What About Controlling Hyperactivity?

While not all youngsters with a learning disability are hyperactive, a significantly high percentage are. This, of course, compounds an already difficult situation. As with learning disability, hyperactivity can range from mild to severe. At times restlessness can be controlled by a change of pace, simply moving to a different activity. Beyond this, how can hyperactivity best be controlled?

Drug Management: In some cases amphetamines (stimulant drugs) are prescribed. Stimulant drugs? Yes. Paradoxically, they tend to have a calming effect on hyperactive children, bringing activity within normal range and improving concentration. Should you consider this form of treatment, you will want to weigh the possible side effects: nervousness, insomnia, hypersensitivity, dizziness, palpitations, loss of appetite and stunted growth. Some authorities recommend careful use of such drugs under a physician’s supervision. Others, however, are even more cautious, indicating that not enough is known about the safety and effectiveness of long-term use of stimulant drugs in treating hyperactivity. So you must decide.

Eliminate Food Additives: Beginning in 1973, Dr. Ben Feingold, pediatric allergist at the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco, suggested that a diet free of artificial food additives and colorings could dramatically improve the behavior of at least 50 percent of hyperactive children. It was believed that these children have allergic reactions to food additives and colorings, causing adverse effects in behavior.

But since 1973 a controversy has raged, with the experts volleying back and forth over this issue. Summing up the controversy are the comments of Dr. Stanford Miller of the Food and Drug Administration: “Studies suggest there is some kind of link between behavior in some sets of children and food components, but based on the evidence we have, I have to conclude that the jury is still out on the question.”

Megavitamin Therapy: The megavitamin therapy has been used in treating some children with hyperactivity. Treatment consists of large doses of vitamins, the elimination of sugar and the careful maintenance of proper nutrition. In some cases, a significant decrease in hyperactivity has been the result.

But, again, the experts don’t all agree. Some claim that there seems to be no effect of megavitamins upon learning disabilities or hyperactivity, warning that there can be health problems caused by the side effects of high dosages of vitamins. How do they explain the improvement in children who are treated with the megavitamin therapy? Increased attention of the family toward the child’s problems and the determination to help him or her, they claim.

On the other hand, proponents of the megavitamin therapy argue that the side effects that sometimes occur are dose related and subside with decrease of the dosage.

It would be advisable to consult with a physician, especially a pediatrician, in both diagnosing and carrying out any of the above-mentioned therapies.

Clearly, there is no easy remedy. But one thing appears certain. Learning disabilities and hyperactivity are real maladies caused by one or more factors other than a child’s own reluctance to be “still” or his refusal to learn. Such a child needs special help to meet his special needs. Above all, he needs a parent who understands his “difference.” This presents a real challenge for parents, as the following article shows.

Hyperactive?

About this time a visiting friend, seeing our plight, told us that her child was hyperactive and had we ever thought about seeing a doctor who specialized in treating hyperactivity. She was convinced that her son had been helped, and she urged us to do something.

Hyperactive? we wondered. We did not want to jump to a wrong conclusion. But after a lengthy consultation with the doctor and some observation of Jessica, sure enough, she was diagnosed as hyperactive. The doctor recommended the removal of sugar from her diet and that she take certain vitamins, suggesting that the lack of various nutrients in her body was causing a chemical imbalance, which produced hyperactivity.

Reflecting, we had long observed that after eating certain foods, especially “junk foods,” Jessica appeared supercharged. We now felt that at long last we had something to go on. We began keeping a log of foods eaten and behavior. Sugar alone didn’t seem to be the culprit; some foods with sugar didn’t seem to affect her.

Shortly thereafter we stumbled on an article in a newspaper about an allergist and his recent book on how artificial colorings and flavorings had been linked to hyperactivity. Now that seemed more specific, we thought. In reading the book, it seemed to make a lot of sense. Could this be Jessica’s problem?

Our suspicions apparently proved correct. Eliminating all artificial colors and flavors produced dramatic results! Jessica slowed down greatly. It was as if her motor, once racing too fast for her body, was now down to its normal rate.

Eliminating artificial colors and flavors, that’s easy enough, we thought . . . until we started reading labels! They are everywhere! Add to that, eating in restaurants, at homes of friends​—it is no easy task. However, there were times when Jessica would eat a confirmed “artificial” and nothing would happen. Thus, she did not prove to be allergic to every artificial coloring and flavor.