Skip to main content

Tag: Children’s Health

Is This Your Child?

Is This Your Child?

Written by AbleChild on . Posted in Essential Books.

This book, written by Dr. Doris Rapp, gives a thorough overview of allergies and how they can affect children, both physically and behaviorally. There are common accepted allergic reactions that most of us are familiar with, such as hives, asthma or hay fever. But allergic reactions can also come in many forms we are unaware, of, as Dr. Rapp demonstrates in Is This Your Child?.

Allergic reactions caused by certain foods or chemicals can have symptoms that vary from nasal congestion, to stomach issues and even epilepsy in some cases. But here are also many behavioral issues, from motor mouth, inability to concentrate, and aggression, that can be caused by a particular food or chemical that is part of that child’s environment. Yet so often, these causes go undetected, and the child and parent both suffer. Dr. Rapp is adamant that parents take a step back when their child is feeling and behaving unwell, and resist the temptation to immediately blame themselves or look to a prescription medication for the answer.

Dr. Rapp covers many aspects of allergies in Is This Your Child?. She goes the history of allergies and how the definition was changed over time. She also goes over statistics of how common allergies are, and explains how family history factors into a child’s likelihood of developing allergies. Finally, in the book, Dr. Rapp explains how parents can identify the certain foods or chemicals that are causing their child (or themselves) to feel unwell, and how to prevent and treat these allergic reactions.

About the Author

Doris J. Rapp, M.D., F.A.A.A., F.A.A.P., is a board-certified environmental medical specialist and pediatric allergist for children. In 1975, as a practicing pediatric allergist in New York, she attended a meeting on food allergy and while at first she found it hard to believe what the speakers were saying, she decided to take a deeper look into the symptoms that can be caused by allergens and food. This led her on a conquest she became very dedicated to. Despite the rampant criticism she received, including many people who tried to discredit her medical work, she stepped up her research. She performed double-blind studies and videotaped countless testing sessions to document the adverse effects of environmental factors in vulnerable individuals.

Dr. Rapp’s work has been very eye-opening for the medical community. Her research has helped people that suffer from a number of ailments, including Tourette syndrome and Gulf War Syndrome. Dr. Rapp is clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is the founder of the Practical Allergy Foundation in Buffalo and is the former president of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine.

 

Feingold cookbook

The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children

Written by AbleChild on . Posted in Essential Books.

Dr. Ben Feingold, the pediatrician and allergist who wrote Why Your Child is Hyperactive, is a champion for dietary solutions to manage behavioral issues in children. In 1979, he published The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children. This book was developed on the basis that certain chemicals, such as artificial flavors, and artificial colors and preservatives that are in food can be detrimental to children, causing behavioral issues and interfering with learning ability. Feingold’s argument is that most neurotransmitters that affect mood and learning ability are developed in the gatrointestinal tract, from the foods we ingest. This book offers an alternative to pharmaceutical medication that has garnered successful results for many parents and children over the years, in achieving the goal of reduced hyperactivity in children, and improvements in the ability to focus.

The introduction of many of these “problem chemicals” in our foods began towards the end of Word War II, and Dr. Feingold was the first to notice how these chemicals triggered behavioral and learning issues due to their allergy-inducing properties. Some of the other symptoms Dr. Feingold observed at this time in patients of his were hives, asthma, headaches, stomach issues, urinary issues and nasal congestion.

The main food groups that the Feingold Diet eliminates are: 1) Synthetic (artificial) colors and flavors and preservatives BHT and BHA and 2) Fruits, vegetables and various other types of foods that contain natural salicylates. There are two stages for the diet. First, these two food groups are eliminated. Second, about 4 to 6 weeks later, if the child is responding with positive behavioral changes, food from the second group (salicylate fruits and vegetables) can be slowly re-introduced. But foods from the first group of synthetic flavors, colors and preservatives are not re-introduced at any point.

