New Online Course Announced by SharpBrains and the Attention Research Update: How to Navigate Conventional and Complementary ADHD Treatments for Healthy Brain Development

USA - English

• USA - English

Washington, DC (PRWEB) January 14, 2015 -- In order to suc­cess­fully pro­mote children’s healthy brain devel­op­ment, every par­ent whose child has been diag­nosed with ADHD should learn how to sys­tem­at­i­cally nav­i­gate and mon­i­tor the range of poten­tial ADHD treat­ments based on the lat­est sci­en­tific evi­dence. This new course, developed by SharpBrains and the Attention Research Update, aims at pro­vid­ing the nec­es­sary infor­ma­tion, frame­works and toolk­its to make well-informed deci­sions, in con­junc­tion with pro­fes­sional advice, about med­ica­tion, behav­ioral ther­apy, exer­cise, neu­ro­feed­back, work­ing mem­ory train­ing, med­i­ta­tion, diet and supplements.

By the end of this online course, par­tic­i­pants will have gained the under­stand­ing and infor­ma­tion required to nav­i­gate and pri­or­i­tize ADHD treat­ments, both con­ven­tional and com­ple­men­tary, to max­i­mize short-term and long-term healthy brain devel­op­ment for chil­dren with ADHD.

Course title: How to Navigate Conventional and Complementary ADHD Treatments for Healthy Brain Development

When: May 2015

COURSE FACULTY

• Dr. David Rabiner, founder of the Atten­tion Research Update, is an Asso­ciate Dean and a Research Pro­fes­sor in the Depart­ment of Psy­chol­ogy and Neu­ro­science at Duke Uni­ver­sity. His research cen­ters on the impact of atten­tion dif­fi­cul­ties on children’s aca­d­e­mic achieve­ment, improv­ing com­mu­nity care for chil­dren with ADHD, the mis­use of ADHD med­ica­tions by col­lege stu­dents, and inter­ven­tions to improve aca­d­e­mic per­for­mance in chil­dren with atten­tion dif­fi­cul­ties. He has pub­lished over 50 sci­en­tific papers in peer reviewed med­ical and psy­chol­ogy jour­nals and received fund­ing for his research from the National Insti­tutes of Men­tal Health, the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol, and the US Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion. Dr. Rabiner started pub­lish­ing the Atten­tion Research Update e-newsletter in 1997 to pro­vide par­ents, edu­ca­tors, and health care pro­fes­sion­als with a con­ve­nient and inde­pen­dent source to stay informed about the lat­est research on ADHD pub­lished in lead­ing med­ical and psy­chol­ogy journals.
• Alvaro Fer­nan­dez, named a Young Global Leader by the World Eco­nomic Forum, is the co-author of the acclaimed book The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness: How to Opti­mize Brain Health and Per­for­mance at Any Age (2013). He runs Sharp­Brains, an inde­pen­dent mar­ket research firm track­ing health and well­ness appli­ca­tions of brain sci­ence. He is a nationally-known speaker and expert, and has been quoted by The New York Times, The Wall Street Jour­nal, New Sci­en­tist, CNN, and other media out­lets. Alvaro, who holds an MBA and an MA in Edu­ca­tion from Stan­ford Uni­ver­sity, pro­duces the annual Sharp­Brains Sum­mit, the largest global and vir­tual con­fer­ence where sci­en­tists, inno­va­tors and pro­fes­sion­als dis­cuss the lat­est devel­op­ments in the field.

SYLLABUS

This fast-paced online course will cover the fol­low­ing topics:

1. How to har­ness Med­ica­tion, Lifestyle and Neu­ro­plas­ti­ciy for Life­long Brain Development

• Value, lim­i­ta­tions and appro­pri­ate sce­nar­ios of use for each
• Treat­ing ADHD in the con­text of gen­eral brain devel­op­ment: A lifes­pan approach
• Read­ing: Fact-sheet on ADHD in Chil­dren and Ado­les­cents by the National Insti­tute of Men­tal Health
• Read­ing: Study: Fam­i­lies’ Per­spec­tives on ADHD and its Treatment

2. What is research sup­port, and what are its lim­i­ta­tions? How can par­ents thought­fully eval­u­ate the claims made by pro­po­nents of dif­fer­ent treat­ments, and suc­cess­fully advo­cate for their children?

