This only makes me appreciate Dr. Miller more!! I have brought my children to his practice for over 18 yrs. I LOVE Dr. Miller for the attitude he has with his practice. Feedback I have heard from people is that they either love him or hate him, and that is ok. But a major reason (IMHO) I feel many people don't like him is because he's not a Dr. that rights an Rx every time you walk into the office. BUT I do also know that he WILL write Rx's when he feels the other options haven't or won't work. He VERY much believes in looking at all reasons for the problem & options to fix it BEFORE he picks up his Rx pad. This philosophy doesn't sit well in an age of "fix the problem now because I want immediate result with the least amount of hassle".
My question is to KRB is "What did Dr. Miller suggest for handling you child's issues?" And talking from experience with Dr. Miller I KNOW he does suggest looking at things (looking at diet, environmently, sleeping habits, exercise, etc) and changing certain things BEFORE writing an Rx. Did you seriously sit down & take into accounting of the things in your childs life that could be contributing to ADHD like symptoms?
Please think about it people...ADHD/ADD, when did this labeling system come about? Why I ask this is because (as my Mother likes to put it) I would have been "labeled" as a child if they did it back then. Instead of the option of medicating me to a zombie state (which I sure would have prevented my Mother from living in a state of total exhaustion until I reached my late teenage years!) my Mom had to come up with ways for me to learn to be a productive functioning part of this world. And PLEASE understand I AM, to this date, the true definition of hyperactive.
Only now I like to tell people that "I must use my powers for good, not evil" when people comment on how I manage my crazy/hectic life.
See I have to focus now...my Mom's solutions...
1. Consistency - this allowed them to always know what to expect and what what was expected of them.
2. Discipline - (whatever form you choose), and understand that one form may NOT work for all kids, so use what form works for your child. Don't threaten, follow thru. Remember consistency. My parents saying was "you earn your disipline and you earn your rewards". And once a child UNDERSTANDS (they doen't need to speak) whatever language you speak then they are old enough to start understanding discipline. Even "Supernany" teaches this!
3. Every Child is Different - so be willing to individualize PARTS of your ideas to make it easier for your child to learn how to learn to control their lack of concentration or bouncing off the walls issues. DO NOT change your life to accommodate them, teach them lessons that enable them work productively. The point is it that your trying to make them understand that they need to learn to work with others, not that the world revolves around them and has to learn to deal with them.
4. Diet - Cut out the junk of sweets/processed food. We all know that our bodies function better without the all the sugar, caffeine, etc.
5. EXERCISE!!!- We all wish that our kids could sit and do something clamly for several hours a day, and there are a couple out there somewhere (I hope). But realistically kids NEED to burn off the energy. Even newborns sometimes cry nonstop for a couple hours in the evening. And Drs. now say thats how they burn off energy (remember someday they will be able to run it off). As a child my Mom would make me run up and down the block 5 times after getting off the schoolbus. I thought it was a game. Later I found out that when I got home, I was "bouncing off the walls, talking 100 miles an hour" so bad, that she realized that she was running around the house following me trying to hear how my day was. By burning off some energy before coming in the house I could slow down enough for her to understand me. Also she put me in gymnastics by 5 yrs old. This is a great sport to learn concentration, self discipline, self reliablity, and burn a ton of energy. Figure out SOMETHING to help your high energy kid burn it off!
6.There is a time & place for everything - Even Supernany teaches the concept. You don't have a problem with your kid running in a park, but don't want them running thru the grocery store. Allow them to act like kids, understanding that they will goof off, tease, and be messy. But teach them you don't do these things all the time. We are humans, not animals. That even animals instinctively or can be taught to control parts of their behavior.
Remember children are not born into this world knowing how to be self-suffient. Just look at their hyproactive, lack of concentration issues like you would potty training. Some kids pick it up in a week, some take years. As the adult it is our job to "figure" a different way to get them to learn the lesson. Would you ask your Dr for an Rx to help potty train your child? No that's crazy. But if your 6 yr old still had issues with "accidents" your Dr could help you look into the reasons for them. It could be a medical issue, but that would be more likely a reason to look at AFTER you have stopped letting them have 10 sodas before bed.
All I'm saying is don't bash the Dr for not going for the "quick fix". It's our parental responsibility to try everything we can to fix the issues before we run to Rx our kids. Dr's are taught to offer advice before meds. If Rx's are needed after ALL other options haven't worked then my heart goes out to you. I am thankful that I didn't live in the age where my parents were offered (or forced, and lets be honest sometimes it's demanded that a child is put on Rx's) this option. The only thing they were "forced" to do was come up with a solution to keep their own sanity. They didn't call it "having to deal with a difficult child", they called it responsible parenting.
My brother has ADHD and my parents took him off the meds and took him to a nutritionist. He's soooo much calmer with the new diet.
