John's Articles
Child Mental Health Therapy: Any Proof It Does Any Good?
Posted on 8/30/2022
In a 6 – 3 decision, the Killingly, CT, school board recently said “no” to establishing a mental health center at its high school. I imagine most folks, upon hearing that, would be dismayed,...
Read MoreKeep Kids Away From Screen-Based Devices
Posted on 4/12/2022
Psychologist, author, and professor Russell Barkley, widely regarded as one of America’s leading ADHD experts, used to be (and may, for all I know, still be) fond of ridiculing me in his public...
Read MoreThe Correlation Between Food and Behavior
Posted on 1/26/2021
A headache does not mean one has a brain tumor, but some brain tumors do cause headaches. Likewise, ADHD behaviors do not mean one has a food allergy, albeit some food allergies...
Read MoreBeware of 'The Protocol'
Posted on 12/29/2020
Q: Our son is seven years old and in the second grade. His school went virtual this past Spring and we see no end to it, not in the near term at least. When he was going to a brick-and-mortar...
Read MoreDon’t Jump Down the ADHD Rabbit Hole With 8-Year-Old
Posted on 6/23/2020
Q: Our son, age 8, has been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. His IQ is well above average but his actual performance in the classroom is problematic. He has difficulty paying attention...
Read MoreMethylphenidates for ADHD Affect Brain Function
Posted on 8/27/2019
I’ve always promised myself that this column would never get “academic,” but I see no choice with respect to the issue at hand, so here goes…as simple as I can make it. ...
Read MoreAutism in Its Classical Form Is Very Real
Posted on 7/9/2019
I am perennially asked whether I do or do not “believe” in autism. I suspect that on most occasions, it’s a test. Nonetheless, it’s a fair question that usually takes this form: “I know you don’t...
Read MoreUse 'Alpha Speech' to Get Child to Obey
Posted on 5/14/2019
Q: My 7-year-old son, an only child, is giving me fits. He’s overly active and will not cooperate in any instruction I give him. In addition, if I tell him not to do something, it’s a guarantee...
Read MoreConfronting 'Biochemical Imbalance' in Children
Posted on 4/2/2019
The Wall Street Journal recently (3/16/2019) printed a letter-to-the-editor in which Upland, California psychiatrist/psychoanalyst Charlene Moskovitz promotes the alleged benefits of medication...
Read MoreRespect for Adults Is Good for Kids' Mental Health
Posted on 6/6/2018
Rates of child and teen depression and suicide continue to rise, as they have for fifty years. As regular readers of this column know, I do not agree in the least with current explanations, much...
Read MoreDisciplining Children With ASD
Posted on 5/30/2018
Q: I am a grandmother with custody of my two grandsons, six-year-old twins. Because of behavior problems at home and school and difficulties relating to other children (they play and communicate...
Read MoreDon’t Go Down the Road of ADHD Testing
Posted on 4/17/2018
Q: Our son, age 8, did fine in school in first grade, but has struggled in second. We’ve taken your advice and not helped much with his homework other than occasional and brief “consultations.”...
Read MoreWe Have a Child, Teen Mental Health Crisis in U.S.
Posted on 4/11/2018
Do we – here in the USA, that is – or do we not have a child and teen mental health crisis and if the answer is yes, we do, then what should be done about it? Without doubt, the...
Read MoreConnecting Dots Unsettling to Some
Posted on 1/10/2018
My critics are providing me much material of late for this column and my weekly radio show (Saturdays, 6:00 ET, AFR). Most recently, a family therapist in Kentucky pleads with the Lexington...
Read MoreMy Views on ADHD Reflect the Facts
Posted on 11/29/2017
An interesting, and telling, tale: As part of a recent speaking engagement sponsored by a regional medical center in the west, I was scheduled to address a gathering of local pediatricians. Two...
Read MoreAre Many Cases of Autism Wrongly Diagnosed?
Posted on 11/8/2017
Q: In the school district where I used to teach, I attended many meetings concerning children with special needs. Many of the kids in question were said to be "on the [autism] spectrum." In...
Read MoreIs Chemotherapy-Induced ADD a Thing?
Posted on 10/11/2017
Q: After two years of chemotherapy for acute lymphocytic leukemia, our 6-year-old daughter is now in remission. We’ve recently noticed she has difficulty focusing and staying on task. Otherwise,...
