Many parents of ADHD children are worried about giving their children medication to treat their child’s ADHD. There are many reasons for their concern, but one of the greatest concerns is the fear that parents have that they are setting up their children to have a future drug abuse problem.

Most parents know that ADHD teens have a much higher level of drug abuse than their normal counterparts. Parents have also heard theories that taking drugs like Ritalin increases the risk of drug abuse. The idea is that routinely taking Ritalin, which is actually very similar to cocaine, will expose children to habitual drug taking and will make them more open to experimenting with hard drugs when they become teenagers.

These theories were first proposed by physicians. The ideas were later picked up and expanded upon by distributors of natural treatments for ADHD and are used to play upon the fears of parent in order to sell their ‘drug free’ alternatives.



So the question is, is there a connection with Ritalin and other stimulant medication use in children and future drug abuse problems? That is what we are going to explore in this article.



Ritalin Treatment and Future Drug Abuse



The truth is that this question has been researched and we have a very clear answer. In fact, researchers have found a very strong connection between childhood use of Ritalin and other stimulant medication to treat ADHD and the risk of future drug abuse in ADHD teenagers.



However, the results are exactly the opposite of what most parents think. Use of stimulant medication in ADHD children does not increase the risk of future drug abuse. It reduces the risk of drug abuse, and reduces it dramatically.

In 1999, a study funded by National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health compared three groups of boys – those with ADHD who had been treated with stimulants, those with ADHD who had not been treated with stimulants, and those without ADHD. The researchers followed the children to determine their susceptibility to substance use disorder.

This research project was a combined effort of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard Medical School. The scientists divided 212 boys into three groups and followed them for several years.

The first group consisted of 56 boys with ADHD who received on the average four years of drug treatment for their ADHD. The second group was made up of 19 boys also with ADHD, but who received no drug treatment for their condition. The third group consisted of 137 boys who did not have ADHD.

When the boys were 15 or older, they were evaluated for substance abuse disorders involving alcohol, marijuana, hallucinogens, stimulants, or cocaine.

(I want to point out that there is a difference between substance abuse and a substance abuse disorder. Substance abuse is recreational use of medications. This may include inappropriate use of alcohol or other drugs. This is fairly common in our society and does not always indicate a significant problem. Our real concern is when recreational use of medication becomes a disorder. A substance abuse disorder is where the person continues to use a mood- or behavior-altering substance despite the fact that this substance causes significant problems in the person’s life.)

Results of the study were fairly dramatic. 18 percent of children without ADHD had at least one substance abuse disorder, when surveyed in their mid teens. The group of ADHD children who received medical treatment fared almost as well. Only 25 percent of that group had at least one substance abuse disorder.

However, among the ADHD children that did not receive medical treatment, 75 percent of that group had at least one substance use disorder during the follow up study.

This study suggests that if your child has ADHD and does not take medication, he is three times as likely to get seriously involved with drugs, than if he does receive medication.

Other researchers have found that the younger age that medical treatment began, the lower the risk of a future drug abuse problem.

Other Risk Factors

Other factors have been identified that predict a higher risk of future drug abuse.

Wilens found that the two biggest indicators of future substance abuse disorder in ADHD children were coexistent conduct disorder and coexistent bipolar disorder. Other researchers found that with regard to conduct disorder, IQ played a factor.

Children with conduct disorder and high IQ scores were more likely to later develop a drug problem. In contrast, in children who did not have a conduct disorder, those with a lower IQ were more likely to develop a substance abuse disorder.

Conclusion

Most parents are concerned about starting their ADHD children on stimulant medications. This is for a variety of reasons and many of these reasons are valid. However, what many of these well meaning parents fail to consider is that there are concrete risks involved with not starting their children on drug treatment. One very measurable risk is the risk of future drug involvement.

Parents must consider that the risk of future drug abuse gets larger the longer they withhold medical treatment from their children. The risk becomes three times as great when they withhold medical treatment completely from their ADHD children. If ADHD is complicated by conduct disorder or bipolar disorder there is even a greater chance of future drug abuse developing.

So if your child has ADHD it could be that giving medication may not be the best approach. But you should know that not giving medication also carries with it some danger. When you manage the ADHD treatment of your child be sure to consider all the risks before you make your decision.

Warmly,

Anthony Kane, MD
ADD ADHD Advances

If your child is stealing, then you are probably extremely worried about it. You also may be wondering what exactly is the best way to handle the problem. In this article we will discuss the reasons why children steal and what you should do to help your child with this problem.

Preschool children do not steal. Until a child reaches the age of four or five he does not have a well-developed concept of ownership. As a result, he cannot understand viagra taking things that don’t belong to him is wrong. A preschooler is too young to understand the concept of stealing.

Elementary school children do understand the concept of possession. A child in elementary school steals because he sees something that he wants and he lacks the self- control to hold himself back. A child this age knows that stealing is wrong. Since the child knows what he did was inappropriate this is the age where you can begin to give discipline for stealing.

