Remember that the inherent nature of children is that they are exceedingly intelligent, zestful, loving, and cooperative.
--John Breeding

The Colt of a Booklet

REFERENCES

Breggin, P. (1991) Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock and Biochemical Theories of the New Psychiatry. St. Martin’s Press.

Chapters 12 and 13 of this devastating critique speak right to the heart of abandoning responsibility for our children by labeling them with psychiatric "disorders" like ADHD and giving them drugs.

Breggin, P. & G. