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for Parents and Teachers of ADD/ADHD Children IMPORTANT: Use this information at your own risk. This information is not to be used in place of appropriate medical advice. If there are problems, always consult your physician. Welcome to our Newsletter! Feel free to tell your friends about this service, or to forward this to them! Links to this Newsletter are sent to you via our auto-responder, so they will come to you automatically. If you have any problems with the service, please let us know right away by email. To subscribe, send an email to addnewsletter@webmailstation.com, and the link code to your first issue will arrive immediately via autoresponder, with following issues arriving about every five days. Please only subscribe once to our robot autoresponder. For more information on ADD or ADHD, visit the web's most comprehensive ADD ADHD Information Library for parents, teachers, and professionals, at NewIdeas.Net. |
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Is it Attention Deficit Disorder or is it .....? Tourettes Syndrome During the assessment process it is of great importance for the physician or clinician to consider other possible causes of inattention, impulsivity, or hyperactivity in your child (or teen, or yourself). In fact, this is probably the most important element of a good assessment. There are several possible causes of these behaviors, especially in children, and the clinician must have great certainty that these other possible causes have been ruled out before giving the label of "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" to your child. One of the first things to have ruled out is a thyroid problem. Only MD's can do this, so off they go for a physical. This is not a common problem, but it does happen, even in children. Thyroid problems can cause inattention, learning problems, even hyperactivity and impulsivity in some. Once that has been ruled out by the doctor, then other environmental or emotional causes of inattention, impulsivity, or hyperactivity need to be ruled out. Depression in children often causes inattention, as in adults, and also often causes impulsivity and irritability and excessive restlessness or agitation. Anxiety disorders in children can result in agitation, impulsivity, hyper- vigilance, motor restlessness, and excessive startle responses, as well as inattention to task. Significant emotional traumas can also result in these behaviors. Physical or sexual abuse, divorce or other significant loss, or the death of a loved one. Physical traumas can also cause the same behaviors as ADD/ADHD, such as a minor head injury from an auto accident, sports injury, falling as a child, and so on. For example, one of my "ADHD" kids, who was extremely hyperactive and also very oppositional and at times violent toward others, took part in one of our research projects. As part of the study we "brain mapped" him (QEEG) at the onset of the study (for more on this, see Dr. Amen's book on the "Images of the ADD Brain." or something like that). We saw two small head injuries in the back of the head and one big injury in the front of the head. The frontal problem was expected, but the problems in the back of the head were not. I simply asked the parents, "When did he bash the back of his head?" They thought for a minute and remembered that when he was about six weeks old he had fallen out of his crib onto a hard flood so hard that they had to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital. They had forgotten about the incident during the clinical interview, but the mapping showed a clear problem. He fell on the back of the head, causing those injuries, and the brain "sloshed" forward causing the frontal injuries. These injuries have resulted in a lack of inhibition and cortical control, temper outbursts, and learning problems. The diagnosis here would not be ADD/ADHD, but rather a head injury. Mark my words, in the next five years you will see lots of research showing that playing soccer causes minor head injuries from "heading" the ball. A brain researcher friend of mine has seen this several times now in treating soccer players (professional and collegiate) for memory problems and other cognitive problems. Every once in a while we see someone who has been exposed to toxins come down with cognitive problems. We live one of the biggest agricultural areas in the world, and sometimes people get sprayed by chemicals, or get exposed to pesticides other ways. This can result in all kinds of neurological problems. Tourette's Syndrome is also commonly misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD. Think of it as basically ADD/ADHD with tics, and it is a close genetic cousin to ADD/ADHD. But it is important to know the difference, as the treatment for ADD/ADHD is often stimulants, and sometimes stimulant medications can make Tourette's worse. What are the major things to look for then? The big clue is in knowing whether the target behaviors (inattention, or impulsivity, or hyperactivity) have always been apparent to some degree or other, or if they just started one day. And if they just "started one day," then did they start as the result of some event (traumatic or environmental) ? ADD/ADHD is usually "always there" while the other things tend to have a starting date. Tourette's is the exception, as sometimes it has "always been there," and sometimes it has a starting date. Realistically, if it looks like ADD/ADHD, then it probably is, but as a clinician the other possibilities must always be ruled out before making a diagnosis and developing a treatment plan. |
