Strollerderby : ADHD

They Say: Bipolar Children Are an “American Phenomenon”

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:56:00 GMT

In a fiery interview with Northwestern professor Christopher Lane, journalist Phillip Dawdy explains his belief that parents need to stop trusting that the doctor knows best when it comes to mental health diagnoses of young children. I offer his arguments here for discussion’s sake, with the caveat that neither I nor Dawdy are pediatric psychiatrists—but he at least has spent many years researching the field.

In 2005, at least 2.2 million American children were being treated for mental health disorders, a number that has skyrocketed in the last decade and a half. And in 2007, 23 babies less than one-year-old were prescribed antipsychotics. “The drugs are known to cause huge problems in adults, so why the heck would a doctor give them to little kids, especially infants?” Dawdy asks. Remember the tragedy of four-year-old Rebecca Riley, who died of an overdose of antipsychotic drugs after she was diagnosed bipolar at the age of two?

Dawdy argues that there is no solid research to support early intervention for kids at risk of psychosis: “[T]he PRIME study at Yale—which sought to identify kids at risk of psychosis and then gave them Zyprexa to prevent psychosis from ever arising—was an epic failure and certainly raised questions about the ethics of giving kids dangerous drugs for disorders that they, at least in some of the cases, didn't even have.”

Zyprexa is a drug used to treat bipolar disorder. Dawdy blames pharmaceutical companies pushing the drug for the marked increase in diagnoses of what’s known as bipolar II disorder. Unlike true manic depression, which involves episodes of extreme mania, anyone who experiences depression with “bursts of energy” can now be diagnosed with bipolar II (and prescribed Zyprexa). That sounds to Dawdy (and to me, someone who has struggled with depression) a lot more like simple depression than manic depression, a serious diagnosis that can lead to social ostracizing and inability to find a job.

Much of Dawdy’s distrust of the increased medication of children and teens is rooted in cross-cultural comparison. “In France and Italy, ADHD is rarely diagnosed and it's difficult to see where French and Italian culture have suffered as a result. As for bipolar disorder in kids (meaning pre-teens and younger), it's simply not an issue in the rest of the world. The bipolar child is a purely American phenomenon.”

Do you have any experience with children who have benefited or suffered from early mental health treatment?

Image: patriciaebauer.com

ADHD Drugs Don't Work; Stunt Growth?

Shannon LC Cate — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:00:00 GMT

A long-term study on the effects of the most widely prescribed ADHD drugs has shown that the benefits of taking such medication falls off after 2-3 years (depending), but that kids on the medications for the eight years of the study are, on average, an inch shorter and six pounds lighter than the kids who have never taken such drugs.

Earlier reports from the study that found a significant improvement in ADHD symptoms in medicated kids led to a boom in prescriptions for those medications, from about 28.3 million in 2004 to 39.5 million last year. Today, approximately 5% of the population is on a drug prescribed for ADHD.

The study used controls by randomly assigning a "therapy" protocol to four different groups of kids diagnosed with ADHD. (One group got nothing in particular). In the early months of the study those receiving the drugs did better than those on behavioral therapy alone, but after those early results were publicized, the difference between the groups diminished and eventually the behavioral therapy group and the medication groups were indistinguishable...except by height and weight.

The groups of kids taking the drugs over time are significantly shorter than kids who never took the drugs, leading to speculation that the drugs stunt growth.

The members of the research team are more or less in agreement on these mixed results with the exception of one doctor who insists the findings of the rest of the team are "silly." Notably that team member--along with most of the researchers, in fact--have significant funding and other conflicts of interest from the pharmaceuticals industry.

The take-away that most experts consulted seemed to agree on is that ADHD medications can be helpful in the short-term, while parents, teachers and therapists help affected kids cope in behavioral ways with their challenges. Unfortunately, however, another study found that when parents are given drug treatments for kids with ADHD and told to seek additional behavioral therapies, only 25% of them do so. Meanwhile, 95% of parents not given drug prescriptions do seek out such treatment. While the no-drug parents (and kids) may have a harder time in the short-term, it sounds like they will do better over time--assuming they get those non-medication coping skills mastered.

image: adhd.co.nz

Morning News: Hyperactive Kids Just Need a Nap

Madeline Holler — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:30:00 GMT

You'd think that if sleep caused hyperactivity, those with ADHD would just settle down and get over it. But it's not that easy. However, Canadian researchers think they've found a connection between how much sleep a child with ADHD gets and the severity of the disorder. We'll take any excuse for extra downtime.

In other news this morning, we've got Meghan McCain's love life, laws inspired by Octomom, Madoff's generous concessions, and where all the crappy economic news leaves Obama's popularity rating.

Plus, a picture of the world's ugliest cat.

Nobody's buying nothing these days. Home sales plunged 7.7 percent last month even though prices are supposedly more affordable now than they've been in four decades (nationwide average, we presume, as prices in the way overinflated areas are still -- now don't get made, home sellers -- overinflated. Auto sales are lower than they've ever been in 30 years.

