Why ADHD Doesn’t Exist in French Children

http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/why-adhd-doesnt-exist-in-french-children.htm

by PAUL FASSA
 
The French don’t recognize ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) as a chemical imbalance that opens the Pandora’s Box of pharmaceutical drug addiction with harmful side effects. 

They don’t raise their kids on fake hyper sugar and chemical processed foods either. Instead, school kids are treated to chefs in training preparing lunch meals from nearby freshly grown produce and local livestock.

In general, the French are more food health conscious than Americans. They believe in fresh well prepared food for all. They don’t allow chemically bleaching wheat flour for white bread. They let the sun do that, which probably enhances micro-nutrients instead of adding toxins.

The ADHD diagnosis rate in America is 19 percent. In France, it’s .5% – a half of one percent. And the socialization of that half percent is not done chemically. It’s done socially and/or with talk therapy, the old fashioned way.

No doubt a lot of fake kiddie cereals that dominate our food aisles are eschewed in France also. That’s probably aided by much less TV advertising of fake foods loaded with food coloring chemicals and sweetened with added excess sugar and HFCS to hook the kids. All of those items contribute to hyperactivity.

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Another Way to Look at Those with ADHD

Heard on "Words to Live By" - www.words.net
I loved hearing this, because so many with ADHD get a bad wrap. We all need to look at these dear ones through God's eyes.

♥ ♥
.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·`♥♥Amazing ♥ ♥
                            .·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
                      (¸.·´ (¸.·`♥♥  Dynamic  ♥ ♥
                                                      .·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
                                               (¸.·´ (¸.·`♥♥ Happy ♥ ♥
                                                                           .·´¸.·*´¨) 
                                                                  (¸.·´ (¸.·`♥♥  Determined  ♥ ♥
                                                                                                         
                                                                                                 

Mental Math - Seeing the Numbers

by Kayla Fay - www.goaskmom.com - goaskmom@goaskmom.com - Editor of “An Ounce of Ketchup” - A Newsletter for Moms of Children with ADD or ADHD - Used by permission

Right brainers see math problems in their head. I don't see anything much in my head. I think in words and concepts, which my whole family thinks is a sign of brain dysfunction! When the phenomenon of seeing an image of a math problem was presented to me, I began asking everyone how they did mental math. I asked my brother, who is very right brained, and he assured me he saw the problems in his head. Later that day, he heard me prompt one of the boys to "drop the zero." He looked at me in amazement, and said, "I just saw the zero fall…and bounce." Find some math problems for your kids to do in their heads. Teachers have books of them, and you can Google for webpages of problems and techniques. My very favorite mental math resource is Fun with Figures!  It's full of brilliant mental math shortcuts that are truly amazing. When I first read the book, I kept calling the kids in the room to try each 'trick'.  If you prefer hard copy resources, try Fast and Fun Mental Math.

Three Tips for ... Surviving Homework

An Ounce of Ketchup - 2009 - www.goaskmom.com - Used by permission

An Ounce of Ketchup is produced by A. L. Dash & Sons, PO Box 714 Graham, NC 27253.

Don't let the headline get to you. For some kids, math comes easy to them. Then there are the rest of us. Not to be stereotypical, but math can pose some special difficulties for our ADHD kids.

ADHD kids have a tendency to have difficulties with math facts, processing word problems and even following the order of operations. Special skills can help ease these troubles.

Here are three tips to help your kids survive and thrive math this year.

1. Make it fun. I know I keep saying this, but make the math fun. Despite common belief, you can make it fun. Let them do math facts online. Download a math game. In fact, you can even buy a math game for the Nintendo DS.

Several websites that may help are www.aplusmath.com, www.funbrain.com, and www.bigbrainz.com (which has a GREAT multiplication game that is free and downloadable).

2. Do what works. Math can be troubling because you have to keep track of all those darn numbers. Here's two ways to keep them in check. One unorthodox method is to take the notebook paper and turn it sideways. Then, when your student writes their numbers, they can keep them all in a row.

If you need a stronger way to keep track of the problems, have your student do their math homework on graph paper. If there isn't enough room, let them write in two boxes per number. Since going to this method, I can actually read my son's homework!

Another tip is to highlight the different operations in different colors. You could make addition green, subtraction yellow, multiplication blue and division pink. This will help remind our kiddos what operation they should be doing.

3. Practice, practice, practice. Unfortunately, the school day just keeps getting more and more busy. This means that there is less and less time for practicing basic math skills. Try to practice math facts 5 minutes a day or 10 minutes every other day. To make it easier, make a game of it. You can play bingo, have a scavenger hunt, play on the computer – whatever it takes.

Make sure they have samples of the exact type of problem they are working on. Modeling is very important with ADHD kids, especially since so many are visual learners.

Math can be fun...or at the worst, much less painful. Math is a necessary skill and all kids need to learn how to work problems effectively. Help take some of the stress out of math homework and become the math hero of your house today!

Do you have an ADHD/ADD educational issue you would like to see addressed? If so, please email me at info@mommyadd.com and I will try to feature it in a new column or on my blog at www.MommyADD.com.

THE TEACHER APPLICANT
Author unknown

After being interviewed by the school administration, the teaching prospect said, "Let me see if I've got this right? You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and do the following:

1. Correct their disruptive behavior
2. Observe them for signs of abuse
3. Monitor their dress habits
4. Censor their T-shirt messages
5. Instill in them a love for learning
6. Check their backpacks for weapons
7. Wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases
8. Raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride
9. Teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play
10. Teach them how to register to vote
11. Balance a checkbook
12. Apply for a job
13. You want me to check their heads for lice
14. Recognize signs of anti-social behavior
15. Make sure that they all pass the state exams
16. Provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps
17. Communicate regularly with their parents in English and Spanish by letter, telephone, conferences, email, homework hotline, web page, midterm newsletters, and report card
18. You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps
19. You want me to do all this and then you tell me I CAN'T PRAY?

Spelling Tips

SPELLING TIPS FOR KIDS WITH ADHD

 
An Ounce of Ketchup, produced by A. L. Dash & Sons, PO Box 714 Graham, NC 27253  www.goaskmom.com

Used by permission

Each year people ask about spelling hints. It's a huge deal for kids - especially throughout elementary school. Here are some hints - new and old. And note that there's a link to even more at the end of the section:

~Go outside and spell while swinging - one letter on back, the next on front. (In this weather, you might need to use a rocking chair inside!)

~Spell the word on a large index card using a different colored marker for each syllable.

~Put the spelling to music. Like "J-E-L-L-O" or "B-O-L-O-G-N-A". (This works for locker combinations, too, and important phone numbers.)

~Try the "sail" method, in which you write the word on lines, adding a letter on each until it is done (and looks like a sail):
      b
      br
      bri
      brin
      bring

~Fill a gallon sized zip lock bag with a small layer of liquid tempera paint, close it and write a word on the bag.

~You spell the word out loud, and have your child tell you which word you're spelling.

~Practice writing and saying common suffixes by themselves without the word: ing, ion, tion, ed.

~Use sign language to spell.

~Let your child use a voice recorder to record the spelling and then listen to her own voice.

~Use play-dough to spell out the words.

~Use an electronic dictionary.

There are more hints at www.adhd-inattentive.com