Drug-Free Help for ADHD

Family First | VoiceAmerica™

Drug-Free Help for ADHD

More and more kids are being identified as having attention deficits. Often it is assumed that ADHD is a biological imbalance which requires medication to control. But drugs don’t solve the core problem. And the kids end up with habits and labels that may have unwanted consequences for their future. My guest this week on Family First is psychologist Dr. Craig B. Wiener, who specializes in the treatment of children, adolescents, and families. He has become well-known for questioning the growing tendency to make behavioral problems into medical disabilities. His groundbreaking work with ADHD shows that the behaviors included in the ADHD diagnosis can become frequent due to reinforcement, and in his new book, “Parenting Your Child with ADHD: A No-Nonsense Guide for Nurturing Self-reliance and Cooperation,” he gives parents a powerful new drug-free way to eliminate ADHD behavior by stopping those reinforcements and instead developing their child’s self-reliance and cooperation.

To hear the program, simply click on the link above or on this link: http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/1916/family-first Friday at 1 pm PT, 2 pm MT, 3 pm CT, 4 pm ET, or any time afterwards online, or on podcast or apps.

Dr. Craig B. Wiener is a licensed psychologist based in Worcester, Massachusetts. He obtained his Doctorate from the Clark University and has taught in the Psychology Graduate Department at Clark University and in the Undergraduate Psychology Departments at Worcester State University and Anna Maria College. He is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Clinical Director of Mental Health Services at Family Health Center of Worcester, where he supervises Clinicians, Post-doctoral Fellows, and Pre-doctoral Psychology and Social Work Interns. He is the author of two books on ADHD for professionals: “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a Learned Behavioral Pattern: A Return to Psychology” and “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a Learned Behavioral Pattern: A Less Medicinal More Self-reliant Collaborative Intervention.” He is a frequent presenter on ADHD at national conferences

To hear the program, simply click on the link above or on this link: http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/1916/family-first Friday at 1 pm PT, 2 pm MT, 3 pm CT, 4 pm ET, or any time afterwards online, or on podcast or apps.

 

Randy Rolfe Take Home Tips: No matter what label or diagnosis an educational or medical expert puts on a child, the caring parent knows the child best and needs to explore environmental, nutritional, and habitual patterns to see if there are ways to imrpove the situation by working with the child rather than by manipulating her or his chemistry. "I never lose faith in my child" is the first of The Seven Secrets of Successful Parents, my book available as ebook or soft cover everywhere.

Help for Special Needs Kids

Please join me, Randy Rolfe, for Family First on Voice America, tomorrow, 1 PM PT, 4 PM ET, or later in archive or download, for a great discussion of how to get the educational assistance a child with special needs deserves. Many parents today find that there children need special attention because of various disabilities which make it harder for them to benefit from conventional school programs. With all the cuts in school budgets today and classroom size increasing, special education seems even harder to arrange. Yet autism and related disorders is on the increase, and we have children with hearing and visual impairment, as well as slowed development in various areas, and other health and learning impairments. There are federal and state laws that require special education programs for these children, but obtaining appropriate help can seem overwhelming. Today I am pleased to welcome a true expert in this field, Attorney Tanya Alvarado, who will help us understand what resources are available under the law, what the process looks like, and when to seek an experienced attorney to help with the process. Just about everyone knows someone who has a child who needs extra help, so do listen in. Here's the link:

http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/55094/when-your-child-needs-more-special-education

Great news! I just got the first copy of the new edition of my book - The seven Secrets of Successful Parents. I have had so many parents tell me it was one of the best books they ever read on how to really tap into their own wisdom and give the best of themselves to their children. Please share this book with all the parents you know! more to come.

Take Home Tip from Randy Rolfe: The home environment is as important if not more so for kids who are finding schooling challenging. Let your child see you reading, doing figures, interacting with others. speak in normal tones and sentences, so they can pick up easily the sounds and structures of our language. Kids learn best by imitation and example by people they can trust.

Easy way to remove toxic BPA from your family

For over thirty years my family and I have avoided plastic packaging whenever possible because I knew the plastic leached into our foods and I knew that couldn't be good. How did I know it leached? I could smell the plastic. If the plastic molecules could reach my nose, then they were getting into our food. So we stored food in glass and ceramic containers in the fridge.

Now, finally, with attention on the dangers of BPA in so many of the water bottles sold, a new study shows how prevalent the BPA is and also how changing to non-plastic containers can directly and immediately reduce your family's BPA load.

Here is the story from the San Francisco Chronicle:

"Forgoing packaged foods such as canned soups and vegetables could dramatically lower levels of a hormone-disrupting chemical that has been linked to myriad health problems, including birth defects, autism and reproductive issues, according to a study released today.

"In the study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, five Bay Area families were asked to eliminate packaged foods from their diets and store food only in glass or stainless steel containers. After only three days, levels of the chemical bisphenol A in the subjects' urine dropped by more than 60 percent, researchers found.

"Researchers were surprised by the dramatic drop in levels of the chemical after such a short change in diet, even though it was known that bisphenol A, also known as BPA, does not stay in the body for long.

""We're hoping these very remarkable results will help us in our outreach and education to people to show them how easily changes can be made in their personal habits that may diminish significant exposure to BPA," said Janet Gray, an author of the report and science adviser to the Breast Cancer Fund, a San Francisco advocacy group and partner in the study."

Read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/30/MNSL1IIVQM.DTL&tsp=1

Tip for the day: Buy glass containers and avoid products that come in cans and plastics. Go to Randy Rolfe's book The Seven Secrets of Successful Parents to learn more about how to take care of the basic needs of your kids and family!