Citibank wants to help unemployed mortgage holders. They're lowering payments for their jobless clients -- as low as $500 for some. The price break would be for three months at most. Anybody out there actually benefiting -- or preparing to benefit -- from bailout programs? Please share the details in comments.

Also feeling generous is pyramid investor Bernard Madoff. After losing billions for close friends and family in his fun little ponzi scheme, he has agreed to give up his investment company (worth, what? Anything?), the company's artwork, a "entertainment" tickets. In return, he'd like to keep his $7 million apartment, hold on to $62 million dollars in assets, and not rot in hell. Good luck with that, Bernie!

Even though some (Republicans!) have been skeptical about how President Barack Obama is handling the economic crisis, the president (going on his sixth week) has hit an all-time high in favorability. Interestingly, Republicans' favorability is at an all-time low.

Also at an all-time low is Republican Meghan McCain's romantic life. She explains in her Daily Beast column that politics indeed make for strange bedfellows -- or they probably do, but it appears she can't even get that far. Turns out, Obama supporters turn her off as do fans of her Dad's. What's a single gal to do? May we suggest scanning Ron Paul's list of potential voters?

Or Meghan, nothing wrong with living the life of a cat lady. Here's your starter pet:

Finally, Georgia legislators have introduced the "Octomom bill," which would limit the number of embryos that can be transferred into a woman's uterus for an in-vitro procedure. Sure, fine, about time we got some regulation. But here's my question: CNN and many other respectable news organizations continue to use the word "implant," as in "implanted eight embryos in her uterus." We got ripped a new one and then schooled the first time we used "implanted" instead of "transferred." How do they keep getting away with it? It's just a question ...

Photos: DailyMail.co.uk

Parent Training An Alternative to Meds for ADHD

Amy Kuras — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:01:00 GMT

If you’re facing a diagnosis of ADHD with your child, you might be struggling with the idea of medicating such a little person, but also worrying about his or her future if they can’t get their behavior straightened out.

Newer research is suggesting, though, that training the parents can be just as effective as medication for kids with ADHD. As a matter of fact, having parents who use effective parenting techniques is one of the major predictors for success in adulthood for kids with ADHD.

Training the parents helps them in turn skills-train the kids, and ideally teachers and other important people in the child’s life will get on board as well. For example, remembering to bring home assignments is a big problem for kids with ADHD, so the parents learn to reward good behavior more than punish lapses, and help their kids find a trigger so they remember what they need to do. It can be as simple as a note attached to their bookbag zipper or teaching them to always do the same thing in the same order.

Go over and read the article if you’re curious –it’s lengthy, with lots more good information than I can summarize here. As someone who has ADD -- and I’m pretty convinced my husband has it too -- I am sure one or both of our kids will eventually be diagnosed and our older child is already showing signs of it. Having a plan in place when or if that diagnosis comes down – or even before – would be good for everybody in our family.

They Say: Medidation May Help Ease Kids' ADHD

Amy Kuras — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:30:00 GMT

Plenty of parents whose kids have ADHD are understandably reluctant to medicate them – while the medications are effective and generally pretty safe, they are still medications and it is, after all, a parent’s job to be skeptical.

So I found this story pretty interesting: A pilot study of 10 kids between the ages of 11 and 13 who had been diagnosed with ADHD and were taking medication but still having trouble at school and home were taught transcendental meditation techniques. Both teachers and students reported significant improvement in the kids’ symptoms.

In TM, practitioners sit quietly for 10 or 15 minutes, silently repeating a mantra, such as a sound, word or phrase. It relaxes and calms mentally and physically, and some research has shown real physical changes to the nervous system from it.

As someone who both has ADD and has tried meditation, I was mostly surprised by the findings that the kids learned it easily and took to it. One of the way the brain works with ADD, at least it always has for me, if that I can be sitting there quietly repeating my phrase and before I know it I my mind is far, far away. It’s like my mind is a TV with someone sitting on the remote, making it change channels constantly.

This is not to criticize either meditation or the study – I do benefit from it even though it’s damn hard for me to do, and I think it’s so great to teach these kids a simple technique that, while not curing their ADHD, can at least put them in charge of managing their symptoms in a beneficial way. Researchers are now looking at whether or not TM can reduce or eliminate the need for medication or if it’s best used as an adjunct to a drug regimen.

They Say: Our Kids Are Developing a (Legal) Drug Habit

JeanneSager — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:35:00 GMT

Either kids are getting sicker or doctors are pill happy. A study published in a recent issue of the Journal of Pediatrics says prescriptions for kids with chronic health problems jumped by more than one hundred percent over a three-year period.

Kids aged five through nineteen who suffer from type two diabetes (so-called adult onset diabetes) took one hundred three percent more medications in 2005 than they did in 2002. Prescriptions for kids in the same agre group went up by forty-six and a half percent for kids with asthma, forty percent for ADD and ADHD and fifteen percent for cholesterol treatments. Although the latter number isn't nearly as high as that of the diabetes jump, both stand out for their mere presence in the younger population. Until childhood obesity became buzzwords in pediatric circles, type two diabetes and cholesterol issues were highly regarded as "adult" issues.

