It was before bedtime when we go over our highs and lows of the day when my six-year-old son said, “My low today was when my friend said that his mom told him he couldn’t play with me anymore.” My heart broke. It’s not unexpected. My son has ADHD and has struggled with impulse control…

Psychologists refer to the act of reframing how you view a stressful situation as positive reappraisal. Positive reappraisal is about taking a negative event in your life and finding a way to see it in a more positive way. Research suggests that from a mental health standpoint, this is a valuable coping skill to have.…

When a child is diagnosed with ADHD, parents confront the difficult decision about which treatment(s) to pursue to best help their child succeed. While deciding on an initial treatment plan is important, equally important is establishing a plan to monitor how well that treatment is working on a sustained basis, regardless of what specific treatment(s)…

A new Hong Kong study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, finds that when preschoolers are connected to nature, they have fewer behavioral and emotional difficulties, show improved prosocial behaviors and are less distressed and hyperactive.

Children with symptoms of ODD are often judged or viewed negatively because of their behavior. ODD may become a label to describe them. This stigma can have a negative effect on development and growth, especially when it stems from the (false) assumption that ODD can’t be treated…Here are some common myths about ODD—and the facts…

Psychiatrists diagnose people with schizophrenia, ADHD, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses by spending time with them, looking for the particular behavior symptoms of each. What follows can be a hit-or-miss series of medications and dosages until disruptive behaviors go away. By deciphering the circuitry of the medial frontal cortex—an area beneath the top of…

We’ve all known them, kids who sit quietly at home or at school, lost in their own thoughts and unable to concentrate on the task at hand. Children who struggle to concentrate and have learning difficulties, often become lost in their own thoughts. These ‘daydreamers’ may be diagnosed with ADHD. But Russell Barkley, a leading…

Children who are repeatedly excluded from school should be automatically screened for learning difficulties including ADHD, it has been claimed.

So you’re caring for a kid who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. What are you doing to also take care of you? When her son was young,Vanessa Armstrong sometimes felt like going out caused more hassle than it was worth…But she stresses that it’s important for parents of children with ADHD to find time for…

Games and puzzles are a natural fit for the ADHD brain. I’d guess games and puzzles are especially likely to lure out the ADHD brain’s ability to hyperfocus. To start with, these activities are associated with an imminent, well-defined reward: winning the game or solving the puzzle. Everything you do is a step toward getting…

The U.S. accounts for five percent of the world population but more than 92 percent of the world’s spending on pharmacotherapies for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). According to the 2011 National Survey of Children’s Health, ADHD increased to 11.0 percent of U.S. children, seven percent of girls and 15 percent of boys. Interestingly, ADHD…

Community-based pediatricians often struggle to treat children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on AAP guidelines. Recent studies suggest that quality improvement (QI) strategies could improve adherence to the guidelines. Five organizations were awarded independent grants from Pfizer Inc. and formed a learning network to test innovative strategies for improving the quality of ADHD care.