A small study that was funded by the National Institute of Health indicates that between 10 and 20 percent of children with autism can recover from it.

Dr. Deborah Fein of the University of Connecticut studied 20 children who had been diagnosed with autism before age five years, but who no longer met the criteria by age seven or so.

• The children tended to have above-average IQs and suffered only mild symptoms when diagnosed.
• They recovered by undergoing intensive behavioral therapy that took between thirty and forty hours per week.
• About three-fourths of them still had other problems such as nervous tics, attention deficit disorder, and phobias.

Dr. Fein and her colleagues will perform MRIs on the children who recovered to determine if physical changes occurred in their brains.

Previous studies found that between three and 25 percent of autistic kids can recover. However, Dr. Fein cautioned that recovery is "not a realistic expectation for the majority of kids."

During the upcoming summer months, children with Asperger Syndrome, high-fuctioning autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, learning disabilities, and related conditions may benefit from attending a summer camp for exceptional children.

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Yale researchers have found that having a high IQ doesn't diminish the effects of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder:

"About three of four ADHD individuals with an IQ of more than 120 -- a score that ranks them in the top nine percent of the U.S. population -- showed significant impairments in memory and cognitive tests when compared to people with similar IQs who do not suffer from the disorder, according to the researchers." (Source: Health News Digest)

The high-IQ ADHD group that was studied lack similar self-management skills and had the same tendency to procrastinate. For many students who exhibit these challenges, enrolling in a private boarding school for ADHD students provides them with the support and guidance they need to achieve academic success and experience enhanced social and developmental progress.

The full report from the Yale study will appear in the September print edition of the Journal of Attention Disorders.

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Long hailed as the best treatment for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, medication is coming up against some sharp criticism. The critics are the authors, and some readers, of a recent study that found that the effects of ADHD meds diminish over time.

[The] Multimodal Treatment Study that helped popularize ADHD drugs when it found in 1999 that they were more effective than behavioral therapy in the first 14 months ... now reports the advantage is gone by the three-year mark. By the six- and eight-year marks, across 30 measures of behavior and academics, the children still being given medication by their parents 'fared no better than their non-medicated counterparts...' (Source: USA TODAY)

In light of this new information, and because of the risks that are associated with medication, some parents are opting for behavioral therapy and other forms of treatment for their children. The results of the study don't mean that medication is useless, experts advise, but simply that it should be part of a multi-faceted approach.

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A German study has found that children with eczema, a skin condition characterized by a red itchy rash, are more likely to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Among 1,436 children who had eczema, the ADHD rate was 5.2 percent, compared to 3.4 percent among 1,436 children without eczema. About 20 percent of all children in western countries have eczema, which is linked to hay fever and asthma. Many parents of children with ADHD experiment with natural food diets because they believe the disorder is allergy-based.

This study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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A study conducted through the Douglas Mental Health University Institute has found that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may be clinically sleep deprived and have abnormal REM sleep. Thirty-eight children participated in the study - 15 who had been diagnosed with ADHD, and 23 who had not.

"Results show that children with ADHD have a total sleep time that is significantly shorter than that of controls. Children in the ADHD group had an average total sleep time of eight hours, 19 minutes; this was 33 minutes less than the average sleep time of eight hours, 52 minutes, in controls."

Lead investigator Reut Gruber, Ph.D, said the study doesn't prove that sleep deprivation is the cause of ADHD, but that it may make symptoms worse. Over time, partial sleep loss accumulates into a sleep debt that can cause neurobehavioral impairments and affect overall learning and attention. Source: PsychCentral

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The Seattle-based Edge Foundation has announced that it will conduct a 27-month study on the effect personal coaching has on students with ADHD.

"The 27-month study will be led by a faculty team at Wayne State University in Detroit. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that coaching helps students, but there's never been a rigorous scientific study, said Sharon Field, the study's research director."

Funding for the study is being provided by an $805,000 grant from the Deerbrook Charitable Trust and other contributors. Source: Seattle Times

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A recent survey of 1,100 teenagers found that 99 percent of boys and 94 percent of girls play video games.

To many, the most surprising result of the survey was that video gaming is not an isolated pursuit. About 75 percent said that they play games with friends at least some of the time, while 65 percent play with others in the same room, with players helping each other.

A third of the teens, including those in the younger group (ages 12 to 14 years old), play games with mature content recommended for adults only. However, 52 percent said the games made them think about moral and ethical issues.

The Pew Institute performed the survey with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

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The University of Pittsburgh has been awarded $3 million from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children with autism. The study will test two types of treatment: a nonstimulant medication and parent management training.

"'ADHD symptoms are common in children with autism, but children with autism often do not respond well to stimulant medications, the conventional treatment for ADHD,' said Benjamin Handen, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine."

The 10-week clinical trial will start enrolling patients in September. Researchers hope to recruit 144 children ages 5 to 13 who have both autism and symptoms of ADHD. Source: MediLexicon News

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Congressional investigators revealed that three prominent Harvard University professors did not report millions of dollars paid to them by drug companies. Many of their studies concluded that children with bipolar disorder should be treated aggressively with antipsychotic drugs.

