Reading Comprehension – New Online CE Course

Reading Comprehension is a new 4-hour online continuing education (CE) course that discusses the latest research to help children develop strong reading comprehension skills. 

Reading Comprehension is a new 4-hour online continuing education (CE) course that discusses the latest research to help children develop strong reading comprehension skills.

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are uniquely positioned to address reading comprehension for students. Their language expertise makes them well-suited to help improve children’s reading abilities (Catts & Kamhi, 2017). The comprehension of spoken and written language and the ability to coherently express ideas are intrinsically linked to reading comprehension skills (Wallach & Ocampo, 2017).

The course provides explicit strategies for teaching vocabulary and sentence structure, building background information, visualization skills, and boosting working memory. The course also provides information on metacognition, inference, prediction, and summarizing, as well as the use of graphic organizers, discussion, and digital literacy for teaching the main idea. This includes defining reading comprehension, outlining reading disorders, and reviewing assessment guidelines for reading comprehension disorders. The techniques outlined may be used across a variety of settings and to support children aged 6 months to 15-years old.

Ultimately, it is hoped that as children learn strategies for comprehending text, they will also develop a love of reading that lasts a lifetime. Course #40-52 | 2021 | 92 pages | 25 posttest questions

Click here to learn more.

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. The course is text-based (reading) and the CE test is open-book (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document).

Successful completion of this course involves passing an online test (80% required, 3 chances to take) and we ask that you also complete a brief course evaluation.


Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA Provider #AAUM); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Arizona Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34); the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678); and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Enjoy 20% off all online continuing education (CE/CEU) courses @pdresources.orgClick here for details.

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Building Resilience in Children – New Online CE Course

Building Resilience in Children is a new 3-hour online continuing education (CE) course that offers a variety of resilience interventions to help children flourish.

Building Resilience in Children is a new 3-hour online CE course that offers a variety of resilience interventions to help children flourish.

Health professionals are treating an increasing number of children who have difficulty coping with 21st century everyday life. Issues that are hard to deal with include excessive pressure to succeed in school, bullying, divorce, or even abuse at home.

This course provides a working definition of resilience and descriptions of the characteristics that may be associated with better outcomes for children who confront adversity in their lives. It also identifies particular groups of children – most notably those with developmental challenges and learning disabilities – who are most likely to benefit from building resilience training. The bulk of the course – presented in two sections – offers a wide variety of building resilience interventions that can be used in therapy, school, and home settings. Course #31-26 | 2020 | 62 pages | 20 posttest questions

Click here to learn more.

Building Resilience in Children provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. The course is text-based (reading) and the CE test is open-book (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document).

Successful completion of this course involves passing an online test (80% required, 3 chances to take) and we ask that you also complete a brief course evaluation.


Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34); the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678); and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Enjoy 20% off all online continuing education (CE/CEU) courses @pdresources.orgClick here for details.

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Executive Functioning in Children CE Course

Executive Functioning: Teaching Children Organizational Skills is a new 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies and tools for helping children succeed through overcoming executive functioning deficits.

Executive Functioning: Teaching Children Organizational Skills is a new 4-hour online CE course that provides strategies and tools for helping children succeed through overcoming executive functioning deficits.

Executive functioning skills represent a key set of mental assets that help connect past experience with present action. They are fundamental to performing activities such as planning, organizing, strategizing, paying attention to and remembering details, and managing time and space.

Conversely, executive functioning deficits can significantly disrupt an individual’s ability to perform even simple tasks effectively. Although children with executive functioning difficulties may be at a disadvantage at home and at school, adults can employ many different strategies to help them succeed.

This course will enumerate and illustrate multiple strategies and tools for helping children overcome executive functioning deficits and improve their self-esteem and organizational abilities. Included are techniques for planning and prioritizing, managing emotions, improving communication, developing stress tolerance, building time management skills, increasing sustained attention, and boosting working memory. Course #40-50 | 2020 | 70 pages | 25 posttest questions

Click here to learn more.

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. The course is text-based (reading) and the CE test is open-book (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document).

Successful completion of this course involves passing an online test (80% required, 3 chances to take) and we ask that you also complete a brief course evaluation.


Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34); the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678); and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Enjoy 20% off all online continuing education (CE/CEU) courses @pdresources.orgClick here for details.

