Matthew V. Gant

Treatment of ADHD can be very patchy and a lot depends on the education of the parents, the doctors and the teachers. These are the main stakeholders in the game and they all can play a vital role. But an alternative therapy for ADHD is often viewed with some hostility and suspicion, which is most unfair in my view.

In answer to the question, is there an ADHD cure, the answer is that there is none. That is the bad news. The good news is that there are many ways we can manage ADHD that will really bring excellent results. We also know that by exploiting certain characteristics of the condition, we can turn it to our advantage.

Many parents do not really worry too much about help for child with ADHD. That is because they think that medication will do the trick and there is little else that can be done. They are wrong of course in that the child's environment is vital. All the experts are agreed on this and medical authorities from the CDC to the NIH are all on the same page, officially.

We know that the question, what is ADHD, cannot be answered in two or three words, unfortunately. One interesting fact though has been revealed which helps us to understand that nutrition is incredibly important and relevant. A report in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry shows that the expectant mothers to be who have low levels of folic acid are more likely to give birth to babies with smaller heads.

Most parents wonder about how to control ADHD without medication and if it is possible. The short answer is yes and that is a beacon of light for many parents whose children have become pale shadows of themselves, because of medication. Can you imagine a five year old having thoughts of suicide or a child who has lost his appetite? These are often the problems that parents are faced with.

Drugs for ADHD children have had a mixed press. The advantages have been hyped-up far too much in my view. The risks, dangers and side effects have been played down far too much. Let me explain why. Normally a drug offers relief or even a cure. In the case of ADHD, neither is true. Consider the following facts.

The gloves are off! The recent increase in prescriptions for ADHD drugs for children has prompted reactions from both sides of the battlefield. On the one hand we have the prestigious AAP (American Academy of Paediatrics) prepared to lower the age of children who can be put on Ritalin. They now say that this age limit should be four years, instead of six.

Did you know that a natural way to treat ADHD is by using a herbal formula? Once you start using this for your children, you can forget all about the scary stories of children who are on ADHD meds. You have heard them all before and you have decided that you want to know nothing more about possible addiction, weight loss, sleep challenges, appetite problems and all the rest. That is what a lot of children have to put up with when they are put on these meds.

The annual congress of the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) has just finished and they have recommended that children as young as four years of age, can be given a med for ADHD, such as Ritalin, if behavioral therapy fails. They also recommend that the upper age limit be raised to eighteen which is probably quite sensible as many young adults discover they have ADHD later on in life, especially women.

Boys will be boys. That is the view of Dr. Anthony Rao and Michelle Seaton who have written a book called appropriately entitled ‘The Way of Boys'. This book sets out the reasons why the authors think that normal boy behavior has been forgotten and is labelled ADHD! There is undoubtedly over diagnosis of ADHD but there is often an insidious iceberg where it is under diagnosed.