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Boston Globe
Johanny Hernandez is alone among her Latino relatives and friends to have a child diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Growing up in the Dominican Republic, the 30-year-old mother of four had never heard of this condition - until her son's kindergarten teacher suggested that he be evaluated. Many of her friends seemed skeptical about ADHD, insisting that her son was just very active, sometimes mischievous, but not "loco," the Spanish word for crazy. Still, her son's classroom behavior has improved since he started therapy and taking ADHD medication, and Hernandez tries to block out what she hears from others.
ADHD Studies Shed Little Light on Efficacy of Nonpharmacologic Treatments
Medscape News
Poor scientific assessment of nonpharmacologic treatments — including dietary and psychological therapies — for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is leaving physicians and their patients in the dark about their efficacy, new research suggests.
ADHD Study Puts Money Where the Brain Is
Sacramento Bee (CA)
You know the type. Heck, you may even be the type. You flit from task to uncompleted task, losing interest based on how hard and boring it becomes. You choose the task of least resistance and focus on immediate gains, not richer, more long-term rewards. For people with ADHD — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — such distractedness is not mere procrastination.
ADHD Symptoms 'Present in Most Children who Stutter'
News-Medical.net
Over half of school-age children who stutter (CWS) have sufficient attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms to warrant referral for clinical evaluation, the results of a US study of parental reports indicates.
ADHD Symptoms Linked to Phthalate Chemicals
ADDitude
There is a link between exposure to phthalate chemicals and the development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school-aged children according to a study published in Environmental Health News.
ADHD Teens More Likely to Drop Out
The Chart Blog, CNN
Teens with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — the most common childhood psychiatric condition in the United States — are less likely to finish high school on time than students with other mental-health disorders that often are considered more serious, according to a national study. The study, conducted by researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine, found that nearly one third of students with ADHD, twice the proportion as students with no psychiatric disorder, either drop out or delay high school graduation.
ADHD Teens: Homeschool or High School?
ADHD Dad Blog, ADDitude Magazine
Under so much pressure to succeed socially and academically in a new school, can my ADHD teenage daughter survive her first semester of high school? Can I, her anxious, overwhelmed ADHD dad, help her?
PsychCentral
A new grant has been awarded to the University of Pittsburgh and the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC to conduct a national study of the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children with autism spectrum disorders.
ADHD-RD Connection Confirmed and Refined
LDBlog
Writing in Pediatrics, Professor Kouichi Yoshimasu and colleagues reported that the chances of children and youths having reading disabilities is significantly higher among those who have ADHD than it is among the general population of children and youths.
ADHD: Backlash to the Backlash
Scientific American (blog)
The idea that ADHD drugs might be killing us represents just one of several ominous storylines associated with the disorder. In recent years, we've also heard speculation about whether ADHD is real, and if it is real, whether it's being grossly overdiagnosed. And then there are the drugs. These backlashes against childhood developmental diagnoses seems to rise and fall every few years, but lately it's burgeoning.
ADHD: Burden or Blessing? A New View Stirs a Debate
Herald-Tribune (FL)
When pediatricians diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, they often ask their patients whether they know anybody else with the problem. These days, children are likely to reply with a household name: Michael Phelps, the Olympic superstar, who is emerging as an inspirational role model among parents and children whose lives are affected by attention problems. But the emergence of a major celebrity with attention deficit has revealed a schism in the community of patients, parents, doctors and educators who deal with the disorder. For years, these people have debated whether it means a lifetime of limitations or whether it can sometimes be a good thing.
WBUR
The stereotypical boy with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder bounces off the wall of his classroom, unable to sit still or pay attention to lessons. Boys are three times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls, but a new study suggests that when girls do have the condition, they are likely to have serious challenges.
ADHD: It's Different for Women
ADDitude
Barely 31 years after "Attention Deficit Disorder" first appeared in the bible of psychiatry, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), front-line clinical therapists say that increasing awareness of the condition has led to many more girls being diagnosed while they're young. Even so, while girls and boys currently are diagnosed at a ratio of about 1 to 3—up from about 1 to 8 in the 1990s—the rate for diagnoses of adult women and men is about 1 to 1.
ADHD: It's Not Just a Kids' Problem
Florida Times-Union
Most of us find life, work, family and other daily responsibilities challenging at times, but if you find yourself unable to pay attention or to follow through on ordinary projects and other responsibilities, you may have a more serious problem than just the stresses of daily living. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, commonly known as ADHD, is a neurobiological condition that makes it difficult for people to focus on important tasks. Millions of adults - not just rambunctious kids - are showing symptoms every day.
The Daily Observer (Canada)
Rick Green has adult ADHD. And he has his son to thank for making him aware of it. Like many adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, the Canadian celebrity (he was part of the comedic troupe The Frantics and plays Bill on TV's Red Green Show) learned of his own challenges a few years ago at age 48 when one of his children was diagnosed with it.
ADHD: St. John's Wort May Not Affect Symptoms
Washington Post
Parents of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder sometimes seek alternative treatments if medication doesn't adequately relieve symptoms or causes unwanted side effects. Might one common choice, St. John's Wort, provide relief?
ADHD: the Tale of One Boy and a Dog
The Times (UK)
Liam Creed is not the most voluble of 17-year-olds. No small talk, speaks to a visitor when spoken to, and in that sense he is entirely normal. As a child Liam was naughty and difficult. He was 8 when a psychiatrist said he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). I am talking to Liam because his name is on the cover of a book that charts the story of a 14-year-old boy who has ADHD and has reached the last-chance saloon at school, when he is invited to spend one day a week working for a charity called Canine Partners, which trains dogs to help disabled people.
ADHD: Who Makes the Diagnosis?
CNN
As a toddler, Ian Barrier got expelled from day care. According to his mother: "They said, 'We think he has ADD or ADHD' and I'm like, 'What is that?" Ian, now 11, and his 9-year-old brother Aidan are just two examples of some 5 million children in the United States who have received the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a condition marked by impulsive behavior and a lack of focus. But although this is a medical condition with medical treatments available, often doctors aren't the ones suggesting a diagnosis.
Cleburne Times-Review (TX)
Residents know Brent Easdon as a member of the school board or as a lieutenant with the fire department. But most don't know about his struggles in school caused by his severe dyslexia. He agreed to talk about what he has overcome in hope of encouraging someone else.
Administration Hopes Changes to Alternative Program Brings Students Back to District
The Georgetown Record (MA)
The Alternative Program at Georgetown Middle High School was revamped this summer and now allows the district to service kids in the program better and may allow some special education students who want to come back into the district to be able to — as long as it's in compliance with their individual education plans (IEP).