How to Help a Child With Attention Deficit Disorder Without Using Drugs

Children being diagnosed with attention deficits has reached epidemic proportions. Some experts in the field recommend changing your child's diet and making some lifestyle changes before trying a drug that can help, but not cure the problem.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Nutritional Multivitamins Supplements
• Prenatal Vitamins
• School Supplies

1. Get prenatal care. Many studies indicate that the mother's lifestyle while carrying her child can lead to developmental deficits and delays. Don't smoke or drink alcohol when pregnant. Go for regular prenatal checkups and take your prenatal vitamins.

2. Change your child's diet. Some experts believe children suffering from attention deficits lack essential fatty acids and complex B vitamins in their diet. Other studies indicate food allergies as the primary source of attention problems. Consult a doctor or nutritionist for the best diet scenario for your child.

3. Structure your child's day. Create and stick to a daily and nightly routine. Take the time to plan and integrate all aspects of your day into the routine from breakfast and bed time to homework and play time. Setting clear expectations for your child will help him or her prepare for transitions throughout the day with some sense of predictability.

4. Create a school routine for your child. Work closely your child's teacher to create a calendar and a daily log. Go over events with your child every evening and every morning so he or she will know exactly what to expect from the day.

5. Set up behavior modification plans with your child's teacher where certain behaviors are rewarded or discouraged both at home and at school.

6. Create school and homework logs to help your child keep track of work and projects that need to be done and review it daily.

7. Push for individualized class help. If your child has been diagnosed by the school district as having an attention deficit, then the school is responsible for providing every opportunity for your child to succeed academically in the least restrictive environment. If your child stays in a regular class, push the school to provide an aid for the class or specifically for your child. Make sure the teacher is qualified to meet your child's needs. If your child is placed in a special education class, make sure the student-teacher ratio is conducive to your child's learning needs.

Tips & Warnings

• Check with your doctor for nutritional supplements you can add to your child's diet.
• Try decreasing the amount of processed food your child eats.
• Teach your child how to organize and keep track of school work.
• Create job boards for your child to check daily at home.
• Find information on how to effectively parent your ADD or ADHD child, if you experience extreme frustration.

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[doban]

on 3/13/2009 very good tips

on 11/22/2005 Brainwave entrainment is a way to cure various mental-related conditions without drugs or the drugy side effects the may lead to drug dependency. Drugs aim to have the same affect as brainwave entrainment but effect more than just your brain and develop dependencies and side effects. Drug companies control the market so most people think there is no better way, and they assume when they hear "alternative medicine" it means to desert their doctors and use some stuff that they think doesn't work because its not well known. But you should be aware, you should have more sources than just the website that owns the product because many things out there are fraud and too good to be true. All you have to do is look around the web for what other people who have used it say. Also is a company doesn't tell you how the product works, it probably doesn't.

This is most certainly not true. Many natural treatments work much better than drugs for the simple fact that drugs are not natural and the human body doesnt like it. A healthy lifestyle can cure and prevent almost anything. A regular sleep schedule with 8-(preferably)10 hours of sleep and for adults 6-(preferably)8 hours of sleep. A healthy diet composed of mainly organic foods and not processed and packaged foods. Processed foods although may contain vitamins, are not absorbed into the body well and are very unhealthy. Following proportions to the food pyramid helps a lot too. Never eating candy and drinking nothing but water when thirsty. Some studies have shown that sugar does not lead to hyperactivity, but think of who wants the public to think that, and how much money they have, many more studies have shown that sugar does indeed cause hyperactivity. Always eat when hungry but never eat fast-foods or packaged chips and such.

Exercise is also a very important area of a healthy lifestyle. It is important to be doing some kind of activity for a good amount of time during the day. Also stay away from television and video games. They suck your brains out and literally lower your IQ and learning ability the more you watch it.

Counseling is not always the best approach to help someone with ADD/ADHD but it is good to have someone that the subject cant trust and talk to when it is needed.

Brainwave entrainment is not just for ADD/ADHD, it can help with any mental related conditions, and you'd be surprised how many components of the human body revolve around the brain. Virtually all of them. Brainwave entrainment is unbelievably safe and effective. Although not well known the research is done by very well educated neurologists who are trained in these areas. Most people are skeptic of the idea of stimulating your brain because it just sounds scary. To new and not well known. But if you Google around the internet looking for reviews on brainwave entrainment, you will get nothing but good reviews.

The leader in research and products for brainwave entrainment is the Transparent Corporation. Their newest product, the Neuro-Programmer 2, has sessions to cure ADD/ADHD, insomnia, increase your IQ, improve your immune system, wake you up, put you to sleep, and much, much more. There are over 116 sessions that target different areas of the brain to cause an affect. The way it works is, using brainwaves, to stimulate your brain! Different frequency waves help your brain do different things, so no matter what frequency wave you play, it will stimulate your brain, not mess it up. The sessions use different frequency waves to target specific areas of the brain that perform different tasks.

If your still a skeptic you can look around the internet for what others have to say about it and you can go to http://www.transparentcorp.com/affiliate/clickthrough.php?aff_id=9302176&loc=http://www.transparentcorp.com/products/np/ and look around there to find out more about the technology.
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on 11/22/2005 I wasn't diagnosed with ADD until I was 16 and a junior in high school. I began taking medication for it and immediately noticed improvements. My parents tried behavior modification before I went on medication, but even with all the charts, reward systems, color-coding, etc. I never felt like I could learn how to live like everyone else. Behavior modification helped, but I wouldn't depend on it without trying medication. ADD kids respond to behavior modification much more readily when they can focus on it.
When trying medication, be sure to encourage your child communicate and to tell you how it makes him feel. If he exhibits an undesirable change in behavior or just doesn't feel like himself, don't be afraid to go back to the doctor and try a different medication or dosage. I tried two types and two dosages before I found what worked. Trust your child to tell you when it's working or when it isn't. Also, it is also important for your child to like the doctor prescribing the medication. If he doesn't like the doctor or how she makes him feel, find another one. It is important for this time to be positive for your child.
Some parents want to give their kids a break from medication during the summer months. Taking medication can be a relief and taking it away can create problems. ADD is not solely exhibited in schools; it affects your child's life every day. ADD does not always go away when your child reaches adulthood. I've been taking medication for ADD for 10 years.

on 11/22/2005 Nutrition and sleep are two of the most important things in a healthy lifestyle, no matter what the issue, ADHD, depression, memory, you name it. Unprocessed foods are important because processed foods like cold cereal and things like that, although may have added vitamins, are not in their naturally state and cannot be properly absorbed into the body. Sleep is a necessity and helps tremendously with all sorts of issues.

on 11/22/2005 My daughter has ADD and had a hard time cleaning her room. She would go in and could not decide what to do. Her mind would start racing in every direction and she could not get started. She has overcame this problem. She now goes in with a paper and pen and writes down every thing she sees that needs to be done. Then she does one thing at a time and checks them. She knows she is finished when everything on her list is checked.