Executive Functions: Describing Six Aspects of a Complex Syndrome by Thomas E. Brown,
PhD
ATTENTION IS AN INCREDIBLY COMPLEX, multifaceted function of the mind. It
plays a crucial role in what we perceive, remember, think, feel, and do. And it is not just one isolated activity of the brain.
The continuous process of attention involves organizing and setting priorities, focusing and shifting focus, regulating alertness,
sustaining effort, and regulating the mind’s processing speed and output. It also involves managing frustration and
other emotions, recalling facts, using short-term memory, and monitoring and self-regulating action. Observing the problems that
result when attention fails has allowed me to notice the effects of attentional processes on multiple aspects of daily life. Read more. Thomas E. Brown, PhD, is assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine
and associate director of the Yale
Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders.
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Parenting Young Adults with ADHD An interview with Anthony Rostain, MD, MA
PARENTS ARE OFTEN PERPLEXED about their role during the sometimes difficult years when their
children with ADHD are transitioning to adulthood. For guidance, Attention editor Susan Buningh interviewed Anthony Rostain,
MD, MA, director of the Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Triple boarded in pediatrics, adult psychiatry, and child and
adolescent psychiatry, he treats patients of all ages at the University of Pennsylvania Health System and at the Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia, where he
also directs the developmental neuropsychiatry program.
"When ADHD is present,
the young adult’s executive functioning is likely to be underdeveloped, leading to problems with time management, organization,
self-regulation, judgment, decision-making, and impulse control, to name but a few." says Rostain. "The first step
in determining an appropriate parental role is to make an assessment of the young adult's overall readiness to manage life
on his or her own." Read the interview.
In the February of 2010 edition of the Journal, Molecular
Psychiatry, the National Human Genome Research Institute, of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland, made
an amazing announcement. They reported that they had discovered a gene that not only predicted individuals who would be susceptible
to ADHD but that also forecasted the ADHD patients that would have a positive response to stimulant medication.According to the journal, studies performed on over 2500 individuals with ADHD and over 2500 controls revealed that
the LPHN3 gene is "expressed in key brain regions related to attention and activity, affect metabolism in neural circuits
implicated in ADHD, and are associated with response to stimulant medication."
As hard as it is for me to believe, there are still people who doubt
the existence of ADHD, even though fMRI tests proved its existence several years ago. They blame parents for not disciplining
their children and think that we have made up a disease because of our unwillingness to hold our children accountable for
their actions. There are other people who feel that stimulant medicine is an extreme measure and will only use this medication
if it is 'proven' to be useful.The result is stressed out ADHD children who drop out of school, turn to
drugs and who have no self-esteem.
A genetic
test for ADHD cannot be far off. Very soon, those being diagnosed with ADHD, will go to their doctor's office, the lab tech
or nurse will take a swab of the inside of their cheek and a week later they will not only have a diagnosis but they will
also have an answer regarding what type of treatment would work best for them.The implications of being
able to do this for struggling children are great! Visit www.ezinearticles.com for more information.
In a study of more than
a million children, Swedish researchers found a strong association between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and socioeconomic status. Scientists discovered limited maternal education, single-parent families and welfare benefits were
all associated with children receiving medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Swedish experts teamed up to carry out what they believe is the
first study of risk factors for ADHD in a national cohort of school children, based on 1.16 million children on the country’s
Prescribed Drug Register.
Key findings of the Swedish study include:
Boys were three times more likely
to be on ADHD medication than girls, with medication use highest in boys aged between 10 and 15.
Women who had only
received the most basic education were 130 percent more likely to have a child on ADHD medication than women with university
degrees.
Children were 54 percent more likely to be on ADHD medication if they came from a single-parent family rather
than having both parents at home.
Coming from a family on welfare benefits increased the risk of ADHD medication
by 135 percent when compared with households not claiming benefits.
May
17, 2010-- Relatively low-level exposure to common pesticides
-- probably from residues on foods -- doubles kids' risk of ADHD, Harvard researchers find. The findings come from
a nationally representative sample of 1,139 U.S. kids aged 8 to 15 who were tested for ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder) and had urine samples tested for signs of exposure to various organophosphate pesticides such as malathion.
