State-of-the-art autism center ready

By RIYADH: MD RASOOLDEEN ARAB NEWS STAFF
Published: Apr 19, 2012 02:12 Updated: Apr 20, 2012 16:07

The Prince Nasser bin Abdulaziz Autism Center (PNAAC), which is to be opened by Defense Minister Prince Salman on Sunday evening, is the biggest autism center of its kind in the Kingdom as well as in the Gulf.

The new center located in Mather Street is a subsidiary of the Saudi Charitable Society for Autism.

Prince Turki bin Nasser, chairman of the society, thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for his approval to name the center after his father.

The prince said the center is well-equipped in accordance with international standards. “It will be a state-of-the art model center to serve boys and girls who are affected with this syndrome,” he said.

Adviser to the Saudi Charitable Society for Autism Zaid bin Abdullah Al-Mashari said the center covers more than 500 cases of autism in the Kingdom through its network of branches in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.

The society's services include separate units for boys and girls, vocational training, rehabilitation programs and diagnostic centers for autism. Children from two years of age are accepted for admission to the center.

During the last five years, the society has been organizing awareness programs in five major cities and suburbs. The project was approved by the late Crown Prince Sultan.

“The PNAAC, which works on a two-shift basis, has highly qualified instructors and experts in the field of autism,” Al-Mashari said.

He said the Saudi Charitable Society for Autism has been attracting world experts annually to give lectures and organize workshops to raise the skill levels of educators of autism and update people on the latest advances in the field.

“Autism is a health issue that does not know any geographical and political boundaries nor differentiates between the rich and the poor,” he said.

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old.

Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. It is one of three recognized disorders in the autism spectrum (ASDs), the other two being Asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and pervasive developmental disorder — not otherwise specified (commonly abbreviated as PDD-NOS), which is diagnosed when the full set of criteria for autism or Asperger syndrome are not met.

“Such a disorder needs international cooperation to face the challenges in the field of autism,” Al-Mashari said.

He also said the organization has embarked on several awareness programs in public malls and hypermarkets to advise people on how they should deal with children suffering from autism.

He pointed out that if autism is cured at an early stage among children, they could lead normal lives later. "The problem of abnormality sets in when such children are neglected at the early stages of the condition."

(arabnews.com)

When ADHD Meds Cause Stomachaches

Q: My 7-year-old grandson is taking a single dose of Concerta (27 mg) and is experiencing stomachaches on a daily basis. Is this something that will go away with time? — Laura, Maryland

A: Stomachaches are a reported side effect of methylphenidate, the active ingredient in Concerta. You should discuss this issue with your physician to make certain that your child is eating sufficiently, gaining weight as he grows, and not suffering impairments in daily activities as the result of these stomachaches. Anecdotally, I have heard from families that stomachaches go away after a short period of time for some children. If they last more than a few weeks, I suggest you speak to your physician about changing the medication.

Dr. Sam Goldstein is a psychologist in Salt Lake City, a faculty member at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and the author of books and articles on ADHD.

(everydayhealth.com)

How Can You Help Kids With Depression?

Medically reviewed by Ed Zimney, MD

Q: What are some interventions or activities to use with teens and children to help cope and overcome depression?

A: The proven treatment options for depression in teens include cognitive-behavior therapy and the anti-depressant fluoxetine (Prozac). Following the Food and Drug Administration warning about the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior associated with anti-depressants (in controlled studies there was a two percent greater risk in children and teens taking active medications compared to those taking placebo), the use of anti-depressants in youth decreased somewhat, although it is not clear that this reduction was balanced by increased use of cognitive-behavior therapy.

Depressive episodes in youth can resolve without specific treatment – this is why placebo response rates are so high in controlled studies – but they can also persist for months or even years and can have devastating effects on school performance and social adjustment, so it is best not to take a “wait and see” approach.

Dr. Michael Thase is director of the Depression Treatment and Research Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh.

(everydayhealth.com)

6 Diet Tips for Children With ADHD

Diet is an important tool is managing symptoms in children with ADHD. Learn about the value of adding fresh, organic foods and certain supplements to your kids' diet.
By Katherine Lee; medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH

Diet may play a significant role in managing symptoms in children with ADHD. Adding certain foods and nutrients that may boost brain function, eliminating foods that seem to worsen ADHD symptoms, and trying other diet and nutrition tips to improve your child’s diet may all help with ADHD.

