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October 2010
October 2002
A Focus on Who Can't Focus back to top
Professor Thomas E. Brown and ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are two names that go together. You mention one and you think of the other. This is why the local family Support Group decided to invite Prof. Brown to Malta to talk about the latest findings about ADHD.
The Conference, Looking Ahead, took place on the 17th and 18th of September at the Dolmen Resort Hotel and was well attended by some160 – 170 delegates in all. These consisted of psychiatrists, pediatricians, general practitioners, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, counsellors, occupational therapists, speech therapists, heads of schools, social workers, Learning Support Assistants, teachers and naturally parents of ADHD children/adolescents and adult ADHD people.
The theory of Executive Functions impaired in ADHD was the starting point of the Conference leading to how they match up with the symptoms of ADHD as we usually know them. The issue of Emotional Self-Regulations also featured widely in Prof. Brown’s explanations and he ably demonstrated his theories with examples from cases he has handled over the years.
Prof. Brown went on to illustrate how the issue of ADHD symptoms being apparent before the age of seven is probably about to be removed in the new DSM V due to come out in the coming years. High IQ adolescents in their late teens can develop symptoms of ADHD when they start college/university and the ‘scaffolding’ previously given by parents and teachers is removed.
It is impossible for me to detail all the above and condense four hours of lecturing into a short article but the Group has, in its library, three copies of Prof. Brown’s book Attention Deficit Disorder – The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults which give a full overview and is available via our web site.
ADHD is a complex condition that more often than not, presents itself with comorbidities, the most common being learning disorders, OCD, depression, substance abuse, and tourette's, thus making it extremely difficult to diagnose. To help the delegates with this issue Prof. Brown also explained the varying degrees through the person’s life and across the different emotional disorders that can co-exist. When listening to him it is easy to see how the many different learning disorders can cause frustration and anger during a youngster’s life if he is not properly understood. The lack of social graces and their inability to process non-verbal speech adds, without doubt, confusion and chaos to their already disturbed existence. Once again Prof. Brown was kind enough to donate a copy of his book ADHD Comorbidities: Handbook for ADHD Complications in Children and Adults. This is now also in our library.
So much research has been carried out as evidenced during this Conference that it is difficult to believe there are still some people who question the validity of an ADHD diagnosis - whether in childhood or adulthood. With a history going back to Sir George Still of England, the father of British pediatrics, who in 1902 identified a subset of children with ADHD symptoms it is high time this stopped being a valid argument and energies better spent on finding ways to help the children, adults, and the people who live with them, parents and partners.
The human brain is, undoubtedly, a complex mechanism and it is true that not everything about it has been discovered yet. Nonetheless the medication which has been used since 1937, discovered by Charles Bradley, a Rhode Island physician, does work most of the time and there have been countless trials to testify to its safety. Naturally if one can make use of natural remedies all well and good, but we have to remember that everyone reacts differently to herbal treatments and if they do not work it is hardly fair on the child and its family if further approved treatment is discounted because of scaremongering. The negative effects on the person’s life, potential and social happiness can have far reaching consequences. Parents are not around for ever to provide ‘scaffolding’ and when the adolescent ventures out, alone, ignorant of social cues, seeking motivation, gratification and something to get his/her adrenalin rushing, it is a recipe for disaster.
Naturally not all youngsters with ADHD need medication and naturally not all youngsters with ADHD continue to have severe issues as adolescents and adults but some will and the more we guide and support them during their formative years, the better the outcome for them, their families and society.
The ADHD Family Support Group is well aware that there are some very thorough, conscientious and caring professionals in Malta and we would like to take this opportunity of thanking them for participating in the Conference. What we would also like to do, however, is implore those who are still skeptical or feel it is not their responsibility, to find out more about ADHD and contact our Librarian via our web site www.adhdmalta.org to choose one of our many books thus furthering their knowledge on the subject and keeping an open mind.
The Group meets every 2nd Friday of the month at Gian Francisk Abela, 6th Form, Msida at 6.30 p.m. Anyone and everyone is welcome.
A Series of Talks back to top
In October 2002 the Group invited a renowned Australian lecturer to visit Malta and give a series of talks. This was the third time the Group has invited a foreign speaker but the first time a talk was planned for Gozo as well as Malta. The seminar was made possible by the support of the Ministry of Education and the Faculty of Education and various other minor sponsorships.
We are pleased to be able to report that such was the quality of the speaker that the Minister of Education had further talks with Prof. Giorcelli who is now collaborating with Education officials to formulate her doing some professional development for the department on an annual basis. "I would like to explore the possibility of an annual teacher training course in this area that you might consider providing. The course could have cumulative levels which, annually, the first and subsequent group of teachers could work towards. There is a huge gap in our educational system which the Support group has been trying to modestly fill with meagre resources.”
An article in The Weekender supplement of the Times of Malta quoted a parent as saying that the information garnered from this Seminar was the turning point in her life.
In February 2005 we published 4,000 copies in English and Maltese of a booklet entitled Guidelines and Information for teachers. This was widely distributed to all schools by the Ministry of Education and funded solely by donations to the Group.
In the summer of 2006 a Pilot Project on Parental Skills Course was undertaken, focusing on Behaviour Modification. Whereas the cost was Lm75 per couple and child, the Group had sponsored members who then only needed to pay Lm20. This project turned out to be very successful but also quite expensive for the group.
In November 2006 we hosted an International Conference at Mater Dei Hospital, aimed at professionals in Medicine, Psychiatry as well as Social workers. We invited Prof. Eric Taylor, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, from Kings College, London who gave a half day seminar for professionals and a short talk for parents.
For the second year running, the Group also organised, a three day In Service Training Course for the Ministry of Education and received over 200 applicants for the course. This course has had a very good reponse once again as in the previous year.
The Group would has sent one of its Committee Members to attend a course in the UK for traning as a Specialist Coach Trainer in ADHD. This consisted of a two part course; the 1st part consisting of a 5 day training session after which she returned to Malta in order to take on an ADHD person, coach him for a period of 4 weeks and returned to the UK for a further 3 day session which concluded the training.
With this Specialist training programme that our Committee Member undertook the Support Group is now in a position to offer ‘coaching’ sessions for all its members, from children to adults (read more about this here...)
Future Projects
Another service the Group wishes to resume is the publication of a bi-monthly newsletter to disseminate the latest research and developments in the area of ADHD.
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