The study's author says behavior modifications can have a major impact on most of the chronic diseases studied, but whether doctors are counseling their patients on making the changes - and whether kids are listening - will make the difference in kids' health. Do you feel like your pediatrician's become a drug pusher? Or are kids just getting diagnosed better?

Source: Los Angeles Times

Image: More4Kids

Child Safety, Child Schmafety

Do You Have a Drinking Problem? Talk To the Kids' Doc.

Father Can't See His Little Boy, But Can He Give Him His Organs?

They Say: Parents Don't Know Kids are Too Fat or Too Thin

New Test Gives Women a "Fertility Roadmap"

Bipolar Disorder: A Family Secret

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:55:00 GMT

What would you do if your 10-year-old daughter said to you, “I can’t take it anymore. I don’t want to be me. I don’t want to feel anymore. Why aren’t you doing anything about this?” Or if your normally loving son threatened to slit you open with a knife? Naturally, you would want to do anything in your power to make your children better, but what if that meant giving your six-year-old lithium? Or sending your 10-year-old away to a therapeutic residential school?

In deference to the many parents who face these challenges day after day, I highly recommend Jennifer Egan’s piece on bipolar disorder in children. She traces several families’ struggles to cope with children who rage against the world from the time that they can talk, and offers a comprehensive portrait of the uncertainties surrounding bipolar diagnoses in kids.

Until relatively recently, it was believed that bipolar disorder only affected adults. Now nearly all leading child psychiatry experts agree that children can suffer from the disease—but they mostly all disagree about how to diagnose childhood bipolar disorder. Most experts believe that it is over-diagnosed, in part because managed care usually only pays for one brief psychiatric evaluation a year and because of the highly questionable yet widely popular book The Bipolar Child.

Diagnosing mental health problems in children is further complicated by the fact that many of the symptoms of bipolar disorder overlap with the symptoms of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). And mania is not as clear-cut in children as in it adults--it's often normal for children to act grandiose or have terrible temper tantrums.

James, one of the kids Egan writes about, was diagnosed with ADHD, OHD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), and bipolar disorder by the time he was eight. With so much uncertainty about the disease, even parents whose children have seemingly clear-cut episodes of mania—stealing strangers’ cell phones or wearing outlandish clothing—followed by clear episodes of depression remain uncertain about their children’s treatment.

Once a child is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he and she is prescribed strong medication with harsh side effects. Making the decision to give such drugs to kids is a huge weight of responsibility on a parent’s shoulder—and this decision requires trusting a doctor whose personal biases will inevitably influence her diagnosis and prescribed treatment.

At the very least, I hope that Egan's article will bring greater awareness to this issue. As one of the mothers interviewed said of her son's horrible temper tantrums, "It's like a dirty little secret. It's like having a husband who beats you, only it's a kid. It's your own."

Image: New York Times

Why the puppy games are better than the Olympics

Brett Singer — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT

OK, that's not true. But if you haven't seen this dopey show on Animal Planet, you're missing out on something very cute.

Here are a few highlights:

1. Commentary: "It's going to be tough to impress the judges." True – because they're goldfish. "This is like a chess match." Indeed – if chess opponents gnawed on the pieces and sniffed each others' butts. Bob Costas doesn't get lines like these.

2. No controversy: As far as we know, the opening ceremonies were real, no protesters, journalists or grandmothers were arrested, and no one is complaining about the puppy's potentially sexist costumes.

3. Who won? Who cares?: They're, you know, dogs. They have no idea where they are or what they're doing. You can still cheer for your favorite breed (the Cocker Spaniel is really cute) but at the end of the day, it's all up to the judges… who are goldfish.

4. Two words: Waterbowl Cam.

Not sure if they're going to air this again or not, if so, I highly recommend watching it. There are a bunch of video clips on Discovery.com; here's one of the Gymnastics event.

source/image: Animal Planet

Other Old Olympians

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

Bela Karolyi likes to kill things

Did Michael Phelps actually win 8 medals?

Michael Phelps to endorse Frosted Flakes

Olympic Athletes To Be Tested . . . For Gender

Jon Stewart Tackles Olympic Controversies

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

33 year old mom wins silver medal, saves son from leukemia

Dara Torres inspired two current Olympians

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Shawn Johnson more mature than her coach

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

They Say: no junk food ads at the Olympics

Brett Singer — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Like 30 million plus people, I've been watching a lot of Olympics the past few days. Which means I've seen a lot of commercials from the sponsors of the Games; I think I've seen that McDonald's ad touting chicken sandwiches for breakfast (ew) at least 50 times.

