Posted on 08/01/2006 8:32:42 PM PDT by Flavius
PHOENIX, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Family counselor Jane Fendelman, MC, has valuable information for parents with school-age children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). She has a track record of helping families with children who would be considered worst-case scenarios -- without the use of medications like Ritalin, Adderall and Concerta..
In her book "Raising Humane Beings" she writes in depth about what her clients call the "magic cure." In fact, within 3 to 5 sessions, with Fendelman's help, clients see issues resolved for good.
"I call ADD and ADHD the multimillion dollar medical myth," says Fendelman. "Why are diagnoses of ADD and ADHD on the rise in children -- and even in adults? Because we have invented this catch-all name for what is an adaptive response to our fast-paced, highly stimulating modern world. And what's more, drug companies have created medications to suppress this response so we think we have a solution."
Fendelman explains that drugging children is not the same as curing them. In fact, most drugs prescribed for ADD and ADHD contain dangerous amphetamines which are narcotic drugs known to contribute to stunted growth, eating disorders, suicidal ideation, increased risk of diabetes, strokes, cardiac arrest and death.
In fact, no definitive test for ADD and ADHD exists. There is only a list of indicators, as found in the DSM-IVR, the diagnostic manual published by the American Psychiatric Press. Indicators are not definitive.
Fendelman does not argue with the fact that the issues exist. "It's not really a problem in the child, it just shows up in the child," said Fendelman. "That's why it is so easy to cure it in 3 to 5 sessions."
"It is my mission to tell as many people as possible and help parents get their children off of medication once and for all," said Fendelman. "We are drugging our children unnecessarily and missing out on the creativity and ingenuity of an entire generation. It is as sad as it is dangerous."
For more than 15 years Fendelman has successfully delivered her life-changing, drug-free solutions for children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. As a result of her methods, Fendelman has seen an entire generation grow up drug-free.
We're different...no drugs needed to equalize us.
Here's from a story about her methods.
"What's unique about Fendelman's approach is she starts with the parents. In fact, she rarely ever meets the child.
In the first session, Fendelman not only finds out about the child's behavior patterns but also goes a little deeper.
"A lot of imbalance that causes the symptoms that look like this thing we call ADD or ADHD is coming from the parents not living their bliss," Fendelman said. "They don't feel supported to live the life they want to live."
Doesn't sound like she's advocating strict discipline to me. She also talks about how giving a child medication destroys his self esteem. Ohhhh.
Thank you.
I was diagnosed at 30. The reality of ADD (w/an H component to a minute extent) is in fact lifelong for many of us.
I've had my entire life. No doubt. I'm female. Girls simply do *not* act out like boys do. We are labeled as "talking too much" or "not using all of her potential." Fact of the matter is, a high IQ and a military father trumps some of it, BUT, the anxiety, depression, eating disorders and all the other things that revolved and spawned from the ADD are very, very real.
I take Provigil (to be sold as Attenance) and have for nearly 4 years. I am also back in college and holding nearly a 4.0. Some may call it maturity, but no. It's not just that.
My way of describing ADD to someone who isn't ADD -- if you've read Harry Potter, there is a description of Dumbledore's pensieve -- with all his memories swirling in a bowl. He is able to pluck one memory out at a time to see it. For me, my brain is like that. I run on multiple threads all the time. Little noises -- a chair scraping, a light flickering -- will trash my concentration, and the spinning thoughts run rampant. The thing that the medication does is let me be able to pull thought down at a time and think it through. With it I can block the outside stimuli to some extent -- I hear it and acknowledge it - but I can go back to what I was doing.
Okay -- sorry I'm babbling. My opinion though, ask the children. I don't know what you think, but I say let them TRY the medication if they are say 9+. They are plenty old enough to tell you how it is affecting them. Let THEM tell you if it works. You know? Like you, I wish that someone had realized/recognized it in me when I was younger. It would have made my life much, much better. There is so much I missed in school the first time around, educationally.
Oh and just for the record -- my IQ has tested in the 140-170 range -- makes me a little stubborn about acknowledging the ADD. I don't use it in school as a crutch (I could register with the disabilities office for accomodations but I choose not to, because I am doing this for me, and I don't want accomodations). I sit in the front of the room where I'm not distracted by other students. My Professors *are* aware of me being ADD (one of them commented on it before I told him *laugh* -- early class and the meds hadn't kicked in), and know that I ask a million questions. It's my way of keeping myself stimulated to stay focused.
~B.
Is that what you are saying?
Yes but evidently not very well.
Your dad also unknowingly may have had this. Most persons who have it don't even realize it. I avoid crowds and I like people. I love my family too but I can't be in a room very long with all of them talking at once. I can't carry on a conversation in such a setting because I can't understand who I am talking to. I hear them but I can't understand them. Up till a couple of years ago I had good hearing and I still could not do this.
If your dad ever complained about such things as ringing in the ears that's Vestibular Damage. The extent varies person to person. I have to take the meds because if I don't I seizure. An extreme case of sensory processing disorders not much is known about. It didn't exist as such till the past 50 years or so. Most persons used to call it SHELL SHOCK. The same response.
I agree with all your points. Discipline begins with the parents. Maybe they need a spanking.
1 tim6:20 20O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.
I simply don't trust a lot of what is passed off as science, medicine and technology. Science tells us we are products of evolution, the Father of modern psychology is also called the "hater of all religion", and how many people have been made worse by medicine?
The medical community uses the word "disorder" to explain all manner of things that they have not a clue what the cause is. A doctor reporting that your child suffers from ADD and Ritalin should be prescribed sounds so much better than the doctor saying I haven’t a clue what is causing his behavior; give him a drug.
