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ADHD TREATMENT STRATEGIES--IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE- PART II

This is the 2nd article in this series, discussing in some detail the most common ADHD Treatments. In Part I, I discussed the first 6 treatments.

If you missed Part I, you can read it at:

http://www.ADHDStrategies.com/RxJunglePt1.asp

Continuing now with Part II of ADHD Treatment:

7. COUNSELING Although not very effective in the treatment of the core symptoms of ADHD, it has been found to be extremely helpful in the following areas:

• Group sessions for teaching Social Skills and Anger Management
• Parenting Groups to learn effective ways to deal with ADHD (and Associated Condition) Behavior
• Primary or adjunctive(additional) treatment for PTSD, abuse issues, anxiety, abandonment issues, panic disorder, depression, and oppositional defiant disorder

Counseling is an excellent adjunctive ADHD Treatment.
Find a counselor who has extensive experience in dealing with ADD/ADHD.

8. COACHING A Coach is different from a Counselor. He/she does not make a diagnosis of your condition, try to search out the causes and provide treatment. Instead, the Coach is more like a football or baseball coach. Coaching involves the following steps (among others):

• Evaluate where you are in your "journey" with ADHD
• Teaches you helpful techniques and skills
• Helps you implement these in your daily life.
• Most coaches deal with adults or teens, but some work with kids.
• Many coaches offer their services online.

Coaching is an excellent adjunctive ADHD Treatment, or in some cases a primary or stand-alone treatment.

9. BIOFEEDBACK Some very promishing work is being done in this field, showing that neurofeedback treatment for ADHD can change brain-wave activity. The following effects have been established:

• Beta waves can be increased (only if they are low)
• Theta waves can be reduced
• Failures of alpha blocking during tasks can be reduced.

These findings are very promising for ADHD Treatment.

Some practitioners have had great success by combining neurofeedback with counseling. Several commercial products are now available which utilize biofeedback. Watch for much more research in this area.

10. OPTOMETRIC VISION TRAINING(EYE EXERCISES) Proponents assert that some of the problems of ADHD are due to faulty eye movements and sensitivities. They have found that corrective exercises are helpful. Some have found that having the child read through special colored lenses makes a big difference.

Another use for this technique may be to reduce the mis-diagnosis of ADHD when poor binocular co-ordination mimics ADHD.

11. INNER EAR DYSFUNCTION Proponents feel that some of the ADHD symptoms come from inner ear dysfunction. They suggest treatment with various vitamins and minerals which improve inner ear function. I have not seen any good studies showing this to be effective.

12. CANDIDA-- "THE YEAST CONNECTION" Candida has been implicated as the cause, or a contributing factor, for many diseases--including ADHD. I, and most other physicians and researchers, can find no connection between "yeast" and ADHD and do not recommend manipulation of this for ADHD Treatment.

13. RETRAINING LARGE MOTOR MUSCLES Some babies go from lying down and scooting around to walking. They actually skip crawling all together. There is a group that feels very strongly that this skipping of the crawling phase, is a major factor in the develoopment of AHD. As a part of their ADHD treatment program, they have kids, of all ages, practice crawling, in hopes of improving their ADHD. Once again, I am not aware of any scientific basis for this treatment--just anecdotal stories.

14. FOOD ALLERGIES Many testimonials are offered of kids with ADHD being helped by identifying and treating food allergies. Indeed, if a child has very bad allergies(like hay fever or asthma)_, they may be distracted by these and be helped by controlling the allergies in general. No medical proof on this so far.

So, here we have 8 more ADHD treatments for a total of 14 treatments.

In our next article--Part III, I will discuss medications used in ADHD Treatment.

To Part III

Back to Part I

If you have any comments of ideas of things that would really help you, email me at:

DrJerry@ADHDStrategies.com

I want to help you "be the best person you can be"

Dr. Jerry Is Online

Jerry Rodgers, M.D.