The Myth of the ADHD Child

Today is the official publication date for my new book The Myth of the ADHD Child: 101 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Behavior and Attention Span without Drugs, Labels or Coercion (Tarcher/Perigee). The above link is for ordering it through Amazon, but you can get it at your local bookstore, or through a variety of other outlets (click here for the links). In the book, I don’t deny the existence of the symptoms of ADHD, but I explain why the use of the term ADHD is problematic for a number of reasons (e.g. the rating scales used to diagnose ADHD are subjective, the prevalence rates of ADHD vary considerably etc.) and why the use of medications should be a last resort, not the first thing to turn to. I also discuss seven reasons for the surge in ADHD diagnoses (43% over the past decade), including: We don’t let children be children anymore We don’t let boys be boys anymore We bore kids in test-heavy classrooms We feed kids junk media We pass our stresses onto our kids We focus more on disability than ability Too many people have a vested economic interest in ADHD to stop it from growing The greater part of the book (the last two thirds) consists of descriptions of each of the 101 non-drug strategies, with specific examples and instructions as well as resources to help make the strategies more effective. I’m excited about this totally revised and expanded edition of my book and I hope you will be too! If you buy it and like it, please tell your friends. This is definitely a book that deserves to go viral!