Strong ADHD Drug Alerts Are Urged | ADHD Information

Fear mongering tactics. We've all seen this why do you regurgitate the same tired story again?

The whole furor is over 25 deaths out of over 8 million worldwide users of ADHD meds. Since the right wing religious nutbars can't close the southern border of the US to illegals as that would leave their orchards untended - they go after us who do not fight back. If you closed the US border to illegals you'd rid yourselves of the real enemy - cocaine and heroin. Our meds do good and harm very very few. How many does crack kill??

Stick to websites that like this kind of fear tactic. We don't buy the hype.

First post, how nice of you to drop by with a news article. Do come back when you have something to share from personal experience. Have a nice day.

It is very important to read about alerts from the FDA.

The FDA has become a castrated tool of the Bush Administration. It has no teeth and goes after meds like ours because it has no power to override the Bush plan to flood the work market with cheap illegal labour. That's a fact.

Hopefully when people get to the polls in my neighbor to the south next time they see the hopeless situation they are left in and actuall do something! Like stop the flood of cocaine in the south, make harsh sentences for purchasing meth making equipment and chemicals and make it mandatory to control the supply of antihistamines used in meth on a federal level.

TCMG

Oh my gosh! I am so shocked! This is the first time I ever read this article except for the countless times I read similar articles in the paper, except for the times Troll after Troll posted similar articles, except for the times I read the side affects listed on ADHD medications, and except for the times I regularly go to the FDA web site that lists new warnings and recalls about products. You saved us all, TCMG, just in the nick of time!

.IMac38947.4768865741

A decision not to medicate your child doesnt make you a good parent and Im sick and tired of people who pretend to experts on the subject instilling fear and guilt in other parents in order to substantiate a claim. Problems with ADHD are not sovled and gone, they are managed so if you knew anything about ADHD, you would know that. Why dont you research how many chidlren are killed per year due to not wearing biycle helmets instead of coming hear to blow your own horn. If you want to know how hard the path can get, read through this message board because most parents that come here deal with a lot more than visual tracking problems with their children. Advice given is only as good as the person giving it.

The alerts from the FDA are valuable. Cardiovascular problems run in our family. I am so glad we held our ground, never medicated, and solved our problems after considering other options.

For us, Vision Therapy was a lasting solution. We stumbled on the Parents Active for Vision Education (PAVE) website and were shocked when we learned about vision disabilities. Our son had almost every symptom of a vision problem!
We didn't realize it, (and neither did the Ivy league pediatrician nor all of the special education school officials), but our "inattentive" and "overly impulsive" student had eyes that did not work as a team. (He had Eye Tracking Issues) Also, he had eyes that went out of focus when he looked at reference books such as the dictionary and then looked at his notebook. (Accomodative Insufficiency).
After three months of vision therapy, our student rarely omitted words when writing sentences. He no longer skipped words while reading. He could finally play ball games, quite an important skill for being included in social circles. The nightmare is over. Our student is now in the highest level of challenge in the middle school curriculum. He is on the Honor Roll.

If anybody is listening, please know that there were many OTHER facets to our solution besides the vision therapy, including:
1. Early on, we asked the school to stop the humiliating IEP that was causing more problems.
2. We visited an allergist and got our child allergy treatment.
3. We supplemented his education at home, when we saw gaps in the "lower track" curriculum" that the school had assigned.
4. I suppose we got really good at being parents.

All these things really turned the situation around. It was not an easy path. It was a lonely path. It was worth all the effort. I am writing this post today because on the way home from Soccer my son told me that his life might have been different if he had not had the vision problem for ten years of his life. He is twelve. He has regrets about the years of struggling, even though he is doing fine now. I told him that I was very proud of him and that I'd try to let other parents know his story, so that maybe other kids might not have to struggle for as long as he did.

I can't stop thinking about how my son's life would have been different if we had caved in the the years of considerable coercion we faced from the school officials (coercion which is now illegal- check out a website called Able Child.org to read more, if you have any interest).

