ADHD Drug Free Solutions Blog

The international food chain Aldi is wiping food colours from its food products to ensure their younger customers aren’t adversely effected.

Aldi has gained environmental accreditation in Queensland, Australia, and can now claim to be an “EcoBiz Partrner”.

Its eco efficiency measures have made it the first grocery retailer to achieve the prestigious ecoBiz accreditation.

The following is part of an article found in The Australian, Australia’s national newspaper of 11 June 2009:

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ADHD Children need to be taught how to read silently, as well as in a group situation.  This is not because they are ‘slow’ or not intelligent; it is part of the makeup of having ADHD symptoms.

Group work at school which can be adapted at home:

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Children with ADHD symptoms have great difficulty reading, however, there are strategies you can use to counter this problem.

Before your child starts to read material required for school, brief her/him beforehand on what that material is about. Good readers draw on prior knowledge and personal experience when they read a book, especially one they must write about.

This means that you will have to have read the book or other reading material before your child does.

Talk to your child about the content and get them to give their views on the subject matter.  This starts to build some background knowledge, and practices reading comprehension.
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It is always good to understand what the root cause of any disorder may be.  ADHD is no exception.

Dr Miriam L Bender’s research gives us breakthrough information on why many children experience behavioural and academic difficulties.

This is a somewhat technical blog post, but it’s important to have this kind of research to assist in understanding how behavioural difficulties operate, which ultimately provides insight in how to help overcome them.

These behavioural and subsequent academic difficulties stem from an immature Symmetric Tonic Neck Reflex (STNR).

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The traditional style of academic instruction is difficult for an ADHD child, as writing tends to be an area that causes great difficulty.

Because ADHD children cannot effectively express themselves on paper, they are often unable to demonstrate their knowledge. They can exert developed verbal skills and be knowledgeable about a topic, but unable to communicate what they know on paper.

When writing is slow and laborious, as is the case for many an ADHD child, it is necessary to adjust the traditional techniques when teaching a non-ADHD child to write.
To begin with, we’ll look at why writing is such a struggle.

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One of the obvious characteristics of ADHD-diagnosed children is that they are hyperactive and have difficulty staying still.

When performing a sedentary task, they constantly fidget, squirm, wriggle, change sitting positions, look around, change writing utensil, shift their books around the desk or table, and so on.

Until recently no one has been able to pin-point WHY they do this.

Psychology Professor Mark D. Rapport of the University of Central Florida published findings of studies of 8 to12-year old boys in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology that may explain why children with ADHD move around a lot.
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Anyone who has had personal experience with the anti-social behaviour that the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can produce will indeed feel for the families who experience them 24 hours a day.

Medicating the ADHD child is not the answer.  Apart from the proven harmful effects on the child’s health, medicating also gives a false sense of security that the anti-social behaviours have gone.

When the medication has worn off, the extreme behaviours of the ADHD child seem even worse.
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Over twenty years’ ago, it was part of growing up to fear your elders.

You feared your parents and your teachers and you were told that was ‘respecting’ them.

It’s a good thing that these extremes of bygone eras are over.

There are, of course, reverse extremes when children don’t have any visible respect for anyone, not even themselves.

However, to prevent or stop a child’s habit of lying, it is necessary to address the fear that triggers this negative behaviour.

Here are some strategies to prevent or stop lying:
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Easter is in about five weeks’ time.

Are you already thinking of the goodies you might buy your children?

Do candied and chocolate eggs come to mind?  Hollow eggs or ones filled with gooey, mysterious, unidentifiable fillings?

CAUTION:  such ‘goodies’ are filled with chemicals, toxins and synthetic food dyes and artificial colourings, which can have a dramatic impact on the behaviour of children, especially children with ADHD!

So that your children are not deprived of ‘colour’ on Easter Sunday, they could perhaps paint their faces with organic colours.

The Organic India range of yellow & Green Gulal are 100% safe and chemical-free.
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We have taken the following article from the University of Queensland’s (UQ) Summer, 2008 edition of “Graduate Contact”, the Alumni magazine.

“For sufferers of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, daily trembling and shaking can be unbearable, however new UQ research could assist in helping patients regain control.

A team of UQ researchers is using their skills from a number of disciplines to help improve the success rate of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery.

DBS surgery has been used in patients with neurological and movement disorders including Parkinson’s disease, depression, dystonia, epilepsy, Tourette syndrome and recently Alzheimer’s disease on an experimental basis.
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