The medical community uses the term “diagnosis drives treatment”. This means that a correct diagnosis must be made before a treatment is prescribed. This is quite straight forward with many medical problems (examples – throat infections, cancer, heart attacks, broken bones, abscess tooth, etc) as there are diagnostic tests that can definitively identify the problem (examples – blood tests, bacterial cultures, MRI, biopsies, X rays, etc). The problem diagnosing ADD/ADHD (and many other problems in [...]
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“The human brain is the best organized, most complex , highest functioning object in the universe.” (Kenneth Wesson) An adult brain weighs about 3 pounds and has over 1 trillion cells (100 billion of them are neurons) and the cell connections within the brain number about 1 quadrillion. The brain stores bits of information and can accomplish processes of unfathomable complexity. Unlike a computer (which simply regurgitates information) the brain can initiate new thoughts and [...]
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ADHD / ADD has been known by different names throughout its relatively short history. Below you will find some of them: fidgeties post encephalitic disorder defeat in moral character minimal cerebral dysfunction minimal brain injury hyperactivity hyperkenetic reactions in children hyperkenesis perceptual problems emotional problems undifferentiated attention disorder attention deficit disorder with / without hyperactivity executive dysfunction attention disregulation disorder There is no reason to suspect the name will not continue to change as research [...]
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The following quotes are from children who have ADHD: “It’s like being in a dark room where objects are scattered around to trip you. You don’t have a flashlight, but everyone else does. You trip around the room, bumping into things, until you finally learn the layout. Then someone moves you to a new room and the process starts all over again.” “Imagine you’re watching twelve channels all at once and you’ve lost the remote.” [...]
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The following is a quote from a parent that is both very frustrated and at the same time very concerned about her son. “I can’t take it anymore! We scream all morning to get out of the house. Homework takes hours. If I don’t help him with his work, he’s so disorganized that he’ll never get it done. If I do help him, he screams at me. Since he never finishes anything, everyone thinks he [...]
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