If there are any parents out there who want advice, here is mine:

Keep exhausting every avenue, looking for solutions. Read as much as you can about every possibility. Hope your highest hopes. There are so many things to try!

You are not alone.

TCMG - It's all fine and good to look for alternatives. Nobody who is kind and sane in the world wants their child to have to take meds if they can help it. We can't help it ok? All other options are exhausted.

Eyeglasses don't cure ADHD. It's not a vision problem or we wouldn't have children who are visually impaired who have ADHD. There are many.

Allergies don't cause ADHD. There are children worldwide with differing diets and many try alternatives before meds. They don't help true ADHD.

It's not an education problem, a social problem or a sign of bad parenting. It's a disorder and it hits all over the social/economic spectra. Face it you have no clue.

ADHD is known to us. If it was known to you you'd be less likely to come here trying to induce fear and panic. Might as well stop I have your number on this one as do all here.

Yea, it's also important to read the alerts in your car about airbags. Doesn't mean we shouldn't use them. DUH!I think this person forgot to read the black box warning on airbags and got wacked in the head.

I worry about the risks from the ADHD medicines. I worry about the kids on the medicines. When I read the Wall Street Journal Article, I was compelled to post it here. I was compelled to tell our story so that maybe some other parents and kids might benefit.

Did you know that the symptoms of a vision disability are almost exactly the same as the symptoms of the ADHD label? Strangely enough, many kids with the ADHD label are found to have a treatable vision problem called convergence insufficiency. Once these kids go through vision therapy, the problems go away. It is worth looking into this.

My son had perfect eyesight but a comprehensive vision test showed he had poor vision. He never failed an acuity test (that is, he never failed an eye chart test) He does not wear eyeglasses and never has worn them. Vision therapy helped him get rid of most of his problems. A comprehensive vision exam takes about 45 minutes. It is covered by most insurance. If you have not been examined by a behavior /developmental optometrist , then you will never know for sure whether you have vision issues. This kind of doctor has special training and special equipment. Vision therapy was only one facet of our solution. It truly changed our lives. We also attacked our problems from other angles, as mentioned before. It was not easy. It was not fun.

I would appreciate courteous responses. I simply ask that you read about the warnings/alerts and consider other options, including getting your child a comprehensive vision exam by a specialist optometrist who is properly trained and equipped.

A multifaceted approach that did not include medicine worked for us. Perhaps it might work for others.

Parents might benefit from some of the things that worked for us or they might not.
There is no need for acrimony. I wish the best for other parents who have struggled as I have. Sometimes it takes years to find a solution. Reconsider things that you abandoned in the past. Don't ever give up. My message is one of hope. Hope your highest hopes.

If you care to explore the Vision Therapy option, please know that clinical research supports its efficacy. Parents Active for Vision Education is a good starting point. Apparently there is a certain percentage of the population that has undiagnosed vision issues. It is worth looking into, pardon the pun!

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TCMG wrote:
The connection between warnings/ alerts about ADHD medicines and possible alternative therapies should be now a little more clear

There is no conclusion and even the panel was evenly split so the experts dont even know if its a problem but you do. One in a million is probably lower odds than the risk of getting struck by lightning If your child has cardio problems its a no brainer so it doesnt take a rocket scientest to figure that out. If the risks outweights the benefits of taking ANY medication the choice not to use that particular medication is common sense. Unfortunately, anti med people lay every problem at the doorstep of Adhd and medications.

You state there are cardio problems that run in your family so holding your ground doesnt make you a hero nor does it make you a parent that tried harder than the next to find other solutions for your childs problems. It makes you a person that at least understands that clearly, the risk of medication would outweight the benefits for your child but you continue to toot your own horn.

Plain and simple, as another poster stated, if you came here with the intent to share your story it would have been well received but instead you came here pointing fingers and posted an article to drive your point home which you clearly misinterpreted anyway. That to me is pretty discourteous and rude. Good day!

