According to the DSM-IV-TR (2000), to meet the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD, “some hyperactive-impulsive or inattentive symptoms that caused impairment were present before the age of seven years.”

So let’s say your an adult that thinks they might have ADHD. But what if your parents didn’t notice ADHD symptoms until you were 8 years old? Does this mean you didn’t have ADHD? And considering the fact that ADHD is genetic, let’s say your mom has severe ADHD - and she can’t remember your childhood behaviors, and she didn’t keep any of your report cards or other paperwork from school. And you don’t remember much of your childhood either (which can be common in adult ADHDers). What do you do then?

The study:

A study in the American Journal of Psychiatry collected original data from 31 studies on the onset (or beginning) of ADHD symptoms.

It was found that the inattentive type of ADHD had a later onset than the hyperactive-impulsive or combined subtype. Also, the study found that out of the subjects with adult ADHD:

50% reported symptom onset before 7 years old
95% reported symptom onset by 12 years old
99% reported symptom onset by 16 years old

In addition, there was no significant difference in impairment between those subjects who had symptom onset before the age of seven, and those that had symptom onset between the ages of seven and twelve. There was also no difference in severity of impairment in those with late-onset ADHD symptoms compared to those with an earlier onset of symptoms.

My take on this:

Many adults with ADHD do not have access to thorough information about their childhood behaviors. And if their symptoms are mild to moderate, they may not have looked as “hyperactive” as their siblings. Therefore, the ADHD symptoms look possibly non-existent by comparison. This can especially be true in the case of girls with ADHD. In addition, if all three of your siblings were impulsive and distracted (and your childhood friends may have been the same, since we are drawn to similar people), your behavior may not have seemed out of the ordinary to your parents and other family members. But to the general population of kids your age, you may have been more distracted or impulsive.

This study is important because it shows that there is no solid rule as to “appropriate” age of onset of ADHD symptoms. Hopefully, this knowledge will result in more accurate diagnosis.

Study citation:
Kieling et al (2010). The Age at Onset of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 167(1): 14-16.

DSM-IV-TR citation:
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text revision). Washington, DC: Author.

Do you think my dad should stop payment?

For those of you who can’t see the image above: http://stephaniesarkis.com/blog/?attachment_id=688

My dad recently found this gem - a check I wrote when I was 6 years old. I figured hey, I watch my parents write checks, so obviously when you write a check, you get instant money!!

I like how I added “Stephanie” next to my parents’ names - in case Kaybee Toys asked to see my ID.

And $2.85?? Even in 1981 you couldn’t buy a lot of toys for that! But to a kid, $2.85 is like a million bucks. Regardless, I should have left the decimal out. More toys.

And I even used the memo line! Not exactly the right way, but whatever. It was my first check.

On a more serious note, this goes along with the part of “ADD and Your Money” where we write that your relationship with money when you were a kid has a big impact on your relationship with money as an adult. As you can see, my parents were open about writing checks and paying bills - the way I filled out that check is pretty good for a 6-year-old! My parents also took me to the bank when I was 6 years old so I could open my own savings account. I even remember the bank - North Shore Bank on North Ave. It was so cool to have my own account.

The things that my parents never shared with us were a) How much money either of them made or b) How much money was in their accounts. Which, in my opinion, kids don’t need to know anyway. So I think they did a great job teaching us about money.

Here’s my standard disclaimer: If you have not seen the show, stop reading right here. Seriously. Because you will find out things that you do not want to know. And your right to comment “OMG!!! You TOTALLY ruined it for me!!11!!1!” has been rescinded, as usual. Onward…

1. How many people tried to adjust their TV volume when Kate was in the tree? My thoughts: “Wait, the part right before this was in regular sound…but maybe this is some kind of Lost karma…I wait like 5 years to see the season premiere and the sound conks out on my TV. Fabulous.” I wonder how many cable/satellite providers got phone calls. But it was a very cool way to describe what it is like to have your hearing temporarily blown out.

2. That is actually Kate (Evangeline Lilly) climbing in the tree, not a stunt double (for the majority of the shots, anyway). Her nickname on the Lost set is “Monkey” because of her ability to climb.

2. Come on, Lost, your CGI budget must be higher than that. The fish looked pretty real, I give you that…but they went by in like 2 milliseconds. The underwater island scenes…looked like CGI from 5 years ago. I understand you have a limited budget…and it was a great way to show the “alternate universe” of the island…but come on. (I do add the comment that I could never do the amazing work that CGI people do. Hopefully that cancels out any bad CGI karma I may have received from this comment.)