Kids with higher-than-average levels of pesticide metabolites were about twice as likely to have
ADHD as kids with undetectable levels of pesticide metabolites, find Marc C. Weisskopf, PhD, ScD, associate professor of environmental
health and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues. Weisskopf notes that his study is designed to
detect a possible risk but is not able to prove that one thing caused another. For example, the data could be taken to mean
that kids with ADHD somehow behave in ways that increases their exposure to pesticides. While that appears counterintuitive, further studies
are needed to test whether pesticides truly contribute to ADHD. Read the full article at: http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/20100517/common-pesticides-double-kids-adhd-risk?ecd=wnl_prg_052310
View two
new videos by Dr. Kenny Handelman that shares
some details and specifics with you about Alternative Treatments for ADD/ADHD. This video will show you how to incorporate
alternative treatments into a comprehensive treatment program. It will also reveal some guiding principles to consider
when choosing an alternative treatment. Click on the links below:
If
you want your child to thrive in school - this is the most critical factor for
your child's success... Studies
show that a teacher's first impression of your child can make a huge difference in your child's performance and learning experience
in school. The student/teacher relationship alone is the biggest factor in your child's ability to succeed in learning - even
Bill Gates spoke about this in his recent TED talk. When teachers are introduced to new students and told those children are
"high achievers" they tend to treat those children very differently than children who are introduced as "average"
or "less than average" students. Mind you, the "high achievers" in these studies were actually average
students merely labeled as "high achievers."
With nothing more than this
distinguished but unwarranted introduction the "high achievers" ended up performing much better and learning much
more in school that year than the other equally capable students in the study that were unfortunately labeled "average"
or less. First impressions and labels become self-fulfilling prophecies. Not only did the teachers view and subtly treat their
"above average" students differently, but students (the younger ones especially) rose to the expectations of their
teachers and actually learned more and performed better on subsequent standardized tests. This goes to show how easily people
(including teachers) are unduly influenced by labels and expectations.
Q. "What are 'DaVincis'?" "I
keep hearing people referring to themselves or others as 'DaVincis.' What does that mean?"
A. His answer: In my book, The DaVinci, I define a
"DaVinci" as someone who is impulsive, distractible, sensation-seeking and creative. Think of "DaVinci"
as a personality type - or more accurately a natural temperament some people have. People who are DaVincis tend to be labeled
as "troublemakers" or "space-cadets," tend to be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, bipolar, OCD, autism or Aspergers
and tend to suffer from anxiety, depression, instability and addictions. Just about all DaVincis have the natural capacity
to tap savant-like abilities if they can unlearn certain limits they may have been forced to accept growing up in a society
intolerant to mavericks, change-agents and nonconformists. Depending on their talents and interests DaVincis tend to make
great innovators, artists, athletes, emergency workers, performers and entrepreneurs. You can learn more about DaVincis, what
makes them tick, how to overcome the weaknesses that come with this temperament and how to set up your life to thrive as a
DaVinci - in my book The DaVinci Method. You can find out more here: www.DaVinciMethod.com Join this Discussion
Deep Breathing to Decrease ADHD
Symptoms and Anxiety
Slow, relaxed
breathing can help ADHD adults and attention deficit children clear their heads, increase focus and attention, and reduce
anxiety.
You have to breathe, so why not use
your inhalations and exhalations to manage your ADHD symptoms? “Several studies show that rhythmic, paced breathing
balances the autonomic nervous system,” says Richard Brown, M.D., associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia
University College of Physicians and Surgeons. What does that mean to someone with attention deficit disorder? Controlling
your breathing can help you become more attentive and more relaxed at the same time. Many of Brown’s ADD patients
have benefited from coherent breathing -- a term coined by author and yoga specialist Stephen Elliott because the technique
synchronizes heart, lung, and brain rhythms. Visit www.myadhd.com and to read this issue of ADDitude visit http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/6564.html.
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Ever Wonder How ADHD is Diagnosed? Visit
www.ADHD.TV the first video podcast on ADD and ADHD. On
The Blog:
* ADHD World
is a new social network where you can connect with people from all over the world to share about ADD and ADHD, learn
and grow. Just click on the 'signup link', and then you'll be able to join the discussions...
Over
35,000 parents, health professionals, and educators rely on ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE to stay informed about important new research on
ADHD treatments and symptoms. Visit www.helpforadd.com.
** Social information processing not helped by ADHD medication
**
Social information processing (SIP) is a widely-studied framework for
understanding why some children have difficulty getting along with peers. A particularly well-known SIP model developed by
Crick and Dodge (1994) describes six stages of information processing that children cycle through when evaluating a particular
social situation:
1.Encoding-
The child must attend to and encode the relevant cues. Failing to encode the relevant cues will lead to problems in subsequent
information processing steps.
2.Interpretation-
The child makes a judgment about what is going on. For example, if a child is bumped into by a peer while waiting in line
the child must decide whether this was by accident or intentional. How the child answers this question can have important
implications for how they choose to respond.
3. Clarification
of goals - The child must decide what their goal is in the particular situation. In the example above, the goal of
'standing up for oneself' would likely lead to different action than the goal of 'maintaining harmonious relations'.
