ADHD Kids?

Get rid of the sugar, add yoga and try this new technology to calm the mind...

With more than 6 million U.S. children and teens suffering from ADHD, parents and clinicians are trying new ways to help kids focus.

First, it’s important for parents, caregivers and teachers to understand what Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AHDH) is. Anxiety, depression, cognitive disabilities, bipolar disorder and other mood disorders can mimic ADHD and lead to misdiagnosis.

“ADD is an old name for ADHD. It is not the type where there is no hyperactivity,” says Dr. Eugene Hershorin, chief of the division of general pediatrics and director of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at UHealth — the University of Miami Health System.

“ADHD comes in three types,” he says: “The inattentive type where they just have attention problems with little or no hyperactivity; the hyperactive type where there is little or no attention problems; and the combined type where you have both.”

Hershorin says parents should consider this diagnosis if teachers say the child can’t stay seated, fidgets all the time, talks incessantly, blurts out answers, can’t stay on task, can’t finish the work and regularly loses things.

“It’s not just the presence of these things,” he says, “but that they occur more than in other kids. These things should be happening at home, as well.”

Researchers from the National Survey of Children’s Health found that in children ages 2 to 17 with ADHD, six out of 10 (62 percent) were taking medication for their ADHD, which represents 1 out of 20 of all U.S. children. Just under half (47 percent) received behavioral treatment.

ADHD drugs fall into two categories: stimulants and non-stimulants, with the former more widely prescribed. (MORE)

Source: Miami Hearld