3. Anyone catch the pylons from Smokey’s fence in the underwater scene? (”Smokey” is the affectionate term for the Smoke Monster). But they seemed pretty close to the village. Maybe being underwater shifts everything closer together. Yeah, that’s it!

4. The Dharma symbol on the shark: This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a shark with a Dharma symbol. http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Sharks My question is: Is this the same shark as before, or one of his cousins/siblings/parents/grandpas? (Like this actually matters. But hey, you never know…the shark could hold ALL THE ANSWERS TO THE LOST UNIVERSE!!) And I loved that there was a commercial for ABC’s “Shark Tank” show during the episode. Subliminal advertising?

5. Nice to know that in the alternate timeline, Jack is still needing two trial-size vodkas. The more things change, the more they remain the same!

6. Jack and Sawyer = the new Jacob and Smokey? Or Jack = the new Jacob? My guess is that the reason why the temple people wanted to talk to Jack was because he is not on Jacob’s list. Wasn’t there a comment about that in a previous episode? I don’t think Jack is on Jacob’s list because he *is* Jacob now.

7. Smokey, Smokey, Smokey…you are but a shadow of your former CGI self. What happened? Did you decide you were going for a more streamlined, minimalist look? Or is your CGI budget getting low? (See #2).

8. Locke’s (Smokey’s) eyes after he told Ben that he wants to get home….Creeeepy!! One of the reasons Terry O’Quinn is a great actor. His eyes spoke volumes.

9. I love how Lost is kind of poking fun of itself with the dialogue. It catches on that we’ve had more “Huh?” moments than the average TV viewer. Example: My paraphrasing of Jin’s explanation of the skeleton (Montag) with one arm in the cave. “Yeah, the Smoke Monster tore off his arm.” In the first season, everyone would have been all “OMG!!! THE SMOKE MONSTER!” Now, after all the crap they have been through, Hurley’s response is kind of like ours at home…”Oh, this is just fabulous.”

10. So that’s where Cindy and the kids have been hanging out. This does give us an idea of “where in time” the Losties are. The kids don’t look that much older from when Flight 815 crashed.

11. As usual, Hurley provides the comic relief for the show, and voices what the viewers are thinking.

Hurley, on seeing Sayid gurgling blood: “Oh God, this is gross.”

12. Hurley has either resigned himself to the fact that crazy stuff keeps happening to him, or he’s just become a go with the flow, rolling with the punches kind of guy. He’s already hallucinated people before (remember Dave?), so what the hey.

Hurley, after being told by Jacob that Jacob died an hour ago: “Sorry, dude. That sucks.”

12. You have to give credit to Hurley for knowing that ankh was in the guitar case and still lugging it around anyway.

13. The first aid box on the plane doesn’t have anything sharp in it because it is “regulation”. Hahahaaa. There goes the “aid” in “first aid”.

14. Jeff Fahey is a great actor. Just the way he said the Others “took me to a cabin…which they promptly burned….and brought me along with the dead guy in the box. They say they’re the good guys.” Those lines were delivered with a combination of “Whatever”, “I can’t believe this”, and “Do you believe this crap?”

15. Best name for Locke/Smokey: Smocke. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/02/03/lost-episodes-601-602-recap-la-x/ The recap also has some great points about Smocke under “Smoke Signals”.

16. Was Desmond really on the plane, or was he a hallucination of Jack’s? Was he sent by someone or something to trigger Jack’s memory? And if Rose really was napping while Desmond was sitting there, she has a weird way of napping. She’s sitting straight up and even appears to be talking during the Desmond/Jack scene.

17. At first I thought Desmond was reading “Our Mutual Friend”, the book he had said in previous episodes was the last book he was going to read before he died. But it’s not. DarkUFO has a “Lost Books” section on his blog. Worth checking out: http://lostbooks.blogspot.com/

18. Hey, the guy in the cave (Montag) was reading a Kierkegaard book! Cool! Another Lost philosopher reference. So far I think they haven’t mentioned Heidegger yet…but hey, the season is still young, right?

19. Even in the “alternate universe/timeline”, it appears that people may still meet similar fates. The Marshall with Kate even gets bonked on the same place on his head, only this time Kate was responsible, not the briefcase.

20. My first reaction when the Marshall picked up the spring from Kate’s handcuff-opening tool: “Ewww…he’s picking that up off the PUBLIC BATHROOM FLOOR! Gross!!”