1. Eliminate Processed Foods

Recent research has shown that people with ADHD are more likely to be sensitive to food dyes and other additives typically found in processed foods. “The more you stick to whole foods, the better,” says Sally Hara, MS, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and a nutritionist in Kirkland, Wash.

“Parents today are into convenience such as packaged food and fast food,” says Elizabeth Strickland, MS, RD, an integrative dietitian specializing in ADHD and autism in San Antonio, Texas. “But food is critical for brain function. Natural vitamins and natural fiber are important. Make time to cook real food.”

One strategy is to cook dinners for the first few nights of the upcoming week on a Sunday. Then all you’ll need to do is reheat your homemade meals. Another way to get kids into eating fresh food is to involve them in growing a vegetable garden. “Kids are more likely to eat things they’ve grown,” says Hara.

2. Put Protein in Your Kids’ Diet

Children with ADHD need protein along with complex carbohydrates, especially at breakfast, says Hara. She says studies have shown that kids who eat sugary carbs for breakfast, such as a donut, were fidgety and hungry before lunch. Switching to whole grains is good, but not good enough — youngsters who ate protein were the ones who didn’t have these problems. By combining an immediate source of energy — the carbs — and a later source — the protein, kids were able to stay still and focus more, says Hara. Ideas for a balanced breakfast for a child with ADHD are scrambled or boiled eggs or a piece of turkey on whole-grain toast.

Note that stimulants such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) can decrease appetite, which can then result in a drop in blood sugar and affect concentration and attention, and they also don’t work as well when kids haven’t eaten — another reason breakfast is important. If your child is not hungry for a full meal at breakfast, try a smoothie with protein powder or, as a last resort, an energy drink, says Hara.

3. Think Organic

A recent study found that kids with high levels of common pesticides in their urine were significantly more likely to have ADHD than kids whose pesticide levels were lower. “Organic is definitely a benefit,” says Hara. “It depends on the individual’s sensitivity. I can’t see a downside to organic, and it takes out any possibility of chemical reaction.”

Adds Strickland, “Buy organically grown fruits and vegetables as much as you can afford. Pesticides contain arsenic, which is a neurotoxin that damages the brain. It can cause problems with attention, hyperactivity, and aggression.” Pesticides also contain lead, which can lead to ADHD and impulse control problems even in small amounts.

4. Avoid Trigger Foods

Recent research has shown that diet contributes to ADHD, says Strickland. Elimination diets, such as the Feingold Diet, can help parents pinpoint foods that may be contributing to a child’s ADHD symptoms. “Certain foods can cause headaches, GI [gastrointestinal] tract problems, and itchy skin,” says Strickland. These symptoms can then become a part of everyday life.

Eliminating foods with artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives from a diet and then gradually adding foods back one at a time can help parents identify those causing problems, says Strickland. A gluten and casein-free diet can be helpful for a child with gastrointestinal problems and headaches, she says. Casein is a protein found in dairy foods.

Many kids on such a diet find that they have improved gastrointestinal function, better sleep (since tummy troubles can cause kids to wake up throughout the night), and improved behavior and concentration. Today, making substitutions for gluten in a child’s diet is easier than it used to be. “Start introducing new foods such as gluten-free pasta, rice flour, and corn tortillas,” says Hara.

Another tip to keep in mind is that a prolonged drastic elimination diet may not be necessary. “The Feingold Diet removes every possible trigger,” says Hara. “But why eliminate things that may not be a problem? Gradually, over time, you can add things back slowly.”

Hara cites her own son, 12, who was diagnosed at age 5 with ADHD. “He can tolerate milk once a week, but not more than that,” says Hara. “Kids can eat up to their tolerance level.”

Another way parents can help identify trigger foods is by carefully observing their child. “When my son was little he would say ‘my head hurts’ after five minutes of reading,” says Hara. “But when we took the offending foods out, we realized it was his tummy that hurt. For kids, we may think it’s picky eating when it’s really careful eating. Their mouth may itch or their tummy may feel upset.”

5. Consider Supplements

Strickland says that children are not getting enough of the nutrients that are important for brain and nervous system function. Fewer mothers are breastfeeding, she says, and fewer people are eating fish because of concerns about contaminants such as mercury. “Today’s diet is deficient in omega-3 fatty acids,” Strickland says.