The developmental/behavior optometrist (a specialist doctor) we saw was in PA. She recommended vison therapy once a week. We really wanted this to work so we elected to do it twice a week. We did vision therapy at home every day too. Doc recommended 20 minutes at home. We did 60 minutes at home, every day for 100 consecutive days. We saw no results until 3 months of twice weekly office visits. Insurance didn't cover this for us, although other parents luckily had coverage for their kid's problems.

The good news is that we held our ground for YEARS when the school officials tried to coerce us to medicate our child. If we had medicated our child, his real issues would still be untreated. Worse, we would have exposed him to medical risks, since cardiovascular issues run in our family.

The connection between warnings/ alerts about ADHD medicines and possible alternative therapies should be now a little more clear. You should see that I am not simply alerting you to risks but I am also offering you hope and posible solutions.

I suppose other facets of our solution also helped quite a bit. I quit my career (a lucrative one, I might add)and devoted time to fixing the problems. I didn't think day care was helping him.

I augmented my son's education and prepared him to take the state mandated standardized tests. We figured that if he did well on these tests, it might get the school officials to back off. He did very well on the tests but the school officials still insisted that he must be tested for the ADHD label.

When my husband became unemployed again, the school had no sympathy and pushed us harder to medicate. We were at a loss of what to do next.

THEN, on June 4, 2003 at 2 PM I found out about the PAVE website. Parents Active for Vision Education or PAVE. It saved our lives.

During all this time of looking for answers I suppose we also got significantly better at parenting our only child. We read a great book by Thomas Armstrong (Phd from Harvard) called the Myth of ADD... It helped us to change our approach with our son, although sadly, it had no pointers about getting him screened for vision issues.

Early on we tried an IEP and then ditched it. It was humiliating and stigmatized our son.

Early on we also tried biofeedback at home and sadly it did not work. We got our money back.

We tried eliminating corn and milk for two years and it didn't work. It might work for others, but it did nothing for our situaltion. At that time we should have had our son tested for allergies, but we were foolish and did not do this. Much later, we discovered he had a severe allergy to trees and dogs. We ultimately decided to get him tested when he complained about an itchy roof of mouth. After going to google and plugging the words "itchy roof of mouth", we discovered he had allergies. A specialist confirmed that we were correct.

Keep trying. Never give up. All will be well.

I have to go sledding now with my son. Bye and good luck to you all! Thanks for the few courteous responses. I was surprised by how vicious others were.

So TCMG - let me get this straight please (and I am being serious not facetious): you get a misdiagnosis with your child. You find another better route for treatment that thankfully works. Therefore you believe that ALL children must be misdiagnosed and that medication is bad. Is that about it? That's called circular logic - it's flawed.

ADHD is real. Yes some children are misdiagnosed. You'll see if you check my postings that I recommend highly that people get tests done to rule out allergies, poisoning and other unrelated disorders before going the med route. That's key as there are many other problems that aren't ADHD that look like it.

Thomas Armstrong is paid by the anti-med groups to bolster their position. They make sure they are at every government meeting regarding medication trying to get it removed from access. He also uses circular logic - that you can take isolated cases that are misdiagnosed and make the leap to say that all are misdiagnosed. It goes against standard scientific method.

Don't waste time trying to change our minds about meds. There are things you can do constructively - like tell people about your story and let them decide. But you should do more study of how well these meds work when properly diagnosed. It would strengthen your credibility.

Glen I disagree with ya. Food allergies can effect the body.

Tcmj: Son has had 1 year of Vt and still struggling and uses prisms since age 5. His was a bad case though. Vt was why I think our son reads at all. He is still below level though. Our son eye issue is teaming and tracking. You can have your childs issue or our sons or both. Who does you child see? We use Shidlofsky in Plano Tx. He has been wonderful to us. Ins. doesn't cover VT that I am aware of yet.