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Three Things You Can Teach Your Kids At Home

3 Things You Can Teach Your Kids At Home

There are a lot of things kids learn at school. How to do math, science, spell correctly, write legibly, and if you are lucky, play sports. But once they leave school, many life lessons await them. As Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, the authors of The Coddling Of The American Mind: How Good Intentions And Bad Ideas Are Setting Up A Generation For Failure remind us, kids are arriving at college less and less prepared.

Depression and anxiety rates have risen sharply among college students, more kids are on some sort of mood enhancer, and student counseling centers are seeing more visits than they ever have. While there are numerous reasons for this effect, the point is that kids need more than simply school preparation to not be overwhelmed by college (and life). So, with that in mind, here are three useful things you can teach your kids while they are at home during the pandemic:

Time Management

So much of school is scheduled for kids. This class starts at this time, practice starts after school, parents pick you up at a given time, teachers prepare the lesson for you. But what do you do when you want to accomplish something on your own? How exactly do you manage your time to reach your own goals?

For example, let’s say your kid wants to run a 5K race. How does he design his schedule to allow time to train? How does he make sure that he also accomplishes everything else he has to do like chores, homework, sleeping, etc.?

How to Teach Your Kid Time Management

Having your kid at home is the perfect opportunity to help him learn how to set a goal, then manage his time to reach it. Start by having your kid choose a goal. It could be anything from finding a recipe and making dinner for the family to selling 400 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies, or, of course, a 5K race.

Then put your kid in the driver’s seat and have him create his own schedule to reach his goal. Your job is not to help him. Sure, you can let him know that you are there to answer questions, but you are not there to tell him what to do or when to do it. That, in fact, is the lesson for him to learn. But there is an even more important lesson here – that you believe he can accomplish his goals on his own. 

How To Cope With Failure

Failure is a part of life. Try anything, from getting a job to learning to skateboard, and you will face failure. But what is more important than if we fail, is how we fail. Do we quit? Do we blame others? Do we make excuses? Or do we pick ourselves up and try harder?

Now that you are at home with your child, you have the perfect opportunity to teach him how to cope with failure, and even have fun in the process. Start by choosing an activity or skill to learn with your child. You could learn how to sing, play the guitar, dance, knit a blanket, ride a skateboard, or do gymnastics. Really anything is fine as long as it is a reasonable challenge and something that you and your child can enjoy.

Then learn alongside them and when you fail (which you will) use the opportunity to model self-control, personal responsibility, and the link between effort and outcome. In short, just shake it off and try harder. When you do this, you teach your kid an invaluable lesson: it is okay to fail; it is what you do about it that matters.

Self-Control

Drug addiction, smoking, procrastinating, interrupting, arguing, overeating, and over-consuming media, at the core, are all problems of self-control.

Essentially, we would like to be doing one thing (or envision ourselves doing this) yet we are actually doing something else. We would like to exercise every day, but we can’t seem to find the motivation. We would like to stop at one piece of pie, but that second one seems to call our name. And we know we should’ve gotten that last piece of work done but we were just so tired. You get the point.

The problem with poor self-control is that it keeps us from getting what we really want. Moreover, it keeps us stuck in a cycle of conflict with ourselves. The energy we spend justifying our actions could be spent working toward our goals. It all starts with better self-control.

So, take the opportunity now that your child is home with you to teach self-control – and maybe even give yourself a refresher. Start by sitting down with your child and telling him you are both going to choose a goal and help each other stay motivated to reach it. He can choose something like building a model airplane, brushing his teeth every day, walking the dog every morning, or eating only one bag of candy every day. You can also choose any goal you like so long as it is something that you would like to accomplish and is within your reach.

Then choose a strategy with your child to help you and he reach your goals. You can choose a motivational mantra, a commitment strategy that utilizes a penalty for not reaching your goal, or anything else that you want. The point is to learn how to work with yourself to change your behavior, and essentially overcome the impulses that keep you from reaching your goals. I can think of no better life lesson.   

Having your kid at home for an indefinite amount of time is something that no parent could’ve anticipated. Yet, if we are creative, and a little open-minded, we can use the time as an opportunity to teach our kids all the things they might not otherwise learn in school.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Courses:

Motivating Children to Learn is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies and activities to help children overcome their academic and social challenges. Click here to learn more.

Executive Functioning: Teaching Children Organizational Skills is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that will enumerate and illustrate multiple strategies and tools for helping children overcome executive functioning deficits and improve their self-esteem and organizational abilities. Click here to learn more.

Supportive Communication for the Child with Special Needs is a 1-hour audio continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides practical tips for helping parents to communicate with their child who has special needs. Click here to learn more.

