Howie Mandel, host of Deal or No Deal and 2008 Emmy Nominee, is raising awareness about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adults through the national multimedia public service announcement campaign Adult ADHD Is Real. This campaign and its Web site, http://www.adultadhdisreal.com/, have been developed by a coalition of groups dedicated to ADHD education and awareness and made possible by Shire. As an adult living with ADHD, Howie will spread the word that ADHD is a real and treatable medical disorder and encourage adults who think they may have ADHD to seek diagnosis and evaluation.

Learning behavior management techniques is considered to be an essential part of any successful ADHD treatment program.

There are three basic categories or levels of ADHD behavioral training for children:

1. Parent training in effective child behavior management methods.
2. Classroom behavior modification techniques and academic interventions.
3. Special educational placement.

Behavior management is most often used with younger children, but it can be used in adolescents up to 18 years old and even adults. In children and adolescents, the two basic principles are:

• Modeling behavior by encouraging good behavior with healthy praise or rewards. This works best if the reward or praise immediately follows the positive behavior.
• Negatively reinforcing bad behavior by allowing appropriate consequences to occur naturally.

Behavior Management Strategies for Preschoolers (Age 5 and Younger)

• Provide a consistent routine to the days and structure to the environment. Let them know when the routine is changing or something unusual is going to happen, such as a visit from a relative, a trip to the store or a vacation.
• Give your child clear boundaries and expectations. These instructions and guidelines are best given right before the activity or situation.
• Devise an appropriate reward system for good behavior or for completing a certain number of positive behaviors, such as a merit point or gold star program with a specific reward, such as a favorite activity. Avoid using food and especially candy for rewards.
• Engage your child in constructive and mind-building activities, such as reading, games and puzzles by participating in the activities yourself.
• Some parents find that using a timer for activities is a good way to build and reinforce structure. For example, setting a reasonable time limit for a bath or playtime helps train the child to expect limitations, even on pleasurable activities. Giving a child a time limit for chore completion is also useful, especially if a reward is given for finishing on time.

Behavior Management Strategies for Children Ages 6-12

• As much as possible, give clear instructions and explanations for tasks throughout the day. If a task is complex or lengthy, break it down into steps that are more manageable, keeping in mind that as the child learns to manage their behavior, the steps and tasks can become more complex.
• Reward the child appropriately for good behavior and tasks completed. Set up a clear system of rewards (point system, gold stars) so that the child knows what to expect when they complete a task or refine their behavior.
• Bear in mind that as your child gets older they will be more sensitive to how they appear to others and may overreact or be unduly ashamed when they are disciplined in front of others. It is important to have a plan for appropriate discipline for misbehaving that does not require carrying out in front of others. Setting up a specific consequence for a certain behavior is probably the best method of providing consistency and fairness for your child.
• Communicate regularly with your child’s teachers so that behavior patterns can be dealt with before they become a major problem and before the teachers get overly frustrated with the situation.
• Always set a good example for your child. Children with ADHD need role models for behavior more than other children, and the adults in their lives are very important. Source

What is ailing our sons? Some experts suggest we are witnessing an epidemic of ADHD and say boys need more medication. Others say that environmental pollutants found in plastics, among other things, may be eroding their attention spans and their ability to regulate their emotions.

Those experts may be right but I have another suggestion. Let’s examine the way our child rearing and our schools have evolved in the last 10 years.

Instead of unstructured free play, parents now schedule their kids’ time from dawn till dusk (and sometimes beyond.) By age 4, an ever-increasing number of children are enrolled in preschool. There, instead of learning to get along with other kids, hold a crayon and play Duck, Duck, Goose, children barely out of diapers are asked to fill out work sheets, learn computation or study Mandarin. The drumbeat for early academics gets even louder when they enter "real" school. Veteran teachers will tell you that first graders are now routinely expected to master a curriculum that, only 15 years ago, would have been considered appropriate for second, even third graders.

Our expectations for our children have been ramped up but the psychological and physical development of our children has remained about the same. Some kids are thriving in the changing world. But many aren’t. What parents and teachers see is that the ones who can’t handle it are boys. Source

Debbie Phelps raised a swimming-pool prince as a single mom, then became a media star herself as she cheered for her son at the Beijing Olympics.  Tomorrow, you’ll see her on the "Oprah" show.  Oprah will greet more than 175 Olympic athletes at Chicago’s Millennium Park. 