Two watchdog groups, Commercial Alert and Multinational Monitor, have released a study titled, "The Commercial Games." According to AdWeek, "The study is highly critical of the sponsorship and advertising policies of the International Olympic Committee and the various sports federations and national committees under its auspices…The groups argue that the marketing of junk foods, sodas, fast-food chains and alcoholic beverages should be eliminated from the Games. Their reasoning: such products conflict with the stated purpose of the Olympics, which they say is to 'celebrate healthful living.'…Promoting such products in the widely watched Olympics…is 'unhealthful,' and particularly inappropriate 'for an event with enormous appeal to children.'" The groups slam McDonald's and Coca-Cola the hardest, saying that both companies, "run businesses centered around unhealthy food," and suggest that, "The Olympics should not lend its name and aura to help promote more consumption of these unhealthy products."

In what could be the funniest bit of corporate protestation ever, McDonald's "objected to the study's labeling of its product as 'unhealthy,'" presumably because they now offer apple slices and stuff like that. (Don't worry; you can get "low-fat caramel dipping sauce" with them.) The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not accept ads from liquor companies, although beer and wine are OK. Not surprisingly, Commercial Alert and Multinational Monitor think the IOC should ban beer and wine ads as well.

The reason for all of these ads is, of course, money. According to Ad Week, there are 63 sponsors at this years' Games, which sounds like a lot, although it doesn’t say how that compares to previous years. The article quotes "brand consultant" Robert Passikoff as saying that 63 might be too many sponsors, but he defends the IOC's right to sell as many ads as they can: "The question is why should they cut back? They're making an awful lot of money on it. Why should anyone other than the consumers and the marketing folks be the arbiter of what's right and wrong? No research group should have the right to tell them who to do business with; who put them in charge?"

Is Passikoff right? Or should the IOC be more selective about whom they allow to sponsor the Olympics?

Source: AdWeek, Image: MSNBC

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Team more mature than coach

Other Old Olympians

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

Like father like son

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Dara Torres inspired two current Olympians

Some Parenting Lessons From Michael Phelps's Mom

Gold (OK, Silver) Medal Girlcrush: Dana Torres

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Baby survives tornado

Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets because she wanted a boy

Jon Stewart Tackles Olympic Controversies

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Did Michael Phelps actually win 8 medals?

Brett Singer — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Usually when an athlete is accused of cheating, it's a doping issue: this year alone, at least four athletes have been caught using banned substances. But in Michael Phelps' case, there may be something else going on.

Here's the deal, as reported in the New York Times:

The race in which Phelps won his seventh medal, tying Mark Spitz and setting him up to break the record for most gold at one Olympic Games, was decided by 1/100th of a second. Despite some "controversy" (that's what the article says; I don't recall hearing anything about this when it happened) over the results of the 100-meter butterfly, the authority that oversees swimming (FINA) decided not to release video images to help "prove" that Phelps was the winner.

What does this have to do with Michael Phelps? Well, Omega is the official timekeeper of the Olympics. They are also one of Phelps' sponsors. As the New York Times puts it, "The most visible athlete at these Games is getting a paycheck from the same company whose equipment decides the outcome of Phelps’s events."

To me, this is much ado about nothing, and an attempt to create a problem where there isn't one.

In the first place, FINA doesn’t typically release images of the races, which the Times article mentions but not until the middle of the article. Second, Omega didn't make the decision, FINA did. And third… I don't know, is anyone all that upset about this? Is that because we desperately wanted Phelps to break Spitz's record? Maybe. Personally, I didn't care that much; although some of the races were a lot of fun to watch (like when we beat the French in the relay after they had said they would "crush" the U.S. team – put that in your beret, Frenchie!), by the time Phelps won his eighth gold medal I found I had a certain amount of Phelps Phatigue. That's not to take anything away from him; I just think the coverage got to be a little bit overblown.

If you want to talk about weird judging issues, what about the gymnastics, where the judges clearly favored the Chinese team? (Béla Károlyi, despite being a little bit scary, was right on with much of his analysis.) And if you want to say that there are potential conflicts of interest between certain parties at the Games, I'm sure there is plenty to talk about. I'm not sure, however, that this is an actual controversy.

On the other hand – isn't it fun to have two opinions on the same topic? – why not just release the images? The photo shown here certainly doesn't do much to dispel the notion that perhaps the end result of the race wasn't what we were told it was. Sports ethicists (there's a job I want) interviewed by the Times say that FINA should release whatever information is necessary to keep people from thinking that the results were tainted, especially in this case, since it is so high profile.

Image/source: NYTimes

Other Old Olympians

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Dara Torres inspired two current Olympians

Elderly Chinese Women Sentenced to "Re-Education"

Some Parenting Lessons From Michael Phelps's Mom

Gold (OK, Silver) Medal Girlcrush: Dana Torres

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Table Tennis Women, Flaunt Your Stuff!

Baby survives tornado

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Team more mature than coach

Michael Phelps to endorse Frosted Flakes

Brett Singer — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Maybe they should call them Phrosted Phlakes?

Once upon a time, Wheaties was the Breakfast of Champions, but now its Frosted Flakes. Michael Phelps will appear on a box of Tony the Tiger's favorite (phavorite? OK, OK, I'll stop) morning meal.

