He does seem to be getting better....

... is what I was told today, by the School SeNCo. We managed to grab an hour after school for a meeting to look at the progress (if any) that George has made recently.

There are still issues with inattentiveness and impulsivity, but generally Georges' progress is described as very good. It's difficult to quantify because we have no real starting point from which to measure him. We do, however, have the "event logs" and this is where we can draw some conclusions from.

As previously mentioned, January was pretty awful, as was February (I found out today) and March was particularly hair curling.... All three months showed numerous negative event logs and each month seemed to be worse than the month before.

Mr W told me today, that 'they' would normally expect to move on from there to discussions about different schooling options - we have a couple of schools in our area for children with challenging behaviour (which I refer to as schools for "naughty children" and have often threatened George with this).

George has completely thrown them, by turning everything on it's head. April was better, May was better still and so far (fingers crossed) there is only one event log for June and that is a massive positive given by a Teacher who doesn't take any prisoners - so coming from her it's real Kudos! :o)

We talked about the possible reasons behind this new attitude that George has. Because there is no science behind it, we have to make certain assumptions. Mr W is a very experienced teacher and can quote chapter and verse on children with ADHD. He has a very good understanding of the problems associated with these children and how best to deal with them. He couldn't understand how George could improve so much in such a short space of time.

We talked about the possibility of his "wake up call" in March, when he was in quite serious trouble on at least two occasions. We also agreed that whilst it may have had some impact, it cannot be the only reason for this massive improvement (ADHD children don't seem to be able to recall how their behaviour negatively impacted on anybody else or themselves).

We talked about the possibility of natural maturation, but discounted that because of the huge gains made in such a comparatively small length of time.

The only other thing we could pin it on is The Dore Programme.

So..... we talked about that for a while. Mr W hadn't heard of it before I mentioned it a couple of months ago. He has asked around and found only limited information, so, because people weren't jumping up and down about it, I think he rather discounted it.

He asked me why, if it's so good, isn't the Government introducing it into school?

I gave him the simple answer - lack of clinical research.

Unfortunately, I then got on my high horse....

If Dore had spent several million pounds (and numerous years) on clinical research, we probably wouldn't have access to this programme, even now. It would still be in the research phase, surely? I don't know.... I'm not a research expert..... but I think that most of these alternative forms of therapy are, in the main, belittled by mainstream doctors and specialists. As a society, I think many of us are very critical of anything which is outside the norm and is termed "alternative".

Ritalin, on the other hand, is well known, has been used for at least 40 years, and has clinical research behind it to prove that it works. Until recently, what it didn't have, was research into the long term efficacy, along with any long term side effects.

Last November, in the UK, there was a Panorama programme about a boy called Craig, who had been taking Ritalin for his chronic ADHD. This was a follow up programme to a previous "snapshot" of Craig, which was taken in 2000.

The 2007 programme was filmed specifically because there were new results announced regarding Ritalin and it's long term benefits.

The results, in a nutshell, are that there are NO long term benefits to taking Ritalin, and the quote made by Professor William Pelham, a world authority on ADHD is most worrying:

"I think that we exaggerated the beneficial impact of medication in the first study. We had thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes. That didn't happen to be the case. There's no indication that medication's better than nothing in the long run."

If I were able to choose, right now, between Ritalin and nothing, based on that comment, and what I have seen my child go through whilst taking this drug, I would choose nothing. What mother wouldn't?

Why is this information not being plastered all over the newspapers?

We're living in a "quick fix" society, that's why (in my opinion).

Once I had dismounted from my high horse, we continued our discussion and I discovered this:

It would seem that there are an increasing number of General Practitioners (in our area) who are now refusing to regularly write prescriptions for Ritalin. Why is this? Could it be that there is now a huge question mark over what was once perceived as the correct treatment for ADHD?

Why is it, when the proof is there in black and white, that parents are being told that Ritalin is the only way forward for these children?

Why is it, that our children have been prescribed this potentially mind-altering drug when the research into the long term effects has been (up until recently) severely lacking?

Why is it OK to accept this lack of research regarding Ritalin, but our clinicians will not accept the lack of research when The Dore Programme is presented as a very good possible alternative.

Go back a few paragraphs:

There's no indication that medication's better than nothing in the long run.

Is what the Professor said, and he's a world renowned authority on ADHD.

OK... I'll take that NOTHING and raise it with The Dore Programme

I win the game, I believe.