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

PDR offers over 150 accredited online CE courses for healthcare professionals. 

Target AudiencePsychologistsSchool PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapists (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs), and Teachers

Enjoy 20% off all online continuing education (CE/CEU) courses @pdresources.orgClick here for details.

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!




Kids And Screen Time: What Does The Research Say?

By Juana Summers

Kids And Screen Time: What Does The Research Say?Kids are spending more time than ever in front of screens, and it may be inhibiting their ability to recognize emotions, according to new research out of the University of California, Los Angeles.

The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, found that sixth-graders who went five days without exposure to technology were significantly better at reading human emotions than kids who had regular access to phones, televisions and computers.

The UCLA researchers studied two groups of sixth-graders from a Southern California public school. One group was sent to the Pali Institute, an outdoor education camp in Running Springs, Calif., where the kids had no access to electronic devices. For the other group, it was life as usual.

At the beginning and end of the five-day study period, both groups of kids were shown images of nearly 50 faces and asked to identify the feelings being modeled. Researchers found that the students who went to camp scored significantly higher when it came to reading facial emotions or other nonverbal cues than the students who continued to have access to their media devices.

“We were pleased to get an effect after five days,” says Patricia Greenfield, a senior author of the study and a distinguished professor of psychology at UCLA. “We found that the kids who had been to camp without any screens but with lots of those opportunities and necessities for interacting with other people in person improved significantly more.”

If the study were to be expanded, Greenfield says, she’d like to test the students at camp a third time — when they’ve been back at home with smartphones and tablets in their hands for five days.

“It might mean they would lose those skills if they weren’t maintaining continual face-to-face interaction,” she says.

A Wake-Up Call For Educators

There’s a big takeaway for schools, Greenfield says.

“A lot of school systems are rushing to put iPads into the hands of students individually, and I don’t think they’ve thought about the [social] cost,” she explains. “This study should be, and we want it to be, a wake-up call to schools. They have to make sure their students are getting enough face-to-face social interaction. That might mean reducing screen time.”

The results of the UCLA study seem to line up with prior research, says Marjorie Hogan, a pediatrician at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

“Common sense tells me that if a child’s laying on his or her bed and texting friends instead of getting together and saying, ‘Hey, what’s up,’ that there’s a problem there,” she says. “I want people interacting … on a common-sense level, and an experiential level. It does concern [me].”

Hogan relates the UCLA study’s findings back to research on infants.

“When babies are babies, they’re learning about human interaction with face-to-face time and with speaking to parents and having things they say modeled back to them,” she says. “That need doesn’t go away.”

How Much Screen Time Is Too Much?

For decades the AAP has warned that children need to cut back on their screen time. The group’s latest prescription: Entertainment “screen time” should be limited to two hours a day for children ages 3-18. And, for 2-year-olds and younger, none at all.

The sixth-graders who made up the sample in the UCLA study self-reported that they spent an average of more than four hours on a typical school day texting, watching television and playing video games.

The San Francisco nonprofit Common Sense Media studies screen time from birth and, in 2013, found that children under 8 (a younger sample than the kids in the UCLA study) were spending roughly two hours a day in front of a screen.

“If used appropriately, it’s wonderful,” Hogan says of digital media. “We don’t want to demonize media, because it’s going to be a part of everybody’s lives increasingly, and we have to teach children how to make good choices around it, how to limit it and how to make sure it’s not going to take the place of all the other good stuff out there.”

Some research suggests that screen time can have lots of negative effects on kids, ranging from childhood obesity and irregular sleep patterns to social and/or behavioral issues.

“We really need to be sure that children, and probably older people, are getting enough face-to-face interaction to be competent social beings,” Greenfield says. “Our species evolved in an environment where there was only face-to face-interaction. Since we were adapted to that environment, it’s likely that our skills depend on that environment. If we reduce face-to-face interaction drastically, it’s not surprising that the social skills would also get reduced.”

What About ‘Educational Screen Time’?

Research out of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, a nonprofit research and production institute affiliated with the Sesame Workshop, suggests that less than half the time kids between the ages of 2 and 10 spend in front of screens is spent consuming “educational” material.

The center also looked at family income as a determining factor of screen time. Lower-income families reported that their children spent more time engaging with educational screen activities than higher-income families did. Fifty-seven percent of screen time for families earning less than $25,000 was education-focused, compared with 38 percent for families earning between $50,000 to $99,000.

How To Limit Kids’ Screen Time?

