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Jurate Cannara knew her daughter Laura was different when, as a toddler, she would stand out in the rain, her tiny hands outstretched toward the lightning. "Mama, I need energy," the little girl would tell her. As Laura Mikuseviciuje grew from toddler to child to teen to young woman, Cannara noticed that her daughter's eccentricities only increased with age. "I didn't understand my daughter," said Cannara, who lives in Verona, of her daughter's early expressions of intuition and odd, energetic behavior. According to some, Laura's tendencies are not odd at all; they even have a name. She and others like...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2006 – The Marine Corps Special Operations Command, the newest addition to the special operations community, will be a complementary force that will ease the strain on other services' elite units and will contribute to the nation's readiness in the global war on terror, the new unit's commander said here today. "I firmly believe that this is the right thing to do for the country at this time," said Marine Brig. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, commander of Marine Corps Special Operations Command. "This irregular warfare is here to stay. If we don't start to go that way,...

Spend a few minutes on the phone with Danny Frankhuizen and you come away thinking, "What a nice boy." He's thoughtful, articulate, bright. He has a good relationship with his mom, goes to church every Sunday, loves the rock band Phish and spends hours each day practicing his guitar. But once he's inside his large public Salt Lake City high school, everything seems to go wrong. He's 16, but he can't stay organized. He finishes his homework and then can't find it in his backpack. He loses focus in class, and his teachers, with 40 kids to wrangle, aren't much...

AL ASAD, Iraq (Dec. 29, 2005) -- Ten Marines from Marine Wing Support Squadron 272’s expeditionary airfield team are adding four expeditionary marshalling pads to Al Asad, Iraq’s flightlines. The project, which began Dec. 15, will require approximately 20 days to complete and creates specific areas, out of the way of flight operations, for aircraft parking and ordnance arming and disarming. “We might be done a little sooner,” said Staff Sgt. Al’Vincent Mitchell, the project manager and a Mobile, Ala., native. “Our guys are doing wonderful. This project gives them a chance to explore another side of their (military occupational...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that parents who demand better special education programs for their children have the burden of proof in the challenges. Retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the 6-2 court, said that when parents challenge a program they have the burden in an administrative hearing of showing that the program is insufficient. If schools bring a complaint, the burden rests with them, O'Connor wrote. The ruling is a loss for a Maryland family that contested the special education program designed for their son with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The case required the court to...

WASHINGTON -- The FDA has withdrawn approval for a drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder because it has been associated with liver problems, including death, agency officials said Monday. The move means drug manufacturers will no longer produce generic versions of pemoline, which was developed by Abbott Laboratories and sold under the name Cylert. Abbott discontinued the drug earlier this year, but generic versions have remained available. FDA is not recalling the drug, instead allowing pharmacies to sell their remaining stock as doctors still using it switch patients to alternative treatments, the agency said in a statement. The...

(AgapePress) - A study by Israeli researchers shows treatment of sleep apnea and other sleep disorders in children can lead to a significant reduction in symptoms associated with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).The study found that children diagnosed with ADHD had much higher levels of sleeplessness during the day than did non-ADHD youngsters. Dr. Giora Pillar is head of the Pediatric Sleep Lab at the largest hospital in northern Israel, and an associate professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, which conducted the study.Pillar says sleep apnea or sleep disturbances can lead to daytime sleepiness -- and children who are...

The number of children being prescribed drugs for so-called behavioural disorders has soared to a record high, causing alarm that children are being unnecessarily "drugged into submission". Prescriptions of Methylphenidate - most commonly sold as Ritalin - rose to 359,100 last year, a rise of 344,400 since 1995. Figures from the Prescriptions Pricing Authority reveal that there has been a 180-fold increase in prescriptions since 1991 when only 2,000 were issued in England. The growing use of Ritalin - an amphetamine-based stimulant which improves concentration and is nicknamed the "chemical cosh" because of its calming effects - has alarmed critics....

Fatty Acids Help DCD Kids to Behave  www.NutraIngredients.com, May 3, 2005   Supplementation with fatty acids may be a safe and effective way of dealing with educational and behavioral problems among children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), according to an Oxford University study published in the May issue of Pediatrics. DCD is a condition affecting around five percent of school-aged children and is linked to behavioral and learning difficulties, problems with motor function and psychosocial issues that may continue into adulthood.   According to study authors Alexandra Richardson and Paul Montgomery, both of Oxford University, there is currently no...

TALLAHASSEE -- Actresses Kirstie Alley and Kelly Preston pleaded with lawmakers Tuesday to prohibit schools from denying services to students who won't take mood-altering drugs to treat mental disorders. Alley sobbed as she told members of the House Education Council the stories of children who committed suicide or died after taking psychotropic drugs. "Here's an example of parents who didn't know what could happen who just blindly went along with referrals and information," Alley said before holding up blown-up, color photos of children she said died after being prescribed medicines like Zoloft and Ritalin. "None of these children were psychotic...

