, showed no significant differences between the two groups. In other words, children in this study with ADHD and without ADHD had similar enough IQ scores that the based on statistical standards they are considered "the same". Again, this sample is so small that more advanced exploration is needed. However the results also point out an important aspect of children with ADHD, they are just as intelligent (on statistical average) as children without ADHD.

What are your thoughts about these study results?

Girls with ADHD are More Likely to Cause Self-Harm!

A recent study (published August 13, 2012 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology) by Hinshaw and Colleagues found that girls who were diagnosed early with ADHD had significantly higher rates of suicide attempts and self-harming behaviors.

Early School Attendance May Lead to ADHD Diagnosis.

While I do not want to add to the belief and outcry that AD/HD is over or mis-diagnosed, I found this recent article very interesting and the findings are very much worth consideration. The findings of this study are very interesting. The authors used a government healthcare database (Canada) that included about 96% of the population in the provinces they investigated. To be more sure that their findings were not due to the increased popularity of the AD/HD diagnosis, they analyzed the data of children born between 1997 and 2008. They found that children who were born closer to the cuttoff date for school (December 31 in Canada) were 30% (boys) and 70% (girls) more likely to be diagnosed with AD/HD than those born in January (oldest children in the classroom). While they found that the incidence of AD/HD diagnosis did increase over the decade they analyzed (1997-2008), the "Relative Risk of Diagnosis" did NOT differ statistically significantly (a fancy way of saying that the slight differences that did take place did not matter) from year to year.

ADHD Treated!

Sorry for the massive delay in getting this post out. Anyway, here it is:

The truth be told, ADHD is a complex and multifaceted diagnosis. The treatment of which causes extreme controversy almost instantly. It is very hard to find good, accurate information regarding the treatment of ADHD and its even harder to know what information to believe.

Officially, research shows that a combination of medication and psychotherapy is the best type of treatment for the diagnosis of ADHD. However, in my work with people diagnosed with ADHD, most have been given the impression that the only treatment is medication. Since I'm not a medical doctor I won't spend my time with this post talking about medicated treatment for ADHD. I just wanted to point out that both the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that a multi-modal (many methods - medication, individual or family therapy, educational guidance) approach be used in the treatment of ADHD. Below is a breakdown of some therapeutic treatments for ADHD.

ADHD - Diagnosed!

So what does it take to be diagnosed with ADHD? Actually, diagnosing ADHD is as complicated and controversial as the actual diagnosis. To be clear, there are specific symptoms that point mental health and medical professionals to this particular diagnosis, however there are various ways of documenting and verifying those symptoms as an actual diagnosis of ADHD.

NEW ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines!

The American Academy of Pediatrics just released new guidelines for the treatment and diagnosis ADHD. This change has the potential to be a great blessing to many families if parents are aware of what the guidelines actually say and mean. Below is a quick overview of the important changes, followed by a few suggestions every parent and family should know regarding these changes.

A Thousand Small Moments: Session 7

In conjunction with the parenting booster classes offered at the Michigan State University, Couple and Family Therapy Clinic additional material for the latest class is below:

Session 7 - Responding with Flexibility

Now that you are familiar with and using love and limits consistently, and have a good understanding of where your parenting techniques stem from, it is time to really become flexible. An important formula to remember is: Inflexible Children + Inflexible Parents = Explosive Behavior. 
There will be times when your child will be too tired, too hungry, too upset, or too overwhelmed to be able to comply with your requests. Imagine a time in your life when you were too overwhelmed (either with stress, emotion, or exhaustion) to be able to respond appropriately to a request you otherwise would have had no problem doing so. The difference between you and your child (and the main reason you don't typically throw yourself on the ground and scream) is that you have learned over your lifetime how to properly handle your emotions so that even when you respond inappropriately is doesn't look like a full blown temper tantrum. Here are a few tips on responding with flexibility: