Children given wrong drug doses Hospital doctors make mistakes in more than one in 10 prescriptions they write for children according to a new study
Sarah Boseley The Guardian, Tuesday 19 January 2010 Article historyHospital doctors make mistakes in more than one in 10 prescriptions they write for children, far more than was previously thought, according to an authoritative study published today.
Errors were made in 13.2% of prescriptions written for children, according to the study covering five London hospitals and carried out by the School of Pharmacy, University of London. Even more mistakes were made by nurses who had to administer drugs, a task often entailing mixing up a solution to be injected. The study found that almost one in five drugs (19.1%) were wrongly administered.
Most of the mistakes were picked up by pharmacists who cross-checked the prescriptions, and most of the errors that did get through led to no long-term harm, though some could have been lethal.
Ian Wong, a professor and one of the authors of the study, reported in Archives of Disease in Childhood, said one child was prescribed a dose of anti-convulsants, for epilepsy, that was 10 times higher than it should have been.
Wong said of the incident: "It was over the weekend so the pharmacist wasn't around and nobody checked the prescription. On the Monday the pharmacist noticed straight away and stopped the treatment." Fortunately, the child had received only one dose.
The biggest problem in prescribing is that drugs used in hospitals have never been tested on children. They are not licensed for that use and are not in doses appropriate for children. Doctors are required to make a calculation for the dose based on the weight of each child.
Often the doctors on the children's wards are juniors, who could have just completed time on an adult medical ward or even surgical ward. "Sometimes they write exactly the same dose as they would in adults," said Wong, who added that doctors on their first day in a paediatric ward were permitted to write a prescription for a child.
The high rate of administration errors had much to do with drugs being far more often for injection to children rather than administered in tablet form, he said.
"All these things take a lot of time to do and you need to do the calculation absolutely right," said Wong.
He and his colleagues recommend that pharmacists should make up the injections, leaving nurses more time to care for patients. The study found that errors occurred in the prescription of many different drugs, but the biggest problems seemed to be with painkillers and anti-epileptics. The report noted another child who had a lucky escape when a prescription for morphine that was four times too high a dose was spotted in time.
Researchers visited and observed 11 paediatric wards. On some occasions they intervened on the wards to stop children being given the wrong dose.
That factor made the study more accurate than other surveys that relied on reports of errors after the event, said Wong.
The only two previous observational studies were much smaller and estimated prescribing errors at between 1.2% and 5.1%. During the study period pharmacists reviewed almost 3,000 prescriptions intended for 444 children.
In all 391 prescribing errors were made, giving an overall rate of 13.2% (one in eight), and ranging from 5% to 31.5%, depending on the ward. Incomplete prescriptions were the most common mistakes, followed by dosing errors.
The authors recommend that electronic prescribing systems be widely introduced. Computers can be used to check calculations and alert doctors to possible errors, although the authors point out that they are not foolproof and that paediatric systems are not yet readily available. In the meantime doctors should be vigilant when writing prescriptions, they said.
)
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Contact usClose Contact the Society editor
editor@societyguardian.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard:
article appeared on p8 of the UK news section of the Guardian on Tuesday 19 January 2010. It was published on guardian.co.uk at 00.05 GMT on Tuesday 19 January 2010.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jan/19/children-given-wrong-prescriptions-hospital
Isabella Brooke Knightly and Austin Gamez-Knightly
In Memory of my Loving Husband, William F. Knightly Jr. Murdered by ILLEGAL Palliative Care at a Nashua, NH Hospital
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Is Drugging Our Children The Answer Or Could A Natural Supplement Magnesium Help?
Supplement Magnesium Help? Is Drugging Our Children The Answer Or Could A Natural Supplement Magnesium Help?
January 17th, 2010
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been a commonly diagnosed illness occurring in children since the 1980s. Many people argue that ADHD should not be categorized as a disorder, but rather a set of problems that are normal to childhood. Either way, ADHD’s symptoms consist of wandering attention, nervousness, and hyperactivity. These symptoms can be extremely troubling for the parents and teachers that have to work with children suffering from ADHD. Drugs like Ritalin have been promoted ADHD treatments for many years, but have been found to have highly dangerous side effects and not be a solution to everything. Meanwhile, many nutritionists have discovered that many of the answers to ADHD can be found in a child’s diet in the form of food additives, sugar, and the missing essential nutrients.
One child who was horribly hyperactive, out of control, and diagnosed with ADHD by a school psychologist was taken off any foods that contained a particular red dye. Almost immediately, the child’s hyperactivity ceased and he began paying attention and living the life of a normal child. A study recently completed at Yale University School of Medicine supported this result, showing a direct connection between food additives and hyperactivity. This study consisted of 297 children who were given drinks that contained common artificial food colorings and additives that are usually found in food and candy. Meanwhile, a control group was given drinks without additives. The children who drank the additive-enhanced drinks showed a significantly greater amount of hyperactivity and had shorter attention spans.
Another common cause of ADHD symptoms in children is overdosing of sugar. With all the snack-like breakfast cereals available and the high sugar-constant treats, hyperactivity should be expected. Once a child consumes a large quantity of sugar, he will hit a high of out-of-control hyperactivity and then quickly become grouchy and prone to tantrums. This is often called a “sugar rush” and can easily be solved by taking children off sugar.
After removing chemical additives and processed sugar from the diet, ADHD symptoms have also been traced to a lack of mineral magnesium. This nutrient is essential and often missing from most diets today. Kids who drink a lot of soda or fruit juices are getting high amounts of sugar but not magnesium. Those children without magnesium often suffer from irritability, insomnia, and constipation. These symptoms, which are commonly diagnosed as ADHD, can be cleared up quickly by putting your child on a magnesium supplement. Most nutritionists agree, believing that many ADHD symptoms come from a high sugar diet and a magnesium deficiency. Sugar and over-stimulation, such as stress, actually exhausts a child’s nervous system. This can be cured with a magnesium supplement which allows the nervous system to rebuild. In addition, this supplement will assist the child in relaxing. Since children are the future for our society, helping them to survive in the best way possible, naturally, is something each and every one of us should take much more responsibility for. Magnesium and other natural supplements can be found at your local or internet vitamin store.
http://bestherbsforstress.com/is-drugging-our-children-the-answer-or-could-a-natural-supplement-magnesium-help/
January 17th, 2010
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been a commonly diagnosed illness occurring in children since the 1980s. Many people argue that ADHD should not be categorized as a disorder, but rather a set of problems that are normal to childhood. Either way, ADHD’s symptoms consist of wandering attention, nervousness, and hyperactivity. These symptoms can be extremely troubling for the parents and teachers that have to work with children suffering from ADHD. Drugs like Ritalin have been promoted ADHD treatments for many years, but have been found to have highly dangerous side effects and not be a solution to everything. Meanwhile, many nutritionists have discovered that many of the answers to ADHD can be found in a child’s diet in the form of food additives, sugar, and the missing essential nutrients.
One child who was horribly hyperactive, out of control, and diagnosed with ADHD by a school psychologist was taken off any foods that contained a particular red dye. Almost immediately, the child’s hyperactivity ceased and he began paying attention and living the life of a normal child. A study recently completed at Yale University School of Medicine supported this result, showing a direct connection between food additives and hyperactivity. This study consisted of 297 children who were given drinks that contained common artificial food colorings and additives that are usually found in food and candy. Meanwhile, a control group was given drinks without additives. The children who drank the additive-enhanced drinks showed a significantly greater amount of hyperactivity and had shorter attention spans.
Another common cause of ADHD symptoms in children is overdosing of sugar. With all the snack-like breakfast cereals available and the high sugar-constant treats, hyperactivity should be expected. Once a child consumes a large quantity of sugar, he will hit a high of out-of-control hyperactivity and then quickly become grouchy and prone to tantrums. This is often called a “sugar rush” and can easily be solved by taking children off sugar.
After removing chemical additives and processed sugar from the diet, ADHD symptoms have also been traced to a lack of mineral magnesium. This nutrient is essential and often missing from most diets today. Kids who drink a lot of soda or fruit juices are getting high amounts of sugar but not magnesium. Those children without magnesium often suffer from irritability, insomnia, and constipation. These symptoms, which are commonly diagnosed as ADHD, can be cleared up quickly by putting your child on a magnesium supplement. Most nutritionists agree, believing that many ADHD symptoms come from a high sugar diet and a magnesium deficiency. Sugar and over-stimulation, such as stress, actually exhausts a child’s nervous system. This can be cured with a magnesium supplement which allows the nervous system to rebuild. In addition, this supplement will assist the child in relaxing. Since children are the future for our society, helping them to survive in the best way possible, naturally, is something each and every one of us should take much more responsibility for. Magnesium and other natural supplements can be found at your local or internet vitamin store.
http://bestherbsforstress.com/is-drugging-our-children-the-answer-or-could-a-natural-supplement-magnesium-help/
Young children prescribed antipsychotic drugs
Young children prescribed antipsychotic drugs Friday, January 15, 2010
January 15, 2010 (WLS) -- The number of young children diagnosed with bipolar disease has doubled in the past decade.
Research in the journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry also finds that children between the ages of 2 to 5 have been prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs.
The research suggests that it is still rare to prescribe the drugs to 2-year-olds, but the practice is becoming more frequent.
Diagnosing young children with this disorder has been controversial. Bipolar disorder was once thought to emerge only during adolescence or later.
Many doctors say they try other interventions before turning to strong medications.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/health&id=7221525
January 15, 2010 (WLS) -- The number of young children diagnosed with bipolar disease has doubled in the past decade.
Research in the journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry also finds that children between the ages of 2 to 5 have been prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs.
The research suggests that it is still rare to prescribe the drugs to 2-year-olds, but the practice is becoming more frequent.
Diagnosing young children with this disorder has been controversial. Bipolar disorder was once thought to emerge only during adolescence or later.
Many doctors say they try other interventions before turning to strong medications.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/health&id=7221525
Study Finds Disconnect Between Brain Regions in ADHD
Study Finds Disconnect Between Brain Regions in ADHD
January 15, 2010 – 11:24 am.New research shows that two brain areas fail to connect when children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) attempt a task that measures attention. Researchers at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain and M.I.N.D. Institute made this discovery by analyzing the brain activity in children with ADHD, and their paper appears in the current online issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry.
“This is the first time that we have direct evidence that this connectivity is missing in ADHD,” said Ali Mazaheri, postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Mind and Brain.
Mazaheri and his colleagues measured electrical rhythms from the brains of volunteers, especially the alpha rhythm. When part of the brain is emitting alpha rhythms, it shows that it is disengaged from the rest of the brain and not receiving or processing information optimally, Mazaheri said.
In the experiments, children with diagnosed ADHD and normal children were given a simple attention test while their brain waves were measured. The test consisted of being shown a red or blue image, or hearing a high or low sound, and having to react by pressing a button. Immediately before the test, the children were shown either a letter “V” to alert them that the test would involve a picture (visual), or an inverted “V” representing the letter “A” to alert them that they would hear a sound (auditory).
The experiments were conducted by researchers in the laboratories of Ron Mangun, professor of psychology and neurology, and Blythe Corbett, associate clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a researcher at the M.I.N.D. Institute.
According to current models of how the brain allocates attention, signals from the frontal cortex—such as the “V” and “A” cues—should alert other parts of the brain, such as the visual processing area at the back of the head, to prepare to pay attention to something. That should be reflected in a drop in alpha wave activity in the visual area, Mazaheri said.
And that is what the researchers found in the brain waves of children without ADHD. But children with the disorder showed no such drop in activity, indicating a disconnection between the center of the brain that allocates attention and the visual processing regions, Mazaheri said.