Preteens or teens steal for the thrill of it. They are also highly influenced by peer pressure and they fall into a crowd that steals for fun, they will steal too. Preteens or teens may steal to fill an emotional void, or to gain a sense of control.

Whatever the age of your child and whatever the reason your child is stealing, you as the parent must act with wisdom to respond to this issue. If you just respond according to your natural inclination, you will almost certainly do the wrong thing and your response might even exacerbate the problem and be destructive for your child.

Five Reasons Why a Child Steals

We are now going to discuss the five most common reasons children steal and how you should respond.

1- Your Child Lacks Self-Control

This is primarily a problem for younger children as we have stated previously. An elementary school child knows that stealing is wrong, but sometimes he sees something that he wants, sees the opportunity to get it without being caught, and can’t control his impulse to take it. He knows that stealing is wrong, but he can’t help himself.

The most important way to handle a child who steals for this reason is to give him an honest way to get what he wants. To do this you figure out what types of things are tempting him and then use them as rewards for good behavior. However, make it easy for your child to get these things. If your standards are too tough for him, he will feel unable to meet your expectations and he’ll think that stealing is the only option.

In addition, you must try to limit temptation. If your child likes to steal money or candy, then don’t leave these things lying around in plain view.

2- Your Child’s Basic Needs are not Being Met

Your child is completely dependent on you. If a child feels that his parents are not giving him those things that he needs, he will eventually try to get these things on his own. The easiest way for a child to get something is to steal it.

If this is your child’s situation it is not a criticism of you, nor does it mean you area bad parent or are depriving your child. What a person feels he needs is mostly subjective. What happens frequently is that what a parent views as a luxury a child feels is a necessity. That means having an extra treat frequently or carrying a bit of pocket money, may be something that you feel is not something your child requires. However your child may feel a real lack without those things to the point where he is driven to fill that need.

3- Your Child Needs More Attention

This is probably the most common reason a child steals. He has an emotional void and he is tying to fill that void y taking things to make himself feel better. Your child may feel lonely and distant from you, or he may be having a lot of trouble in school or with friends. He steals to feel better.

Many children feel that they do not get the love that they need. This is not because their parents don’t love them or give them love. It is just that the love being given comes in a way that the child does not perceive it as love.

When a child does not feel he is getting love, he may act out in a number of ways. He talks back, argues, disobeys, and can be disrespectful and abusive. Some children steal.

If this is the reason your child is stealing, then punishment is very counterproductive. The solution is to show your child love in a way that he perceives it as love. This will improve your child’s behavior in every way, including getting him to stop stealing.

4- Your Child Needs More Control

Children have very little control over their lives. Some children have a great deal of trouble handling this sense of helplessness. This type of child might steal to gain a sense of power and control or just to rebel.

Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder tend to have a big problem with authority and control issues. The best way to handle this type of child is to get help from someone who knows how to handle these types of children. Normal parenting techniques do not work well with these children so you need an expert in ODD child behavior or ODD teen behavior.

5- Peer Pressure

This is more of a problem with older children, where friendships play a greater role in their lives. If your child has fallen into a group where stealing is one of their pastimes, then there are some very specific things you must do. For more information, see the article, What to Do When Your Teen Chooses Bad Friends.

In the next two articles in this series we will discuss in more detail ideas how to handle your child if he is stealing.

If stealing is a problem for your child or teen you can learn specific step-by-step ways to handle this behavior.

If you child is 2-11 go to:

Child Behavior Program



If your child is 12 or older go to

Teen Program

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Today we are going to discuss the difference between giving effective consequences and punishments, and why effective child discipline can change your child’s behavior while punishments do not.

First we must be clear that punishments do not improve child behavior. We see this clearly from our prison system. You cannot punish someone into changing his behavior for the good. That is true for child, it is true for teens and it is true for adults.

However, child discipline through consequences can improve your child’s behavior. The reason is simple.

When a parent disciplines a child using consequences, included in the discipline is a teaching experience that instructs your child how to behave better in the future.

One of the main reasons a child misbehaves is that it is the best option he knows at the time. A child misbehaves for one of three reasons.

1-He doesn’t know any better
2-He is in a situation that he doesn’t know how to handle and he falls apart
3-He has learned that this behavior gets him the best result

When you attach a teaching experience with your discipline you are addressing all there reasons. You are teaching a child who doesn’t understand his behavior is wrong or doesn’t know how to handle a certain situation the proper way to behave. And through the negative aspects of the consequence you are showing a child who has learned that bad behavior gets him what he wants that this option is no longer an effective.

You are taking a child who responds to a certain challenge in an inappropriate way and showing him the proper way to respond. You are using child discipline to encourage your child to improve his behavior in the future.

For example, if your child is angry, he may hit another child, or throw a tantrum, or use inappropriate language. The reason he does this is that this is the best response he can come up with when he is upset.

Now if you were to just punish your child for his misdeeds, you would show him that his choice of behavior is not satisfactory, but you would not have suggested to him a new way to behave. An effective consequence includes the lesson of how to behave in the future as part of the consequence. Your child is learning a new way to respond.