Naturally, some are upset with Phelps for choosing to endorse a sugary breakfast cereal. "In a country where childhood obesity is an alarming issue, Phelps' iconic image sharing space with Tony the Tiger sends the wrong message, experts say."

Personally, I doubt that any kid will buy Frosted Flakes because Phelps' image is on the box, although Kellogg's probably hopes I'm very wrong. And we know he did it because they offered him more money, rather than a more "moral" reason. Since swimming can't touch baseball or football in terms of the money an athlete can earn for competing, I don't think I have a problem with Michael making as much as he can while he can make it, especially since the IOC seems to be raking it in from their 63 sponsors.

source/image: NY Daily News

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Team more mature than coach

Other Old Olympians

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

Like father like son

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Dara Torres inspired two current Olympians

Some Parenting Lessons From Michael Phelps's Mom

Gold (OK, Silver) Medal Girlcrush: Dana Torres

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Baby survives tornado

Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets because she wanted a boy

Jon Stewart Tackles Olympic Controversies

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Other Old Olympians

Brett Singer — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Dara Torres is 41, and Oksana Chusovitina is 33 (and saved her son from leukemia), but they aren't even close to the oldest Olympic athletes in history, or even this year. Most aren't in the more physically strenuous events, but competing in anything at their age is pretty impressive.

* Iain Murray is on the Australian Olympic sailing team, and at age 50 is making his Olympic debut. Murray is Australia's oldest Olympian; Andrew Palfrey, a teammate, is 41 and also competing in his first Olympics.

* Luan Jujie was 50 years old in 1984 when she won a Gold medal in fencing for Canada.

* Susan Nattrass is 57 and currently in Beijing on the Canadian shooting team. In 1976, she became the first woman shooter to compete in the Olympics.

* Hiroshi Hoketsu, a Japanese equestrian, made his Olympic debut in 1964 and is now back for a second time – at age 67.

* Oscar Swahn (Shooting) competed in his last Olympics in 1920 at the age of – are you ready for this? – 72. (He was planning to go in 1924 but he got sick. Wimp.) Over his career, Swahn won three gold medals, two bronze, and a silver in 1920, making him the oldest Olympic medallist ever. Fun fact: his son competed with him in 1908, 1912 and 1920.

For more, see NBCOlympics.com

Image/Source: nbcolympics.com

Dara Torres inspired two current Olympians

Some Parenting Lessons From Michael Phelps's Mom

Gold (OK, Silver) Medal Girlcrush: Dana Torres

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Baby survives tornado

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets because she wanted a boy

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Team more mature than coach

Jon Stewart Tackles Olympic Controversies

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Like father like son

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

Brett Singer — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

We've seen quite a bit of Michael Phelps' mom Debbie in Beijing. Bob Costas interviewed her and her record-setting spawn after Mike beat Mark Spitz's record by winning of eight medals in one Olympic games.

But Phelps pop, Fred, isn't there. Where is he? He's at home, in Baltimore. Watching the games on TV.

According to multiple sources, "Fred and Debbie separated for good in 1993, and the divorce was finalized the next year, when Michael was 9." This site implies that Fred "walked out" on Debbie and Michael, which I guess is possible, but I don't know since this is the only source of that I've found.

The same site claims to have a photo of Fred Phelps, but I think the photo on Cleveland.com is more accurate.

That article, written by Tim Warsinskey, asks the question, "Are you wondering what I'm wondering?" Tim wanted to know where Phelps' dad is; as a reason, he says that he is a father himself. I'm a dad as well, but I have to admit that "where's Michael's father?" isn't a question I asked as I watched the Olympics.

For his part, Fred said, "This is just about Michael. This is his glory, his time to shine, and I want him to get everything he wants." So even if he did "walk out" on his family (not saying he did, just saying if) at least he's not trying to claim that he's the reason Michael won all that gold.

image: Cleveland.com

Some Parenting Lessons From Michael Phelps's Mom

Gold (OK, Silver) Medal Girlcrush: Dana Torres

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Baby survives tornado

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets because she wanted a boy

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Team more mature than coach

Jon Stewart Tackles Olympic Controversies

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Like father like son

Some Parenting Lessons From Michael Phelps's Mom

Jen Chaney — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:02:00 GMT

Deborah Phelps -- mother of swimming stallion and Olympic gold-medalist Michael Phelps -- could teach us all a few lessons about parenting.

As this New York Times article notes, she didn't have it easy as a mom. Following a divorce, she raised three kids, including Michael, as a single parent. And when the budding athlete was in fifth grade, she had to deal with the possibility that he might have A.D.H.D. But she did several things right, as the following list -- again, based on the Times story -- indicates. It's a reminder that we all have the ability to bring up children who can maximize their potential, no matter what anyone else says.

1. She Ignored Nay-Sayers. As a school teacher herself, Deborah Phelps listened and took it to heart when teachers told her that Michael was having problems in school. But she didn't accept one's assessment that: "Your son will never be able to focus on anything." She heard it, but she didn't accept it. Instead, she focused on how to help Michael. (P.S. That teacher has to feel pretty stupid right about now.)