Partly because of their studies, the number of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder increased 40 times between 1994 and 2003. Previously, bipolar disorder, a disease characterized by mood swings of mania and depression, was believed to appear in late adolescence, not childhood. Last year, 500,000 children and teenagers took antipsychotic drugs.

Drs. Joseph Biederman, Timothy Wilens, and Thomas Spencer did not report earnings of over $4 million from drug companies such as Johnson & Johnson, according to Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who is leading the investigation. Sen. Grassley said he only had records from 2000 to 2007.

"It has really been an honor system," said Dr. Robert Alpern, dean of the Yale School of Medicine. Professors are supposed to report compensation, but no one really checks them.

Drug and medical device companies are the chief source of university research funding.

The use of antipsychotic drugs on children is controversial because children are more susceptible to metabolic problems that the drugs can cause. It is also unclear what the long-term effects of the drugs are because they have not been widely used in pediatric medicine.

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A team from the University of Cleveland has conducted a study in which they determined that skin patches are a safe and effective treatment of ADHD for children 6 to 12 years old.

"'The findings are significant because only a relatively modest amount of work has been done to examine the effects of ADHD treatments by gender,' said Dr. Robert Findling."

Three-hundred and twenty-six children participated in the study, which found that a skin patch improved ADHD symptoms in 41 percent of boys and 23 percent of girls. Source: The Post Chronicle

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An Australian study of over 200 families has found that children with ADHD often have difficulty sleeping. It's a problem that affects not only the child, but his caregivers as well.

"Moderate or severe sleep problems were associated with poorer psychosocial quality of life and daily functioning of the child. Compared with children without sleep problems, those with moderate or severe problems were more likely to miss or be late for school."

Caregivers of ADHD children with sleep problems were more likely to have poor mental health. Fortunately, sleep problems can be addressed without giving the child additional medication. Set aside time to talk to your child about her day, stick to a bedtime routine, and offer choices before bedtime ("What story would you like to read?", "What stuffed animal would you like to take to bed?") Source: Reuters

Cedars Academy schools for ADHD children offers a family-like atmosphere, structured behavioral treatment and challenging college preparatory curriculum.

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Two studies that recently appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry found almost no link between ADHD medication and substance abuse. The results help quell fears that kids who start taking ADHD medication are more likely to struggle with drug or alcohol use later in life, but also pointed out another unexpected issue:

"Subjects who didn't start stimulant medication until they were between the ages of 8 and 12 had greater substance abuse that was mediated by an increase in antisocial personality disorder in adulthood."

The study seems to indicate that kids who received ADHD treatment later in childhood were more like to develop an antisocial personality disorder, which then sometimes increased the risk of substance abuse. The upshot of both studies, however, is that neither found a direct link between ADHD medication and drug or alcohol use. Source: Psych Central

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Results of a long-term study conducted by researchers at UCLA have the medical community calling for an upgrade to the diagnostic and treatment criteria for ADHD. This first-of-its-kind study found that only about half of the children who were diagnosed with ADHD exhibit the cognitive issues most commonly associated with the condition.

"Part of the explanation may lie in the common method for diagnosing the disorder. ADHD is an extreme on a normal continuum of behavior that varies in the population, much like height, weight or IQ. Its diagnosis, and thus its prevalence, is defined by where health professionals 'draw the line' on this continuum, based on the severity of the symptoms and overall impairment."

Another finding that has raised eyebrows is that, in Finland - where the study was conducted, ADHD is rarely treated with medication like it is in the United States. Despite that, ADHD "looked" the same in both countries, regardless of whether it was being treated medically, which raises questions as to the effectiveness of current ADHD treatments. Read more at PsychCentral.com.

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A study of 300 British children found that consuming food additives and colorings increased their hyperactivity, regardless of whether they had a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder.

Professor Jim Stevenson observed significant differences in behaviors after groups of three-year-olds and groups of seven and eight-year-olds drank beverages containing carmoisine, tartrazine, ponceau 4R, sodium benzoate, sunset yellow coloring and other common colorings.

This study from the University of Southampton adds to the controversy about food additives and hyperactivity. Many parents of hyperactive children and children with disorders such as Asperger Syndrome believe that eliminating such additives helps their children. Nevertheless, double-bind studies have disproved their anecdotal evidence.

"This is a well-designed and potentially very important study," said Dr. Sue Baic, a dietician at the University of Bristol. "Feeding children diets largely consisting of heavily processed foods, which may also be high in fat, salt and sugar, is not optimal for their health. This study appears in the British medical journal, Lancet.

Learn more about Asperger's Syndrome and high-functioning Autism at YourLittleProfessor.com.

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Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatric researcher at Children's Hospital in Seattle, recently conducted a study on the effects of television on young children. He found that children between the ages of 1 and 3 who watch an hour of TV per day are 10% more likely to develop attention problems by the time they're 7-years-old.