The Feingold Cookbook brings to light the scientific evidence that indicate diet can affect behavior and learning ability in children, and introduces a list of forbidden foods. And since it can be a challenge for many families to implement the dramatic changes the Feingold Diet requires, The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children offers helpful suggestions for recipes that have been used by families that follow this diet. Today, the Feingold Association has increased the Feingold food list to thousands of acceptable brand names of foods and non-food products.

About the Author

Dr. Ben Feingold is a pediatric allergist who taught pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, and then moved to Los Angeles where he practiced pediatrics for 22 years. While in Los Angeles, Dr. Feingold served as chief of pediatrics at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, was an associate in allergy at the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, and an attending pediatrician at the Los Angeles County Hospital. His research has been a source of controversy and heavy discussion among certain bodies in government. But much of his research has been of much interest to the U.S. Senate and State of California. Dr. Feingold can be thanked for the removal of certain harmful substances from our food supply, as well as the increased safety in food production around the world.

Feingold’s research led to more research done by others, which suggested in 1980 that artificial food dyes might indeed adversely affect the behavior of children. In 1951, Dr. Feingold married his wife, Helene. Together, they wrote The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children, which was published in 1979, four years after Why Your Child is Hyperactive.

Dr. Feingold was born in Pittsburgh in 1900 and did his undergraduate and medical work at the University of Pittsburgh. He was an intern at Passavant Hospital in Pittsburgh, and then went on to serve as a fellow in pathology at the University of Gottingen in Germany in 1927, followed by a fellowship at the children’s clinic at the University of Vienna from 1928-1929.

Though Feingold is gone, the Feingold Foundation continues his valuable work and research, and you can find more information on their website.

hyperactivity

Why Your Child is Hyperactive

Written by AbleChild on . Posted in Essential Books.

This book, written by practicing pediatrician and allergist Dr. Ben Feingold, contains sound research and medical advice about how artificial food coloring and flavoring is often the culprit of hyperactivity in children. From this book, the widely renowned “Feingold diet” was derived. And 36 years after it was first published, there are still many parents overflowing with gratitude for the positive effects the book’s diet recommendations have had on their children. In fact, the book is considered by many to be even more relevant today, since there are much more artificial ingredients in foods that make up a large part of peoples’ everyday diets.

While the advice in the book is laid out with simple and clear instructions, these changes are difficult to make, but as many parents have reported, the results make it all worth it. In Stage One of the Feingold Diet, synthetic flavors, preservatives, and artificial sweeteners are removed from the diet, along with salicylates such as aspirin. Dr. Feingold’s research has found many of these products trigger hyperactivity in children. In Stage Two of the Feingold Diet, some of the products removed in Stage One are slowly reintroduced and closely monitored to see if they have an adverse effects on the child’s behavior. With the Feingold Diet, it is important that parents keep a journal of what products have been removed from their child’s regimen and which products have been reintroduced.

The benefits of the work that goes into the Feingold Diet is that it’s all natural and will likely remove products that were never good for your child (or yourself if you choose to follow the diet). And Feingold recommends that if parents are able to see positive results from the diet, they should consider talking to their child’s psychiatrist about taking them off any medications they have been put on for ADD or ADHD. This should only be done under the supervision of a mental health professional, since many drugs prescribed for ADHD are forms of speed and can be dangerous to withdraw from too quickly. Why put any drug into your child’s body that they may not need and that can cause adverse side effects? The Feingold Diet may be the answer to your child’s behavioral issues that you have been waiting for. And it could be a program that parents themselves, along with the rest of the family, may also want to follow and reap the long-term benefits.

About the Author

Dr. Ben Feingold is a pediatric allergist who taught pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, and then moved to Los Angeles where he practiced pediatrics for 22 years. While in Los Angeles, Dr. Feingold served as chief of pediatrics at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, was an associate in allergy at the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, and an attending pediatrician at the Los Angeles County Hospital. His research has been a source of controversy and heavy discussion among certain bodies in government. But much of his research has been of much interest to the U.S. Senate and State of California. Dr. Feingold can be thanked for the removal of certain harmful substances from our food supply, as well as the increased safety in food production around the world.