“The brains of the children with ADHD apparently prepare to attend to upcoming stimuli differently than do typically developing children,” he said, adding that children with ADHD did improve their reaction times when properly cued, but they don’t seem to allocate resources as efficiently.
This is the first evidence from brain electrical patterns for a functional disconnection in cortical attention systems in ADHD, he said. Current definitions of ADHD are based only on behavior.
The research was originally inspired by a desire to combine laboratory and clinical research to go beyond existing measures of ADHD and get a better understanding of the condition, Corbett said.
“Clearly the crosstalk from bedside to bench has been fruitful,” she said.
Other co-authors on the paper are staff research associate Sharon Corina, postdoctoral fellow Evelijn Bekker and research assistant Anne Berry.
The study was funded by the grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, the Perry Family Foundation, the Debber Family Foundation and the Aristos Academy.
http://www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com/behavioral-health-news/study-finds-disconnect-between-brain-regions-in-adhd/
January 15, 2010 – 11:24 am.New research shows that two brain areas fail to connect when children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) attempt a task that measures attention. Researchers at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain and M.I.N.D. Institute made this discovery by analyzing the brain activity in children with ADHD, and their paper appears in the current online issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry.
“This is the first time that we have direct evidence that this connectivity is missing in ADHD,” said Ali Mazaheri, postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Mind and Brain.
Mazaheri and his colleagues measured electrical rhythms from the brains of volunteers, especially the alpha rhythm. When part of the brain is emitting alpha rhythms, it shows that it is disengaged from the rest of the brain and not receiving or processing information optimally, Mazaheri said.
In the experiments, children with diagnosed ADHD and normal children were given a simple attention test while their brain waves were measured. The test consisted of being shown a red or blue image, or hearing a high or low sound, and having to react by pressing a button. Immediately before the test, the children were shown either a letter “V” to alert them that the test would involve a picture (visual), or an inverted “V” representing the letter “A” to alert them that they would hear a sound (auditory).
The experiments were conducted by researchers in the laboratories of Ron Mangun, professor of psychology and neurology, and Blythe Corbett, associate clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a researcher at the M.I.N.D. Institute.
According to current models of how the brain allocates attention, signals from the frontal cortex—such as the “V” and “A” cues—should alert other parts of the brain, such as the visual processing area at the back of the head, to prepare to pay attention to something. That should be reflected in a drop in alpha wave activity in the visual area, Mazaheri said.
And that is what the researchers found in the brain waves of children without ADHD. But children with the disorder showed no such drop in activity, indicating a disconnection between the center of the brain that allocates attention and the visual processing regions, Mazaheri said.
“The brains of the children with ADHD apparently prepare to attend to upcoming stimuli differently than do typically developing children,” he said, adding that children with ADHD did improve their reaction times when properly cued, but they don’t seem to allocate resources as efficiently.
This is the first evidence from brain electrical patterns for a functional disconnection in cortical attention systems in ADHD, he said. Current definitions of ADHD are based only on behavior.
The research was originally inspired by a desire to combine laboratory and clinical research to go beyond existing measures of ADHD and get a better understanding of the condition, Corbett said.
“Clearly the crosstalk from bedside to bench has been fruitful,” she said.
Other co-authors on the paper are staff research associate Sharon Corina, postdoctoral fellow Evelijn Bekker and research assistant Anne Berry.
The study was funded by the grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, the Perry Family Foundation, the Debber Family Foundation and the Aristos Academy.
http://www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com/behavioral-health-news/study-finds-disconnect-between-brain-regions-in-adhd/
How a children's game proves ADHD really is all in the mind
How a children's game proves ADHD really is all in the mind By Oona Mashta
Last updated at 10:10 PM on 16th January 2010
The news will infuriate millions of parents who have children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). A new British study has proved that children suffering from the behavioural disorder can control their symptoms - simply by learning self-discipline.
Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire's School of Psychology in Hatfield have been studying the effects of a thought-controlled computer game that requires the player to concentrate in order to win.
