by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on October 13, 2011
by David Urion, MD, director of the Learning Disabilities/Behavioral Neurology Program at Children’s Hospital Boston
A recent study showed that one out of every ten children in this country is currently diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
That’s an astonishing number.
The study, done by the National Institutes of Health, also showed that the number of children diagnosed with ADHD has been on the rise steadily since the mid-1980s, and that the number of children being treated with stimulant medication (such as Ritalin or Adderall) has been increasing over this same period.
We could discuss whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, and you could pick your favorite social evil to explain this apparent rise in ADHD. We could point to how sound bites have replaced intelligent discussion on TV. Or blame MTV, or ESPN’s plays of the week. Or all the technology that we grownups can’t use, but our offspring can. (In my case, that gives me a large number of choices). We can complain that the vast amount of information with which we are bombarded every day has made us all incapable of just sitting and listening. We can all be cranky about something, and say that is the cause of this increase in ADHD.
But in doing that, we might miss some very important pieces of information in this report. Full story »
by Tripp Underwood on October 14, 2010
ADHD often interferes with a child’s ability to follow directions. This can be perceived as misbehavior or “not paying attention” and lead to problems at school.
Billy is sitting in a chair in his third grade classroom, but can’t seem to find a comfortable position. He fidgets and adjusts, creating enough noise in the process to distract the other children around him. Sensing the disruption his teacher asks him read out loud, but after several attempts, Billy admits he isn’t sure what page the rest of the class was reading from. Some of the other students laugh as his teacher points out their place in the story, visibly annoyed at his inability to remain focused… Full story »
by Steve Coldwell on August 12, 2010
People with celiac disease need to eat a gluten-free diet, but why are other consumers joining them?
The Hannaford store in Portland Maine recently expanded its Nature Place department –which used to include but a few shelves of gluten-free products– to a 40-foot area stocked with more than 500 items ranging from cookies to pasta sauce, all of them free of the protein that can pose real problems for people with celiac disease.
Oddly enough, the celiac disease population—the people who genuinely need gluten-free food—seem to have little to do with the current boom in gluten-free products.
Full story »
by Claire McCarthy on February 23, 2010
We’ve all heard the stories in the news about Rebecca Riley, the 4-year-old who died in 2006 of an overdose of psychiatric medication. She made her first trip to a psychiatrist when she was two, because she was active and had trouble sleeping. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was only three–her ten-year-old brother and four-year-old sister had already been diagnosed with the same—and put on three different medications. By the time she died, she was taking more than ten pills a day. She got sick, and her mother, who was recently convicted in her death, gave her extra pills to make her sleep. Rebecca never woke up. Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on February 6, 2010
by David Urion, MD, director of the Learning Disabilities/Behavioral Neurology Program at Children’s Hospital Boston
