Like many adoptive parents, I worry from time to time whether the poor pre-natal care and early nutrition that my kids received in Russia might have affected their brain development. I worry about whether impaired brain development might hamper their performance in school and restrict them in later life.

Maybe now I can stop worrying so much.

Today's New York Times carried a front page story about two astounding... more

Warning: This is going to be one of those soapbox posts. So if you don't want to read a rant about food that can harm your kids, it's time to click elsewhere.

Whew! I feel better already.

Last week, the eminent British medical journal The Lancet published a study by British researchers that linked a very common food preservative to hyperactivity in children. They found that, when combined with certain common artificial colorings, the preservative, sodium benzoate caused children to lose focus and become hyperactive.

Why am I writing about this... more

I just got a warning at a non-adoption and non-parenting related bulletin board for telling people they were saying ignorant and uninformed things about ADHD. I suggested they read non-biased books and websites about it...and apparently some people thought that was insulting.

Sigh.

Well, maybe I should not have suggested they were ignorant. But they were. They were parroting myths about ADHD that are widespread and just plain wrong...

Like this:

ADHD is caused by bad parenting. No, it's a neurochemical imbalance.

ADHD... more

I know I am giving my age away by quoting this old public service message about the dangers of drugs, but that slogan has been on my mind for the past week or so, largely because we have made the choice to give my younger son drugs for ADHD. Drugs specifically meant to effect his brain. Therefore: this is your brain, this is your brain on drugs.

Drugs = frying your brain.

In Little J's case, if I were able to redo the commercial it might first picture an egg frying in a pan,... more

Well folks, it's only taken about 6 months from our first social worker visit to our most recent pediatric psychiatric trip but Little J has finally been diagnosed...with ADHD. Complete with his very own prescription.

After spending 6 months searching and reading every single ADHD website and about 5 ADHD books (more are in my pile) I wasn't the least bit surprised by the dx, but it still managed to unsettle me a little. I guess it's because now, when I read the books, instead of focusing on Little J's symptoms and thinking 'this has to be it,'... more

This post is a continuation of my previous post reviewing The AD/HD Book: Answers to Parents' Most Pressing Questions, by Beth Ann Hill and James Van Haren.

This book is very sympathetic to the parents of children with ADHD and recognizes that most of us are trying our best to help our children, instead of the prevailing view in the world that parents of children with... more

We are in the process of getting Little J evaluated for ADHD. So far he's been seen by a child psychologist, who gathered information from us and his teachers and saw enough behaviors in his session with her that she recommended we see a child psychiatrist. My husband and I did a session with the psychiatrist and last week Little J had his own session with her. When she brought him out to me she mentioned that he did some things in the session that she expected, as well as some things she didn't suspect. My meeting with her is not until the end of next week... more

Last week I posted a review of the book Delivered from Distraction, a book about coping with ADHD in a positive way. Here's part 1 and here's part 2. One of the suggestions that the author gives is to try a form of physical therapy called Brain Gym. They... more

This is the second part of my book review for Delivered From Distraction: Getting the Most Out of Life With Attention Deficit Disorder, by Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey. To read the first part of my review, click here.

Another treatment they recommend in addition to ADD medication and exercise is Essential Fatty Acid supplementation. Most people... more

Several weeks ago when we took Little J to see a Clinical Social Worker one of the things she suggested we do was read a copy of Delivered From Distraction, subtitled "getting the most out of life with Attention Deficit Disorder." She suggested it so that we could get some ways to deal positively with Little J's behaviors; she also suggested it so that we could find out more about alternative/complimentary therapies for ADD.

I thought the book was... more