Ten children, who were either diagnosed with ADHD or identified by their teachers as having attention problems, were asked to play the game three times a week for 12 weeks.
Game plan: Justis Wintz has made steady progress since taking part in the study and his mother Suzanne says he is much calmer
Each session lasted for half an hour with the children tested to measure their attention before and after the experiment. At the end of the study, the researchers found that the children's impulsive behaviour had improved by at least 25 per cent.
The results are being hailed by experts as a major breakthrough in the treatment of ADHD, which is estimated to affect between three and nine per cent of children in the UK.
'The game trains children who have problems with attention to concentrate,' explains Professor Karen Pine, who led the study.
'Children with ADHD can't sit still and find it hard to stick at any task. They never seem to listen and appear unruly or badly behaved. The condition makes it hard for them to curb their impulsiveness.
'Traditionally, drug treatment has been the only real option. But these findings show that ADHD can be tackled simply by teaching self-control.'
ADHD is defined by two broad groups of behavioural problems: inattentiveness, and a combination of hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Common symptoms also include a short attention span, restlessness and constant fidgeting.
It was first described by physiologists in the late Eighties, and boys are three times more likely to be diagnosed. The condition is usually managed, if at all, with medication including powerful amphetamine-like stimulant drugs, which work by affecting levels of brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters, aiding concentration and reducing hyperactivity.
However, these carry serious side effects when taken long-term, including damage to the cardiovascular and nervous systems - and many parents are reluctant to medicate their children. Around 60 per cent of children diagnosed with ADHD continue to suffer from the condition as adults.
The Hertfordshire researchers were investigating the effects of a learning strategy known as electroencephalography (EEG) biofeedback, now used in a number of American schools for children with attention problems.
The games system, called Play Attention, uses a helmet lined with electrodes, to monitor brain activity, which is connected to a computer.
'The helmet picks up brain rhythms associated with concentration,' explains Prof Pine. 'This sends messages to what is effectively a computer games console, so the player can control the game with their mind.
'The games are designed so that if the player concentrates for long enough they win. However, if their attention is broken the game freezes.
'In one game the children had to get a deep-sea diver to descend to the seabed and retrieve treasure. To get him to dive, they had to focus their attention - he stopped moving if their mind wandered. It is a fun and very effective way of teaching these children to control their attention.'
One child who took part was eight-year-old Justis Wintz, from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.
'When Justis first started school, it quickly became obvious he had problems concentrating,' says his mother Suzanne Delaney, 39, a mature student. 'His teachers told us that he wouldn't sit still and that he'd often blurt out inappropriate questions.
'This didn't surprise us - at home his temper was volatile. One minute he'd be playing, the next he was angry and throwing things at us. He was impossible to discipline.'
Suzanne and her partner Joseph Wintz, 41, a supervisor for London Underground, eventually had to move their son to a local special school. But since participating in the Play Attention study, they are delighted with his progress.
'He is calmer and he doesn't fidget as much,' says Suzanne. 'He now gets dressed with less prompting, gets his own juice and even washes up the odd saucepan, which he never did before. Since he's changed so much in a relatively short time, our aim is for him to go into a mainstream secondary school.'
In US studies, EEG feedback was found to be effective in controlling symptoms of ADHD in 75 per cent of patients. The games makers, educational charity Games For Life, hope the systems - which cost around £2,500 - will eventually become commonplace.
Prof Pine believes the results of the study are promising but says that more research is needed.
'We don't know how long the effect lasts but we expect three months of sessions would be a minimum length of time needed to see a significant lasting difference in behaviour,' she says.
• www.gamesforlife.co.uk
ADHD In Adults - SymptomsFind Out If Your SymptomsMay Be ADHD.
www.focusonadhd.com
Identify ADHD TreatmentLearn About ADHD Treatment OptionsIdentify A Treatment For Your Needs
www.myrEEG.info
Cure ADHD NaturallyNo Drugs, All-NaturalInstantly Access the ADHD Report
www.BartonPublishing.com/CureADHD
Autism ResearchShare Your Family's ExperiencesOnline With Autism Researchers.
www.IANProject.org
Shocking Truth About ADHDThink You Know ADHD? Think Again.ADHD Hides A Hidden Truth.