Of course, as media multiplies, it’s increasingly difficult to manage kids’ screen time. Where several decades ago, television was the only tech distraction, kids now have smartphones, tablets and laptops — not to mention electronic games.

“We need to make media a part of our lives, but in a planned, sensible way,” Hogan says.

Her suggestion: Families should encourage a “healthy media diet” for their children. Parents and kids should work together to decide how much time to spend with media every day, and to make sure good choices are being made about what media to take in.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/08/28/343735856/kids-and-screen-time-what-does-the-research-say

Building Resilience in your Young Client – New 3 Hour Online CE Course

By Adina Soclof, MS, CCC-SLP

Building Resilience in your Young ClientModern childhood is full of challenges. Health professionals are treating an increasing number of children who have difficulty coping with 21st century everyday life. Issues that are hard to deal with include excessive pressure in school to succeed, bullying, divorce, or even abuse at home. Children face additional stressors when adapting to new schools or classrooms, navigating sibling and peer relationships, and schoolwork. While many children thrive in the face of adversity and meet their challenges with resilience, others experience setbacks and disappointment when confronting difficulties.

Regarding the latter, it has long been observed that there are certain children who experience better outcomes than others who are subjected to similar adversities. A significant amount of literature has been devoted to the question of why this disparity exists. Guided by the research evidence concerning what constitutes resilience in children and which strategies have been demonstrated to build resilience, Building Resilience in your Young Client will set forth groups of behavioral interventions that can be taught by health professionals to parents and teachers who deal with at-risk children in homes and classrooms.

Building Resilience in your Young Client is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that offers a wide variety of resilience interventions that can be used in therapy, school, and home settings. This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. You can print the test (download test from My Courses tab of your account after purchasing) and mark your answers on while reading the course document. Then submit online when ready to receive credit.

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists; the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (#PCE1625); the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); and the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678).

 

Music Therapy & Autism Spectrum Disorder

Early Childhood Music Therapy and Autism Spectrum DisordersEarly Childhood Music Therapy and Autism Spectrum Disorders is a new 6-hour book-based (test only) course that includes the work of many researchers and practitioners from music therapy and related disciplines brought together to provide a comprehensive overview of music therapy practice with young children who present with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The authors present a wealth of practical applications and strategies for implementation of music therapy within multi-disciplinary teams, school environments and in family-centered practice. Course #60-97 | 2012 | 304 pages | 42 posttest questions | Learn More

This test-only course provides instant access to the CE test that enables you to earn CE credit for reading a published course book (NOT included in your course enrollment) or share course books with colleagues. You get instant access to the CE test and a direct link to purchase the book from Amazon if you choose. In some cases you have a choice between a print book and an e-book.

Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. You can print the test (download test from My Courses tab of your account after purchasing) and mark your answers on while reading the course book. Then submit online when ready to receive credit.

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists; the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (#PCE1625); the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34); the Illinois DPR for Social Work (#159-00531); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); and the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678).

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Child’s Behavior Problems May Be Linked to Expecting Father’s Mental Health

A child’s behavior problems at the age of three may be tied to his or her father’s mental illness during the mother’s pregnancy, Medical Daily reported.

Many previous studies have shown an association between the mother’s mental health during pregnancy and her child’s health later in life; now new research from Norway showed that a father’s psychological state may have a significant impact on the child as well.

The study analyzed data from more than 31,000 children from Norway, along with information about their father’s mental health. At around 17 or 18 weeks of pregnancy, 3 percent of the children’s fathers reported mental health problems. The children whose fathers reported the most psychological distress were more likely to have behavioral and emotional problems as toddlers.

“For parents and physicians, the message should be clear. We need to be aware of depression (in) both parents from the time a pregnancy is realized. This study suggests that physicians should screen for depression early and often, and make the appropriate referral as soon as it’s detected,” James Paulson, an associated professor of psychology at Old Dominion University in Norfolk who wasn’t involved in the study, told USA Today.

Is Marijuana an Appropriate Treatment for ADD/ADHD?

Is Marijuana an Appropriate Treatment for ADD/ADHD?Recently, an article appeared in the New York Times reporting on the use of marijuana for treating children with ADD/ADHD. The Times article is just one of several that have been popping up since medical marijuana initiatives have been passed in a handful of states.

Initially, the use of marijuana to treat pain and suffering related to the side effects of chemotherapy and to increase appetite in HIV patients were used as the rationale for the medical marijuana initiatives. Now, however, a patient can get a prescription for almost any type of complaint. Anxiety, depression and other behavioral disorders are at the top of the complaint list, so it is not surprising that more disorders are being added to the list.