Read MoreUse Patient Guidance With Son Who Prefers Solitary Play
Posted on 6/7/2017
Q: Our 4-year-old prefers solitary play over play with other children. It’s been this way from early on when I began arranging play dates for him. When those really didn’t work, I enrolled him in...
Read MoreMore Thoughts on ADHD
Posted on 5/9/2017
I fully expected my recent column on ADHD—in which I expanded upon noted Harvard psychologist (emeritus) Jerome Kagan’s contention that it is an “invention”—to stir the pot. Kagan said what I’ve...
Read MoreThe 'Invention' of ADHD
Posted on 4/4/2017
In 2009, pediatrician and former medical school professor Bose Ravenel and I published “The Diseasing of America’s Children” (Thomas Nelson), in which we argued from facts that ADHD and other...
Read MoreNew School Year, New Babble on What's Wrong With Your Kids
Posted on 10/25/2016
The new school year is still fresh and “it” has already begun, “it” being the ongoing effort on the part of schools to persuade parents that there is something wrong with their kids’...
Read MoreMedicine Doesn't Cure Misbehavior
Posted on 7/26/2016
Q: Our son is a rising second-grader at a private school. Last year, his behavior was often disruptive and sometimes even downright defiant—problems his first grade teacher did not have with him....
Read MoreADHD and Diet
Posted on 9/1/2015
Copyright 2015, John K. Rosemond In America, the go-to guy on ADHD is Dr. Russell Barkley, whose impressive credentials include psychologist, clinical professor of psychiatry at...
Read MoreParents Consider Homeschooling for 3rd Grader
Posted on 7/21/2015
Copyright 2015, John K. Rosemond Q: Our 8-year-old is scheduled to enter third grade at a public school this coming fall. Last year, he did very well; nonetheless, his second grade...
Read More4-Year-Old Girl - Sensory Processiong Disorder
Posted on 5/25/2010
Sensory processing disorder might not be real condition On their website (www.spdfoundation.net), the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation defines SPD (also known as Sensory Integration...
Read MoreSchools Diagnosing Children with Disorders
Posted on 5/4/2010
Schools have 'disorder' disorder Over the past 40 years or so, child advocates have given lip service to the view that adults, especially educators, should respect children's "individual...
Read MoreDiet Approach to ADHD
Posted on 4/6/2010
Dietary approach to treat ADHD has some support Q. I've heard a lot about using diet therapies like the Feingold diet for ADHD. I talked with a therapist who specializes in treating ADHD and...
Read MoreDiscipline Or Disorder
Posted on 12/11/2007
DISCIPLINE IS REAL CURE FOR WHAT THESE 2 SEE AS A DISORDER Dr. Dimitri Papolos of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and his wife, Janice, are the recognized authorities on...
Read More6-Year-Old Boy Throwing Wild Tantrums
Posted on 10/30/2007
ARE BRAIN CHEMICALS TO BLAME FOR 6-YEAR-OLD'S BAD BEHAVIOR? Recently the parents of a 6-year-old boy asked my advice concerning his daily, sometimes violent tantrums which had been ongoing...
Read MoreA Family is a Family
Posted on 3/20/2007
FORGET ADJECTIVES; ANY CHILD IS A CHILD, ANY FAMILY IS A FAMILY Parents frequently ask if I have written books on adjective-children (e.g. adopted children) or adjective-families (e.g. blended...
Read More20-Month-Old Head-Banging
Posted on 6/13/2006
WALK AWAY FROM TODDLER'S HEAD-BANGING SESSIONS Q: Our 20-month-old daughter has recently started banging her head on the floor, walls and hard furniture when we don't give in to her about...
Read More4-Year-Old Pulling Her Hair Out
Posted on 10/26/2004
WHEN IS A DISORDER NOT A DISORDER? Are today's "experts" sometimes guilty of impulsive diagnosis-dispensing disorder (DDD)? That question came to mind in the wake of a column I recently wrote...
Read MoreHair-Pulling and Head-Banging
Posted on 8/17/2004
CALL CHILD'S BLUFF ON HAIR-PULLING WHEN SHE'S NO LONGER THE CENTER OF ATTENTION, SHE'LL PROBABLY STOP Some time ago, the parents of a 4-year-old girl asked for my thoughts on why their...
Read More7-Year-Old Writes Lists
Posted on 6/29/2004
Q: My 7-year-old writes lists. He will take items and put them in categories - sports teams, presidents, states, you name it. Sometimes he will alphabetize them or put them in numerical order....