ADHD-Symptoms.org
Info On ADHDStart Living A Fullfiling LifeWith ADHD. Start Today.
AroundMe.com
Adult Attention Deficit DisorderExplore Helpful Information AboutAdult Attention Deficit Disorder Here!
www.Get.Help4Adhd.org
Natural ADHD RemedyFocus - Proven Natural ADHDTreatment without Side Effects.
www.NativeRemedies.com
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1243739/How-childrens-game-proves-ADHD-really-mind.html#ixzz0dAOst5cF
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1243739/How-childrens-game-proves-ADHD-really-mind.html
Last updated at 10:10 PM on 16th January 2010
The news will infuriate millions of parents who have children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). A new British study has proved that children suffering from the behavioural disorder can control their symptoms - simply by learning self-discipline.
Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire's School of Psychology in Hatfield have been studying the effects of a thought-controlled computer game that requires the player to concentrate in order to win.
Ten children, who were either diagnosed with ADHD or identified by their teachers as having attention problems, were asked to play the game three times a week for 12 weeks.
Game plan: Justis Wintz has made steady progress since taking part in the study and his mother Suzanne says he is much calmer
Each session lasted for half an hour with the children tested to measure their attention before and after the experiment. At the end of the study, the researchers found that the children's impulsive behaviour had improved by at least 25 per cent.
The results are being hailed by experts as a major breakthrough in the treatment of ADHD, which is estimated to affect between three and nine per cent of children in the UK.
'The game trains children who have problems with attention to concentrate,' explains Professor Karen Pine, who led the study.
'Children with ADHD can't sit still and find it hard to stick at any task. They never seem to listen and appear unruly or badly behaved. The condition makes it hard for them to curb their impulsiveness.
'Traditionally, drug treatment has been the only real option. But these findings show that ADHD can be tackled simply by teaching self-control.'
ADHD is defined by two broad groups of behavioural problems: inattentiveness, and a combination of hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Common symptoms also include a short attention span, restlessness and constant fidgeting.
It was first described by physiologists in the late Eighties, and boys are three times more likely to be diagnosed. The condition is usually managed, if at all, with medication including powerful amphetamine-like stimulant drugs, which work by affecting levels of brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters, aiding concentration and reducing hyperactivity.
However, these carry serious side effects when taken long-term, including damage to the cardiovascular and nervous systems - and many parents are reluctant to medicate their children. Around 60 per cent of children diagnosed with ADHD continue to suffer from the condition as adults.
The Hertfordshire researchers were investigating the effects of a learning strategy known as electroencephalography (EEG) biofeedback, now used in a number of American schools for children with attention problems.
The games system, called Play Attention, uses a helmet lined with electrodes, to monitor brain activity, which is connected to a computer.
'The helmet picks up brain rhythms associated with concentration,' explains Prof Pine. 'This sends messages to what is effectively a computer games console, so the player can control the game with their mind.
'The games are designed so that if the player concentrates for long enough they win. However, if their attention is broken the game freezes.
'In one game the children had to get a deep-sea diver to descend to the seabed and retrieve treasure. To get him to dive, they had to focus their attention - he stopped moving if their mind wandered. It is a fun and very effective way of teaching these children to control their attention.'
One child who took part was eight-year-old Justis Wintz, from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.
'When Justis first started school, it quickly became obvious he had problems concentrating,' says his mother Suzanne Delaney, 39, a mature student. 'His teachers told us that he wouldn't sit still and that he'd often blurt out inappropriate questions.
'This didn't surprise us - at home his temper was volatile. One minute he'd be playing, the next he was angry and throwing things at us. He was impossible to discipline.'
Suzanne and her partner Joseph Wintz, 41, a supervisor for London Underground, eventually had to move their son to a local special school. But since participating in the Play Attention study, they are delighted with his progress.