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Do It Yourself Diagnosis: Using the Home TOVA A new concept in the diagnosis and treatment of ADD/ADHD has hit the scene. As a clinician I must confess that I have mixed feelings about it. And yet, for you who are parents, this might be a very great help as you "take control" of your child's treatment program. It also might save you some money as you travel through this diagnosis/treatment process. The Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) has been the Standard of Excellence as a diagnostic tool used in ADD/ADHD treatment programs for about 10 years now. I personally own TOVA #0000014, and I've been using this tool since 1990. Thousands of clinicians around the world now use this test routinely in their diagnostic work-ups for ADD/ADHD (see our Information Library's section on DIAGNOSIS) Now, the people who brought the TOVA to those of us who are clinicians are releasing a home version as a "screening tool" for parents. This Home TOVA is not a full clinical version. Rather, it is a "screening tool" that can be used at home, on the home computer, to help parents in making the decision as to whether or not a full work-up by a clinician should be sought. The Home TOVA comes with two (2) "screening" tests. This means that a subject can be given a "baseline" test to see whether or not he/she is within "normal" or average ranges (to help in answering the question: "Should we seek professional help? Should we order some Attend? Etc.). Later, if any form of treatment is sought and initiated, the treatment itself can be evaluated to see if it is effective, or at least to see if it is making a difference in various neurological functions such as Reaction Time, Consistency of Performance, Attention to Task, and Impulse Control. Here's how it can be used: The Question for this example is, "Does my child need some kind of help?" The Home TOVA is acquired and Test 1 is given at home on the computer in the Family Room. If the test is "out of the normal ranges" then the parents might consider either (1) a professional work-up, or (2) beginning a trial of a nutritional intervention such as Attend and/or Extress. If the parents decide to try the Attend/Extress route, then after the subject has used the products for 45 days, simply re-test him/her and compare the results with the first test. If they are improved to a "significant degree" then this intervention could be continued with confidence. If there are no "significant" improvements, then the intervention could be discontinued with confidence. If the parents decide to get a professional work-up instead (or afterward), then they will go into the professional's office knowing that they are not just throwing their money away, or go in feeling like "It's all my fault, somewhere I've been a bad parent..." , but rather having a great deal of confidence that there are neurological issues involved in the situation. No, this Home TOVA does not replace the Clinical Version of the TOVA, and the clinician may well (and should) administer the Clinical Version as part of his assessment. For you, my readers, this should be a very helpful source of information as you "take charge" of treatment. Do you want to know if your child is really responding to that new medication? Get the Home TOVA. Want to know if that investment you are making in EEG Biofeedback training is paying off? Get a Home TOVA. How much does a Home TOVA program cost? About $30 for the disk, which has two (2) tests. What a deal! This is so new, however, that distribution is still being set up by the manufacturer. So the big question really is, "How do I get a Home TOVA?" For the moment, the best answer is for you to call the homeTOVA office at 1-800-PAY-ATTN.
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Products, Books, Web Sites . . . Links to OVER 800 ADD ADHD and related web sites are available through the new ADHD Links Project. This site covers Attention Deficit Disorder, other Related Medical Conditions, and resources for Educators. Great site for research, treatment, or resource links. This site is new as of January 1, 2001. Complete Planet is a Search Engine of Databases and other Search Engines. It is a great resource for research on any subject. This link will take you to their list of sites with information on Attention Deficit Disorder. http://www.completeplanet.com/Health_Medicine/Mental_Health/index.asp MentalHealth.com is a great resource for information on medications. Non-Ritalin approach to ADD/ADHD treatments discussed at these sites . . . For data from our study on the effectiveness of the ATTEND nutraceutical medicine, and for a comparison between ATTEND, and Ritalin, and EEG Biofeedback training, visit our new site at ADD-Products.com and then visit the RESEARCH section. Attend and Extress. Amino acid based nutraceutical medicines. Good products. For an in-depth discussion and product information... EEG Biofeedback therapy is discussed at several sites, including the ADD Information Library at NewIdeas.Net. The EEG Spectrum site has a number of studies and an overwhelming amount of information on this treatment technology. The TOP 100 List of Advanced Nutritional Products, all in one place! Go to the VAXA International web site to see the greatest collection of breakthrough health products, from effective Weight Loss products, to Cardiovascular Care, pH balancing, stress reduction, and so very much more! You deserve these products!
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Published by The NewIdeas.Net Family of ADD ADHD Web Sites Copyright © 2000 NewIdeas.Net. All rights reserved. Information in this newsletter is not intended to replace medical advice from your physician. Always consult with your physician.
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