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There’s a group of students struggling through school rd to navigate that gets little attention in the media or in the debate about how to fix schools: Children with ADHD. ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is a brain condition that makes it especially hard for children to focus and concentrate in school and has a number of other symptoms. It is too often misunderstood by teachers, parents and even the students themselves. According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 9.5% or 5.4 million children 4-17 years of age, had been diagnosed with ADHD, as of 2007. Many others who have the disorder haven’t had the benefit of a diagnosis. Here is a powerful post by David Bernstein, a nonprofit executive who lives in Gaithersburg, Md., writing about the difficulties that his two sons, ages 7 and 15, have confronted in school as a result of ADHD.

Parenting a school-aged child with dyslexia requires strategy, savvy and time. Frankly, not all of us possess these attributes in equal measure and the job often seems beyond our means and abilities. The screenings and evaluations, planning and homework support, emotional pep-talks, talking to teachers and administrators, identifying best supports and assessing what is available, navigating legalities, keeping up-to-date on the latest educational interventions and assistive technologies — all of this leaves most parents feeling depleted and inadequate.

There are many programs for kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). An expert panel recently created some best practice guidelines for these programs. The experts agreed that programs should cover all the core problem areas for kids with ASD, like language, social skills and behavior. They also suggested programs should start soon after diagnosis, involve family members and have an intensive weekly schedule.

Just weeks before a new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is scheduled for release, the head of the National Institute of Mental Health says it’s time to change how mental conditions are categorized. The agency will be redirecting its research focus away from the symptom-based diagnostic criteria of the DSM toward more scientifically verifiable standards, the mental health agency’s director, Thomas Insel, wrote in a recent blog post. By shifting away from thinking about mental disorders as they are currently classified in the DSM, Insel says researchers will be able to establish a new diagnostic system based on emerging science. “Unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma or AIDS, the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure,” Insel wrote. “Patients with mental disorders deserve better.”

In a report published in 2011, scientists pooled data from eight randomized studies of 24,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 7 years. They found that those who received the FluMist vaccine, a nasal spray made with live but weakened flu virus, had a significantly lower risk of acute ear infections compared with children who received a placebo. Among children who ultimately got the flu, those who had been vaccinated had a 40 percent reduction in ear infections compared with children who were given a placebo.

Pediatricians and researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have developed a first-of-its kind tool to help parents and health care providers better treat ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder). The new, three-part survey helps steer families and doctors toward “shared decision-making,” an approach proven to improve healthcare results in adults, but not widely used in pediatric settings. The results of the CHOP study are published in the journal Academic Pediatrics.

Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness explores the interconnectedness of wellness, illness, and cultural life for Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Visitors will discover how Native concepts of health and illness are closely tied to the concepts of community, spirit, and the land.

People with type 1 diabetes who used a bionic pancreas instead of manually monitoring glucose using fingerstick tests and delivering insulin using a pump were more likely to have blood glucose levels consistently within the normal range, with fewer dangerous lows or highs. The full report of the findings, funded by the National Institutes of Health, can be found online June 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine .

Lisa Jennings is a family leader in Massachusetts. She has been working as a parent consultant on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research project to help identify and acknowledge all of the unique experience, skills and knowledge it takes to raise a child with special needs. Part of this research includes an online survey. If you care for a child younger than 21 years of age with special needs, please consider participating. Find the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/specialneedschild.

The year was 1991. Matthew, who had yet to receive a formal diagnosis of autism, was 4, and Andy was 2. My husband and I dressed them matching reindeer sweaters and took them to the company holiday party, where Santa was making an appearance. Andy climbed in to Santa's lap and asked for a Nerf Bow and Arrow. Matthew was next, and asked for a drain. "A train?" Santa asked cheerfully. "No," Matthew said, "a drain." Matthew wanted a drain. He was fascinated with water going down the drain, and wanted one of his very own.

Parents and teachers often tell children to pay attention — to be a “good listener.” But what if your child’s brain doesn’t know how to listen? That’s the challenge for children with auditory processing disorder, a poorly understood syndrome that interferes with the brain’s ability to recognize and interpret sounds. It’s been estimated that 2 to 5 percent of children have the disorder, said Gail D. Chermak, an expert on speech and hearing sciences at Washington State University, and it’s likely that many cases have gone undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

Click Here For the Live Webcast What:Webinar regarding enhancing supports for people with Autism and their families. This workshop will focus discussion in the public forum innovative and best practices that are being developed and implemented around the country to address the services needs of people with autism and other disabilities and to help them integrate into their communities. When:Thursday September 15th, 20116:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Mountain Time)

Washington, DC — Last Wednesday, President Obama visited the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to announce the single biggest investment in biomedical research in American history. Among the $5 billion in grants he announced are new explorations of longtime research targets from cancer to heart disease. But the grants also include the largest-ever investment in an Obama administration priority that has so far gone mostly unnoticed: autism research.

NCRR awarded 18 grants to help determine outcome measures and increase the likelihood of success of future trials of treatments for children. The grants were awarded to 17 Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) institutions to support 18 studies of pharmaceutical treatments for children. The CTSA consortium is a national network of 46 medical research institutions working together to improve the way biomedical research is conducted across the country. The $8.5 million in funding — administered by NCRR and provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development — will support studies which focus on three areas critical to health: pediatric cardiology, neonatology and pediatric neurology.

Treatment that includes medication plus a structured training program for parents reduces serious behavioral problems in children with autism and related conditions, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The study, which was part of the NIMH Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology (RUPP) Autism Network, was published in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Autism is an environmental illness -- at least in some cases. Just as lead paint chips can cause learning disabilities and radon in the basement can cause lung cancer, certain chemicals and other outside influences seem to help set autism in motion. But autism is also a genetic disease. It definitely runs in families, and scientists have identified several specific genes that put kids at risk.

Diabetes HealthSense is designed to provide people with diabetes, people at risk for the disease and those who care for them with easy access to useful tools and programs that exist within the public domain and facilitate the behavior change process. The research articles in Diabetes HealthSense are a selection of review articles, landmark studies and meta-analyses on the science of behavior change and psychological health that promote the practical application of these strategies. To be included, resources must clearly address how to implement a change in behavior, be accessible to the public and contain limited or no advertising of commercial products.

All parents endure stress, but studies show that parents of children with developmental disabilities, like autism, experience depression and anxiety far more often. Struggling to obtain crucial support services, the financial strain of paying for various therapies, the relentless worry over everything from wandering to the future — all of it can be overwhelming.

More than 15% of children in the United States have special health care needs.1 However, less is known about the prevalence of these needs among military-connected children. For this conference, “special health care needs” was defined as having or being at increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition that requires health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required generally.