2. She Took the Advice of Medical Professionals. When the family doctor said he thought Michael had A.D.H.D., she put the boy on Ritalin to see if it made a difference. She says it did improve his ability to focus but not as significantly as she might have hoped. Still, she was willing to take a doctor's advice, then resort to Plan B. And that meant...

3. She Listened to Her Child. After two years on Ritalin, Michael said he didn't want to take it anymore because he always had to go to the nurse at lunch for his pill, and that made him uncomfortable. After considering that and again consulting with the doctor, she took him off the meds. Obviously kids don't always know what's best for them, but allowing him to play a role in making decisions for himself surely created a level of trust between Michael and his mom.

4. She Played to His Strengths. When Michael couldn't focus on reading, she gave him the sports pages to read. And when he clearly proved he could excel and focus on swimming, she encouraged his gifts. As a result, he is one of the all-time greats (if not the greatest) in swimming history.

Deborah Phelps has every reason to be enormously proud of her son. But she can be pretty proud of herself, too. Under trying circumstances and while dealing with plenty of self-doubt (she still says she's not sure putting him on Ritalin was the right choice), Deborah Phelps did a hell of a job raising that kid.

Is Mental Retardation Reversible?

Amy S.F. Lutz — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:36:00 GMT

Revolutionary new studies have shown that learning delays caused by four common conditions can be totally reversed - but at this point, only in mice. Still, if you know someone suffering from tubeous sclerosis complex (TSC), neurofibromatosis, fragile X or Down Syndrome, then the news looks very promising.

Different scientists studying different neurological impairments are discovering that many are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain that can be rectified through the use of drugs, some of which have already have FDA approval. For example, Alcino Silva, a neurobiologist at UCLA, found that the organ-rejection drug rapamycin reversed learning disabilities in mice with TSC, a condition that affects about 1 in 6000 people and causes learning delays, autism and epilepsy.

As the parent of a child with autism, you can imagine how excited I was to hear about a possible cure for autism, even if the autism in these mice was caused by a very specific genetic abnormality. And I believe that any parents who have anxiously awaited the results of prenatal testing on their unborn children have to be thrilled by the prospect of a drug like the one Craig Garner is studying at Stanford that has reversed learning disabilities in mice with Down Syndrome.

And even if you happen to live in a bubble and know no one who cares about any of these disorders, Cambridge University neuroscientist Petrus de Vries believes that research on specific genetic conditions like these may eventually lead to advancements in the understanding of extremely common diseases such as ADHD, schizophrenia and depression. So this is good news for everyone.

Cribsheet: Circumcision, vaccination, and autism rates

editors — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Percentage of American boys circumcised in 1963-65: 76
In 1999: 65.3
In 2003: 55.9
Percentage of American pediatricians who recommend circumcision to all parents: 24
Percentage of American pediatricians who discourage circumcision: 9.4
Percentage of American pediatricians who make no recommendation: 50.4

Mean number of parents refusing immunization, per 1000 children according to one survey: 7.2
Immunization refusals based on fear of side effects: 52%
On religious belief: 28%
On anti-government sentiment: 8%
Number of new U.S. cases of polio each year in the 1950s: 20,000
Year polio vaccination was begun: 1955
Number of cases of wild polio per year in the U.S. today: 0

Percentage of people under the age of 21 who have Autism: 0.2-0.6
Number of American children diagnosed with ADHD: 4.4 million
Number of American children receiving ADHD medication: 2.5 million

Increase in diabetes rates among people under the age of 44 since 1980: 100%
Number of diabetes cases today that are type 2 (formerly considered "geriatric") diabetes: 90-95 percent
Fraction of American children born five years ago who are expected to develop diabetes: 1/3

Number of American children with asthma: 5 million
Number of schooldays missed due to asthma every year: 14 million
How asthma ranks among reasons for hospitalizations of 3 – 12-year olds: #1
Increase in death rate for asthma among children since 1980: 80%
Percentage of summer campers on one or more medications for chronic conditions: 40

Research by Sarah Sundberg. Cribsheet appears in Strollerderby every Wednesday.

Can a Child's Diet Relieve Hyperactivity?

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:37:00 GMT

Norwegian scientist Karl Ludvig Reichelt posited a theory in the mid-90s that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) might be linked to an inability to break down a certain kind of protein in milk.

A number of families in Oslo removed milk from their children's diets and saw a marked improvement in their hyperactivity, without the use of medication.

Bully for You

Adrienne Martini — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:30:00 GMT

I think my mind has just been blown. According to this MSNBC story on bullies, a kid with ADHD is more likely to be a bully.

That part I can follow, even if I'm not sure I believe in the assertion.

However -- and this is the part that makes my brain twist -- kids with ADHD are more likely to have been bullied themselves and that the bullying was a contributing factor to the ADHD's onset. This is according to the study in February's Journal Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology.

