The diagnosis for AD/HD is confirmed what are the treatment options? Difficult choices that every parent in this situation has to make and the outcome of threat choice will affect their child's future for ever more - what do you do? Take advice? Listen to those who know or have trodden this path before you? Well the first thing is to brave the 2 camps - those who will tell you that conventional medication is the only effective way to improve your child's behavioural issues and those who denounce this approach in favour of alternative natural treatments - so the ball is back in your court. What next?

Providing the drug is checked for possible problems, they can work for some children. However for many they can create worse problems in health and behaviour with as many as I in 4 children having either a negative reaction or failing to show an improvement to the prescribed medication.

Individual family stories can be a powerful condemnation of the drug route. Here is a letter I have recently received from a mom who chose to go down the medication route with her child:

"Just wanted to give you some feedback on my son. After 2 months on Ritalin & Risperdal, I've taken him off them both. Took him to my general practitioner when he was battling to walk, cried in pain when I touched him and visible bruises on his arms, legs and ankles. Had blood tests etc and final diagnosis - meds causing these problems. Stopped meds and he's fine!!!

Another piece of recent alarming research that has just been released is that 1 in 3 children diagnosed with ADHD were found to have been misdiagnosed and had other conditions. This can include : traumatic events, undiagnosed learning disorders, depression and anxiety, food intolerances, Petit mal seizures, Middle ear infection etc

Treatment options are as effective as the accuracy of the diagnosis. There are no effective clinical diagnostic tests for AD/HD other than subjective behavioural symptom checklists. These are unreliable! An approach that is monitored for its effectiveness if it is a natural approach, and for side- effects if it is a medication approach is a baseline for any treatment option. The preferred route that many are now travelling, at least as a first approach is through a natural and holistic integrated way forward due to the potential harmful effects of the conventional medication route and the cost prohibitive implications of extended medical treatments which creates problems with dependency issues.