Calming Your Hyperactive Child by Dr. Sabrina Dosani is part of the 52 Brilliant Ideas series by Infinite Ideas Press. And in complete honesty, this one is not worth your money. At £3.50 or about $5, this book does nothing more than collect traditional medical, psychological and educational theories and treatments for ADHD and spit them back at you. It adds little in the way of new or imaginative treatments.
With several chapters highlighting the medications that are commonly used as a first line treatment of ADHD, it regurgitates much of what doctors say with no mention of the side effects of those medications. And when it comes to the chapters about how to help your child with school/education, it takes a decidedly passive view of the role of parent as advocate for their child. Going so far as to say…helping teachers to understand, but then advocating that if the teacher or school refuses to adapt the parent should back off.
The book does give some lip service to alternative treatments including diets that cut back sugars and food dyes as well as vitamins. But it is dismissive of anything that is not traditional and that comes across in her weak explorations of these options. You get the impression she only included them because she needed to fill out 52 Ideas…and to give that lip service.
So…skip this one. It is not worth your money or time and definitely has nothing earth shaking to help you cope with the issues of ADHD, especially not from an alternative or homeschool perspective.
And sorry about missing last Tuesday’s blog. I was ill…and so was my computer. That is not a good combination. But we’re back now. So join us on Friday as I look at the much maligned and misunderstood modern convenience of television. Is it as bad as they say? Does it have a role to play in homeschooling? Then next Tuesday we look at Raising a Sensory Smart Child by Lindsey Biel and Nancy Peske.
Self-Directed Learning & Neurodiversity 