The Pharmacology of Marijuana

Briefly, marijuana is of the plant genus Cannabis. There are at least 66 active compounds found in marijuana but the most psychoactive compound is delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The human brain contains several groups of cannabinoid receptors where they are concentrated and distributed in different areas. These receptors are activated by the neurotransmitter anandamide, which THC mimics.

The main neuropsychological effects of THC and, perhaps the other 65 identified compounds, are on short-term memory, coordination, learning and problem solving. Physical endurance and performance functions also are affected by cannabinoids. THC is recognized as a very powerful psychoactive compound.

Drugs and Paradoxical Reaction

The foundational premise related to the medication treatment of attention deficit symptoms is rooted in the concept of paradoxical reaction. That is, these patients seem to react contrary to the mechanism of action for the class of drugs. Psychostimulants, for example, activate, produce heightened alertness, increased energy, appetite suppression and sometimes euphoria.

The main symptoms of ADD/ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Psychostimulants, as a class of drug, should enhance many of the negative behaviors that are seen in ADD/ADHD, but behaviorally they do not. This is an example of paradoxical reaction.

Marijuana, generally, decreases alertness, memory, hyperactivity and impulsivity. It increases appetite and is a euphoric. The paradoxical reactions to marijuana may include heightened awareness and performance, paranoia, depression, anxiety, increased activity and impulsivity. Advocates of marijuana, such as psychiatrist Dr. Leonard Grinspoon, say that they would have no hesitation in giving youngsters with ADHD a trial of oral marijuana.

Moreover, they assert, “for some kids, it appears to be more effective than traditional treatments.” They also contend that marijuana has fewer potential dangers and side effects than the psychostimulants.

However, if psychostimulants do hold an edge over marijuana, it is that these drugs are standardized as to their composition, potency, dose and experience? Presently, there is no standardized marijuana compound, unless one wants to include Marinol, a drug synthesized from cannabis which is not under consideration as a treatment option.

Potency of marijuana varies significantly from plant to plant, region of origin and potency, among other variables. Moreover, there is no real control over the concentration of the other compounds found in marijuana, which clearly affect the mechanism of action of THC. Lastly, there is no control over potential adulteration through additives.

A Paradoxical Reaction to a Paradoxical Reaction

Without trying to use a play on words, it is easy to see that whatever the drug of choice, paradoxical reaction brings into question the entire treatment of ADD/ADHD with all medications. Adding marijuana into the mix, in my opinion, is questionable, at best.

There may be many good medical uses for marijuana but we need solid research and data to find out what they might be to justify its use in children and adults. There is sufficient data that casts significant doubt on the diagnoses of ADD/ADHD. There is a significant body of data that supports behavioral interventions as a first line treatment of these symptoms.

The common psyhopharmacological treatment for attention deficit disorders is psychostimulants, but there is a growing body of data on the potential danger of psychostimulants. Ritalin, Concerta and Strattera typically are the drugs of choice prescribed by physicians and psychiatrists.

Adding marijuana to the current list of medication options is very premature. Before even considering marijuana, it seems to me that the current use of psychostimulants also should be scrutinized as a treatment option. Many of the patients that I have treated after being referred for ADD/ADHD had long standing but undiscovered sleep disorders. Not surprisingly, psychostimulants do produce gains in performance with these patients. For too long many have accepted that ADD/ADHD are established conditions that need medical as opposed to behavioral treatment.

To date, not a solitary cause has yet been identified for ADHD. ADHD will likely prove to be an umbrella term for a number of behavioral and/or neurologically based disorders.

Furthermore, there hasn’t been any identified cause specific to ADD leaving open the likelihood that ADD may be a catch-all condition. The National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference and the American Academy of Pediatrics agree that there is no known biological basis for ADHD.

The more we review the literature on hyperactivity or ADD, the less certain we are as to what it is or whether it really exists as a standalone disorder. So, at issue, is not only the question of marijuana as a potential treatment for attention deficit problems, but should the use of psychostimulants in children also be re-evaluated?

Given the myriad, unknown pharmacological variables involved in the mechanism of action of marijuana, I believe that marijuana, at this time, is not and should not be taken as a serious treatment option for attention deficit symptoms.

