The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released new guidelines for diagnosing and treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in preschoolers as young as 4. Previous guidelines, issued in 2000 and 2001, focused on …
Child Development
5 Ways to Fix Preschool
Children’s brains do not automatically switch on at age 5 when the U.S. public school system finally gets around to educating them. In fact, quite to the contrary, studies indicate that children start learning from the day they …
A Better Way to Treat Obsessive-Compulsive Kids
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can be a nasty enough condition when it strikes an adult. When it hits in childhood it’s far crueler. Not only are kids unequipped to understand what’s happening to them, they are also being …
Study: People May Be Born Good (or Bad) at Math
If you struggled through high school algebra, you probably thought you simply weren’t born good at math. You might have been right, at least according to a new study by Johns Hopkins University psychologists that suggests that math ability is linked to your inborn “number sense.”
Secondhand Smoke Linked to Learning Disabilities, ADHD in Kids
Kids who grow up among smokers are more likely than kids in smoke-free homes to suffer from a number of neurobehavioral disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disabilities and conduct disorders.
How to Cut Crime, Alcoholism and Addiction? It’s Not Elementary, But Preschool
To cut crime, raise education and income levels, and reduce addiction rates among the poor, no program offers more bang for the buck than preschool, as a new study published in Science demonstrates.
Babies: They’re Smarter Than You Think
Every parent thinks they’re baby is exceptionally smart — and cute, too. But while it can’t be true that every infant is above average, Lake Wobegon-style, it turns out that babies become able to reason surprisingly well at a …
Study: Preterm Birth Raises the Risk of Childhood ADHD
Doctors have long known that preterm birth increases children’s risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but now a new study of more than a million children in Sweden strengthens the association.
How Group Drumming May Improve Low-Income Student Behavior
Students in poor communities are among the most vulnerable to social and behavioral problems, often caused by environmental stress.
Why Has Childhood Bipolar Disorder Become an Epidemic?
When a young child’s behavior problems go beyond mere toddler tantrums, parents face bleak choices about how to treat them. Should they seek psychiatric or psychological help? Should the child be put on medication or some other …
How to Raise a Happy Child
Little minds can be very complicated minds. The mere fact that you’re young — even extremely young — does not mean that you don’t experience a world of complex feelings and thoughts. That’s one reason so many U.S. kids — …
Clues to the Genetic Roots of ADHD
Too much soda, candy and bad parenting have been cleared of full blame for children’s hyperactivity and uncontrollable behavior — at least according to a new study that has identified certain genetic abnormalities associated with ADHD.
What Goes on Inside the Brain of a Misbehaving Boy?
When it comes to raising civilized kids there are no hard rules, but there are two things on which most parents agree: Boys are generally wilder than girls, and adolescents are wilder than kids of any other age.