Roxanna Rahban, Ph.D.

Everyone knows that plants need sunlight and water in order to grow and thrive. A controversial question is whether or not your child’s diet plays a role in his or her brain development? The answer is yes. Research suggests that children who eat a hearty breakfast and follow a specific diet learn better and do better in school. One study showed that children who ate breakfast regularly performed better on reading and math tests and scored lower on measures of depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, and attention, and school attendance. Furthermore, the specific type of breakfast plays a big role in your child’s functioning, specifically if he or she has ADHD symptoms. Another research study examined three different breakfast types (high carbohydrate, high-protein, and no breakfast) and found interesting results when comparing groups of children with and without ADHD. Children with ADHD who ate the high-carbohydrate breakfast performed significantly worse on a test of attention when compared to those who ate the high-protein breakfast, suggesting that a protein diet is one optimal source of fuel for the brain. Furthermore, brain researcher and ADHD expert Dr. Daniel Amen M.D. also recommends a specific diet for ADHD, similarly highlighting the need for protein. The suggested diet consists of the following:

• High-protein diet (beans, cheese, eggs, meat, and nuts in the morning and for after-school snacks, to improve concentration )
• Fewer simple carbohydrates (such as candy, corn syrup, honey, sugar, products made from white flour, white rice, and potatoes).
• More complex carbohydrates (such as vegetables and fruits).
• More Omega-3 fatty acids, (tuna, salmon, other cold-water white fish, walnuts, and oil.) Unknown to many people, Omega 3, an essential fatty acid found in fish and seafood, is also widely known and accepted in the research as promoting optimal brain functioning and mood balance. Similar to Dr. Amen’s notion, Dr, Alex Richardson Ph.D. supports that fish oil is known to be very helpful for children with ADHD. Dr. Richardson, a senior research fellow at Oxford, found in his study that fatty-acid supplementation (Omega-3) (800 mg per day) for three months significantly improved reading, spelling and behavior in children with ADHD. Furthermore, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found a strong relationship between higher blood levels of omega-3 fats (found in fish oil) and fewer impulsive behaviors, symptoms of ADHD. Beyond these studies, there is a significant amount of other research supporting the positive effect of fish oil on the brain in children and adults. Clearly, one of the most important things we can do for our children’s brain functioning is to feed them hearty meals and provide them with the necessary supplements they need to be the best they can be. Not only is this important for all children, but specifically for those with attention and concentration problems. Follow up with your health professional and ask questions. In closing, if we water our plants every day in order to keep them alive, then shouldn’t we feed our kids with the necessary nutrients to help their brains thrive and develop successfully?

For more information about ADHD assessment and treatment, please contact Dr. Roxanna Rahban at roxanna@steinpsych.com.

Dr. Roxanna Rahban received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and specializes in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents, family therapy, and parent education. Roxanna has also conducted empirical research on ADHD and psychological testing.

Imagine a life without rules and limits? What would you be like and what would happen to our society? Just like adults, every child needs love and safety as well as appropriate limits and boundaries. Similar to the boundaries used in sports, people need to apply limits and boundaries to their personal lives. When children are out of control, they usually feel out of control. Without a life with limits, children may not adequately learn to manage their emotions and behaviors, delay their impulses or urges.

Discipline means teaching your children self-control, what is and is not appropriate behavior, and how to follow rules in order for them to eventually regulate themselves on their own. Setting limits not only involves saying “No” to a child, but also providing an explanation and reason for saying no. During these situations, parents should help their children find more appropriate ways to meet their needs. When a child feels regulated, he or she eventually feels more positive and calm and develops a more secure self-esteem. When a child feels out of control, he or she will lose respect for himself as well as for other people.

Disciplining your child is certainly not an easy job. It involves knowledge, skill, effort, creativity, time, and most importantly, love. So how do you create rules and limits? First, with your child’s participation, both spouses need to determine the rules they want the child to follow and, as a family, decide which behavior is and is not acceptable. The rules must be communicated to the child in clear and age-appropriate language. Once the rules are set, parents must be consistent in enforcing the rules with out allowing too many exceptions. It is important to follow through and be consistent with your rules, as your child will have more respect for the rules and more respect for you. If you are not sure whether your child understands the rules, have him or her repeat the rules to you or write them down on paper. Furthermore, the rules need to be reviewed and repeated often, not just mentioned once or twice. Some examples may include: 1) Internet and video games can be played until 9:00 pm. 2) Only two hours of T.V. every day. 3) Candy can only be eaten on the weekends. However, despite all the planning and effort, get ready for your child to challenge your rules; this is a normal and healthy reaction for many children.

