ADHD Tip - Let’s Leave More Therapists And Psychiatrists Speechless About How They Treat ADHD
ADHD just rolls off the tongue.
Describe a few key behaviors, such as uncontrollable energy, inattention to detail, and an inability to focus your child, and before you know it, someone is telling you:
“Your child must have ADHD.”
The next steps are pretty straightforward:
- Express concern
- See your physician
- Get referred to a specialist
- Child is evaluated
- Medication is recommended
It really almost does happen in that order, almost automatically it might seem.
But what would it mean to you if you could “stump” your therapist? What would it be like for you to come into your next appointment and see your child interact with their therapist, and elicit the following response from the therapist:
It’s time we changed this process!
It’s time we got more responses like this. It’s time we kept people on their toes, and get them to consider alternatives to medication in young children.
Here’s what happened:
Imagine all of the above happening to you, and you are against medicating your 3 year old child.
Or perhaps you are against medication, and your spouse just wants things back to “normal,” no matter what it takes.
Such things happen…
I recently consulted to a family whose youngest child, their 3-year-old son, was initially described as uncontrollable:
Mom and Dad made it to the point where they shared with me, “I don’t like my son. I don’t even want to be around him.”
Imagine the pain in those words.
Imagine getting to a point in life where you are so frustrated with your child, that you loathe being around them. You shutter when daycare or pre-school winds down for the day.
It can be paralyzing.
For this family, they were further torn and divided after the evaluation.
Their son was diagnosed with ADHD, and was given a referral to see a psychiatrist who would be recommending and treating this child with medication.
Mom was excited, and Dad was furious.
Dad wanted to try more. Dad had faith that as a parent he could help his child in other ways.
It’s risky, but it can work.
Faced with medicating his young son, likely for the foreseeable future, this Dad took a good look at his family’s life and his son’s life. He reached out for help, and looked at everything that might be contributing to his son’s behavior.
His decision was to remove all sugar from his son’s diet. In this case, that’s all it took!
When Dad was faced with the bewilderment of his son’s therapist, he responded calmly and casually.
“My son was an addict, and I removed his drug of choice. I took away his sugar intake, and after a few days of withdrawal, my son was a whole new person.”
Verdict:
It’s been almost one month now, and this particular child is no longer showing signs of ADHD. His parents love spending time with him, and he even demonstrates restraint when taunted at school.
Is it a miraculous recovery?
Hardly! What happened here was a case where the parents stood firm on their beliefs, reached out for help and support, explored their options, and believed that their child did not have ADHD.
To learn more about ADHD and what might really be impacting your child, I invite you to visit and sign up for your 7 part mini-course on the dirty little secrets behind ADHD.
I would also like to invite you to ask your most pressing question about ADHD and how it could be affecting your family and your child.