Fragments: Coping With Attention Deficit Disorder [Paperback]

Amy E Stein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 22, 2002

Explore effective alternative approaches to improving the lives of those diagnosed with attention deficit disorder!

This remarkable new book offers fresh perspectives on ADD/ADHD. Even more important, it provides new direction for sufferers, introducing an ecologically based lifestyle that focuses on hands-on interactive learning. Fragments: Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder shows how to use environmental education and activities such as organic farming, community service, mission work, art, yoga, meditation, and spirituality to bring about positive change in people diagnosed with ADD or ADHD.

From author Amy E. Stein: “This book is about life. It is written for those who think they have no hope, who struggle with life, with decisions, with addiction, and in search of themselves. I do not believe traditional psychotherapy or medication are solutions for those of us who fall under the label of ADD or ADHD.”

Candidly written by a woman who, at age 25, was diagnosed as “a textbook case for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” this insightful book examines:

• the pitfalls of traditional psychotherapy and medication for those diagnosed with ADD/ADHD
• how an interactive hands-on learning environment can markedly improve the educational experience of ADD/ADHD kids
• how an organic, holistic approach can benefit those diagnosed with ADD/ADHD
• the correlation between agriculture and ADD/ADHD and the impact of eliminating pesticides and increasing fatty acid intake in the diets of sufferers
• how incorporating spirituality and faith into ADD/ADHD sufferers’ lives can help to add discipline and bring greater satisfaction
• and much more!

Five helpful appendices give you easy access to environmental education resources, agricultural resources, a sample agricultural curriculum, a sample ecology curriculum, and an environmental art curriculum.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789015927
• ISBN-13: 978-0789015921
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,554,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Amy E. Stein earned a Master's in Social Work from Rutgers University and has worked with adolescents for fourteen years teaching in alternative schools, on nature preserves and farms. As a volunteer youth leader for five years, she assisted with program development for middle and high school students and helped refurbish houses with youth on mission trips to Maine and Mexico. During graduate school, she interned as an addictions therapist in an inner city hospital and counseled developmentally disabled adolescents in an alternative school where she implemented environmental and art programs as alternative therapeutic approaches.

These experiences evolved into a thesis and eventually a nonfiction book published by Haworth Press in 2003 (recently purchased by Taylor and Francis, www.routledge.com). Fragments: Coping With Attention Deficit Disorder offers new perspectives and direction and introduces people with ADD/ADHD to an ecologically-based lifestyle that encompasses hands-on, interactive learning through organic farming, environmental education, art, community service, music, yoga, and meditation in lieu of traditional psychotherapy and medication.

During several years teaching at-risk adolescents in alternative schools, she developed and taught curriculum that integrated agriculture, art and ecology. The environmental education program included forest and stream ecology, camping trips, community gardening and maple sugaring. Her art curriculum included abstract and impressionistic painting and environmental sculpture. She has also worked in community gardens, taught on a nature preserve and volunteered for environmental organizations. She spent a year organically farming fulltime, selling produce through a farm stand, health food stores and restaurants and taught art and organic farming to community youth working on the farm. She worked as a therapist in a wilderness therapy program in northern Maine and developed groups for at-risk female adolescents based on the disciplines of ecology, Native American culture, psychology, and art to address anger management. She is currently working as an outpatient therapist at a community health center counseling at-risk youth and their families.

As an artist (www.amystein.artspan.com), she has exhibited and sold oil paintings for over ten years and has studied oil painting through the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, the Samuel Fleisher Art Memorial School and the Woodstock School of Art in New York. Her new book, Rising Sun: Reflections on Nature and Community, is a series of reflections on the healing qualities of nature and community including organic farming, environmental education, wilderness experiences and community service, as well as exploring the wisdom of indigenous cultures. She currently resides in Massachusetts and enjoys kayaking, yoga, hiking, djembe drumming, organic gardening, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Informative, September 1, 2003

By 

Tina Ortiz (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fragments: Coping With Attention Deficit Disorder (Paperback)

I found Fragments to be moving and engaging and could not put it down! I read it straight through until I was finished!
Amy, offers creative alternatives to traditional treatment for those who have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.
Her personal experience and dedication to this subject, offer hope and encouragement to those who struggle, or know someone struggling with ADD/ADHD. Enjoy the ride, as she takes you along on an incredible journey of creativity, learning and faith !

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting, June 5, 2003

By 

Tara McGillicuddy (South Shore, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fragments: Coping With Attention Deficit Disorder (Paperback)

This a very interesting account of a woman who has AD/HD. She discusses her struggles and her journey through life with AD/HD. She tells about the different options that she has taken to help manage her AD/HD and what worked for her.

This book is more of an autobigraphy than a self help AD/HD book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A novel and medical journal rolled into one incredible book, October 20, 2003

By 

lauren ferreira (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fragments: Coping With Attention Deficit Disorder (Paperback)

Ms. Stein's publication, being an outstanding balance of informative, personal and scientific material, provided me with a fresh outlook on how to perceive and deal with my ADD. For years I suffered through the many negative effects that ADD had on my adult life. Being personally averse to resorting to medication whenever possible I often dealt with the ups-and-downs, as well as with the well-wishers telling me to take the pills, take the pills, take the pills. Ms. Stein's painfully personal accounts of her own dealings with ADD are a relief to the fellow sufferer. Her book reads like a novel, informs like a textbook, and cites studies like a medical journal. It is indeed a highly recommended read for anyone who comes into personal or professional contact with, or those who have, ADD.