4. Response generation- The child must generate different behavioral strategies for attaining the goal they have
decided on.
5. Response decision- The child must
evaluate the likelihood that each potential strategy will help reach their goal and decide on which strategy to implement.
6.Response enactment- The child must behavioral enact
the chosen response.
It is assumed that the steps outlined above operate in real time and frequently
outside of conscious awareness. Numerous studies have shown that unpopular children - especially those who are aggressive
- have deficits at multiple stages of the SIP model. For example, they tend to encode fewer social cues before deciding on
peers' intent, are more likely to assume that peers' have acted towards them with hostile intent, are less likely to adopt
prosocial goals, are more likely to access aggressive strategies for handling potential conflicts,
evaluate aggressive responses more favorably, and are less skillful at enacting assertive and prosocial strategies. SIP Framework: Although these deficits do not apply to all unpopular children, the SIP framework
provides a useful way for understanding children's social difficulties and for identifying ways to help them. For example,
children whose social difficulties result from failing to adopt prosocial goals would require a different intervention approach
than children who are prone to believe that peers are acting towards them with hostile intent. When multiple SIP stages are
contributing to a child's problems - as would often be the case - intervention would need to address compromised processing
at these different stages.
Because the SIP framework has been prominent in research on children's peer relations,
and children with ADHD are known to struggle with establishing friendships, it is surprising that little work on SIP in children
with ADHD has been conducted. In addition, there has been little work on whether medication treatment improves SIP in children
with ADHD. A study published recently in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology [King, et.at., (2009). Social information processing in elementary school children with ADHD:
Medication effects and comparisons with typical children. JACP, 37, 579-589.] begins
to address these gaps in the literature.
David Rabiner, Ph.D. Associate Research Professor Dept. of Psychology & Neuroscience Duke University Durham, NC 27708 www.cogmedresearch.com
"All
Star Concert" Heralds Important Breakthrough for ADD & ADHD ...
The Beatles (Paul & Ringo) Reunite on Stage with Howard Stern, Donovan, Sheryl
Crow, Eddie Vedder and Ben Harper NEW YORK April 4, 2009 — This all-star concert brought Paul McCartney and Ringo
Starr (the two remaining Beatles) together for their first performance together in seven years.
The reunion
of McCartney and Starr was the highlight of the "Change Begins Within" concert on Saturday night. The event was
held at Radio City Music Hall to promote a "breakthrough" (that can be used to eliminate the negative symptoms of
ADD & ADHD) - meditation - and the importance of teaching of effective meditation techniques to at-risk youth.
Between the music, the night's
stars talked about the power of meditation to overcome problems like ADD & ADHD. Howard Stern (likely an ADHD-er himself),
said he has meditated for 37 years. Stern credits meditation with allowing him to keep up his rigorous show schedule while
maintaining his sanity. He also told the crowd that he credits meditation for saving his mother from depression.
5 independent studies say the same thing: Use meditation to overcome
ADD & ADHD. But how? Most people with ADD or ADHD (especially children) have trouble even
sitting still, let alone meditating. Recent technological advances now offer us the key. Learn More.
Focus on
College Students with ADHD by Stephanie Sarkis
College Challenges for Students with ADD
Many students aren't aware of their ADHD symptoms until they reach college.
Part of this reason is that students with ADHD may have had success in high school but find they have difficulties in college.
Unstructured time, the competitive atmosphere of college, living away from family and friends, and newly found independence
can accentuate difficulties with focus and impulsivity.
Students find that
they not only have to wake themselves up for an 8am class, they also need to have their materials prepared and have a way
of getting to class. Many ADHD students are naturally night owls, so that makes the situation even more challenging.
However, there is hope for the ADHD college student. In this column, you will read suggestions for having a successful
college experience. This includes learning how to structure time, coping with frustrations, adapting to living with
roommates, and handling your own finances.
What
do ADHD, Michael Phelps and 11 Olympic Gold medals have in common?
... Hyperfocus. While many are baffled and
in awe by Michael Phelps' laser-like focus and single minded determination to win, win, win - those of us who know the qualities
of ADD & ADHD understand the source his "other-worldly" concentration all too well - hyperfocus.
While extraordinary, Michael Phelps'
super-human ability to focus during an event is actually thanks to his inability to focus as a child. That's one of the gifts
of ADHD - the ability to trigger laser-like focus in an instant and hold that focus to accomplish the most amazing things
and crush even the toughest problems. ......................................................
How to Trigger Hyperfocus The
question arises "How do you cultivate this hyperfocus?" "Sure, I know my child with ADHD can focus for hours
on his Nintendo DS, but how can I get him to focus on his homework?!"
The answer is PASSION.