I have no difficulty believing that drugging a hyperactive child will slow the activity. If you can assign a name to it; attention deficit discover or ADD for example, a fortune can be made dispensing some drug.
That happens to me all the time. I have a wife and 8 kids and am a person that likes quiet, except for when I like loud music or my Harley. I just don't trust psychologists when they hear a complaint and want to fix it. If I described the behaviors I've seen in my kids to a shrink, he'd probably put us all on drugs.
There is a lot of misconception about Psychiatrist. They are they ones who prescribe the drugs. Most of them see their patient 15 minutes every 3 months. They ask few questions unfortunately including bothering to do an extensive medical history which may reveal an underlying medical cause as to anxiety, depression, etc and in doing so many times prescribe the wrong medicine due to a poor diagnoses. A Psychologist and or a LCSW gets more involved in treating the patient as in learning how to deal with or cope with it. Usually they know the patient far better than the shrink. There are some excellent ones out there BTW. They can prescribe no medication.
Some of the problem is the demise of the Family Practitioner who used to understand these things. Not many doctors anymore for example understand an Inner Ear Infection can about drive you mad. I'm in my late 40's and used to hear about people having them when I was growing up. You seldom hear of it now even though it is a major culprit in producing adult anxiety disorders. In most cases when the infection leaves to does the anxiety.
The true physician does it again..... :)
I live across the street from a park, it has all sorts of play ground equipment, a base ball diamond, tennis court and lots of space. It is deserted most of the time.
In another century when I was a kid, I would rather have been anywhere in the summertime than in the house and probably every kid my age felt the same.
>>>> "Both me and my son are ADD. You described my son perfectly." <<<<
I see my son in many descriptions here. Especially the father who posted that his son's teacher said, "He's not with me," that his son is distracted by every little thing in class and will get up out of his seat, that his son will take a test and give answers that make no sense whatsoever one day, then take the same test another day and score 100%. That's my son TO A TEE.
That's why I can understand how parents of kids diagnosed with "ADD" feel. I just don't agree with the tendency these days for the "experts" to label kids with a "disorder" when they don't fit a cookie-cutter mold.
I think there may be something special about these kids - we adults tend to look at their qualities as negative, such as "impulsive" and "daydreamers". Maybe we should see them as "risk-takers" and "imaginative".
My son is homeschooled, so luckily we don't have to worry about him dealing with a teacher in a classroom environment every single day, but he is in classroom environments on a limited basis, and that's been a challenge. Still, I have the power to tailor his education to his needs... now if I could just figure out what his needs are... ;-)
I think the idea that kids are overstimulated with all the media surrounding them in the modern world is correct. I've always thought most of his behaviorisms stem from too much TV and media surrounding him.
Even though I think he's overstimulated with too much media, I'm going to take the leap and go with it this year - let him learn using mainly CDs and videos, if that's what he prefers to do. I'm also not going to make him sit in so many "classrooms" this year, either, and will add more hands-on activities. We'll see how it goes.
Last year I put my son in Sylvan. I wanted him to get more focused on reading and writing. He is all ove the place when it comes to those areas.
They told me he only takes tests standing up. I used to get on his case for not sitting when doing his homework. I let that go. He would walk around the table looking at his work. I finally let that go.
I spoke with a child neurologist who specialized in ADD/ADHD about it. She said that was his way of processing and to leave him alone. Why fight with a kid standing up and getting his work done? We told the teachers who were against it.
It became a war with the school. They said he had to sit. I asked why? They said because. I said because why? They said, just because. I told them to let him stand for 1 month. If his grades do not go up, we will make him sit. We brought the principal into it who said give it a month. (The principal was a personal friend and a closet Republican.) My sons grades went up in every subject except art, which I expected.
Kids process differently and the problem with public education is there is a paradigm that they follow and 99% of the time they are wrong. That's why I would homeschool if my son didn't need the social skills.
Amish kids don't get ADD. Kid's with ADD are the worse fishing partners in the world.
Mind if I ask, how old is your son? Mine is eight, and he's all over the place in math.
"Homeschooling" can be whatever you make it. While the schoolkids are sitting in class, many homeschooled kids are together in other activities like co-ops or field trips or sports. So, there are many opportunities to socialize.
The problem is, even in homeschool group activities, the kid is in a "structured" environment. Even in sports, my son still has to be able to focus his attention to be able to play. (I'm guessing you know exactly what I mean... Believe me, we've tried soccer, basketball, baseball, karate...)
I've heard of homeschool groups that just rent buildings and set up free-style learning centers. Then they just let their kids wander freely from activity to activity. But I haven't found one like that yet.
Btw, here's something I completely forgot about, but you and others here might find informative:
I attended a workshop a few years ago on the "Let Me Learn" process. There are a lot of theories out there, but this one is from a group of researchers who consult directly with the schools. Their work is backed up with statistics gathered in surveys from the schools, whereas other theories are not.
Btw, no, I'm not a salesperson.
Here it is in a nutshell: There are four learning patterns - Precise, Sequential, Technical, and Confluent.
A "precise" learner is very detail-oriented.
A "sequential" learner needs the information to be organized, such as in a list or outline.
A "technical" learner is more hands-on.
And a "confluent" learner thinks out of the box.
Everyone relies on a combination of the above patterns, but we each tend to rely more on one or two patterns.
Teachers tend to be precise/sequential learners, so that's how they teach. As a result, the kids who are technical/confluent learners are the ones who end up in detention and suspension most of the time. I asked the researcher if he found that technical/confluent kids were more often diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. He said, "That's exactly what we found." He also said that there were a few teachers with technical/confluent learning patterns, and they tended to send the precise/sequential kids to the principal's office more often.
Here's the website:
http://www.letmelearn.org/whatislml.aspx
It was eye-opening, to say the least.
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