ADD/ADHD Online Information

Thanet ADDers Newsletter

Volume 4, Number 1, March 2001

Important, Please Note

This is a copy of our local group's paper newsletter sent out to members of Thanet ADDers. For our main online homepage click here for adders.org. Much will have happened since this newsletter was sent out, so check adders.org for up to date information.

Our Thanks to the Local Police

On Thursday 21st December 2000 Caroline, Simon and Richard were invited to Margate Police Station to receive a donation from our local Police for the group. This was presented to us by Superintendent George Rogers and was accepted on our behalf by Richard. The local Police do a lot of work for local charities and we are very grateful to them for the donation. Our thanks also go to the officer who nominated us for the award. We must give our special thanks to the officers involved in this and for the time they gave to present the cheque especially as those few days before Christmas must have been very difficult for them after the sudden death of one of their officers. This goes to show that our Police can overcome adversity and continue to help and support the community at all times and for that we must all be very proud of them. Our support goes to them at this time.

Donations like this are so important to us as they go towards running the 24-hour telephone helpline and also the large amount of stationary we use to send out Information Packs and this Newsletter. If anyone feels that they can nominate us for any funds through their work place or any clubs they belong to we would be very grateful.

We have also just received a donation of filing cabinets, paper, envelopes and some stamps from a local group. This was arranged for us by Thanet Business Community Partnership. Our thanks go to Sheila from TBCP for organising this very kind donation.

I was contacted last year by a lady who has chosen us to be the nominated Charity for her year as President of the Herne Bay Inner Wheel and again we are very grateful to her and all of her members. This has led to one of the members deciding to take part in a Sponsored Slim for us. Also to the son of another friend of a member wishing to nominate us as his charity to be sponsored for when he runs in the London Marathon later this year. Again our thanks go to all those involved.

If any of our members would like to sponsor any of these people please get in touch with us at Thanet ADDers.

The Fourth Annual ADDISS Conference "ADHD Across the Lifespan" March 26, 27, 28th 2001 Royal National Hotel, London

Speakers Include: Professor Eric Taylor, Professor Peter Hill, Thomas E.Brown Ph.D., Peter Jensen MD, Professor Loretta Giorcelli, Dr Nikos Myttas, Thom Hartmann, Stuart Chesner Ph.D., Sam Goldstein Ph.D., Dr. Geoff Kewley, Fintan O'Regan

Three days with highly experienced international speakers who will discuss current research and practice. You will learn how to recognise and treat ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and other comorbid conditions in children and adults. You will hear about the most effective medical, educational and behavioural interventions. You will also develop a good understanding of the impact ADHD has on the child and his/her environment. This will be the first major conference in Europe following the publication of the NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) Appraisal of Methylphenidate for Hyperactivity in Children.

Prices: Professionals £325 for 3 Days, Parents, Students £180 Accommodate available separately

For Further Information Contact: ADDISS, PO Box 340, Edgware, Middlesex HA8 9HL Tel: 020 8906 0354 Email: info@addiss.co.uk

Caroline is helping and manning a stall at this Conference and we will send out a report of the event in the next Newsletter. If anyone is intending to go to the conference or would like further information, please get in touch with us.

On Monday 26th March in addition to the main Conference Sam Goldstein will be running a free workshop during the main event. This is an open talk not only to delegates of the conference but anyone who wishes to attend

Evening Conference 7th November

This evening was a great success and our thanks go to David for a wonderful talk. There were about 140 people in the audience including both parents and professionals.

David was very positive in his remarks about ADHD and its treatment options. He conveyed very convincingly to the audience that ADHD is a real condition. He spoke about how parents are not bad parents and of the various ways we can help both the child and the parents learn to live and cope with ADHD. Using case studies and giving up to date findings David was encouraging and positive. I hope that the many professionals who attended will be able to take what David said and be more able to help families learn ways of coping with ADHD. Thus enabling us all to develop a more positive approach to help those diagnosed to maintain their self-esteem and sense of self worth.

David spoke of the behaviour programme he has developed and written about in his book, Parenting the ADD Child, Can't Do? Won't Do?, details of which can be found on our Book Pages at www.adders.org along with our review of the book.

I hope that this evening will help many people develop an more understanding view of some of the problems faced by both the child and the family and that we as a Support Group can develop closer links with those professionals who work with our children.

We have had some very positive feedback from both parents and professionals, which is very encouraging.

Our thanks go to all who supported this highly successful evening including:- Roger Gale M.P., King Ethelbert School, Medeva and BB Soda. Also our grateful thanks go to all those who attended the evening and of course to David.

Meetings for Parents

We would really like to set up meetings again for parents. Ideally from September we would like to run a series of meetings which will include the viewing of various videos we have about AD/HD. There are videos by Thom Hartmann, Russell Barkley and Jerry Mills. All of these are very good speakers and well worth listening to. We also have videos on behaviour management for home and school from an UK team who are working with UK Health Visitors and doing on-going research into ADHD.

If anyone knows of somewhere we can use for such meetings, with the use of T.V. and video please let me know.