'He is calmer and he doesn't fidget as much,' says Suzanne. 'He now gets dressed with less prompting, gets his own juice and even washes up the odd saucepan, which he never did before. Since he's changed so much in a relatively short time, our aim is for him to go into a mainstream secondary school.'
In US studies, EEG feedback was found to be effective in controlling symptoms of ADHD in 75 per cent of patients. The games makers, educational charity Games For Life, hope the systems - which cost around £2,500 - will eventually become commonplace.
Prof Pine believes the results of the study are promising but says that more research is needed.
'We don't know how long the effect lasts but we expect three months of sessions would be a minimum length of time needed to see a significant lasting difference in behaviour,' she says.
• www.gamesforlife.co.uk
ADHD In Adults - SymptomsFind Out If Your SymptomsMay Be ADHD.
www.focusonadhd.com
Identify ADHD TreatmentLearn About ADHD Treatment OptionsIdentify A Treatment For Your Needs
www.myrEEG.info
Cure ADHD NaturallyNo Drugs, All-NaturalInstantly Access the ADHD Report
www.BartonPublishing.com/CureADHD
Autism ResearchShare Your Family's ExperiencesOnline With Autism Researchers.
www.IANProject.org
Shocking Truth About ADHDThink You Know ADHD? Think Again.ADHD Hides A Hidden Truth.
ADHD-Symptoms.org
Info On ADHDStart Living A Fullfiling LifeWith ADHD. Start Today.
AroundMe.com
Adult Attention Deficit DisorderExplore Helpful Information AboutAdult Attention Deficit Disorder Here!
www.Get.Help4Adhd.org
Natural ADHD RemedyFocus - Proven Natural ADHDTreatment without Side Effects.
www.NativeRemedies.com
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1243739/How-childrens-game-proves-ADHD-really-mind.html#ixzz0dAOst5cF
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1243739/How-childrens-game-proves-ADHD-really-mind.html
Monday, January 18, 2010
1938 Austria -- Land of "The Sound of Music" Story By: Kitty Werthmann
1938 Austria -- Land of "The Sound of Music" Story By: Kitty Werthmann (An Austrian who witnessed what took place under Hitler)Posted by Phil AGJ Spokesperson December 16, 2009 at 2:20am
.America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away
By: Kitty Werthmann (An Austrian who witnessed what took place under Hitler)
What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or read in history books.
I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide – 98% of the vote. I’ve never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.
In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.
Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.
The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.
We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.
We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.
After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.
Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.
Hitler Targets Education – Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school.. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang “Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,” and had physical education.
Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.
My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.
Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and if you didn’t have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn’t have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.
Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:
When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna .. After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.
As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.
We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.
We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
“Mercy Killing” Redefined:
In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.
As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.
The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.
No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria .. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.
After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn’t destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn’t; paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.
“It’s true….those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.
America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away
"After America , There is No Place to Go"
http://www.resistnet.com/profiles/blogs/1938-austria-land-of-the
.America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away
By: Kitty Werthmann (An Austrian who witnessed what took place under Hitler)
What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or read in history books.
I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide – 98% of the vote. I’ve never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.
In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.
Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.
The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.
We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.
We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.
After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.
Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.
Hitler Targets Education – Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school.. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang “Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,” and had physical education.
Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.
My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.
Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and if you didn’t have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn’t have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.
Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:
When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna .. After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.
As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.
We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.
We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
“Mercy Killing” Redefined:
In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.
As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.
The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.
No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria .. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.
After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn’t destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn’t; paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.
“It’s true….those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.
America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away
"After America , There is No Place to Go"
http://www.resistnet.com/profiles/blogs/1938-austria-land-of-the
Sunday, January 17, 2010
NH Public Hearing-Performance Audit of DHHS
HB1424 Session Year: 2010 Title: requiring a performance audit of the division of child support, department of health and human services. 1/21/10 9:45
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/HouseBillsInCommittee.aspx?code=H37
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/HouseBillsInCommittee.aspx?code=H37
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