What does this look like?

Let’s say your teen has a problem with cursing and he speaks to you with bad language.

An appropriate consequence would be to ground him to his room until he writes you a letter of apology. Included in that apology should be what he can next time instead of cursing.

For example, when he is feeling angry or upset, instead of cursing he can remove himself from the situation and go to his room. You may have to coach him on the appropriate response, but once you he learns it and you have his commitment in his own handwriting, it is far more likely that he will remember to go to his room the next time he is angry or upset.

When the situation comes up again, he can either reflexively curse or he can go to his room and cool off. And if he chooses to curse you can just show him his letter with his commitment to go to his room, and then you will have much less resistance to giving another consequence. He will know that he deserves it.

In short, effective child or teen discipline requires your consequence to include with it a teaching experience in order to show your child how to behave better. This is the major difference between ineffective punishments and effective child discipline.

This is just one of the secrets of effective child discipline that most parents do not know.

We have a free CD on the 7 biggest mistakes parents make when giving discipline to their child or teen.

We are going to stop giving away this CD in another week or so. If you have not yet grabbed your copy, you better go right away to:

Claim Your Free CD

When your child is young your primary role is to set limits about what is and what is not acceptable behavior. Your teens still need this type of direction, but your method of delivery needs to change.

It is quite okay to tell a child what to do and what not to do. However, most teens do not respond well to being ordered around. Teens have a natural desire to want to run their own lives. Therefore, when setting limits for your teens, just telling them will not be very effective. Instead, your focus should be on discussing and negotiating appropriate behavior. The more input you allow your teen to have in setting limits, the more likely he is to stay within them.

Here are 5 tips that will make setting limits for your teens more effective:

1- Choose the right time and place. The right time means when both of you are calm. If either one of you is upset or angry, the discussion will not go as well. The right place means in privacy away from other children.
2- Focus on what you want rather than what your child is doing wrong. The natural response to criticism is denial and rationalization. Neither of these promotes discussion. There are times when you will need to criticize your teen’s behavior, but you want to minimize this as much as possible.

3- Let your child experience the natural consequences of his behavior. This is hard to do. We want to save our children from pain, especially when we see so clearly what is coming. However, your child needs to learn to use good judgment. The best way the learn good judgment is to experience bad judgment. So as long as nothing dangerous is going to happen, let your child learn from his mistakes.
4- Come to an agreement about appropriate discipline. Children are more ready to keep to their limits and to accept the consequences when they violate those limits, if they have a say in establishing the rules.

5- Follow through. Rules are not suggestions; they are rules. Rules need to be enforced. Your child needs to know you are serious.

In order to follow through correctly, you need to use consequences effectively. However, most parents use consequences entirely wrong.

Find out the #1 reason why most parents use fail when they give consequences.


Go to:

Getting Consequences to Work

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Today I am going to discuss how you get your adolescent or teenager to participate with the family and be part of the family. This is a big problem.

The first thing you must understand is the stage your child is going through. At some point when your child hits adolescence he starts moving away from the family. He is growing up. It is normal for your child to try to become more independent of you and become much more attached to his friends. Growing away from the family is normal. In fact, if your teen is not doing this, it could be a sign of a problem.

More than that, many teens at this age find being with the family and particularly being with you, the parent, to be an embarrassment. They don’t want to be around you. They are embarrassed to be around you in public. Again, this is normal. It is a stage. It is not a reflection of how your child really feels about you.

Teens want to be cool. They want to seem big and being with mommy or daddy just doesn’t work with that image. So if you have a teen at home and he is shying away from being with the family, there is a very good reason for this. Your child really does not want to be with you. He is embarrassed to be with you in public.

However, you are still his parents and he is still part of the family. How do you get him to behave that way?

First of all, we are living in kind of a crazy world right now where there is a breakdown of the family life in general. Family members go in and out of the house at different times. All the kids have different schedules. No one seems to get together at all. This is a big problem and it erodes the closeness of the family. It is a society-wide problem.

What we recommend is to make a fixed family time on a consistent basis. It can be once a week, once a month or some time in between that. It is a time for all family members to spend together and everyone is expected to be there. You can have a family dinner once a week. You can schedule a family night to do something. Make it a requirement that everybody in your family to be there.

That means you have to be there and all the children have to be there. This will give you children the idea that they are part of a family, not just a bunch of individuals who live in the same house.

As you and your children get older these family times will become very pleasant memories. Your children will remember that they are part of a family. This will help your children to remain close as they grow older.

You should not expect these times to run smoothly always. However, like any other time, your children are expected to behave themselves. If your teen acts out because he doesn’t want to be there you give appropriate discipline. Your child may not like it, but he is expected to behave himself and to participate. You should expect some grumbling from time to time. Try to overlook as much as you can. You are building memories.

Our world is moving very, very fast. The family unit is being lost. It is important to have a regular family time. This will help your family stay a family.