Award for Kid in the Corner

adders.org wish to extend congratulations once again to Tiger Aspect Productions for their drama Kid in the Corner. Kid in the Corner beat off competition from 'Walking on the Moon', 'Always and Everywhere' and 'Coronation Street'.

This time congratulations are for winning the Award for Best TV Drama at the Mental Health Media Awards, sponsored by The Guardian. The awards were announced at a ceremony on 25th October 2000. On hand to receive the award were Producer Kate Anthony and Director Billie Eltringham. Roger Graef, director of Mental Health Media, who handed them the award praised the emotional impact of the piece.

TV productions can be viewed by many as being rather cynical and are sometimes accused of sensationalising sensitive issues. However Kid in the Corner was a wonderful portrayal of a family with a child with ADHD. It very sensitively covered all the effects the condition of the child had on the family and followed through the diagnostic procedure and eventual treatment plans put into place to help both the child and the family. The superb and sensitivity of the main characters was brilliant and Eric Byrne who played Danny was wonderful.

The fact that an organisation such as Mental Health Media gave this award is fantastic credit to all those involved.

We spoke to Kate Anthony of Tiger Aspect and producer of Kid in the Corner and she told us that they were over the moon at receiving the award.

Kate told us that as part of her acceptance speech at the ceremony she had wanted to thank a number of people, in particular she spoke of Billie Eltringham the Director who worked very closely with Eric and gave him lots of help and support. Also of Becky DeSouza the researcher, she said that the award was a tribute to Becky's enormous effort and time in researching ADHD and talking to many families. (We can personally say that Becky was extremely interested and encouraging when she spoke to us and that she was very sensitive in her approach. Becky was very keen to get things right so that she could portray things as they are for so many of us.) Kate also spoke highly of writer Tony Marchent, who was able to draw on his own experiences of parenting a child with a similar condition and was able to put in a lot of the emotional feelings of a parent of a special child. Kate also wanted to thank all of the parents and professionals who were willing to talk about their experiences so openly to the team and for trusting them with their feelings.

Kate went on to tell us that as Tiger Aspects and the production team began to go through all the research and stories they had been told they became fascinated by the subject and felt that the time was right to go forward with the telling of the story of Danny and his family, The team felt very committed to the project and were astounded by the feedback they had received, they had no idea how much feedback they would get and were amazed by the number of positive and moving comments they had. She went on to tell us 'that the team were grateful to Channel 4 for commissioning the project and for showing the drama as they did. Programmes like Kid in the Corner, which tackle sensitive issues are needed and Channel 4 were brave in their approach as few dramas like this have been promoted in the past and more are needed in the future to help highlight some of these types of issues. So long may this continue.'

Kate also told us that Kid in the Corner had won 3 Golden Nymph Awards at the Monte Carlo Film and TV Awards: -

Best Screenplay went to Tony Marchent
Best Director went to Billie Eltringham
Best Actor went to Douglas Henshall for his role as Alex (Dad)

Kid in the Corner was also nominated for a BAFTA, this was eventually won by the drama 'Warriors'.

Eric Byrne was nominated for the best newcomer at the Royal TV Society Awards, this was won by Jamie Oliver.

Our congratulations go to Eric for his nomination and we hope to see more of him on our screens in the future.

Kate finished by saying that the power of TV Drama was great in getting a subject across to the public and that the awards encourage producers to get things right and to do things properly and in a sensitive manor. Our congratulations once again to all those involved.

Kid in the Corner is now available on video priced £15.99 + £2 p&p from ADDISS Tel: 020 8906 0354.

Books

Over the past few months many of our books have been lent out to parents. Unfortunately a number have still not been returned. It is with regret that in the future we will have to ask for a £1 deposit for the loan of these books along with a cheque for the full cost of replacement if the book is not returned as we do not have the funds to replace them.

If you do have books, which you have borrowed, please could you dig them out and return them to us so that others may borrow them. We do have a waiting list for some of them. If you have lent any books onto friends please, please can you get them back for us.

STOP PRESS

adders.org has been advised by BR Pharma International Ltd that ADDerall is now available in the United Kingdom.

BR Pharma International Ltd. who in March last year made Ritalin Slow Release available in the UK have now gained the agreement of the Medicine Control Agency and have obtained all the necessary permits from the Home Office to make distribution of ADDerall legal in this Country. The drug itself has still yet to be fully registered in the United Kingdom but it is now perfectly legal for it to be prescribed by Consultants, GP's and to be obtained by pharmacists on a patient by patient basis.

A recent study in the U.S. which was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in May 2000, said: "Adderall(R) (mixed salts of a single-entity amphetamine product) is significantly more effective at reducing inattention, oppositional behaviour, and other symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than methylphenidate, an older ADHD treatment.

Apparently all a pharmacist has to do is to fax a photocopy of the original prescription to BR Pharma International on (Tel:020 8238 6770) BR Pharma and ADDerall can be sent by special next day delivery.

At present ADDerall is only available in packs of 100 tablets in both 5 and 10mg doses.

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