By John Caccavale, PhD, ABMP

TNP Jan/Feb 2010

Excerpt from Psychotherapy Practice Tips, Part 1

Related Online CEU Course:

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Big Jump in Vaccine Delays

By Linda Carroll

Big jump seen in Oregon parents delaying vaccinesAn increasing number of parents may be choosing to delay or limit certain vaccinations for their young children, a new study shows, even as cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, continue to rise nationwide, with recent outbreaks in California and Washington.

The study, which examined medical records for 97,711 Portland children, found an almost four-fold increase between 2006 and 2009 in the percentage of parents who delayed or skipped vaccinations, researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics. Experts say that by delaying certain vaccinations, parents may be putting their children — and those of others — at a far greater risk of contracting deadly diseases, such as pneumonia and pertussis.

The new study examined the vaccination histories of children born in the Portland area between 2003 and 2009. Between 2006 and 2009, the number of parents who rejected government recommendations and made up their own vaccine schedules rose from 2.5 percent to 9.5 percent.

While the researchers could not say how typical the Portland results are compared to other areas around the country — Portland schools reportedly have some of the highest vaccine exemption rates in the U.S. — a 2011 study published in Pediatrics found that 13 percent of parents nationwide were using alternative schedules. Another study published in Public Health Report in 2010 found that almost 22 percent of parents were deviating in some way from the CDC’s recommendations for infant vaccinations — either by delaying shots, leaving out certain vaccines, or skipping vaccinations altogether.

The vaccine delays may not completely explain recent whooping cough outbreaks in states such as California and Washington, but “they certainly don’t help,” said Dr. Jaime Deville, a UCLA professor of infectious diseases in the pediatrics department.

The main reason parents give for delaying shots is fear their children will be harmed by receiving multiple vaccines at the same time, according to the study’s lead author, Steve Robison, an epidemiologist at the Oregon Health Authority. The vaccines most likely to be delayed by 9 months were for hepatitis B and pneumococcal disease (pneumonia).

For example, at both the two- and six-month visits the CDC recommends kids get a total of six vaccines. Even with some of them combined that adds up to a lot of shots. By age 4, children receive up to 28 vaccinations, based on the CDC immunization schedule.

Some parents believe they’ll get the same benefit if they spread the vaccinations out over more doctors’ visits rather than getting them all at once.

“There are rumors out there that your body can’t handle that many vaccines, that your body won’t be able to respond appropriately if you get several all at one time,” Robison said.

Experts say vaccines pose no harm to babies; even though multiple shots can be painful for a few moments, they say the consequences of delaying vaccinations can be much worse.

There are reasons for concern over the delayed vaccines. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there were 2,325 cases of pertussis in Washington state through June 9, 2012, compared to 171 during the same time period in 2011. A 2010 outbreak in California led to 9,143 cases — including 10 infant deaths — the most cases in that state since 1947.

“We’d like parents to know that the recommended number of doses of a vaccine is what is needed to build adequate protection levels both for their child and for the community,” Robison said. “One dose of a vaccine, such as for pertussis, doesn’t build enough protection.”

By 9 months, infants on an alternative vaccine schedule had fewer injections than those with parents following the government recommended schedule — an average of 6.4 versus 10.4 shots — and more doctors’ visits for vaccinations.

What’s more, few had caught up with the recommended number of vaccinations by the end of the study.

One big problem with the modified schedule is that parents are bringing children who haven’t been appropriately vaccinated into the doctor’s office more often — thus putting other kids at greater risk, said pediatrician Dr. Andrew Nowalk, an assistant professor at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Deville is especially concerned about parents who are choosing to delay the pneumococcal vaccine until age 2. Infants are most vulnerable to pneumonia during the first year of life. “Parents who delay the vaccine until age 2 are leaving their children vulnerable during the period where it occurs at its highest frequency,” Deville said.

An added advantage of the pneumococcal vaccine is that it lowers the amount of bacteria living in kids’ noses and throats, Nowalk said. “So the children who aren’t getting vaccinated are more likely to be carrying the bacteria without being infected and spreading it to others,” he added. “When you don’t vaccinate your child you’re not only putting your child at risk but also those of others.”

Further, Nowalk said, there are lots of kids out there with immune deficiencies — those with leukemia, or depressed immune systems because of organ transplants, for example — who can’t get vaccines. So they have to rely on everyone else getting vaccinated.

“When enough of the population is immunized, transmission is essentially stopped,” Deville explained. “The bottom line is that immunizations are extremely safe. They have the most value of any of our interventions when it comes to prolonging life and preventing diseases – not only for our own children but also for the community.”

Source: http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/18/12243047-big-jump-seen-in-oregon-parents-delaying-vaccines?lite