Look up children's vision.org if you don't believe her. Tcmj And oldtimer our correct. Sorry that you disagree.

Nobody has answered the question. Why post ADHD anti-medication article if your point was about vision testing?

You would get a better response if you did not start out by attacking people for their choice of treatment. If you really want to help people, don't point fingers. We aren't stupid, and we don't need you to tell us what to do. Thank you.

So why didn't you just start out your post about Vision Therapy in the first place? Why come on with scare tactics?? Do you really think we are so dumb and uninformed that we don't read about these things. Do you have any idea how insulting that is?

There is now a huge amount of Se kids who are turning out with Visual dysfunction. All our eye dr. sees mostly are SE kids.Vt works but must be done a lot. It is to get the eyes working together. We believe this why are son can read at all. It is Pt for the eyes. We plan to keep it up in the summers. School year to busy.

Please read the very important Wall Street Journal Article that follows and stop and think about the Strong ADHD Drug Alerts.

FDA Might Not Heed Advice
Of Split Advisory Committee
About Heart-Risk Labeling

By ANNA WILDE MATHEWS and SCOTT HENSLEY
February 10, 2006; Page A3

WASHINGTON – In a surprise move, a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted to recommend that stimulant drugs widely prescribed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder carry strong "black box" warnings about potential cardiovascular risks.

The 8-7 vote, with one abstention, focused on drugs including Shire PLC's Adderall, a form of amphetamine, Novartis AG's Ritalin, generically sold as methylphenidate, and Johnson & Johnson's Concerta, a long-acting version of methylphenidate. The FDA had asked the committee to look only at how it should study the issue in the future to determine the possible dangers of the drugs, and the agency may choose not to follow the advice of the committee.

The warning proposed by a member of the committee would say that the drugs have been associated with increases in blood pressure and heart rate, which potentially can result in increased risk of heart attack, stroke or sudden death. The data showing such dangers were limited, and the rate of serious problems appeared low.

A black-box warning is the most stringent the FDA can apply to a drug and sends a clear signal to doctors that they should think hard before prescribing a medicine. That in turn can depress sales of the drugs, as recently happened when such warnings were added to common antidepressants after they were associated with increased risk of suicide in children.

Makers of the ADHD drugs said they would work with the agency. A spokesman for Shire said the company supports Adderall's current labeling but is "open to working with the FDA." A spokeswoman for J&J said the company "supports the FDA in their efforts to ensure the appropriate labeling" for all ADHD medications. Novartis, which makes Ritalin, said its review of a company safety database stretching back 50 years doesn't appear to show "an increase in cardiovascular events" in the context of expected rates, but the company said it would "work with the FDA to do what is in the best interest of patients with ADHD."

Use of ADHD drugs has grown rapidly in the U.S. Traditionally, they are prescribed largely to children and teens, but a growing number of adults are now taking the medications, partly fueled by marketing. In 2005, U.S. sales of Adderall and Adderall XR, an extended-release formulation, totaled .16 billion, up from 1 million the year before, according to Wolters Kluwer Health Inc. Last year's U.S. sales of Concerta were 9 million, up from 8 million the year before.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on a 2003 survey, estimated that 2.5 million children between 4 and 17 years old are receiving some medication for ADHD, or about 4.3% of young people in that age group. The projected rate was 9.3% for 12-year-old boys.

The panel also voted unanimously, with one abstention, to recommend that the drugs should come with special patient guides that would lay out the evidence of potential heart danger. The committee included many drug-safety and heart experts, but wasn't heavily weighted with doctors in specialties likely to prescribe the drugs often, such as psychiatrists. A different FDA committee will examine potential psychiatric side effects of ADHD drugs next month.

After the meeting, FDA officials said they would consider both panels' views. "You don't want to overscare people with data that aren't very solid," said Robert Temple, director of the FDA's office of medical policy. He said the drugs carry real benefit for some patients. Before the committee's vote, Thomas Laughren, who heads the FDA's division of psychiatric drugs, told the committee he didn't "think we are there yet with this cardiovascular risk" in terms of justifying a black box. The agency is under pressure from Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican who is active on drug-safety issues, to respond to concerns about ADHD medications.

There has long been debate over the widespread use of the drugs and over their potential side effects. Cardiovascular dangers may be more significant in adults, who are more likely to have risk factors such as high blood pressure. Last year, Canada suspended sales of Adderall XR but regulators later returned the drug to the market.

In the U.S., the labels of stimulants prescribed for ADHD already tell doctors to be careful in using the drugs in people with high blood pressure, though this is far less prominent than a black box would be. Adderall's label has a black-box warning that includes a line saying that misuse of amphetamine may cause sudden death and serious cardiovascular problems. Lower down on the label, there is a warning that sudden death has been reported in users of the drug who have cardiac abnormalities. The FDA said it already planned to add similar language to other stimulant drugs.

The estimated rates of sudden deaths and problems including heart attacks and strokes were based on information sent to the FDA's adverse-event reporting system. The system is limited, because many events aren't reported.

The FDA said that it had identified 17 cases of sudden death in people taking amphetamine between 1999 and 2003, 12 of them in pediatric patients. For those same years, the agency had 35 reports of cardiovascular or stroke problems in people taking amphetamine. The agency said that translated into low rates among the pediatric patients: for sudden deaths, 0.36 per million prescriptions, and for the nonfatal events, 0.53 per million prescriptions.

For the same time period, the agency said it had reports of eight sudden deaths in people taking methylphenidate, seven of them in children or teens, as well as 19 nonfatal cardiovascular or stroke problems. The rate of sudden deaths in young people was 0.16 per million prescriptions, and the rate of the nonfatal events was 0.18 per million prescriptions.

The committee's focus shifted abruptly to the drugs' current labeling when Steven Nissen, a committee member who is a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, made a motion for the panel to look more broadly at the need to warn patients and parents about the potential dangers of the medicines. "Patients need to be informed about the risks of these drugs in a very clear way," he said.

Though the data weren't "100% clear," said committee chairman Peter Gross, a professor at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, the committee felt "the best thing to do is get out a strong warning to the public."

Committee members who voted against the black box said they still felt that parents and patients needed better information about the potential risks, even if the data weren't definitive. "I feel comfortable saying there should be additional warnings," said Sean Hennessy, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, but he said he wasn't sure the drugs needed such a strong caution.

--John Carreyrou contributed to this article.

Write to Anna Wilde Mathews at anna.mathews@wsj.com and Scott Hensley at scott.hensley@wsj.com

This may or may not be a troll, but although I do not agree with TCMG on some of thier comments they have not been rude or disrespectful in any way. I think that being on this site I have seen some horrible trolls say some horrible things and I understand the frustrations that you all are having, but read throught thier posts. All she/he is doing is sharing thier experiences with us and isnt that what this site is about. She has not been judgemental or told anyone that they are wrong. I am on meds and found nothing they said offensive. If anything it was enlightning to see how different people handle different problems. I think that we all need to let thier guard down just a little and lets try to hear everyone out. It is not fair to tell someone they are wrong for taking thier meds and tell them that they are wrong for doing it that way. It is wrong to be hypocritical and tell others who don't take meds that they are wrong.

Let the pounding begin!!! Please be nice guys when responding I am not siding with TCMG just being observant of what I noticed.

[QUOTE=IMac][QUOTE=BOSOX1980]Like I said just trying to tell us what worked for them. We should try to be more open to this unless you all have reasons why I shouldnt. I am new to this site, is there something that I am missing?[/QUOTE]

Bosox, being new to any ADHD forum and the med / anti-med debate is perhaps why you may not recognize subtle things in a post. The same is true of anything.

The beginning of this thread appears to be an alarmist warning us about FDA warnings on ADHD meds. Then, when challenged, the poster switches the subject to Vision therapy / testing.