Feingold’s research led to more research done by others, which suggested in 1980 that artificial food dyes might indeed adversely affect the behavior of children. In 1951, Dr. Feingold married his wife, Helene. Together, they wrote The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children, which was published in 1979, four years after Why Your Child is Hyperactive.

Dr. Feingold was born in Pittsburgh in 1900 and did his undergraduate and medical work at the University of Pittsburgh. He was an intern at Passavant Hospital in Pittsburgh, and then went on to serve as a fellow in pathology at the University of Gottingen in Germany in 1927, followed by a fellowship at the children’s clinic at the University of Vienna from 1928-1929.

Though Feingold is gone, the Feingold Foundation continues his valuable work and research, and you can find more information on their website.

psychiatric labelling

The Myth of the Hyperactive Child: And Other Means of Child Control

Written by AbleChild on . Posted in Essential Books.

Though this book was published back in 1975, it was ahead of it’s time.  Authors Peter Schrag and Diane Divoky produced a very well-researched book that is backed up by bold and insightful arguments.  Schrag and Divoky examine the landscape of mental health profession, the public school system, and how they are shifting into a more authoritarian role, and are no longer advocates for our children.  The authors expose the loose haphazard research done on “disorders” such as MBD (minimal brain dysfunction) and the lack of evidence of the effectiveness of psychiatric drugs like Ritalin, as well as the dangerous side effects of these drugs.  The book also gives an in-depth analysis of the increased implementation of practices such as psychological testing, data banks, “predelinquency screenings” and behavior modification, to “fix” our children, many of whom are perfectly healthy and normal.

The authors warn parents of the psychiatric labels and psychotropic drugs that could be forced on their kids, who have no defense.  And much of this psychiatric treatment, under the guise of “helping” the child, is likely to in fact cause further psychological damage.  This begins a vicious cycle that leaves your child a slave to the government system, with various psychiatric labels that follow them around for their lifetime.  The Myth of the Hyperactive Child is written from a unique perspective that explains the big picture of the mental health industry (and society in general) that was taking place in 1975, and is still taking place now in 2021.  Specifically the book puts the focus on the increasing power of institutions over individuals, and their interference with human liberties.  The book also points out that while the safety of psychotropic drugs is a concern, there is a bigger issue we are facing that threatens our children and society at large: the “ideology of drugging” and early intervention.

About the Author

Peter Schrag is an American writer, editor and scholar of California politics and political history.  Schrag was a columnist and page editor at the daily newspaper the Sacramento Bee for nineteen years.  He wrote for the weekly magazine The Nation for nearly a half century.  Schrag is also a former visiting scholar at the Institute of Government Studies at the University of California.

A notable honor Schrag received during his career was being listed as a notable editor and writer by Marquis Who’s Who.  He was a Guggenheim fellow from 1971072, and a National Endowment of the Arts fellow from 1976-77.  He was born in Germany, and received his Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College in Massachusetts.   Some of the other books Schrag has published include When Europe Was a Prison Camp: Father and Son Memoirs, 1940-41 (Indiana University Press, 2015), Paradise Lost: California’s Experience, America’s Future, and Final Test: The Battle for Adequacy in America’s Schools.

Reviews

Aryeh Neier, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union:

“For the last half century, Americans have been responding to real and imagined social problems by pinning derogatory labels on people, excluding them from opportunities available to others, and then bemoaning the worsening of the problems. Some of the newest and most dangerous labels stigmatize young children. They are called ‘hyperactive,’ ‘predelinquent,’ or are said to suffer from ‘learning disabilities.’ In their fine book, Diane Divoky and Peter Schrag give us an absorbing account of what is going on. The information they gather and the insights they share with us give us a chance to save our children from the awful things done to them in the guise of helping them.”