21. Does it seem like some of the show has become “make it up as we go along”? I know Ben was originally only supposed to be on a few episodes of the show…so I’m assuming the writers had to either alter a storyline somewhat or create a new one.

22. The “alternate universe/reality” scenes: Were those filmed at the same time as the scenes from Season 1, Episode 1? I’m guessing maybe not, since the actors do look a little older.

23. Artz and Frogurt (Steve) make a comeback. This to me was even better than Claire’s reappearance in the episode.

24. Now we know what the ash circle does. It keeps out Smokey. But you better make that circle pretty big, because Smokey can knock you out of the circle. And then you’re a goner. That Smokey. He’s a quick one.

25. Biggest sign we’re in an alternate universe/reality: Hurley, in response to Sawyer: “Nothing bad ever happens to me. I’m the luckiest guy alive.”

26. Was Hurley talking about Outback when he was on the phone at the taxi stand? It sounded like he wanted to buy into the Outback Steakhouse franchise. But maybe I just thought that because I was craving a Bloomin’ Onion.

27. Oh, of *course* Sayid comes back to life! What was I thinking?? **Smacks forehead with palm**

The Lancet, a British medical journal, has retracted a 1998 study that linked vaccines to autism. It is rare for a medical journal, especially one of The Lancet’s prestige, to retract an article.

The article by Katie Drummon,”1998 Study Linking Autism to MMR Vaccine Is Retracted”, states that The Lancet retracted the study:

after an independent investigation found that its lead author acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly” in his research.

The move comes days after the U.K.’s General Medical Council, a government regulatory agency, ruled that Dr. Andrew Wakefield acted improperly during his research.

Wakefield stands by his research.

The article can be found here:
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/study-linking-mmr-vaccine-autism-is-retracted-by-the-lancet/19341758

Thanks to Mom for altering me to this article!

Home of the Future...

For those of you who can’t see my fabulous childhood drawing, click here:
The Home of the Future

I drew this when I was 4 or 5. A couple things of note:

1. Right side: The parking lot *inside* the house. Carbon monoxide issues, anyone? But I do give myself credit for including a “command center” in the parking lot. Cool striped chair, I must admit. (Note that I am not sure if the parking lot was actually supposed to be vertical, or this is a due to my lack of perspective drawing at the time. Either way, it is awesome.)

2. You know why you don’t know what those animals are in the pet room? Because they haven’t been created yet. This is a futuristic house. Duh.

3. Note the use of natural light in the “Pet’s Room”. It’s a sun. Genius!

4. In the bedroom: I actually remember using the silver Crayola crayon to color the mirror. Any excuse to use the Crayola metallics. (This is also why there are a myriad of treasure chests in my childhood drawings. Those were the Crayola trifecta - I could use the gold, silver, and copper Crayolas on those!!)

5. On the right side of the bedroom: That is a waterfall. I was into Feng Shui before it was hip.

6. Safety first: I even included banisters on the stairs. Yes, those are banisters. Seriously.

7. Although I do promote safety in this house, I also eschew it, as evidenced by the “trap door” leading to the “underground room”.

8. Also note the cool “storage room”. This is where you keep your three vegetables. Only issue - there is no kitchen in the house. Details, details. You have a huge food storage room. What would you need a kitchen for??

9. Whirlpool tub in the bathroom. Ohh yeah…

10. You know why the flowers outside the front door are multicolored like that? Because they are flowers from the FUTURE. Geez. Like I had to explain that. And apparently, flowers from the future are as tall as your front door. Scary. (But also note, safety first, with the addition of the porch light.)

11. The huge mailbox above the front door: This was before Internet. Please. You got letters back then. But this is in the future, so…darn, missed the boat on predicting the whole Internet thing. This is also evidenced by the lack of computers (or anything else electronic, like PHONES, in the house. (Oh, yeah, there are no phones in the house because I just use a cell. Yep, that’s it.)

12. Attic: I’m not sure if this was supposed to be an actual working space, or that’s just crap stored up there. It’s an ADHD thing. I even incorporated clutter into my future home. AWESOMENESS.

A study found that ambidextrous children (those that are both left- and right-handed) are more likely to develop ADHD symptoms later in life, compared to their left-handed and right-handed peers.

