Phil: So what, what type of therapy is best for a child with Adhd?
Merriam: Well, the CDC recommends, for young children in particular, the first line therapy is parent behavior training. because parents are with the child most and young children don’t really have the cognitive ability to access therapy, remember what they’re supposed to do and you know, and really generalize an hour of therapy a week into their life, especially when they’re experiencing a disorder that impacts inhibition control. Sure. then I, you know, beyond that, there’s the most research of course has been done on medication. Medication is a highly, highly personal choice and one that should be just thoroughly discussed with your pediatrician or a psychiatrist because everyone feels differently about it. But you know, the general first line protocol would be a combination of behavior therapy and medication. That’s what they’ve found to be most impactful. Okay. There have been a lot of studies done on things like martial arts and that actually has been shown to help. Yoga has been shown to help. A mindfulness practice. Things we don’t have a lot of evidence on are, you know, but, but that you’ll hear a lot about our, food dyes, having, having been big impact. and you know, we just don’t, we don’t have a lot of, studies to show that that’s actually having that kind of an impact.
Phil: That’s almost one of those things. It’s seems accepted to be true.
Merriam: No. If you’re a child who reacts to a food dye and you will swear up and down that that’s what’s going on and it might be for your particular child, but across the board they haven’t been able to do a study that really shows that that’s what you know, has an impact on all ADHD behaviors.
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