The more you read about Debbie Phelps, the more you like her.  She’s 57, divorced and mother to three (Michael has two sisters). She raised her family in Baltimore.  Her day job? Middle school principal. When Michael was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 9, she became his advocate. Her solution, summed up: Get him in the pool.  (A pharmaceutical firm hired Debbie Phelps to answer questions about ADHD, click here.  She’s an exemplary sports parent. Her advice for success: Love your kid. But forget the home-cooked meals. She hates to cook and calls herself an "eat-out mother."   She recently signed a six-figure deal with Chico’s to model its clothes.  And what will Phelps wear for her appearance on "Oprah"? What else, CHICO. Source

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Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs)

Here is one fat you want your child to have: DHA, an Omega-3 fatty acid, is the key to unlocking an ADHD child’s brain. Studies have found that children with learning disorders, including attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders, often have an EFA deficiency. The right kinds of fat are needed to help the brain fire information efficiently from synapse to synapse. An ADHD child experiences a miscommunication between brain cells, says clinical nutritionist Marcia Zimmerman.  

A message is fired, but not received, “so then it gets sucked back up into the neuron that sent it in the first place,” says Zimmerman. The EFAs help the brain cells receive the messages sent between synapses, thus eliminating the chatter and preventing the sending neuron from scooping up its own message. Fish, flax seeds and nuts are great sources of EFAs. The specific EFA to look for is the omega-3 essential fatty acid DHA that’s found in fish and some algae. Fish oil supplements are an efficient way to help your child get the amount he needs. DHA omega-3 eggs and other foods with DHA added to them are also good sources. EFAs from flax seed and other sources can work too, but the body needs to convert it into the form most advantageous for one’s body, so it is a less efficient source.  Source

Sugar is an ADHD child’s downfall because it robs your body of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes and increases hyperactivity by preventing blood sugar levels from remaining stable.  It doesn’t matter if you use refined white sugar or rich dark molasses—all sugars are created equal when it comes to their negative effect on the ADHD child. There may be slight nutritional benefits to some sugars: Sucanat, for example, is pressed cane juice that leaves the fiber behind, so you get the minerals from the plant.

Also, honey offers pollen that helps with allergies, molasses contains trace minerals, and Agave metabolizes more slowly. Still, you should curb your child’s sugar intake and get savvy to hidden sugars in foods such as breakfast cereals, energy bars, sweetened drinks, soymilk and other foods. For example, did you know that a serving of flavored yogurt might contain as much sugar as a serving of ice cream? When looking at a label, along with the obvious “sugar” tag, avoid all artificial sweeteners and foods that contain corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose and fructose. Source

At the same time that Michael Phelps headed back to the U.S. from Beijing this week, with eight Olympic gold medals and seven new world records in swimming, thousands of other young men just like him were heading back to school.  But where he was reportedly looking forward to moving into a luxurious condo and weighing endorsement offers, the school-bound boys were dreading a year of bullying and academic failure. What Phelps and thousands of other young people, mainly boys, have in common is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a neurobehavioural condition. The three to five per cent of school-aged youngsters who have it are to an extreme degree restless, inattentive, distracted and impulsive. Teachers often find ADHD pupils annoying and unresponsive to their attempts to help. Other students pick on the class "losers." It’s hard being the object of all this rejection. In addition to the disorder, many ADHD sufferers have to contend with depression, substance abuse and social difficulties.

With so many thousands of new cases - ADHD is the most common chronic mental health problem among young children - a single solution was put forward: Ritalin, a stimulant that temporarily increases attention span and controls impulsivity.  But in the controversy around whether Ritalin is under- or over-prescribed, it can be easy to forget what a toll ADHD can take. Researchers have found that children with ADHD are more likely to fail a grade, require special education and score lower on reading and mathematics tests. Michael Phelps was blessed with a mother who had the confidence to demand that her son’s teachers do their part. In kindergarten I was told by his teacher, ‘Michael can’t sit still, Michael can’t be quiet, Michael can’t focus,’ " Debbie Phelps told the New York Times. She said she replied to the teacher, "What are you going to do to help him?"

ADHD is not a figment of anyone’s imagination. Many schools are lacking a lot of support systems for its young sufferers - specialists and sports programs, to start with. As school starts a new year, youngsters with ADHD need to be able to count on having someone in their corner, fighting for them. By rights, that should be the schools’ job.