4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the time to read it, July 1, 2005
This review is from: Helping Your ADD Child: Hundreds of Practical Solutions for Parents and Teachers of ADD Children and Teens (With or Without Hyperactivity) (Third Edition) (Paperback)
Having listened to Dr. Taylor in person, read his publications and seen his video and audio tapes on helping children and adolescents with ADD/ADHD, I can attest to his breadth of knowledge on the subject, his creativity and the thoroughness with which he lays out information in this book. For anyone who wants practical suggestions to intervene with a myriad of behaviors including oppositional defiance,surviving summer vacations and holidays,overcoming distractibility, ways to prevent family conflicts, suggestions on diet and how to ensure you are getting an adequate Individual Education Plan at school, Dr. Taylor presents an excellent resource. Contrary to statements of several reviewers, he does provide research references and definitions for many term found in the field. As a practicing psychologist with 36 years of work with children and adolescents with ADD/ADHD, I would highly recommend this book for any parent or professional desiring helpful strategies.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you are dealing with ADD or ADHD, this is a treasure!, April 29, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Helping Your ADD Child: Hundreds of Practical Solutions for Parents and Teachers of ADD Children and Teens (With or Without Hyperactivity) (Third Edition) (Paperback)
If you could buy only one book to assist you in helping an ADD/ADHD child, this would be it. Taylor has a real knack for "getting inside the skin" of these children. He has a genuine empathy, and is one of the few authors who can explain them in a way that makes sense.
Even after years of working in this field, I find that I gain new insights and practical information in each chapter. For example, he writes, "Poor depth perception results in clumsiness, awkwardness, and occasional stumbling and running into things." It's a lot easier to sympathize with the klutzy child when you look at it from that perspective!
Rather than simply list and catagorize symptoms, as do many books on the subject, Taylor digs into the issues, demystifying them and offering practical, hands-on suggestions for both professionals and parents.
His understanding of the physiology of ADHD is clear in his description of food cravings. The child who craves salty and highly seasoned food, he explains, is deficient in minerals; the excessive desire for cheese shows a need for amino acids. Similarly, itchy skin and rashes occur because, "Basically, their bodies have lost some natural moisturizers in the form of essential fatty acid derivatives and are suffering from a form of dehydration."
He covers many underlying and related conditions. Taylor has clearly done his homework and is aware of the newest research on conditions that include Asperger's syndrome, autism, PDD, etc. The stakes for these children are very high, and it's essential that a parent be well educated in all the various areas that are involved. The areas include: the use of medicine, the role of nutrition (not the politically correct nutrition du jour, but that which is backed by solid research), and those behavior modifying techniques that really work.
Taylor is unique in that he is an undisputed authority in all of these areas. His gift to the reader is that he offers a wealth of information in a way that can be absorbed and put to use quite easily.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1.0 out of 5 stars
factually unhelpful, poorly organized, and disturbingly inconsiderate of the child's viewpoint, August 19, 2011
This review is from: Helping Your ADD Child: Hundreds of Practical Solutions for Parents and Teachers of ADD Children and Teens (With or Without Hyperactivity) (Third Edition) (Paperback)
John Taylor has over 30 years experience treating ADHD and raising ADHD kids
and in this book he tells the reader exactly what to do. Over, and over, and over.
The text is a bewildering array of symptoms, causes, body functions, collateral disorders,
and treatment approaches, jumbled together, often repeated, and in need of a good editor.
There is page after page of highly structured, detailed instructions to parents / caregivers
(what kind of cake to serve at a party), without examining problems, plans, or hoped-for-results
from the child's point of view. There is seldom any discussion about asking the child's feelings and choices
--of allowing the child to opt in. Taylor's view seems to be that the child is to be told and convinced, and that is that.
John Taylor has written some 17 books and created at least a dozen audiotapes on topics
related to childhood motivation, misbehavior, and ADHD, and all of them get mentioned
in the "For More Help" section of the book. Of the text and audio-video tape resources
mentioned in this section, 60 out of 147 are Taylor's own productions / publications
--he repeats himself, slightly.
After one has waded through over 300 pages of strict instructions mixed with uncited opinion,
one comes to the epilog, in which Taylor says, " ...This book summarizes the guidance and suggestions
I typically offer.... Many of them are my own inventions...."
I wish he had said that bit about his "own inventions" up front.
Throughout 18 chapters, it is very difficult to separate Taylor's inventions
from real research and accepted findings about ADHD, its causes, effects, and treatment.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