I keep waiting for someone to notice the way the rash of school shootings the U.S. has experienced has coincided with the massive program of drugging "over-active" students or those deemed to have an "attention deficit." Medicating students has replaced counseling. On December 1, 1997, Michael Carneal, a troubled 14-year-old, killed three students and wounded five others at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky. In 1998, there were three events in which boys, one as young as 11, killed classmates and teachers. Most notorious is the April 20, 1999 Columbine High School massacre by two boys, Eric Harris, 18,...

Magnesium VitB6 Intake Reduces Central Nervous System Hyperexcitability in Children Marianne Mousain-Bosc, MD, Michele Roche, PhD, Jean Rapin, MD, PhD and Jean-Pierre Bali, MD, PhD Department of Pediatry (M.M.-B.), CHU Nimes, FRANCEDepartment of Biochemistry (M.R.), CHU Nimes, FRANCELaboratoire de Biochimie, Groupe Hospitalier Carémeau (J.P.B.), Nimes Cedex, FRANCEDepartment of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bourgogne, Dijon (J.R.), FRANCE Address reprint requests to: Dr. Jean-Pierre Bali, Laboratoire de Biochimie, Groupe Hospitalier Carémeau, Place du Professeur Robert Debré, 30029 Nimes Cedex, FRANCE. E-mail: bali2003@yahoo.frObjective: Ionic magnesium (Mg2+) depletion has long been known to cause hyperexcitability with convulsive seizures in rodents, effects...

There wasn't a kid standing in front of the state Capitol on Monday afternoon, or parent for that matter, who could have passed a test on why they were there. They think they were there because somehow they have it in their heads that the state of Minnesota has abandoned public education. Just look at the signs the kids were holding. "This is my footure.'' "Put education first.'' "Keep Minnesota Smart.'' "Minnesota educators care about kids.'' And my all-time favorite, which made the front page of the Enemy Newspaper, "Put kid #1.''

Psychiatrists said yesterday that they were as confused as they were concerned by the news that Canadian regulators had suspended the use of a commonly prescribed hyperactivity drug amid reports of deaths linked to its use. "The news just threw a curveball into our efforts to advise doctors on how to treat attention deficit disorders in kids," said Dr. Oscar Bukstein, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "I think everyone in the field is going to be more fastidious in how they screen children for potential heart or other problems" before prescribing drugs,...

I have started a one man campaign to rename ADD "Aquired Discipline Disorder." I'm also calling ADHD "Aquired Discipline Homefront Disorder" unless I think of something better. My sister is a teacher and she has a student who asks questions at least every thirty seconds for at least half of the class. She isn't isn't allowed to tell him to hold his questions because it isn't bad behavior--- he has a disability. My mom is also a teacher and she was talking about how some parents are trying to get their kids diagnosed with ADD so they can get to...

2005-01 February 9, 2005 For immediate release Advisory Health Canada suspends the market authorization of ADDERALL XR® , a drug prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children OTTAWA - Health Canada is informing Canadians that it has instructed Shire BioChem Inc., the manufacturer of ADDERALL XR® to withdraw the drug from the Canadian market. Health Canada has suspended the market authorization of the product due to safety information concerning the association of sudden deaths, heart-related deaths, and strokes in children and adults taking usual recommended doses of ADDERALL® and ADDERALL XR®. The immediate release form of ADDERALL® has...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=571&e=7&u=/nm/20050124/hl_nm/memory_adhd_dc Memory Training Helps Kids with ADHD Mon Jan 24, 2:43 PM ET By Alison McCook NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A computer program that improves one type of memory appears to help kids with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), new study findings suggest. Yahoo! Health Have questions about your health? Find answers here. After around 40 kids with ADHD completed more than 20 days of training using the computer program, their parents reported they had significantly fewer problems with attention and hyperactivity, both immediately and three3 months after the program ended. The form of memory the program addresses is called "working...

West Middle School administrator says he is on leave for taking students' ADD drugs Thursday, December 2, 2004 BY CATHERINE O'DONNELL News Staff Reporter An assistant principal at West Middle School in Ypsilanti was placed on paid leave Wednesday while authorities investigate allegations that could lead to criminal charges, school officials said. Marcus Burlingame, 33, of Ypsilanti Township, who has worked for the Ypsilanti district seven years, said Wednesday night that he is on leave for taking attention deficit disorder drugs intended for students at the school. In an interview at his home, he apologized and said he plans to...

Lynette was desperate. She had a mountain of costumes to sew, to perfection, for her twin sons' school production of Little Red Riding Hood, or they would be pulled from the play. But the mother of three young children didn't have the energy. That is, till the school's resident Supermom came to her rescue: She told Lynette she took a prescription drug for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, to do it all. So Lynette (played by Felicity Huffman) pilfered a pill from her kids' supply, pulled an all-nighter and saved her boys' roles as oak trees. She even cleaned the...

My pedetrician has just recommended that my 10 year old boy use Ritalin. The issue of Attention Deficit Disorder has come up every so often throughout most of his life, but this is the first time our pediatrician says it's time to try medication. What questions should I be asking? What do I need to find out? Any good resources? Thanks, -- Joe P.S. My wife is in a hurry to do this, now that the doctor says so. I'm not.... my wife and I had some strong disagreement about this last night ;) When I ask around, it seems...