How do I find out if my Child with ADHD qualifies for Special Education?

By: Erin N. King, Ed.S
Nationally Certified School Psychologist

Children with ADHD or ADD often have unique difficulties in school, academically and/or behaviorally. It may be more difficult for these children to focus and they may miss valuable information in academic lessons or instructions for assignments. They may struggle with organization to the point that they forgot what the homework assignment was, or they lose completed work before it is turned in. Children with ADHD may have difficulty sitting still during instruction or act out due to impulsivity. Read more of the article...

Teaching Problem Solving Skills: Checkers and Chess Can Be Helpful

This past year has been fun for our family as Grant (7) has picked up the game of chess and has been very successful with it. We have enjoyed traveling to several tournaments, and have met dozens of wonderful children and their families.

For several years I used checkers with my adhd clients of all ages to teach them problem solving skills. Checkers is an easy tool to use, as it is fun for children, especially younger kids, and if the parent or coach is not too competitive, is a great way to teach children how to think before making a decision and to look at the possible consequences of their decisions. Read more of the article...

Dear Fathers

I do hope that you are enjoying the kind of wonderful spring weather that we are enjoying here in California. I do know that many of you are enduring flooding rains in the mid-West, and our heart goes out to you. We wish you the best.

I am sitting on my deck overlooking Bear Valley thinking about Father’s Day, and about being a father. God has blessed me with three wonderful children, two in their twenties and one age seven, and through the years I have learned many lessons about fatherhood that somehow I’d like to put into writing and pass on to you. Read more of the article...

By Guest Author Rory Stern Psy.D.

There I was watching television one afternoon, and a commercial came on that reported, "X% of people who suffer from depression and take medication, continue to experience symptoms of depression."

I was on the edge of my seat... I couldn't believe it! Were they finally going to suggest other treatment besides medication? Was someone going to finally blow the lid on treatment and actually suggest the importance of therapy and better understanding the behaviors? Read more of the article...

As parents of ADHD kids know all too well, children with ADHD often have difficulty handling stress, or stressful situations. Now, a team of researchers in Australia may have found a biological reason why this is so. Read more of the article...

The Associated Press is reporting that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is estimating that each year cough and cold medicines send about 7,091 children to hospital emergency rooms.

Of these 7,000 cases, about two-thirds of the cases were children who took the medicines unsupervised. Of the remaining 2,600 cases, about 1,600 were were children under the age of 2 years old who were given over-the-counter cough and cold medicines that the FDA considers to be too dangerous for such young children.

However, about one-quarter involved cases in which parents gave the proper dosage and an allergic reaction or some other problem developed, the study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Read more of the article...