Customer Reviews

Helping Your ADD Child: Hundreds of Practical Solutions for Parents and Teachers of ADD Children and Teens (With or Without Hyperactivity) (Third Edition)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I found many 'facts' that were obviously just opinions, in this book. These 'facts' were not backed up by research nor have I found other books to corroborate all that was stated in this book. For instance, that ADHD kids have excess flatulence, that ADHD kids will crave salty, sugary, and cheesy foods (hmmm, who doesn't?).

There were so many statements that seemed to me to 'go out on a limb' that I am hesitant to trust the rest of the information in this book. However, I did find some of the information helpful (thus the two stars) and you may find it helpful as well. I would just say "Reader beware."

I have been doing my own review of books on this topic and have found much better. My current favorite is "Parenting Childrn with ADHD- 10 lesson that medicine cannot teach" by Vincent J. Monastra. Believe it or not, I also found I liked "The Survival Guide for kids with ADD or ADHD" by John F. Taylor-- I guess he is better when distilling his advice down to a kid's level. In addition, if you can read anything by Russell A. Barkley, then do so; his material is very practical and well researched. You might check out his book or video (yes, video- a little outdated media) A new look at ADHD [videorecording] : inhibition, time, self-control .

Thank you. The book arrived, well packaged in a timely manner. Very satisfied.

This book had so many answers that my husband and I had been searching for for our son. It is a very detailed book about causes, signs, treatment and behavior modification ideas. It often takes a long time of waiting to get in to doctors and to get test results and this book helps so much to make the waiting time productive.

I got this book and thought hummm this should give me hundreds of practical solutions...It gave me everything but that. This book is mostly about ADHD and other stuff not ADD like the title suggests. Thank goodness I did not pay too much for it. Like I said it really did not give me what the title suggests.

Horrible! I checked the footnotes for some of Taylor's most outrageous statements and you know what his sources are? HIMSELF!
Most of the time, however, he doesn't bother with resources to back up his claims. There are no footnotes for statements like "There is also a four-hour protein cycle, in which the child becomes noticeably more symptomatic during the third and forth hours after the last meal, then becomes better shortly after consuming a protein-rich snack or meal." "Stuttering and stammering are common parts of the syndrome.""Their reading is disjoineted, only one word at a time with no flow between words and incorrect pauses for punctuation.", and "Fair-featured children (blue or green eyes and blond or red hair) account for 40 to 50 percent of all children with ADHD in the Caucasian category." I guess we're just supposed to take his word for these statements without having access to the sources of his information.
Here's a statement that really disturbed me: "Childen with ADHD tend to relate poorly to other children, especially in group settings. Though at first they may attract friends, hyperactives {his term} are not able to keep them. They are incredibly bossy, dominate play situations and intimidate their playmates, are bullheaded and stubborn about getting their own way, and remain inflexible to the appeals of another child." Notice the word "SOME" is not used--it's just a sweeping, negative judgment of all hyperactive ADHD children that can only add to the stigma of ADHD. Shame on the publisher and the author.
I too recommend Sears' book as an alternative, as well as The Myth of the A.D.D. Child (which although it has a outrageous title, has some excellent information and sources for learning more).

The author has a wonderful respect for the ADHD "disorder," but absolutely no respect for the CHILD with the disorder! Over and over, my thoughts kept returning to the idea that there was little attention given to the child. The child is often referred to as lacking focus and proirities or acting with no apparent direction. To the ADULT in the scenario, there MAY be little rhyme or reason to the child's activity, but the author seems to forget that the CHILD may have a very valid reason for his behavior and we just may not see it! There was little evidence that the author supported the idea of getting into the CHILD'S world and attempting to understand the ADHD from his/her point of view. I was horrified by the fact that, as an educator, I KNOW that some of the behaviors and indicators the author used to identify ADHD were developmentally inappropriate! (Exactly how many 18-36 month old children share and play co-operatively? In the authors mind, inability to share and play this way AT THIS AGE is a classic sign!) A parent just confronting ADHDand using this as a resource would feel there was only ONE option in the world MEDICATE MEDICATE MEDICATE! This book actually presented the chapter on medication before all other options simply because it was what the author perceived as the most popular way of "dealing" with ADHD. Once this medicating was well in hand the author suggests using the dreaded Fiengold Program and LIMIT the diet.

I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone as more than a resource for understanding the "disorder." I would NEVER suggest reading this as a means of trying to "help" your child! This program will do NOTHING for your children. It will make life more conveinient for you but will limit and frustrate your child. If you are looking to read a wonderful book on ADD/ADHD and these amazing bundles of intelligence and energy, I would HIGHLY recommend "The ADD Book" by Dr. William Sears as the ultimate CHILD centered ADD resource.