The increase in use of prescription medications for ADHD is a hot topic of conversation among parents of school aged children, teachers and even talk radio shows. I have encountered many parents who express reluctance over using medication to treat their child’s ADHD symptoms. Sometimes these are parents whose children have exhibited numerous side effects resulting from medication. Sometimes these are parents who want an option they believe are more consistent with other choices they’ve made for their children’s health including alternate vaccination scheduling, breast feeding, and organic foods.
At New Leaf Clinic our counselors partner with parents to design interventions that meet the beliefs and needs of each individual family and child. Recommendations may include creating a more consistent and organized household; for example, evaluating your child’s after school schedule, instigating an age appropriate bedtime, or creating an organization system for school work. We use a variety of assessments that will give us a holistic picture of your child and provide you with a more specific description of their struggle. The more we learn about your child, the more specific we make our recommendations.
Our assessments provide information regarding your child’s visual or auditory learning preference resulting in our ability to provide strategies that play to that strength. For example, when providing your child with their daily to do’s visual children will benefit from having these items in writing. Imagine the decrease in the frustration you feel when you repeat yourself until you are “blue in the face”. Speaking to your child’s learning style will increase the success of your communication with them. Discovering your child’s learning preference coupled with a specific assessment of their ADHD (inattentive or hyperactive type) and other specific behavioral observations and assessment results allows us to provide specific options that do not include medication. If our results indicate medication may benefit your child we will provide you with assessment results to share with your medical professional to assist them in providing you with a prescription and dosage that will be most beneficial to your child.