If this is the case, after 20 years of "Bully Free" school zones, will there no longer be any bullies? Or kids with ADHD? Will we all be able to hold hands and sing "Kumbayah?" Or have I leapt too far?

Photo credit: Freespirit Publishing

Colorado Mom Takes on Big Food

Adrienne Martini — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Parents of kids with food allergies know a type of terror that most haven't experienced. Watching your bundle o' joy turn beet red, stop breathing and, probably, convulse is a sight it's hard to get past. And you start to organize your life so that you never have to see it again.

Lafayette, Colorado's Robyn O'Brien knows that fear. When her youngest developed an allergy to eggs, O'Brien leapt into action, marketing products, speaking out about food allergies and writing a book.

Which is great. Nothing like a little grassroots activism to spur more research into this potentially fatal condition.

But -- how far is too far? O'Brien's site, in addition to selling allergy-branded items like sticker and lunchsacks, goes one step further, linking diverse conditions like autism, ADHD and allergies to food and vaccines.

These connections offer hope to many parents looking for solutions but appear to be based on anecdotal research rather than actual scientific data. And some of it -- like O'Brien's assertions about Celiac Disease (her claim is that it's a wheat allergy) -- are just plain inaccurate.

Still, it's hard to toss out the public awareness baby with the nebulous information bathwater. O'Brien's motivations appear born of a desire to inform people about a serious problem but at times her execution raises more questions than it answers.

Babble Talk: Just Say No to Lithium for Toddlers

editors — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:01:00 GMT

If you didn’t catch the Front Line documentary, The Medicated Child last night on PBS you can also watch it online, and I highly recommend that every parent make a date with this frighteningly informative documentary. Gwynne Watkins interviewed filmmaker Marcela Gaviria in Babble’s 5-Minute Time Out, who explores this new phenomenon that has put six million American children on psychiatric drugs; most of which have never been tested on children.

For all of our children’s sake, I wish this doc could be shown at the hospital along with the lessons on breast-feeding and burping. My husband and I struggled through the show last night, sickened by the destruction of a seemingly happy and energetic kindergartener who is now a young man besieged with too many physical tics and emotional problems to keep track of in an hour-long special, all of them the result of experimental drug cocktails. While there are certainly children who fall into the extremes, and Gaviria shows them as well, the restructuring of the bipolar diagnoses to include children previously diagnosed with ADHD has resulted in drugs such as lithium being pumped into two-year-olds. If that doesn’t make your stomach turn in the abstract, one look at the evolution of Jacob Solomon in The Medicated Child will make you vehemently question this recent phenomenon to drug-up our spirited kids. And in turn question your teachers, doctors and caregivers who advise you to seek medical attention and drug intervention for our little ones. - April Peveteaux

ADHD Drugs Aren't All That

Karen Murphy — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:15:00 GMT

A new study of the effects of long-term use of ADHD drugs like Ritalin and Concerta indicates that the drugs when used over a several-year period may be no more effective than therapy without drugs. Even worse, the study found that long-term use of these drugs may inhibit kids' growth. Yikes: short kids with even shorter attention spans, and the frustration about both to match.

The new study negates an earlier one which claimed that the drugs were better than therapy, but only looked at a one-year treatment period rather than three.

Here's a nice quote: "There's no indication that medication's better than nothing in the long run."

Makes you feel good about how our kids are being medicated, doesn't it?

And I'm even more concerned about the side effects that the drugs seem to be having, slowing kids' growth in terms of both height and weight. Short adults are known to consider themselves less happy and less healthy than their taller counterparts, so adding that onto the effects of ADHD and how it is perceived only adds up to trouble, in my mind. (We won't even talk about the thing that pedophiles tend to be shorter than average, too.)

My confidence in the medical community continues to diminish with news like this. It sure seems like medicine likes to throw drugs at people in a vain attempt to "fix" them, doesn't it?

Misbehavin' Doesn't Screw Up Kids' Futures

Kelly Mills — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:16:00 GMT

When I worked as a researcher for a documentary on neurogenetics, I interviewed several leading scientists working on ADHD. Each one had a different theory as to the genes responsible for ADHD, or in some cases, even what ADHD was, but off the record every single one of them said the same thing to me: Part of the problem for kids with ADHD is that schools are just not structured well for some kids. The expectation that all childen should sit quietly in chairs for hours on end and focus on single tasks and simultaneously hit certain milestones is ridiculous.

The NYT reported on two new studies that might just support this idea, at least for younger kids, and at the least might set some parents' minds at ease. In one study, researchers showed that kindergarteners who misbehaved and were pegged as problems did as well as their peers academically in elementary school. The second study linked ADHD to a developmental delay, not a deficit. So one big takeaway could be that kids who show early problems aren't necessarily doomed to academic failure. Yippee!

But another potential lesson we could draw from this research is that maybe the problem isn't so much the kids themselves, but in what we expect of children in school. We ask them to remain sedentary. We put emphasis on hitting benchmarks at certain times, and we even make school funding contingent on it. If they can't follow the program we identify them as having behavioral problems or diagnose them with ADHD, which is primarily a disability when it comes to school settings. And it may just be that some of these kids are in a different place in terms of maturity and development.