"Children's programmers use a technique called the 'orienting reflex', known as OR, to capture and keep a child's attention. OR works this way: If we see or hear something the brain doesn't recognize as the correct sequence or a typical life event - such as a dancing alphabet or quick zooms and pans, we focus on it until the brain recognizes that it doesn't pose a threat. The problem with watching too many programs that rely on OR is that real life becomes slow and boring by comparison."

Continued exposure to this type of input conditions causes the mind to expect it all the time. When a child's mind has been conditioned in this way, but doesn't receive the high-intensity input, the child becomes bored and inattentive. Read more at MSNBC.MNS.com.

Specialized Aspergers schools can help children get the best education and treatment. New Leaf Academy can help middle school girls with mild Aspergers.

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Ten years ago, Johnston County, North Carolina was the subject of a study on teens and ADHD. Now, researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University have returned to do a follow-up study.

"Most of what is known about ADHD stems from smaller clinical studies, predominantly of Caucasian boys with the hyperactive form of the disorder. Much less is known about ADHD in young adults, especially females, African-Americans and children with the inattentive type of ADHD."

The original study revealed that about 10% of first- through fifth-graders in Johnston County had been diagnosed with ADHD; a far cry from the 3-5% cited in other studies. The follow-up study is focused on determining long-term effects of ADHD medication, and some of the potential myths surrounding ADHD  like the belief that it leads to riskier behavior (drinking, substance abuse, etc...). Read more at NewsObserver.com.

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Sheila Eyberg is a researcher at the University of Florida who is co-authoring a study about a behavioral treatment for children with ADHD. Her team has been awarded a $2.9 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Now they just need families to participate.

"The UF treatment program will use Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, a step-by-step, live-coached behavioral parent training model developed by Eyberg and used in clinics across the country. Along with co-investigators Stephen Boggs and Dr. Regina Bussing, Eyberg and the UF team will offer the therapy to more than 120 families with children with ADHD in the Gainesville area."

Families interested in participating should have at least one child between the ages of 4 and 6 that is diagnosed with ADHD or suspected of having ADHD. An assessment will be conducted by the studies investigators to determine which families are eligible to participate. Read more at Gainesville.com.

Worried about the public school your child attends and if it's set up for your child who has a non verbal learning disorder? Cedars Academy and New Leaf Academy are geared for boys and girls with non verbal learning disorders. Both schools can also cater to children with Aspergers Syndrome and ADHD.

Labels: students, Attention_Deficit_Hyperactivity_Disorder, studies

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A recent study conducted by members of the Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, and St. Louis, Missouri finds that a woman who smokes during pregnancy increases her child's risk of ADHD.

"When genetic factors are combined with prenatal cigarette smoke exposure, the ADHD risk... increased 3 to 9 fold."

The study was conducted using both male and female twin pairs, aged 7-19 years, to determine if there was in fact a relationship between genetic variations, prenatal smoke exposure, and ADHD.Read more at Elsevier.com.

Help for parents of troubled teens can be found at ByParents-ForParents. Parents of troubled teens can get help in the form of online resources and articles to help parents of troubled teens.

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Many studies have been conducted about the affects of Omega-3 on children with ADHD. Many have found that ADHD symptoms decrease significantly when Omega-3 is introduced to a child's diet. However, some in the medical community have expressed doubts about the studies, claiming the research methods weren't adequate. The most recent study of Omega-3 may put some of those concerns to rest.

"The new study from the University of South Australia recruited 132 kids with ADHD aged 7 to 12 for the randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind intervention study. One hundred and four children completed the trial."

The trial lasted for a total of 30 weeks and by the end, the behavior ratings given by parents showed significant improvement in 9 of the 14 scales of the Conner's Parent Rating Scales. Read more online.

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The use of drugs to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, has more than tripled worldwide since 1993, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. And spending on such drugs rose nine-fold between 1993 and 2003, the team at the University of California, Berkeley reported. Read more online.

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In an essay appearing March 17 in The Lancet, Franco Benazzi, MD, PhD, writes about a common but poorly recognized form of bipolar disorder, called bipolar disorder II. Because the disorder is so often misdiagnosed, patients are often wrongly treated with antidepressants alone, which can make the problem worse, the professor of psychiatry tells WebMD.

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The use of ADHD medications is growing worldwide, which dispels the idea that it's a condition unique to Americans. Currently, usage rates are increasing faster in countries like France and Japan.

"A lot of people are saying this is an American problem and that medications are over prescribed in this country. This (study) shows other countries are finding they have the same problems."

The study looked at the use of psycho-stimulant medications globally and found that the number of countries using these medications increased from 31 to fifty-five.

Read more online.

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In August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will release the results of a study on the safety of ADHD drugs. Though several companies sell ADHD medications, Shire relies more than others heavily on the sale of its ADHD drug, Adderall

“In 2005 Adderall was briefly suspended from sale in Canada because of 20 sudden deaths and 12 strokes among mainly child users. However, the product was later allowed back into the market with a ‘black box warning’ about use by patients with underlying cardiovascular problems.” [Source: The Guardian]

The FDA study of ADHD medication began in 2007 as concern over health risks such as heart attacks and strokes began to increase.

 

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