The New York Times:

“Schrag and Divoky present us with fine polemical writing in a well‐researched and thoughtfully argued brief intended to stimulate informed action against the widespread use of drugs, psychological testing, data banks, “predelinquency” screening, [and] behavior modification[.]”

temperament in children

Coping with Children’s Temperament: A Guide for Professionals

Written by AbleChild on . Posted in Essential Books.

Pediatrician William B. Carey, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, brought us this insightful must-have guide to temperaments in children.  Instead of constantly growing frustrated with their child’s temper tantrums, impatience, irritability, self-centeredness and combativeness, Coping with Children’s Temperament: A Guide for Professionals gives parents, doctors, nurses, teachers, etc. an in-depth examination of temperament in children, what factors affects it, how it is affected, and how it develops over time.  And while these behaviors are normal in children, incorrectly responding to and managing them can put the child at odds with their caregiver, which can lead to clinical problems over time.

Once we understand what is causing these behaviors, the book provides specific techniques for managing and preventing these behaviors in the future.  Because while discipline may stop the behavior temporarily, it often does not solve the underlying problem.  You will also learn the ways that your child’s temperament may be affecting you, which parents are often unaware of.  Dr. Carey provides a wealth of research and helpful case studies to support his narrative.  In the foreword to the book, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that this book “should revolutionize parenting for many readers.”

About the Author

William B. Carey is a pediatrician who graduated from Harvard Medical School and did his specialty training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  He then remained in Pennsylvania for 3 years of primary pediatrics care.  In his solo practice, Carey specialized in child development and behavior, with a focus on the differences in temperaments of children.  He is well-known for a series of five temperament questionnaires he created with a team of psychologists, for children ages one month to twelve years old.  These questionnaires are commonly used as a reference across the world, and have been translated into many different languages.  Some of Dr. Carey’s other books include Development-Behavioral Pediatrics: Expert Consult and Prevention and Early Intervention.

psychotropic drugging Ablechild

The Ritalin Fact Book: What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You

Written by AbleChild on . Posted in Essential Books.

Peter R. Breggin, M.D. is an accomplished zealot for the overprescribing and misuse of psychotropic medications, that come as a result of the misdiagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in children.  In the book, Breggin makes a strong case, which he backs up with pharmaceutical research and correspondence files that he has gained access to over the years due to being a medical expert in so many civil and criminal cases involving the drug.  His reputation as a go-to medical expert has pegged Breggin as the “Ralph Nader of Psychiatry.”

This book will give you the most accurate and detailed information about psychotropic drugs prescribed for ADHD, and the information is presented in an easy-to-understand and straightforward manner.  The drugs Breggin addresses that are being overprescribed and misused are Ritalin SR, Adderall XR, Dexedrine, Focalin, Concerta, Metadate ER and Cylert.  Nearly 6 million children are taking one of these drugs, supposedly for ADHD.  Breggin gives details about all the possible side effects and withdrawal symptoms of these medications.  He says that not only do these drugs not help children with their learning and concentration issues, but they can cause other serious physical problems in children.  Breggin also lays out different alternative approaches for treating children with hyperactivity or concentration problems that do not involve psychotropic drugs.

About the Author

Peter R. Bregg, M.D., is a a psychiatrist who is very well known for helping set the stage for modern criticism of psychiatric treatments and psychotropic drugging.  He has promoted so much success in the field of mental health that he has acquired the nickname “conscience of psychiatry.”  HIs reform efforts began in the 1970s, and resulted in almost a complete cease in the use of procedures like lobotomy and psychosurgery in the Western World.   Then in the 1990s, he and his wife Ginger were able to stop a federal eugenics project that was planned on America’s inner-city children.  You can find more details about this in the book he co-authored with Ginger, The War Against Children of Color.

Breggin has been a full-time consultant at NIMH, as well as for the FAA.  He has published over 20 books and numerous scientific articles.  Some of his books include Toxic Psychiatry, The Antidepressant Factbook, and Talking Back to Prozac.  His latest book is Covid-19 and the Global Predators: We are the Prey.  Dr. Breggin is also the founder and director of The Center for the Study of Emphatic Therapy, Education and Living.  He attended Harvard, and currently resides in Ithaca, NY.  Find out more on his website, www.breggin.com.

