I'm a parent and a grandparent. My youngest daughter was finally diagnosed with ADHD as a junior in high school; and only after being seen by a counseler and being tested by the school district. I wish we had known about this earlier as it might have helped both of us deal with her problems in school; none of which were discipline problems, just attention and completion.
I believe that ADHD may be somewhat over diagnosed, and that many young kids are just naturally "hyper"; but I also believe it is real and increasing. All the chemically processed, hormonally treated food we consume undoubtedly has an effect on growing children. And as the parent of young adult kids who carry their cell phones literally 24-hours a day I see the effects of electronic connections. I can only imagine what happens with younger kids who are given cell phones (and why do they need them?). My kids weren't even allowed to have televisions in their rooms as kids, and still don't; but the youngest two (18 and 22) have developed sleep problems which I believe are caused by 24/7 cell phones. They never turn them off!

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marshal mccluhan advised in 1962 that elecronics and its media would hyperaccelerate society, freak out the fundamentalists and we'd see the nuts crack first. done. ultraviolent videogames, tv and movies. when i was a kid, a 'school shooting' meant water pistols. in 2007-8 there were 84 events with real guns in schools and having passed drunk driving accidents a decade ago, the leading killer of teens is now suicide with murder a close second...

there are many reasons for the suicide stat. the typical suicide note is 'can't get any love' in a love-disabled war-torture society, that comes as little surprise. gay issues top the list, of course. also, it must be seen that 1/7 of teens are on a psychiatric drug and these are known to drastically increase suicide. over 80% of mass-murders in america are committed by someone on psych pharma and the figure for school shooters is even higher.

but another contributor is that the average american now consumes 20 tsp of sugar a day and kids are at 24 tsp! then a shrink gives them speed which leads to mood swings and they put em on zombie drugs.

then there's mercury...

are we having fun yet?

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I was told my two week old baby boy was a "Mother Killer"! The doctor said he was very hyperactive. He gave me many books to read on the subject. I learned to read labels on food cans, if it has any artificial colors, sweetners, or flavors, don't feed it to your child. I fought for years to keep him off drugs that they wanted him on for the hyperactivity. I even spent two weeks at his elementary school to convince the principal and teachers the problem was not him but the way they treated hyperactive kids. They went out to the playground seven times a day to run and jump, etc. That is very bad for a hyperactive child. They can not run around and then go back into the classroom and sit still! It is impossible as they are now an over wound spring!!! I took my son out each break time and we sat and read or looked at the clouds or something quiet. By the end of the second week my son was calm and connected, as were the other 37 children the teachers had sent to me to deal with during the break times. All of them had way improved grades also. It is just a matter of keeping them calm. The principal ended up getting a special award from the governor for her "up-dated teaching system"! My son never took drugs for his problem and is now 35 years old, running his own home inspection company and working as an "iron worker" as well. He has a wonderful family and a beautiful home! I am very, very proud of him.

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Children who are labeled with hyperactivity - and not the sugar high spoken of in the article - are in my mind misunderstood. My son is what they like to label as hyperactive. He eats whole foods and is very active both physically and mentally. Society is set up to put us all in little boxes, and if we don't fit into those boxes, we have disorders. They would love to medicate my son as if that is a solution. I have done a lot of research on how to deal with the extra energy he's been blessed with and have come to realize that it's a matter of helping him direct his energy into activities that will stimulate him in positive ways. I have learned that he is actually normal and society has it wrong by expecting us all to behave in the same manner. The same goes for our schools who only cater to one type of learning style. I am a constant advocate for his needs where society falls short. It has been and continues to be a wonderful learning experience (although admittedly very difficult at times) . While I believe diets consisting of processed sugary foods and lethargic lifestyles are a formula for a miserable and unhealthy life, I am not buying that it is the cause of hyperactivity.

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I grew up in the 70's. No colourful cereals or candies, very little sugar. The kids who were hyperactive were the ones whose parents fed them artificially coloured everything and tons of sugar. Now I've heard that people are "forced" to give their kids iced coffee (some feed their dogs coffee too). Hello? Caffeine and sugar to kids? I'm not even referring to birthday parties, Halloween loot, or the holidays. This is daily.

Then there's the overprotective argument--they might fall or hurt something. Ok, let them sit in front of the idiot box instead of being bored in the yard (they'll find something to do eventually, trust me).

It's not rocket science. If you have a bunch of bored kids who get no exercise while consuming boatloads of sugar, they'll be hyper, and likely overweight.