As Aunti said, share the vision testing. This very well could be important information, but why connect this with a strong anti-med message and imply a judgement about parents who are content to choose medication for their kids?
[/QUOTE]

i totally understand you and Glen's point. All I am trying to say that this person may be exactly what you all think they are but what if they are not? When I saw that article on MSNBC I was going to post it here too. I am not anti-med but though everoyone on meds should know. It is concerning to me since I am just starting on what might happen to me. As many of you have pointed out on this very thread started by the "troll" these numbers don't support this type of FDA warnings. That reassured me and it also gave me an insight into how this person has "hanlded" thier situation. If they are lieing than shame on me but either way I am a little better off because of this thread.

I appreciate you all responding to me and giving me your takes on it. You all make very valid points.

TCMG,
We have a similar story and outcome.
My son is 9 and dx with inattentive ADD at 7 yrs. We did the whole medication rollercoaster which was a nightmare,
Long story, short we finally had his vision checked and found that he has astigmatism and is far-sighted. He also catches colds that move right to his eyes which causes watering. He has glasses now and his teacher says it was like magic! He is so much more on the ball now and way more self-cnofident. He still has attention issues but he is learning to compensate for that and learn new learning strategies.
Conferences were last night and I was so happy. He has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 2 months.
He is not perfect either but compared to Sept. he is 100% better and on the right track.

Fear mongers and med bashers are very tedious aren't they?

[QUOTE=BOSOX1980]

I appreciate you all responding to me and giving me your takes on it. You all make very valid points.

[/QUOTE]

We have 9,000 and some members on this forum. Now why would someone who has never signed up on this forum - read an article and all the sudden become concerned with this particular site, sign up, and post for the first time ever - an article such as that!

I don't know you well Baily but most of us already have read information like this. Of all the people in this world who should and do keep up on medication side-affects are the people in this forum. It is pretty insulting to assume people on this board are just shoving pills down their kids throats willy-nilly.

Auntie38764.8139583333I am glad to hear that you were able to help your child. It is refreshing to have a positive response. Thanks !
Wow, so much energy spend on tedious arguements. Rock on!! uh, okay.....A multifaceted approach worked for us. Vision therapy was part of that solution.

We looked for solutions that were based on clinical research. Clinical research supports the efficacy of vision therapy. Here is the website: http://www.pavevision.org/

Teachers thought that our child had behavior issues but doctors thought otherwise. Our son was less frustrated after his medical conditions were treated and after we enriched his environment. At no time did a doctor diagnose our son with the ADHD label. If you want to read some details, read on. If not, just disregard.

In Kindergarten our son was singled out by pregnant and overwhelmed teacher the teacher after three weeks of school as having "overimpulsivity" and inattention" and put in Title One Programs and given IEPs. Later that year, at our son's annual medical exam, the pediatrician told us she disagreed with the ADHD label, said it was too soon to make a diagnosis of ADHD and advised us to consider stopping the school IEPs. When second grade started, we signed a school form and stated that we did not want testing or the IEPs. Until the middle of third grade, our son had A's in most of his subjects except writing. Since our son struggled with writing, we hired a writing tutor. After several months, it was clear that the writing tutor didn't help. When my son was in the middle of third grade the school officals called another meeting. The teacher and the principal said that our son was consistently omitting words when writing sentences, and again insisted that we get psychological testing for our child. They attributed this to "overimpulsivity".

It was very worrisome in third grade that our son usually could not write a sentence without omiting words, yet aced most school work! It was very worrisome that our son could ace his science tests when I read the chapter out loud to him but failed the tests when he read the material himself. It was worrisome that our son was not included in any social events, including birthday parties, and finally it was very worrisome that he HATED sports. He dreaded ball games, which are important for being included in social circles. He could never copy a definition from the dictionary onto paper. He was frustrated! He was fidgety! He was exhausted when he came home from school. Homework took forever. We did not know that these are some classic signs of a vision problem.