Read MoreDiagnosing ADD/ADHD
Posted on 6/22/2004
BEWARE OF AD'S CLAIMS ABOUT ADD Q: Another parent told my husband and me that a local clinic run by a well-known physician and expert in the field has developed a means of diagnosing attention...
Read More3-Year-Old Hair Pulling Issue
Posted on 8/12/2003
A SIMPLE TALE OF A GIRL, A HABIT AND A CAP When I was in graduate school, I learned there was much more to human behavior than met the eye. My professors told me that every behavior is a...
Read MoreADHD and a Psychological Approach to Child Rearing
Posted on 5/13/2003
ADHD IS PRICE WE PAY FOR 'PSYCHOLOGICAL' CHILD REARING A fellow recently asked if it were true, as he had heard, that I "don't believe" in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? My...
Read MoreMedication and TV
Posted on 4/9/2002
AUTHORS WAGE WAR ON RITALIN, TV Go into almost any elementary school in America just before noon and you'll see a slowly moving line of children outside the main office. Ask and you'll be told...
Read More3rd Grader Misdiagnosed with ADD
Posted on 1/29/2002
ADD-BRANDED CHILD THRIVES IN NEW SCHOOL Several months ago, I answered a question from a mother whose son was having difficulty at a private school in a major Southeastern city. Little more...
Read MoreTeacher Wants 3rd Grader Tested for ADD
Posted on 11/6/2001
TEACHERS NOT QUALIFIED TO IDENTIFY ADD Q: This is my son's first year in a new, private school. Already, his third-grade teacher has suggested that we have him tested for attention deficit...
Read More7-Year-Old Hides Food in his Room
Posted on 9/11/2001
LET SON WHO SWIPES FOOD LEARN HOW TO COOK IT Q. Our 7-year-old son has been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and oppositional defiant disorder (ADD/ODD). The problem is that he takes...
Read More4-Year-Old Agressive and Disrespectful
Posted on 3/6/2001
Happy Ending File: A good buddy pediatrician tells me he recently saw a 4-year-old who had suddenly become aggressive, disrespectful, and emotionally explosive after several major transitions,...
Read MoreADD/ADHD Debate
Posted on 1/30/2001
CRITIQUE OF RITALIN BALANCES WHAT 'ESTABLISHMENT' SAYS I have become the target of those who confuse the messenger with the message. Two columns ago, I reviewed "Ritalin is Not the Answer"...
Read MoreBook Clearly Explains ADD/ADHD
Posted on 1/16/2001
BOOK CLEARLY EXPLAINS ATTENTION DEFICIT I'm going to break with my general rule forbidding such things and endorse a parenting book. Even if you don't have a child "with" attention deficit...
Read More26-Month-Old Diagnosed with ADHD
Posted on 12/5/2000
DON'T MEDICATE A 2-YEAR-OLD FOR NORMAL RASCALITY A friend of mine participates in a national network of pediatricians who share information and advice with one another through the World Wide...
Read More10-Year-Old School Issues
Posted on 4/25/2000
ADD? NO, THIS SOUNDS LIKE A CASE OF SSS Q. I am apparently the mom of a severely messed-up 10 year-old. According to his teacher, he shows signs of attention deficit disorder (about 3 out of...
Read MoreParenting Short Stories
Posted on 3/28/2000
ADD OR BAD? BOY'S BEHAVIOR COULD BE BOTH Here's a collection of "parenting shorts:" First, an absolutely true story from my "A Rose, By Any Other Name ... " file, told to me by the mother...
Read MoreADD is Real
Posted on 6/2/1998
ADD IS REAL, BUT RETHINK CAUSES AND TREATMENT In a May 10 commentary, Andrea Brunais, editorial page editor for The Tallahassee Democrat, says I don't believe in attention deficit disorder. Oh...
Read MoreForget Timeout: Outrageous Behavior Deserves Outrageous Consequence
Posted on 4/14/1998
TO GET CHILD'S ATTENTION, BE AS OUTRAGEOUS AS CHILD IS The current generation of mental health professionals has given parents the impression that time-out, properly used, will end any...
Read MoreLink Between ADD and Watching TV - Part 2
Posted on 9/16/1997
READERS DON'T BUY THEORY LINKING ADD, TV VIEWING My recent column on the possible link between television and attention-deficit disorder (also known as attention-deficit hyperactivity...
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