So perhaps we could actually look at different ways to assess kids, and create different learning environments, especially for the youngest ones?

Therapist Keeps the Attention of ADHD Fathers

Madeline Holler — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:21:00 GMT

Move over Ritalin. There’s a new ADHD treatment in town.

A therapist has come up with a simple way to help treat kids with behavioral, emotional and learning problems.

Soccer therapy with Dad.

As a graduate student, Gregory Fabiano noticed a pattern at summer camps for kids with ADHD and their parents. The fathers would bring the kids to the soccer matches and watch. When sports time was over and talk therapy ready to start, moms would drive up and wave good-bye to Dad and the kids. Even those few fathers who braved the open emotions of sad adults sitting in a circle didn’t stick with this traditional form of therapy for long.

So Fabiano developed a program: COACHES, Coaching Our Acting-Out Children: Heightening Essential Skills. The kids play soccer games, the dads right along with them. Later, when the kids are working on soccer skills, the fathers meet to learn parenting strategies for their children’s particular challenges.

The fathers stay involved in their kids’ therapy, they learn to parent their children, who are learning coping skills of their own. And the moms? I guess they're on the sidelines arranging Capri Suns and carrot sticks.

Non-Drug Alternatives for ADHD Preschoolers

Karen Murphy — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 11:39:00 GMT

As far as I'm concerned, practically every kid under the age of six exhibits some traits commonly associated with ADD and ADHD. You know what I'm talking about: the inattention, the constant activity, the selective hearing. But when is a kid being a kid, albeit an annoying one, and when is there a deeper issue?

It's important to differentiate normal behavior from when there's truly a problem that requires attention and intervention (being kicked out of preschool can be an indicator and would certainly get my attention as a parent). Professionals are really wary of overdiagnosing this all-too-common acronym, estimated to affect 1-4% of preschool-age kids. But how to attend to these often disturbing symptoms? I know I would be reluctant to medicate my preschooler, and many ADHD medications come with disturbing side effects when given to little kids (stunting their growth, for instance, which could cause additional behavioral and emotional difficulties).

So I'm pleased to see that people are looking into non-drug alternatives, like using a simple kitchen to help deal with transitions. A five-year study was made of preschool kids with ADHD and their families who explored individualized non-drug behavioral-only techniques and parenting classes to help deal with issues arising from the ADHD behaviors. After a year of this, it was found that aggressive behavior and other difficulties dropped, and learning improved.

I don't actually find any of the solutions discussed in this article to be anything different from what a reasonably aware parent would do naturally, so I have to wonder about the number of ADHD diagnoses. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that it's likely that in a lot of those cases it simply takes a different kind of interaction to move the "difficult" child, even a highly problematic child, into a space of understanding that eventually manifests as a reduction in that problematic behavior. I don't suggest that this is easy, but I find it good to know that it appears that professionals seem to be moving away from throwing prescriptions at kids to make them more tractable and instead seem to be focusing on the real issues, which in turn will lead to a crop of confident, happy kids instead of kids too numbed by medication to act out anymore.

Removing Tonsils May Cure ADHD

Karen Murphy — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:29:00 GMT

New research and a little experimental surgery indicates that severe behavioral problems associated with ADHD may be "cured" with removal of the tonsils. In kids with ADHD who are also experiencing sleep difficulties due to sleep apnea, snoring, etc., removing the tonsils has changed little monsters into regular kids. I guess it's hard for many of us to imagine the extreme behavioral issues that can prompt such desperate measures, but families routinely deal with it via a variety of methods including medication and therapy.

I have to tell you right now that I'm really torn about this. On the one hand I believe firmly that tonsils are the immune system's first line of defense and that likely removing them will cause some other problems later. I read something recently about this, but my older brother has his out when we were little and he's still pretty healthy, so who knows? I definitely think that we really don't know enough about this, though. And I'm not good with willy-nilly cutting out bits of the body just because we don't know what they do.

On the other hand, it's clear that being in a constant state of sleep deprivation can cause all sorts of problems. And certainly a kid is less able to deal with the ramifications of such deprivation, causing likely all sorts of difficulties both medical and behavioral. As parents we remember that drugged state of dealing with a newborn and acknowledge that it may cause us to do things like leave our kids in parked cars unknowingly. I myself forgot to buckle my preschooler's seatbelt when taking the jaundiced dehydrated newborn (breastfeeding issues, yay me!) to the doctor. So imagine what it's like when you're a kid and not getting sleep.

But on the other hand (we're up to three hands now), are we sure that sleep deprivation is the cause of those severe ADHD symptoms? And are we sure that removing the tonsils is really responsible for the cessation of sleep difficulties due to apnea, etc.? Or is this a case of corroboration rather than causation?

If I was the parent of a child in these circumstances, I'm sure I would be desperate for a solution. But at the same time, I'd want to be sure before resorting to surgery. And I'm not sure there is yet a way to be sure about this one.