This lack of brain-boosting nutrients is compounded by the fact that people eat too much pre-packaged food high in preservatives and trans fats. “Trans fats interfere with omega-3 fatty acids in our body,” says Strickland. “Multivitamins and supplements are critical. You see improvement in symptoms in children with ADHD.”

The B vitamins and B6 in particular along with omega-3 fatty acid supplements may help. Talk to your child’s pediatrician and nutritionist first and, if you decide to try them, make sure the vitamins are free of artificial colors and flavors and look for a fish oil supplement with no mercury, says Strickland.

6. Evaluate Caffeine

As surprising as it may sound, a stimulant like caffeine can be good for a child with ADHD. “For my son, caffeine knocks his behavior into place,” says Hara. She sometimes gives her son a Coke after school. It can help him focus on his homework and improve his concentration, and it wears off in time for bed.

When looking for solutions to manage your child’s ADHD symptoms, experts say that patience and perseverance are crucial. “With kids, you can’t change a diet overnight and you can’t expect behavior to improve immediately,” says Hara. “Work with a dietitian who’s trained in food sensitivity or ADHD.”

(everydayhealth.com)

This week's ADHD Solution is: Punctuality.

A couple of my clients arrive a few minutes early for every appointment. I sometimes joke with them, “What are you doing here already? You have ADHD, you’re supposed to be late!” All kidding aside, I really do appreciate their punctuality. These folks take being on time seriously, and they’ve found ways to manage their ADHD tendency to be late.

To beat chronic lateness, you first need to understand what’s behind it. There are five basic reasons why we tend to be late: losing track of time, thinking you’re ready but you’re not, trying to squeeze in “just one more thing”, anxiety around being early, and unforeseen emergencies. Here’s how to deal with each one:

Losing track of time. People with ADHD typically have a weak sense of time. We usually aren’t aware of what time it is, or how long something will take. Audible alarms can really help. Set an alarm on your cell phone. Or if you’re using an electronic task management system like Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar, set it up to notify you before the start of an event. Another possibility is to get a watch with an alarm feature, like the Timex Ironman.

Thinking you’re ready but you’re not. Just as you’re about to walk out the door, you realize you don’t have your gloves. Or your lunch. Or your shoes. Now you’ll be late, which is a shame because you were ready five minutes ago. A good way to deal with this is to do a “leaving now” drill as soon as you think you’re ready. Imagine that it’s time to go. Do you have everything you need in order to walk out the door? Are you fully dressed, including your shoes? Is all your stuff sitting by the door? If not, you’re not truly ready. Being ready in your mind is not the same thing as being ready in real life. And being ready only in your mind is going to make you late.

Trying to squeeze in “just one more thing”. As I wrote last week, that one more thing will always take longer than the time you have before you need to leave. Don’t even try it.

Anxiety around being early. Some people are uncomfortable with idle time. If you show up early, what will you do? Will you have to make idle chitchat (which can be difficult for some ADHDers)? Will you be bored and impatient? Plan ahead for what you might do if you arrive early. Practice your people skills, use the restroom, or just wait in the car and listen to music. Being exactly on time is very difficult, and if you’re not early, you’re probably going to be late.

Unforeseen emergencies. The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Build some buffer time into your schedule to allow for things that just can’t be avoided.

Which of these scenarios derails you the most?

www.adhdsolutions.net

This week's ADHD Solution is: Just one more thing.

Have you ever gone down a rabbit hole? Where you’re working on a task, and then something pops into your head and you run off to take care of it, which leads to another thought and another action, until hours later you realize you forgot all about what you were supposed to be doing in the first place? If you have ADHD, I’ll bet this happens all the time.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had some sort of signal that would alert you when you’re about to veer off track and fall into the rabbit hole? Actually, you already have one. It’s something you probably say to yourself all the time: “Just One More Thing”. Those four little words can wreak havoc on your plans. Ditto for synonyms “While I’m At It” and “Let Me Just…”. Why? Because One More Thing always leads to another. And that One Thing usually takes much longer than you thought.

Whenever you hear yourself mutter one of those phrases, do the translation. “Just One More Thing” really means “I’m about to lose control of my day”. It can also mean “I’m going to be late” or “I won’t get to bed on time” depending on the context. You might make a different choice when you think about it this way.