The article states:

Mixed-handed children, relative to right-handed, had approximately a twofold increase in odds of having difficulties with language and scholastic performance at the age of 8 years. Eight years later, as 16-year-olds, adolescents had twofold increase in odds concerning difficulties in school with language and with ADHD symptoms.

(Rodriguez, et al., 2010)

Study subjects were from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986, which consisted of close to 8,000 children. The children were assessed at 7 years old and at 16 years old. Language difficulties, school performance, and mental health symptoms were examined using reports from teachers, parents, and the adolescents themselves.

When I originally posted the link to this study on Twitter, AureliaCotta made the point that “once they adjusted for gender, gestational age and weight, statistical significance was lost”. Thank you, Aurelia!

Rodriguez A, et al. (2010) “Mixed-handedness is linked to mental health problems in children and adolescents”. Pediatrics (doi:10.1542/peds.2009-1165) View abstract here.

9 Adhd Parenting Tips by TeraDepot-Lazouche
Can be found at: http://www.teradepot.com/blog/9-adhd-parenting-tips/

Parenting ADHD children can be stressful, frustrating and overwhelming. ADHD children have a shorter attention span than other kids and they often anger easily when they dont get their way.

Parenting through these difficulties will help raise a happy, healthy child. Here are 9 ADHD parenting tips to help you cope with and support your ADHD child.

1. Be consistent and set down specific rules. Changing the rules mid-stream can be confusing to the ADHD child. Be sure that both parents are on-board with the same rules.

2. Establish routines. All children thrive when they follow a routine but this is especially true of ADHD children. Be strict about the times that things take place but be aware of the fact that your child may have a short attention span. Limit the time children can watch television, play video games or listen to music. Sticking to these rules allows time for the children to think on their own and to use their creativity.

3. Assign weekly or daily chores. Use a chart to keep track of progress. Children love to get a gold star when they complete a task. For ADHD children, this can be a great ego boost. Be sure to explain exactly how to complete the task and even demonstrate it to them yourself.

4. Choose your battles wisely. Decide early on what things are most important and make sure that these things are the ones that get done. If the child wavers on an unimportant item let it go. What strikes the child one way one day may change the next. Be sure that your core values and beliefs are being honored.

5. Teach time management skills. ADHD children can benefit tremendously from learning the art of prioritization and time management. Often the child does not yet understand how to make these types of decisions. For older children utilize a planner or electronic organizers.

6. Break tasks down. Children with ADHD may not be able to stay focused on one task, especially if it is a large one. Break down each task into smaller, more manageable pieces. This will reduce the frustration level of you and your child.

7. Have patience. Parents already know that it takes lots of patience to raise their children with ADHD. To keep your own patience level up try giving tasks when there is plenty of time to complete them and enough time for you to follow up. Try to allow some room for error and always accentuate the positive things your child does.

8. Communicate with your child. One of the best ways to help ADHD children is to spend time with them. Set aside some time each day to talk to your child and get to know him. Help him to learn to communicate well with others and to know that he can come to you with any problems.

9. Be a good role model to your child. This is one of the biggest factors that will determine the outcome of your child as an adult. Although it may not seem like it, your child watches you and strives to be like you.

Again, this article can be found at: http://www.teradepot.com/blog/9-adhd-parenting-tips/

I will be doing radio interviews on “ADD & Your Money”. Look to www.stephaniesarkis.com/events.shtml for an updated listing.

Tonight (Monday 1/18) I will be on WJBC-AM 1230 at 6:10pm. You can listen live at:
http://www.wjbc.com/portals/blo/wjbcam/regentplayer.html

On Twitter, ADDSarah writes: Can you rec any resources for strengthening relationships between adult children and adhd parents?

Here you go, Sarah! This is by no means a complete list, but will get you on the right track!

Books

10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD by Stephanie Sarkis PhD

More Attention, Less Deficit: Success Strategies for Adults with ADHD by Ari Tuckman PhD

Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults by Dr. Lynn Weiss

Driven to Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell MD

Websites

CHADD www.chadd.org

National Attention Deficit Disorder Association www.add.org

Catalog

The ADD Warehouse www.addwarehouse.com (800) 233-9273

Internet Forum

ADD Forums http://www.addforums.com/forums/index.php

Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti should call the U.S. State Department Operations Center at 1-888-407-4747. There is heavy call volume, so you may hear a recording.

List of charities active in Haiti:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34835478/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/

From the U.S. Department of State website:

For those interesting in helping immediately, simply text “HAITI” to “90999″ and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/disaster_haiti