Treating Your Hyperactive Child

Millions of kids have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, commonly called ADHD or ADD. But questions about the diagnosis and using drugs to fight behavior problems remain. Vancouver, Canada is the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics and where hockey rules the day for twins Scott and Spencer McHaffie. They excel at the national sport, and keep up their skills with summer practice. But when it comes to the classroom, they get a failing grade. It was a struggle that started in pre-school. Doctors diagnosed them with ADHD at age six. "I was struggling pretty much," Spencer said. "I didn't really get it, the strategies." Jim, the twins' dad, said, "My wife was pulling her hair out. It was so hard. The house was always messy, they were tearing the house apart. They were very active." "I was dealing with principals, teachers, doctors, counselors," their mom Aggie said. She said she didn't even want to answer the phone. "Every single day, there was message on the machine, 'Hi, Mrs. McHaffie, it's Mrs. So-and-so, can you give me a call?' And I just dreaded it," she said. About five percent of Canadian kids and about eight percent of U.S. kids are diagnosed with ADHD. The numbers really jump in the area of drugs prescribed for the disorder. In the U.S. alone, that number has doubled in the last 10 years. So is there something wrong with all those kids' brains? "It looks like in those children -- that minority of children who really have that disorder -- that there probably is some neurological underpinning to it," Child development expert Gretchen LeFever said. "But again, that's a small fraction of the children who actually carry that diagnosis and get treated for the condition." LeFever believes that ADHD is both over-diagnosed and over-medicated. "Those professionals who continue to say that ADHD is widely under-diagnosed or that only about three percent of children in this country receive ADHD drug treatment are simply wrong. The data do not support it," LeFever said. But what's the downside of diagnosing and treating lots of kids? "The bottom line is we simply have not looked at the long term, over the long haul," she said. "Years of drug treatment - the effectiveness or consequences." Regardless of the over-diagnoses, kids do need some help with their behavior. But millions of parents like the McHaffies have felt they only had the drug option. So they put Scott and Spencer on Ritalin, a drug that they say turned the boys into zombies. Then they tried the drug Dexedrine. Although it suppressed the boys' appetites and their growth, the schools kept advocating medication. "The Dexedrine didn't seem to be making a difference any more, and they just wanted us to keep upping the dosage and upping the dosage," Aggie said. "As far as I'm concerned," LeFever said, "there are very little grounds, in most cases, to warrant the first line of defense being drug treatment, or the only treatment." LeFever notes in one study that researchers trained parents and teachers in behavioral techniques such as reinforcing positive attitudes. That was effective for over two-thirds of the children studied. Physician and author Michael Lyon found that nutrition helped him overcome ADHD as a teenager. He wrote the book Is Your Child's Brain Starving? (Also available at most major bookstores in French as Le Cerveau de Votre Enfant Est-il Affame?) He recently completed a treatment study using theanine, a substance found in green tea. "I wanted to provide parents with something that they could give their kids that was safe, provide some very rapid or immediate benefits, sort of buy them time so they wouldn't have to rush into using medication," Dr. Lyon said. He's still analyzing the results, but says that all the indicators are looking very positive. And there's precedent, considering the Japanese use theanine as a standard treatment for ADHD. The McHaffies took part in Dr. Lyon's study. "You can do anything you want when you take the theanine," Scott said. "You can breathe better, you can feel better -- it's just awesome." "You know what you can learn out there, because I haven't learned most of this stuff, right," Spencer said. "And it's just amazing, I think." Spencer said he feels like he's catching up. But both boys stopped taking the theanine last fall after the study had ended. "I got their report card in December and there were F's across the board," Aggie said. So the twins got back on the theanine right away. Even their hockey coach began to see a difference. "We went down to a tournament into Dallas and the boys were a lot more focused," Coach Darin Vetterl said. "Their listening skills on the bench were better and their on-ice play was a lot more controlled." And to take it to the next level, Dr. Lyon says a broad approach is best. "If you go about this in a very comprehensive way, looking at a child's life from the point of view of their nutrition, family dynamics, their spiritual life, their physical health," Lyon said, "you look at that person as a whole person and do everything that you can to nurture and nourish that person." For the McHaffies, that meant changes at the dinner table. "And just eating a lot more greens, lots more fresh fruits, vegetables. And grilled meats rather than fried, and whole wheat - huge," Aggie said. Jim said, "There's been a dramatic change. They're helping around the house. Wanting to go to any event that we have planned. They're just way more focused, just a much more harmonious family all the way around." And with those improvements came better grades, too. With renewed hope, the McHaffies take to the ice with Olympic gold in their dreams.