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The Elephant in the Room is - Everyday Chemicals! Not just food additives, but toxins in many products to which kids are exposed daily - including cleaning chemicals, pesticides, fragrance chemicals and endocrine disrupters (including the pasticizer in the baby bottles - BPA).

As Director of an organization, Toxics Information Project (TIP) that researches such environmental connections to health, I'm aware not only of research linking autism to everyday chemicals - but of mothers who have helped their children to become symptom-free through avoidance of environmental triggers. For more on this, see links to autism-specific articles below.

www.toxicsinfo.org/kids/Autism%20Endocrine%20Disrupters.htm
www.toxicsinfo.org/healthconnections/treatmenttips.htm
www.toxicsinfo.org/kids/autism/AutismShortHandout.htm
www.toxicsinfo.org/kids/autism/DiscoverArticle.htm
www.toxicsinfo.org/kids/autism/AutismLinked.htm

Also, check out the following page on healthier schools, including our Good Green Schools Guide for reading or downloading:
www.toxicsinfo.org/healthyschools.htm

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I didn't plan to respond to this, nor do I want to for personal reasons, but it's so brief in anything that I feel I have to. Yes, I'm with anyone who says ADHD is way over diagnosed, that they're kids, and that we give them too much junk in their diets & not enough activity. But that's far from the only thing that causes problems, I can attest to it personally.
I was laughed at by peers, growing up, because my mom fed us what is even deemed as overboard healthy by today's standards. I was also quite active. But for the longest time I had severe problems with fidgeting, concentration, and being able to get anything done, ever.
I grew up before all the ADD rage, and was just considered an fidgeting idiot that was also a ne'er-do-well.
So when diagnosis started coming out, in many ways it was a relief for me. Something I cringe about admitting to, & even have a hard time believing in, its possibility still does me much good.
So when I hear/read something seemingly like even mild protests to ADHD, I personally get defensive, & for others too.
I'm not saying this is a defense, or that it lacks merit, but it needs to include the possibility of ADHD being something more than it allows. Otherwise, myself & many others, including tons of kids, are just irritating, idiotic, fidgetbags that'll never amount to anything.
All I'm saying is to just be more careful how you word things to include possibilities, that without, can hurt a large group that's finally achieve

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There is way too much diagnosis of hyper crap on children Everytime a new diagnosis is found it is beat to death. Lets learn from history back before there was all this kid glove handling of kids. Chores for 1 make them use energy. Responcibility for actions or non actions make them think using brain energy. I agree carol that too much over sensitivity from doctors/moms to be about pregnancy can cause some probs. I think more on the additives preservitives even in so called good foods as well as toxicity and enviromental waste really are alot of the cause. PARENTS also need to take away comp. and video games and even CELL PHONES forcing outside play/interaction. AGAIN with the obeseity. Due to crap in all foods is #1 here. Peoples bodies handle or dont differantly. Children need to move, think and be active. You think they are hyper because youve slowed down yourself. Stop grabbing pills to cram in their bodies and deal with it like in the past. GOOD OLD EXERCISE, WORK and COMMON SINCE.Place more responcibility on them. STOP doing it all for them. Hell I know mom's who still make their kids beds, clean their rooms, wash their clothes,make their food and clean their dishes and the kids are 20, 21 even older. WHAT the HELL do you people exspect? YOU design your own HELL.

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or maybe it was just the sugar in all those cakes, etc.?

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A lot of it is HFCS that is in everything you and eat another thing there is so many things going on around them they just don't understand.
I think there is so many Sonagrams done to unborn children they don't have a chance to concentrate on growing they are constantly being awaken or shaken-up by noice. I have a friend that had four (4) Sonagrams and her baby was born with acid reflux and she appears to be very nervous.
Another thing is there is so much divorce and the children are scared of losing their mother or father at any given time. Can you imagine having to go from house to house maybe you will be able to stay more than three days in a row. Having so many mothers and fathers and other half brothers and sisters.
Let us say there is Step Father or Step Mother and both of them have different rules and laws in the house who do they listen to that could be very confusing when they come home to their real mother with another step father and they different rules how to you expect them to be but have these nevous disorders. Also mothers these days don't marry the man she had the baby by and let's say he doesn't want to live with woman anymore and he just leaves never to return again and the baby might feel it is their fault somehow.
There are so many reasons why they have these mental disorders that have nothing to do with really being ill.
Just think about what I am saying and see if you agree.

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