In 1937, a psychiatrist by the name of Charles Bradley prescribed amphetamines to 32 children with behaviour problems who were suffering from extreme headaches as a result of a procedure called pneumoencephalography (ie. spinal tap – analyzing fluid in the spine). He was hoping the amphetamines would relieve the pain. The amphetamine (benzedrine) did little for the headaches, but teachers noted 17 of the children experienced a striking improvement in their school work and behaviour. […]
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Children with ADHD can create chaos throughout the entire family, stressing everyone in the process. The morning routine and homework are frequent and lengthy sources of dissension. Siblings are often resentful of the time and special treatment given to the ADHD child. Parents may argue over the “best” strategy (a difficult problem because no strategies are even close to perfect) . ADHD is an “executive dysfunction”. LIFE WITH AN ADHD CHILD IS NOT EASY!
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“Executive dysfunction” means an individual has difficulty “stopping” and taking the time to think through the possible consequences of an action and selecting one that is best. Another way of saying this is the child is very “impulsive”. By definition a child with ADHD has “executive dysfunction”. Our goal in helping him is to get him to “stop” long enough for the executive function to kick in. There are a number of approaches to facilitate […]
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HELPING A TEEN MODERATE & MANAGE STRESS “SPIT” HAPPENS ! 1. Listen – without judging – try to understand and appreciate their concern – if event resulted from bad behaviour or poor judgment – it’s vital to avoid making matters worse by berating and punishing […]
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Mental retardation is the most debilitating feature of FASD but only about 50% of them actually fall into the retarded range of intelligence (IQ blow 70) This can present a significant problem to individuals with FASD because they may need special services but they do not qualify because their IQ scores are not below the cut off point and therefore not be diagnosed with FASD. A diagnosis can be useful because it makes it easier […]
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