Sometimes, parents may experience difficulty creating or enforcing firm rules at home. There may be many reasons why some parents avoid disciplining their children. For example, some parents feel hopeless that their child cannot be helped and will always misbehave. Other parents are afraid of taking control or parenting in an assertive manner and others fear being angry or emotional with their children. Often times, parents simply do not have the energy to enforce discipline. Nevertheless, children need to learn how to regulate their behaviors and manage their needs. If something prevents you from disciplining your child, it is important that you understand and resolve the conflict in order to move forward with developing security and structure in their lives.

Raising your child is a continuous and challenging journey that involves a balance of both love and structure. Children need parents who provide support, safety, and healthy boundaries. Discipline and setting limits for your child is a necessity rather than an option. Parents who set limits are communicating to their children that they are loved and protected as well as regulated and in control. Clearly, parenting is not a science, but more of a delicate art cultivated over time. At times, parent’s efforts may not be successful and they may need to turn to a professional for guidance. If difficulties continue to persist after your efforts to apply rules and limits, consider speaking with a professional. Perhaps your style or method of managing your child’s behavior is not effective and you may need to fine-tune or modify your approach with some guidance. Hang in there! You, as the parent, are the most important teacher for your child, but first must be the dedicated student to master these skills.

For more information, please contact Dr. Roxanna Rahban at roxanna@steinpsych.com.

Dr. Roxanna Rahban received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and specializes in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents, family therapy, parent education, and ADHD/LD coaching.

Many of us struggle with meeting our deadlines or our “to-do” lists in a timely manner. We set up a list of goals yet, as time passes, few of them are accomplished and the rest remain forgotten. The skills involved in being an efficient “action taker” are even more difficult for individuals with cognitive disabilities. Most often, the things that get in the way are daily distractions, poor time management, and underdeveloped planning skills. As children grow into young adults, individual success depends on an array of skills that need to be juggled on a daily basis, such as formulating and fulfilling daily plans and routines, while balancing social, family and academic demands.

While younger children’s tasks typically revolve around sleeping, eating, and attending school, teenagers and adults must not only achieve these tasks independently, but must also complete household chores, homework, long-term projects, hold a job and maintain a meaningful social life. A certain level of independence is typically reached in which parents take a step back from being the central action taker. However, without an adequate amount of support and external structure, many individuals have a hard time holding it all together. Their relationships and social lives may be developing beautifully, yet difficulty is revealed in their management of their school and work life. A former student of mine stated, “I know how to read and write my papers, do my laundry and all that. The problem is that I get distracted and sidetracked by so many things that nothing ever gets done. I just need someone to stay on top of me.” Clearly, this individual did not lack intelligence nor the required ability, but rather, difficulties in motivation, attention, self-regulation and self-control made it extremely difficult to successfully carry out his desired goals.

The good news is that these skills can be learned. A relatively recent service targeted at treating the aforementioned challenges is “ADHD and LD Coaching.” Coaching is an ongoing partnership between a coach (e.g., a qualified mental health professional) and a student or adult that addresses specific challenges, goals and strategies for success within an individual’s life. A coach’s role is to guide and support an individual through the specific challenges that interfere with the attainment of his or her short-term and long-term goals. Furthermore, a coach not only provides support, structure, and feedback, but also helps the individual develop the necessary skills to self-regulate, increase self-awareness, maintain focus, devise plans and strategies, improve organization and prioritization.

Fore more information about ADHD and LD coaching services please contact roxanna@steinpsych.com

It is the time of the year when parents have attempted tutoring and other intervention services but still there has been no progress in their child’s academic functioning.   Often what is needed is to take a step back and get a objective third party evaluation of the problem areas through a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation.  We often find that certain problems were never assessed in the past.  Also we find that some children’s issues change over time.   Therefore, those undiagnosed issues are often the main deterrents to progress.   As a result, the student becomes more frustrated and irritated by the process of remediation.  Our psychoeducational evaluations examines not only what is happening now but what has transpired in the past.  Our goal is to give parents clear direction on what intervention strategies should be attempted and by whom.  The more specific information we can gather through an assessment the better able we are able to guide those professionals working with that child.  If you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to contact me at our office number.

Sincerely,

Mark L. Stein, Ph.D.

President and CEO