Press Release Summary = Children with ADHD should be celebrated, not medicated as a first option. It is tragic that 75 of 100 kids who walk into a psychiatrist's office for the very first time walk out with a prescription in hand for a stimulant medication to treat ADHD.
Press Release Body = (Washington, D.C.) February 10, 2006 - Children with ADHD should be celebrated, not medicated as a first option.
Yesterday\'s admission by the government that 79 people had either died suddenly or suffered serious cardiovascular problems after taking drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has caused great alarm among parents.
It is tragic that 75 of 100 kids who walk into a psychiatrist\'s office for the very first time walk out with a prescription in hand for a stimulant medication to treat ADHD.
Kirk Martin, Founder of educational organization Celebrate!ADHD, insists, "We must change everything else-our attitudes and expectations, diet and nutrition, the way we reach and teach kids-before we change our children through medication."
Martin asserts the following: · Children with ADHD are often medicated as a first option for the convenience of adults who want to make them compliant.
· Kids with ADHD don\'t need to be changed - Celebrate!ADHD has witnessed an 85% reduction in use of Ritalin by working with a child\'s nature instead of against it.
· Children with ADHD possess superior traits their peers do not possess. In fact, society desperately needs the energy, creativity, imagination, passion and persistence that only children with ADHD possess.
The gravest danger of overmedicating is destroying a child\'s confidence, self-worth and sense of identity.
"When we seek to change our children by first medicating," Martin insists, "we send the insidious message that they are inherently inferior and incapable of self-control. We should not tell our children that they can be successful only if we change who they are."
Contrary to the prevailing fatalistic view of ADHD, Celebrate!ADHD celebrates and cultivates the advantageous qualities specifically afforded by ADHD. The organization advocates positive strategies to increase focus, improve school performance and build confidence.
Martin adds this advice for parents. "Your attitude is more potent than any medication."
For a free newsletter filled with practical tips to help parents of children with ADHD, please visit www.celebrateADHD.com or email Kirk Martin at ADHDcamp@aol.com .
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Kirk Martin is Founder of Celebrate!ADHD and author of four books. He can be reached at ADHDcamp@aol.com .
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