Sorry, speaking of he's tring to help me post this!!! Any way my question is does any one have ideas or know of book or website we could get some information from. Our small rural library has to inter-library loan some of the Franklin the Turtle books so I can imagine what they will have to do to get me these book! Thanks for all the wonderful things on this sight and again, Sorry about the interrupted question line!-

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), October 18, 2001

Answers

Michaele -- our five year old is (was) the same. We found that it was dietary -- he has food allergies to additives, preservatives and colorings -- not to mention a couple of fruits that caused really amazing mood swings (oranges and pineapple -- bad, bad, BAD!)

The doctor suggested Ritalin, but I am a "no drugs" kind of person, and we went looking for alternatives. We did an elimination diet (there are several available, we used the Feingold Diet) and found that it was purely the artificial additives and preservatives -- our solution was simply no more processed foods. He's been much better. The few times that he has been exposed has only confirmed to us what the problem is. We were out to lunch wiht my SIL and I left the table to go to the ladies room -- come back to find him eating ORANGE JELLO!!! ARGHH!!!

Ask your library to do a interlibrary search on "elimination diet" or "Feingold". There is also a Canadian published book called "Hard to Swallow" that cites the Canada Food Act and all of the lovely things that are allowed, by law, to be in our food. You'd be shocked. I'm sure that someone Stateside has published something similar.

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), October 18, 2001.

I have a friend with a daughter that has mild ADHD and sne gives her small amounts of coffee and that has really helped her. Ritalin is, after all, a stimulant, so there is soe science to back this up. I would think about food allergies as well-my children have them, and while they did not have ADHD they felt ever so much better after we eleimanted allergic foods from their diet-my son has stopped complaining about headaches and stomach aches and dosn't have nearly the moodiness that he did before. Good Luck!

-- Kelly in Ky (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), October 18, 2001.

Hi Micheale,

My daughter is 8 and we have gone thru this too, although she has never been diagnosed since we rarely go to the doctor. But I do alot of reading.

I have read that straight black coffee will help, although I did not notice a difference with her.

The one thing that I noticed that helped was T.V. ~ We completely eliminated it. The T.V. gives them rapid flashes of noise and lights and to an ADHD child it is like sirens going off in their head. They recommend books on tape because it stimulates the brain to create pictures in their mind.

At first I thought it wasn't helping, until I reverted back to letting her watch movies, and boy did I see the difference then! I also notice her creativity level has improved dramaticly! (By the way we homeschool).

Hope that helps somewhat. Lots of info out there on the net, best of luck to you!

-- Primitive Passion (oldquiltlover@hotmail.com), October 18, 2001.

You know, I think Adhd is mostly an excuse for doctors to pass out drugs. Kid's that are hyper probably just need to find something to keep there hands busy. And an energetic parent. These kids are more likely to be the go getters when they get older. If they can't concentrate on one thing to long give them a variety of things they can do and can come back to the other one later. Just pray a lot and take your vitamins.

-- mindy (speciallady@countrylife.net), October 18, 2001.

ADD and ADHD are real. I know, I have ADD. You do not know what it takes me to sit and concentrate long enough to even post the short posts that I do. My son is ADD too. You do learn tricks to getting things done though, like using a timer when there is absolutely something that must be done. I have learned to concentrate to sew and knit and things like that by using a timer. Just do it for 15 minutes and then I can reward myself. Both me and my son have had allergies since we were born. Nose allergies, food allergies, medicine allergies, even smells make us sick. Home schooling is the best thing for a kid who cannot concentrate. The thing is many ADD or ADHD people are extremely bright. I believe I've read that people like Einstein and Edison had ADHD. Hang in there.

-- vicki in NW OH (thga76@aol.com), October 18, 2001.

My husband is a child therapist and he would say (he often does) that ADHD is WAAAAAAYYYY overdiagnosed. However, he has also seen enough kids who were legit ADHD to know that sometimes medication is a tremendous help. So, my further advice is to check with a pediatrician. However, I also strongly agree that there is a coralation between TV and attention spans-so much so that we've turned our TV off-other than an occasional family movie-like one per week. Its helped ALL of us, and I've even had teachers remark on how calm and attentive in school our kids are. Its helped my attention and concentration, not to mention freeing up time for other things.

-- Kelly in Ky (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), October 19, 2001.

I am a homeschool mom with my youngest one adhd. I am also blessed with a supportive mother in law who is a special ed. teacher. Any books you get from the library will probably be through an inter- library loan from the colleges. Don't worry about putting out the librarian, its her job. I think the only book I read was a college text called Exceptional Children.

Most information and books on adhd want to focus on fixing this and controling it. The classrooms full of zombied drug-addicts reflects this approach. Ritalin has been prescribed to children since the early 60s and has proven out that it is no benefit to the children taking it. It does not teach impulse control. It teaches drug addiction. The adults I have met who were adhd and did not take drugs to control it were really smart and creative and successful people.

The methods we are using with my child is to work WITH the energy and short attention span. She learned her alphabet and counting while jumping on a trampoline. Music and movement play a big role in our home. Happy upbeat music for learning and dancing. Classical music for sitting still and focusing.

We do not have outside tv programming. We have Little Bear videos which have classical music all through them and everyone is polite to everyone else. Surprisingly, she can actually sit through these calmly. We also have a VTech Learning Pad for her to use and she is now doing JumpStart Kindergarten with the computer. (yes, she HAS lost the ball from the mouse)

The biggest help to having a child like this is having lots of property for them to run and play. Yes, these kids ARE destructive, but I make a point of discussing with them if they learned anything when they make mistakes and she MUST take responsibility for cleaning up her messes. We do not have failures, we simply have skills not mastered.

I really don't look at add or adhd as a "disorder." I think God knew exactly what he was doing when he created these kids, even if the government schools can't cope with them. I do know some very nice kids who are taking medication for their condition, and they are happier under medication. But the reason they are happier is because now they "fit in" in their government classrooms and their medicated peers. Being like everyone else and peer pressure are concepts that have never occurred to my children. They know God created them as unique individuals and has a separate plan for each of us and want us to be who he created us to be.

There are several resources for homeschooling "exceptional chldren" you can do an online search for. I will look for my list of resources and post it for you when I find it.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), October 19, 2001.