Hyperfocus can only be effectively directed by passion or threat. So let's focus on passion. Michael Phelps is gifted for
two reasons: He has ADHD and he found his passion - swimming. The combination of ADD (or ADHD) and your true passion for something
results in an amazing ability to focus, persevere and triumph through all odds to achieve the aims of your passion.
Who knows, you or your child could be the next Michael Phelps of your passion's pursuit.
Rock on,
Garret LoPorto Author of The DaVinci Method: "How to turn ADHD into a strength."
Garret
is an author, speaker, U.S. & International patent-pending inventor, and successful entrepreneur, Garret LoPorto
has been written about in The New York Times, Money Magazine, The London Financial
Times, and The Boston Globe and many other national newspapers. He and his projects have been featured
on national television, including CNN and ABC, and on Nitebeat
and MIT TV.
He is an expert in Human Psychology as it relates to the Artisan
temperament, human relations, trust building and creativity and ADD & ADHD Attention Deficit
(Hyperactivity) Disorder and How it relates to genetics and brainwaves and how to heal it.
The 22nd Annual CHADD International Conference on AD/HD is
November 10-13 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia
CHADD - A Non-Profit
Organization
Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder (CHADD), is a national non-profit, tax-exempt (Section 501 (c) (3) ) organization providing education, advocacy and
support for individuals with AD/HD. In addition to our informative Web site, CHADD also publishes a variety of printed materials
to keep members and professionals current on research advances, medications and treatments affecting individuals with AD/HD.
These materials include Attention! magazine, the CHADD Information and Resource Guide to AD/HD, News From CHADD, a free electronically
mailed current events newsletter, as well as other publications of specific interest to educators, professionals and parents.
Visit CHADD.org for more information!
Looking for a way to increase your child’s self-esteem? Lots
of parents of children with ADHD are. And now, here’s a simple way, according to one study, that is. Let them enjoy
those playing those video games now and then. That’s right! According
to a study commissioned by Pop Cap, an online gaming company, playing casual video game playing can not only improve a child’s
self esteem, but also his attention span, and memory. In addition, it can also help to relieve stress!The study looked at more than 13,000 casual game players. Of these nearly 3,000 of the respondents
said that they – or someone in the care – had ADHD.
Surprised?
Perhaps you really shouldn’t be, explains Dr. Carl Arinoldo. He’s a psychologist in Stony Brook, New York. “It
seems that children with ADHD often lack that sense of control that comes much more easily to their non-ADHD peers,”
he says. “Playing casual games...
According to a news article in U.S. News and World Report online, children who have an undiagnosed case of
ADHD are at a 50 percent higher risk for being overweight than those taking medication for this disorder. To read the entire
article for yourself, click right here.Now get this, those youngsters who were diagnosed
with ADHD and were being treated, ran a risk of being underweight. Is
there a connection here or mere coincidence? That’s basically what the medical community is asking as it sifts through
the results of this research. The study from which these conclusions were drawn, examined 63,000 children and....
ADHD World is a new social networkfor anyone in the world interested in ADD or ADHD. Many people have joined this new site-
and new groups and discussions are springing up - with members from: UK, Canada, USA, Australia, and many other countries.
ThisADHD Social Networkprovides users: Discussion groups, classified ads, photo albums, personal profile pages, the
ability to create friendships, and much more. The largest social network at this time is Facebook. Interestingly, one
of the big pharmaceutical companies has created a facebook group called: ADHD Moms. They have hired ADHD Specialist Dr. Patrician
Quinn, and Debbie Phelps (mother of olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who was diagnosed with ADHD when hewas 9 years old) to lead this group. Macneil Pharmais supporting this...
Suddenly a number of independent studies have come out signaling that meditation
(not medication) may be the key to dramatically reducing the negative symptoms of ADHD
in school age children.
One recent pilot study published in the peer-reviewed
journal "Current Issues in Education" followed a group of middle school students with attention deficit disorder
(ADHD) who were meditating for 10 minutes twice a day. After three months, researchers found an over 50 percent reduction
in stress and anxiety and improvements in ADHD symptoms.
Find out how you
and your kids can benefit from this new discovery: Go here.
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Recent Issue Posted
- How are Girls with ADHD Adjusting as Teens?
This issue reviewed an interesting and important
study that examines adjustment during adolescence in girls diagnosed with ADHD as children. In addition to being the first
study I am aware of that follows a sample of girls with ADHD into adolescence, the authors extend on prior work by examining
outcomes in multiple domains of functioning and focusing on the frequency of positive adjustments rather than concentrating
on psychopathology and negative outcomes. Although the findings are not as positive as one would hope for, this is a very
nice addition to the literature on ADHD in girls.
An interview with Anthony Rostain, MD, 