We went to our pediatrician with all these worries. Our pediatrician thought our child might have dyslexia or dysgraphia. Our pediatrician told us that the school probably thought our child had something called Aspergers's Syndrome, based on some of the things they wrote in an e-mail to us. ("he lacks eye contact")

Our pediatrician recomended an independent evaluation by a private doctor. We went to the independent evaluator. The psychologist administered tests to our son. He ruled out dyslexia, dysgraphia, attention issues, and Asperger's Syndrome. The independent doctor said that preliminary testing indicated that in some areas, our son had grade equivalents that were significantly higher than third grade. Our doctor sent his results to our school and spoke directly to the teacher. He asked the teacher some questions and then apparently discredited her theory that our son should be labeled with Asperger's Syndrome and the ADHD label. The school principal called a meeting and told us that he he rejected the findings of this doctor. The school only wanted the school psychologist to test our son. We were at a loss of what to do next.

Neither the school nor the independent evaluator nor the pediatrican mentioned a thing about vision issues or allergies. They did not address how to remedy the problems.

We randomly found the PAVE Website while searching the Internet. We scheduled the comprehensive vision exam immediately. We worked at the Vision Therapy all summer in the manner previously described.

We watched our child closely and thought that he might have allergies. We scheduled an allergy tests with a specialist. We found websites about allergies and got our child allergy testing and treatment. We tried a few different allergy medicines and are still not sure which one will work best for him. We got asthma testing and treatment. We enriched our son's environment in various ways, that are probably of no interest to you. Time passed. Things got better, but in a gradual way. All is well, now. There are no complaints from the school. His grades are good and although he has flaws just like any other kid, and we do our best to help him.

I am just a parent reporting my quest for answers and our hard-won but happy outcome. Parents ought to know about the strong alerts from the FDA about certain medicines. Perhaps it might ease the worry of one or two readers here if they also know that at least one parent overcame issues that seemed insurmountable, without using the medications (which may be harmful. )

PS The school psychologist and teacher thought that lack of eye contact was a sign of a social deficit. Lack of eye contact is a classic sign of a vision disability. Read more at the recommended links at http://www.pavevision.org/ If your child lacks eye contact, get a comprehensive vision test.

TCMG38765.6211342593Glen: Most add/adhd/ Asd kids are being found to have a Visual issue as a part of the puzzle. Children's vision.org. .IMac38947.4833796296.IMac38947.4830787037

Bosox - read carefully and you can see the anti-ADHD rhetoric. I'll go point by point for you through TCMGs posting:

"It looks like it is a little hobby of yours to rile up anyone who doesn't buy into the using pharmaceutical solutions as a remedy for struggling students." - Which I read as "you folks are just doing this for kicks - and don't like when I point out how horrible medication is and that it's primarily for normal kids to do better in school even if you are hurting them"

I refused to submit my child to the school psychologist's subjective testing. My child was never labeled with ADHD. - Translation: "I don't actually know if my child has ADHD - I'd be embarassed if that was found. But since I'm not a psychiatrist you can trust my judgement in all things about ADHD. Period."

TCMG has made it amply clear that they are self-diagnosing, self-treating and that anyone that disagrees with that is doing obvious harm.

[QUOTE=TCMG].

THEN, on June 4, 2003 at 2 PM I found out about the PAVE website. Parents Active for Vision Education or PAVE. It saved our lives.

[/QUOTE]

Ahhhhhhh.........but the real question is.......what did you have for lunch.

I commend your passion for finding the right solution for your child, but your arrogance is unpardonable.

If you truly wanted to be taken seriously, try not insulting the rest of the forum till your third or fourth post next time

mmmmmkay?

