By Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.; 305 pages. Subtitle: 50 Ways to Improve Your Child's Behavior and Attention Span Without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion.
That title just seems designed to provoke, doesn't it? There are plenty of families for whom ADD is anything but a myth. As for drugs and labels, they do seem to work for many children, as a route to succeeding in school and receiving needed services. If you can overlook the title and some of the theory here, though, the 50 ways work pretty well, too.
- The book offers 50 ideas, at least one of which is likely to appeal to you.
- Behavior modification is a good idea even if you do opt for medication.
- Suggestions are appropriate for kids who have attention problems for a variety of reasons.
- Questionnaire helps you pinpoint which ideas will most likely be helpful for your child.
- Lists resources for each suggestion, so if you find one you like you can do more reading.
- It will be hard for many parents to get past the title.
- Criticism of ADD/ADHD advocates may make the first section difficult reading if you don't agree.
- Some of these things are easier said than done.
- Parents may feel like failures if their child doesn't respond.
- Some of what the author proposes -- like changing schools, and society -- is out of parents' hands.
- Part One: Uncovering the A.D.D. Myth (pages 3-58)
- Chapter 1: America's New Learning Disease
- Chapter 2: A.D.D.: Now You See It, Now You Don't
- Chapter 3: Why A.D.D. Is a Simplistic Answer to the Problems of a Complex World
- Chapter 4: What's Good (and Not So Good) About the Good Pill
- Chapter 5: To Control or to Empower: That Is the Question!
- Part Two: 50 Strategies to Improve Your Child's Behavior and Attention Span (pages 61-257)
One of the secrets to reading parenting books -- to really getting something out of all those parenting books you read -- is that you have to pick and choose. No book is going to be completely true to your family. Lists of suggestions are likely to be hit and miss. Case studies may or may not hit home. Theories may make you sit up and say “Yes!” or shake your head and say, “I think not.” But almost any parenting book will have something to make it worth reading. You may pick up one good idea, one inspiring thought, one useful way of seeing. Or you may gain resolve to oppose people who think like the author, relief that your family’s not as bad off as those profiled, or conviction that you’re on the right path. Maybe some of each.
The “pick and choose” theory is particularly useful for a book like “The Myth of the A.D.D. Child.” There is much here that will be deeply validating for people who are uncomfortable with the widespread diagnosis of ADD/ADHD and the use of medication to combat it. And there is much here that will infuriate those on the other side of the debate. But there are also 50 good, thoughtful suggestions for helping attention-challenged kids, from focusing techniques to the Feingold diet. Some may seem overly simplistic or unnecessarily complicated; some may just tick you off. But when you’re dealing with a child with special needs, just one workable idea can be worth its weight in gold. Worth the time spent reading about it, anyway.
