ADHD

In , Brandy Kurtz wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

Run his little feet off.

It won't help the ADHD (much) but it will be good for
him anyway and keep him out of trouble. All the outside
scheduled programs you can arrange, because they give
him variety and you a break.

Offhand, TV is the *worst* thing I can imagine.

D. C. "ADHD twins away at college this summer" Sessions

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In , Elana Kehoe wrote:

Brandy Kurtz wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

If he's off his meds, have you tried a diet change? I've heard good
things about the Feingold diet, and that it makes a difference. Here's
one article about it

http://www.mothering.com/14-0-0/html...-adhd101.shtml

Every time the Feingold diet has been studied, the benefits
disappear. Speculation is that the wonders of Feingold come
from a combination of (somewhat) healthier eating in general,
parental wishful thinking, and the increase in attention that
the kids get.

That said, anything that improves general health will help
with ADHD. Stuff like:

* Simple, healthy food at regular mealtimes.
* Lots of exercise
* Adequate *regular* sleep.
* Lots and lots of loving (too many ADHD kids get
more negative than positive attention!)
* A very, very, regular schedule.

--
| Microsoft: "A reputation for releasing inferior software will make |
| it more difficult for a software vendor to induce customers to pay |
| for new products or new versions of existing products." |
end

In , Brandy Kurtz wrote:

We are drained of ideas. It's really hard to find activities for him,
that it is acceptable to be on the go. We did try martial arts, and it
was a disaster. This wrestling season we are going to give that a go,
and see how it works. I would like to find activities that involve
alot of use with his hands. That seems to keep him the calmest.

I don't know where you are, but outdoors (as in, woods a long way
from the city) stuff seemed to really help mine when we could do
it. At 7+yo he should be able to carry a medium pack and in the
summer hike quite a ways in a day.

Another possibility is juggling. It's the kind of thing that, if
you can get him interested, will draw hyperfocus tremendously and
also do wonders for eye/hand.

Swimming might also work. Depending on where you are, climbing.

At 7+yo he should be able to take some crafts, too. Leather
can get expensive, but (don't laugh) knitting is possible.
He might also get into making chainmail, which has the advantage
or requiring a fair bit of strength.

MUSIC!!!!!

Then again, a second opinion about the med holiday might also be
a good idea. Mine were in summer school as much as possible to
minimize regression, both academically and socially.

--
| Microsoft: "A reputation for releasing inferior software will make |
| it more difficult for a software vendor to induce customers to pay |
| for new products or new versions of existing products." |
end

In , Brandy Kurtz wrote:

I don't have time to read it all now, but I will definatly look at
that tonight! Thanks! I asked his doc about diet changes, and she just
gave me a wierd look?

From the other responses you probably know why now.

--
| Microsoft: "A reputation for releasing inferior software will make |
| it more difficult for a software vendor to induce customers to pay |
| for new products or new versions of existing products." |
end

In , Elana Kehoe wrote:
Leah Adezio wrote:

We did discover that certain additives did seem to worsen his symptoms, so
we kept them out of his diet as much as possible until he was well into
puberty (when the sensitivities faded)...but in no way did removing them
*eliminate* his symtoms.

What works best for alleviating ADHD symptoms (and this is borne out by
recent extensive studies done by the NIH) is a *combination* of medication
*and* behavior modification techniques, both in and out of school.

But it's what works best for *you*. The diet might work for someone
else, and therefore it's always worth a try. That's all I'm saying.

Life is too short to try everything that anyone once thought
might help. The research into ADHD weeds out the bad bets
from the good bets. How much of your son's life do you want
to spend on the long shots?

Remember, Leah and I (and several others on ASAD) have been
there. We've /bled/ for our childrens' lost opportunities
and lifelong scars.

We don't want you -- and especially your son -- to suffer
from repeating our history.

--
| Microsoft: "A reputation for releasing inferior software will make |
| it more difficult for a software vendor to induce customers to pay |
| for new products or new versions of existing products." |
end

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

Brandy

On 11 Jul 2003 20:45:42 -0700, (Brandy Kurtz)
wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

Brandy

How old is your son, Brandy?

What kinds of things does he like to do?

I think that kids who are truly hyperactive need exercise more than
computer stuff, but I can probably find something that will interest
him if I have more information.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..
Outer Limits

Brandy Kurtz wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

If he's off his meds, have you tried a diet change? I've heard good
things about the Feingold diet, and that it makes a difference. Here's
one article about it

http://www.mothering.com/14-0-0/html...-adhd101.shtml

E

"Elana Kehoe" wrote in message
...
Brandy Kurtz wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

If he's off his meds, have you tried a diet change? I've heard good
things about the Feingold diet, and that it makes a difference. Here's
one article about it

http://www.mothering.com/14-0-0/html...-adhd101.shtml

E

I doubt very much that the Feingold diet works. There is not much evidence
for it. Of course, there is no need to give kids food coloring either.

Jeff

"D. C. Sessions" wrote in message
news
In , Elana Kehoe wrote:

Brandy Kurtz wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

If he's off his meds, have you tried a diet change? I've heard good
things about the Feingold diet, and that it makes a difference. Here's
one article about it

http://www.mothering.com/14-0-0/html...-adhd101.shtml

Every time the Feingold diet has been studied, the benefits
disappear. Speculation is that the wonders of Feingold come
from a combination of (somewhat) healthier eating in general,
parental wishful thinking, and the increase in attention that
the kids get.

That said, anything that improves general health will help
with ADHD. Stuff like:

* Simple, healthy food at regular mealtimes.
* Lots of exercise
* Adequate *regular* sleep.
* Lots and lots of loving (too many ADHD kids get
more negative than positive attention!)
* A very, very, regular schedule.

The advantage of feingold is that it requires the parents to monitor what
the child eats CLOSELY, which tends to demonstrate triggers. While Feingold
itself didn't work for my brother, one thing which came out while doing it
was that FD&C Yellow no 5 set him off, badly (because he was given a
medication containing it while on the diet). Controlling that additive made
a big difference.

The other thing which really helped him was running. Competitive sports did
not work at all well-too likely to cause meltdowns. But distance running
with a local track club (and later, with the school cross country and track
teams) gave him a peer group to encourage him (the track club was mostly
older, professional men-including his dentist and his psychologist), and a
chance to get recognition and burn off energy.

He graduated law school this year, in the top 10% of his class, and still
watches his diet closely and runs several miles a day. This is a student who
would have been kicked out of school in 6th grade had my parents NOT known
special education law as well as they did.

So there is hope out there.

--
| Microsoft: "A reputation for releasing inferior software will make |
| it more difficult for a software vendor to induce customers to pay |
| for new products or new versions of existing products." |
end