Alternative Therapies to Treat ADHD

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends prescription medication as the main way to treat ADHD symptoms in school-aged children once the correct diagnosis has been made. The AAP also recommends behavior management education for parents of children of all ages with ADHD. There is a lot of information online about alternative ways to treat ADHD, however. Most of these treatments are not scientifically proven. Other treatments are new and have some scientific support. In some cases, trying alternative treatment could delay your child getting the help he/she really needs. Trying alternative treatments in addition to AAP recommended treatments may be helpful, but could be expensive and time consuming. Sometimes alternative treatments are tried when AAP recommended treatments do not work or cannot be used. You need to keep these things in mind in selecting treatments. Here is a list of some alternative treatments you may hear about:

• Treatment through nutrition. Many parents try to treat their children's ADHD through diet changes. Eating a healthy diet is a good idea for all children, but there is very little scientific evidence to suggest it helps with ADHD. Low iron can cause inattention. The few studies that found dietary changes reduced ADHD problems at all showed that they did not help more than medication. Some extreme diets could actually harm children. There is also no evidence that sugar, carbohydrates, dyes, or preservatives cause ADHD. Lots of sugar may make hyperactivity worse, however. For all children, giving sugary treats only rarely is healthier. If you decide you want to try a dietary change, check with your doctor to be sure it will not harm your child's general health. Also, have your child's teacher use a checklist about behavior without knowing about changes you are making. This may help you to find out if the changes are really working.
• Neurofeedback/Biofeedback. This treatment uses equipment that measures brain waves (called an EEG). It is based on research showing that children with ADHD have more slow brain waves than average (called theta waves) and less fast brain waves (called beta waves). Through monitoring brains waves, patients are told when they have a spike in fast brain waves. This "training" is thought to change the frequency of fast brain waves. There is some scientific evidence that shows neurofeedback/biofeedback may help children with ADHD. This research is very new and limited. There is no evidence that neurofeedback/biofeedback helps more than medication or behavior management programs.
• Chiropractic Care. Some chiropractors believe that spinal adjustments can lead to balance in the brain and treat ADHD. There is no scientific evidence that chiropractic care reduces symptoms of ADHD. Chiropractic care is often expensive (many insurance plans do not pay for it). Using chiropractic care to treat ADHD instead of scientifically based treatment will not help your child.
• Interactive Metronome training. This training has the patient tap along with a computerized beat. The patient receives feedback about how well they can keep the beat. Some research shows this training can help reduce symptoms of ADHD. This research is new and limited. There is not research that shows this training works better than medication or behavior management programs.
• Vitamins. The only vitamin treatment that has evidence for improving ADHD symptoms is iron and this is only true if the child is iron deficient.