Remember the signal. Stay in control. Just say “No” to Just One More Thing.

www.adhdsolutions.net

Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD

French children don't need medications to control their behavior.
Published on March 8, 2012 by Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D. in Suffer the Children

In the United States, 5% of school-aged children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and are taking pharmaceutical medications. In France, the percentage of kids diagnosed and medicated for ADHD is less than .5%. How come the epidemic of ADHD—which has become firmly established in the United States—has almost completely passed over children in France?

Is ADHD a biological-neurological disorder? Surprisingly, the answer to this question depends on whether you live in France or in the United States. In the United States, child psychiatrists consider ADHD to be a biological disorder with biological causes. The preferred treatment is also biological--psycho stimulant medications such as Ritalin and Adderall.

French child psychiatrists, on the other hand, view ADHD as a medical condition that has psycho-social and situational causes. Instead of treating children's focusing and behavioral problems with drugs, French doctors prefer to look for the underlying issue that is causing the child distress—not in the child's brain but in the child's social context. They then choose to treat the underlying social context problem with psychotherapy or family counseling. This is a very different way of seeing things from the American tendency to attribute all symptoms to a biological dysfunction such as a chemical imbalance in the child's brain.

French child psychiatrists don't use the same system of classification of childhood emotional problems as American psychiatrists. They do not use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM.According to Sociologist Manuel Vallee, the French Federation of Psychiatry developed an alternative classification system as a resistance to the influence of the DSM-3. This alternative was the CFTMEA (Classification Française des Troubles Mentaux de L'Enfant et de L'Adolescent), first released in 1983, and updated in 1988 and 2000. The focus of CFTMEA is on identifying and addressing the underlying psychosocial causes of children's symptoms, not on finding the best pharmacological bandaids with which to mask symptoms.

To the extent that French clinicians are successful at finding and repairing what has gone awry in the child's social context, fewer children qualify for the ADHD diagnosis. Moreover, the definition of ADHD is not as broad as in the American system, which, in my view, tends to "pathologize" much of what is normal childhood behavior. The DSM specifically does not consider underlying causes. It thus leads clinicians to give the ADHD diagnosis to a much larger number of symptomatic children, while also encouraging them to treat those children with pharmaceuticals.

The French holistic, psycho-social approach also allows for considering nutritional causes for ADHD-type symptoms—specifically the fact that the behavior of some children is worsened after eating foods with artificial colors, certain preservatives, and/or allergens. Clinicians who work with troubled children in this country—not to mention parents of many ADHD kids—are well aware that dietary interventions can sometimes help a child's problem. In the United States, the strict focus on pharmaceutical treatment of ADHD, however, encourages clinicians to ignore the influence of dietary factors on children's behavior.

And then, of course, there are the vastly different philosophies of child-rearing in the United States and France. These divergent philosophies could account for why French children are generally better-behaved than their American counterparts. Pamela Druckerman highlights the divergent parenting styles in her recent book, Bringing up Bébé. I believe her insights are relevant to a discussion of why French children are not diagnosed with ADHD in anything like the numbers we are seeing in the United States.

From the time their children are born, French parents provide them with a firm cadre—the word means "frame" or "structure." Children are not allowed, for example, to snack whenever they want. Mealtimes are at four specific times of the day. French children learn to wait patiently for meals, rather than eating snack foods whenever they feel like it. French babies, too, are expected to conform to limits set by parents and not by their crying selves. French parents let their babies "cry it out" if they are not sleeping through the night at the age of four months.

French parents, Druckerman observes, love their children just as much as American parents. They give them piano lessons, take them to sports practice, and encourage them to make the most of their talents. But French parents have a different philosophy of disciplinine. Consistently enforced limits, in the French view, make children feel safe and secure. Clear limits, they believe, actually make a child feel happier and safer—something that is congruent with my own experience as both a therapist and a parent. Finally, French parents believe that hearing the word "no" rescues children from the "tyranny of their own desires." And spanking, when used judiciously, is not considered child abuse in France.

As a therapist who works with children, it makes perfect sense to me that French children don't need medications to control their behavior because they learn self-control early in their lives. The children grow up in families in which the rules are well-understood, and a clear family hierarchy is firmly in place. In French families, as Druckerman describes them, parents are firmly in charge of their kids—instead of the American family style, in which the situation is all too often vice versa.

(psychologytoday.com)