“How many canaries: thoughts provoked by a recent school shooting.” published by Ablechild Board of Director, Dr. Tebbs

Written by Sheila Matthews on . Posted in Violence.

ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN GERMANY by DR. TREVOR TEBBS, Ph.D., ABLECHILD BOARD OF DIRECTOR

Tebbs, Trevor J. “How many canaries: Thoughts provoked by a recent school shooting.” Labyrinth ( Deutche Gesellschaft fur das hochbegabte Kind e.V.) 34, no. 117
(August, 2013): 16-18

HOW MANY MORE CANARIES

– So who pulls the trigger……and WHY

ARTICLE LINK: Canaries

BACKGROUND: Board of Director – Trevor James Tebbs, Ph.D.

Dr. Tebbs’ interest in Ablechild springs from his direct experience of dysfunctional young people battling against a labeled and “medicated” history from their early years in school. Convinced of a more holistic approach in which personal engagement and informed decision-making contributes to healthy educational and emotional development, he views “medication” as the primary means of treating various “disorders” both troublesome and potentially unhealthy. He believes we are in the midst of a cultural phenomenon of young people, and their parents deserve to know more.

With almost 40 years experience and qualifications in art, special & regular education Dr. Tebbs has taught K – 16+ students in regular, special, art, gifted, primary, secondary, and post secondary educational settings in the both the UK and USA . His educational psychology doctoral degree from the University of Connecticut concentrates on gifted education and counseling. He studied with Dr. Joseph Renzulli at the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.

CT AAG Nervous About Releasing Adam Lanza’s Medical Records: Disclosure “Can Cause A Lot of People to Stop Taking Their Medications.”

Written by Able Child on . Posted in Sandy Hook.

For Immediate Release:

Contact Sheila Matthews
203-253-0329

STATE of Connecticut Claims Disclosure of Adam Lanza’s Records “Can Cause A Lot of People to Stop Taking Their Medications” in Recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Hearing.

Ablechild vs. Chief Medical Examiner (FIC Docket No: 2013-197):

Attorney, Patrick B. Kwanashie, AAG for the Office of the Attorney General argues release of Adam Lanza’s records to public “can cause a lot of people to stop taking their medications”.  Ablechild argues that lack of transparency compromises informed consent and puts public health “at risk”.

December 14, 2012, 20 year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot twenty children and six adults in a mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the village of Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut.  He committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

Many would agree that to prevent future tragedies from occurring like those in Newtown and Littleton, Colorado we should have a deeper understanding of what the key components and common factors are that drive a person to such acts of violence.  Ablechild, a national parent rights organization with parent members within Sandy Hook and Newtown, have been on the front lines of the Newtown tragedy as it unfolded.  It has been asking for accountability in the form of disclosure of all records pertaining to the shooter as a means of transparency, to provide the public with facts that could be pertinent in protecting their safety. Sadly this transparency has eluded the Newtown “investigation” from the start.

One relevant question that has remained unanswered was whether or not Adam Lanza was under the influence of one or more drugs, to include all prescription drugs.

“What plagues this investigation is that some are simply fixated on having it remain secret in spite of the urgency of transparency that is clearly needed to protect the public,” said Patricia Weathers Cofounder of Ablechild.  “It is alarming that here we are very close to a year later and the public still remains in the dark, records are still sealed, and the State is now saying that it is opposing a release of the records because those records “can cause a lot of people to stop taking their medications”.  This opposition comes despite the fact that 31 school shootings and/or school-related acts of violence have been committed by those taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs resulting in 162 wounded and 72 killed and despite the fact that Ablechild for years has been asking for a federal investigation into the link between psychiatric drugs and these violent acts, without result.

Mrs. Weathers went on to add, “If there is nothing to hide then disclose, especially if this information has the potential for reevaluating the use of certain psychiatric drugs that evidence shows are contributing to the rapidly growing acts of violence in this country in recent years.  Our organization thinks that both the Medical Examiner’s office and State’s actions are unacceptable and reprehensible because in actuality they place the public at risk.”