Did any of you or your children get a comprehensive vision exam by a specialist?
I doubt it! PLEASE DO THIS!!!! Don't hesitate!!! The comprehensive vision exam is covered by most insurance. If you find out that vision issues are at play, know that it is possible to correct them with Vision Therapy. (I make no profit from the Vision Therapy Industry. )

Did any of you or your children get a thorough allergy test? Probably you already tried this. We foolishly did not do this until many years passed. If you have not yet done this, please learn from our mistake. Our son had an itchy roof of mouth and puffy "allergy" eyes but no sniffles. We should have had him tested and treated years ago! He was fidgety and itchy when kid with dogs sat near him in class.

Why am I here? I want to help.

I get Wall Street Journal Online. I saw the FDA strong alerts on the first page. I decided to post the article at any ADHD Forums I could find. I went to google.com and typed in "ADHD Forum." I found your website. I registered into your forum. I looked to see whether the site contained the alerts. It did not. I posted the article. When I got a reply from someone, complaining that it was not a good thing to just post an article and that I should share my personal experience, I decided to comply. After I told my story, a couple of people here agreed that Vision Therapy was helpful but mostly the replies were unkind. This is a forum to brainstorm about ways to help kids, right?

Why is to that a person named "Oldtimer" at this forum knows that kids who have Vision Problems have the same symptoms that the ADHD labeled kids, but that not too many others are aware of how Vision disabled students are very often labeled ADHD? Why is this so?

Some very general common sense ( unsolicited ) advice follows:

Become an expert on promoting a great learning environment. Find out whether there are any patterns when your child has "overimpusivity" is "fidgety" or "inattentive". Do your best to "pre-empt" the behavior.

If your school doesn't allow for sufficient exercise, maybe join the YMCA or such and sign your child up for sports. Lack of exercise impairs focus. If your child is punished and is deprived of recess (when s/he steps over the line at school,) by all means work with him at home and reinforce the teacher's rules.... BUT, consider asking the teacher to use a more effective punishment (Recess is essential and lack of recess often compounds the problem)

If your child doesn't get enough sleep- explore why this is so. Sleep apnea? Tonsilitis? Anxiety about bullies? Breathing issues (asthma?) Lack of consistent bedtime? Not enough exercise? Digestive issues? Too much soda/caffeine/stimulants? Too many activities? Not enough activities? Good sleep is so important! Sleep deficits wear kids down and they can't learn well.

If your child's teacher sends notes home about your kid's behavior, get to the root of what causes it. Find out whether the teacher is at fault. It might be rare but it does happen. Keep a perspective about the complaints. Teachers are overwhelmed with the No Child Left Behind legislation. Think about what is expected of them!

If you are bickering at home, find a way to make peace. Kids thrive in a peaceful setting.

If there has been a death in the family, it might impair a child's concentration.

If there are financial troubles in your family, recognize and appreciate that these adult worries weigh heavily on children who are trying to learn. Their concentration will not be the same.

Read up! Keep an open mind.

Perhaps this unsolicited advice will help, perhaps it will not. I hope it DOES help! I mean no insult by offering advice. Again, this is a forum to brainstorm about ways to help kids, right?

How amusing! It is not insulting to give an FDA alert to parents. I think some if you are razzing me, when you say I am insulting you. It looks like it is a little hobby of yours to rile up anyone who doesn't buy into the using pharmaceutical solutions as a remedy for struggling students.

I refused to submit my child to the school psychologist's subjective testing. My child was never labeled with ADHD. I found other ways to solve the very real problems we faced. It took years, but finally we came up with lasting remedies.

If there are any people here who worry about the strong alerts about the ADHD medicines, please know that there are plenty of noninvasive things to try that can be successful! Please accept my posts as anecdotal descriptions of what worked for us.

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[QUOTE=TCMG] If there are any people here who worry about the strong alerts about the ADHD medicines, please know that there are plenty of noninvasive things to try that can be successful! Please accept my posts as anecdotal descriptions of what worked for us.

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Like I said just trying to tell us what worked for them. We should try to be more open to this unless you all have reasons why I shouldnt. I am new to this site, is there something that I am missing?