• Read­ing: Study finds large gaps between research and prac­tice in ADHD diag­no­sis and treatment
• Read­ing: Sen­si­ble and per­plex­ing changes in ADHD diag­nos­tic cri­te­ria (DSM-V)

3. ‘Con­ven­tional’ ADHD treat­ments: Med­ica­tion and Behav­ior Therapy

• Is med­ica­tion treat­ment really effec­tive? (It depends on how you ask the question)
• What does the research say about short– and long-term ben­e­fits of med­ica­tion treatment?
• What does good med­ica­tion treat­ment really look like and how can par­ents obtain ‘good’ treat­ment for their child?
• What is behav­ioral ther­apy for ADHD really all about?
• What do we know about the short-and long-term effects of behav­ior ther­apy for ADHD?
• What are the strengths and lim­i­ta­tions of behav­ior therapy?
• Work­ing with teach­ers to develop a good behav­ior plan.
• Read­ing: Reduc­ing the Need for High Med­ica­tion Doses with Behav­ior Therapy
• Read­ing: Why Being Young for Grade Increases Odds of ADHD Diag­no­sis and Stim­u­lant Medication
• Read­ing: Evidence-based child and ado­les­cent psy­choso­cial interventions

4. Alter­na­tive and com­ple­men­tary treatments

Exer­cise

• What does it have to do with ADHD?
• What are the guide­lines for opti­mal weekly/ monthly exercise?
• Read­ing: Phys­i­cal exer­cise as ADHD treat­ment: Nec­es­sary but not sufficient

Neu­ro­feed­back

• What is neu­ro­feed­back and how does it work?
• What is the cur­rent evi­dence base for neu­ro­feed­back treat­ment for ADHD?
• Things to con­sider when think­ing about neurofeedback.
• Read­ing: Neu­ro­feed­back treat­ment for ADHD is gain­ing strong support

Work­ing mem­ory training

• What is work­ing mem­ory and what does it have to do with ADHD?
• What does work­ing mem­ory train­ing involve?
• What is the cur­rent evi­dence base for work­ing mem­ory train­ing for ADHD?]
• Things to con­sider when think­ing about work­ing mem­ory training.
• Read­ing: Is work­ing mem­ory train­ing the pri­or­ity for ADHD patients?

Med­i­ta­tion

• What is med­i­ta­tion and what does it have to do with ADHD?
• What med­i­ta­tion tech­niques offer the most clear evi­dence base for ADHD?
• Things to con­sider when think­ing about meditation.
• Read­ing: Mind­ful­ness train­ing for chil­dren with ADHD and their parents

Diet

• What kinds of diets have been tested as treat­ments for ADHD?
• How strong is the research sup­port for dietary inter­ven­tions for ADHD?
• Things to con­sider when think­ing about a dietary intervention.
• Read­ing: ‘West­ern’ Style Diet Increases Risk of ADHD

Sup­ple­ments

• Vit­a­min, min­eral, and fatty acid defi­cien­cies in rela­tion to ADHD
• Do sup­ple­ments work? What does the research say
• When to con­sider supplements
• Read­ing: A Con­trolled Trial of Herbal Treat­ment for ADHD

5. How can a par­ent nav­i­gate these options and obtain, mon­i­tor and help iter­ate the best care for a par­tic­u­lar child

• How to pri­or­i­tize and sequence most-likely-to-help inter­ven­tions, both con­ven­tional and complementary
• How to mon­i­tor their short-term and long-term effectiveness
• How and when to com­mu­ni­cate with health pro­fes­sion­als to iter­ate and refine care

ABOUT SHARPBRAINS:
SharpBrains is an independent market research firm and think tank tracking health and wellness applications of brain science. The company produces an annual global and virtual professional conference and maintains a consumer-facing guide, The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness. To learn more, visit http://www.sharpbrains.com

ABOUT THE ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE:
Founded by Dr. David Rabiner in 1997, the Attention Research Update is a monthly e-newsletter in which Dr. Rabiner reviews new studies on ADHD/ADD that are published in leading medical and psychology journals. To learn more, visit http://www.helpforadd.com

Alvaro Fernandez, SharpBrains, http://www.sharpbrains.com/, +1 (202) 596-6240, [email protected]