What should be more alarming to the public is that the media doesn’t question this failure to disclose that is being arbitrarily wielded by the State Medical Examiner’s Office, despite the evidence that at the very least should call for a review.  In the midst of this tragedy the State itself has scrambled for solutions in the form of firearm prevention legislation and sweeping mental health funding without ever actually demanding that all evidence be reviewed first before passing such legislation.

Newtown was the second deadliest mass shooting by a single person in American history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre and comes 14 years after Columbine.  What is telling in all of this…America is still chasing its tail while the public pays a heavy price!

For more information on Ablechild’s demand for accountability and transparency within the State of CT watch our case before the Freedom of Information Act Commission.

 

 

Testimony Before CT Education Committee

Written by Able Child on . Posted in Sandy Hook.

Testimony:

Request Insert of Language of Informed Consent Bill 5007 to Bill 5353.

Ablechild is a nationally recognized 501(3)c non-profit parent’s rights organization. Ablechild was recently featured on CNN Special Projects, Perry’s Principles (Quick to Medicate) December 10, 2011. Ablechild contributed to the groundbreaking Diane Sawyer ABC 20/20 year long investigation into the drugging of foster care children which was shown to be a major problem not only within the state of Connecticut, but throughout the Nation.

Ablechild was founded by two moms, Patricia Weathers and myself, Sheila Matthews. Both our schools diagnosed our boys with ADHD through the IEP process in our school system. This diagnosis was based off a “subjective” ADD checklist. We were never informed during the entire IEP process that this ADD/ADHD checklist was subjective and was not endorsed and had never been endorsed by the Board of Education, the State or Federal Government. We have submitted below letters from the Board of Education, State of Connecticut and a Federal Document that states they do not endorse this type of identification of children.

We were never told this checklist came from the Association of School Psychologists through research: behavioral, and clinical drug trials grants. We were never at any time informed that there is no test in existence to diagnose the condition and the diagnosis itself was not based in science. We were never informed at any time that this was a psychiatric label and that we were in essence labeling our children “mentally ill.” We were never informed that there were any other treatments for this diagnosis other than drug treatment. We were never informed at any time what the risks of this recommended drug treatment were and the fact that many of the drugs recommended were not even FDA approved for children.

In fact, we were never informed that we even had a choice to “opt out” of a school psychologist and his or her testing of our child. During this whole process we were only offered mental health services and little if any educational ones. Parents must have the right to have an education or speech and language specialist test their child instead of a psychologist. All parents should have the right to educational services that are evidence based rather than subjective not only within special education but throughout the entire education system.

For the past five years, Ablechild has fought for legislation to prevent what happened to us from happening to other parents. We in many ways have been fortunate. Our children are survivors of this very risky process. Other children have not been so lucky, being injured and having died from misdiagnosis and recommended drug treatment.

Ablechild and all of its parent members continue to urge this committee to pass an informed consent bill which focuses on full disclosure to protect not only parents informed consent rights but our children’s health and safety. Each year for the last five years, a bill for informed consent has been rejected, and it is our hope this year, that you as a committee seriously consider this issue since it involves both the protection of parent’s rights and our children’s health and safety. We are requesting that you incorporate Representative Hetherington’s proposed bill #5007 last proposed in 2011, AN ACT CONCERNING PSYCHIATRIC AND PSYCHIATRIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN AND PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS FOR PARENTS, on informed consent into the language of this bill 5353.

AN ACT CONCERNING PSYCHIATRIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN AND PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS FOR PARENTS
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/TOB/H/2011HB-05007-R00-HB.htm

We cannot stress enough how important it is to incorporate the Hetherington bill language “5007” within bill “5353“ for parent and children’s rights.

We would be happy to expand on our request and answer any questions you may have.

Thank You for Your Consideration
The Staff of Ablechild.org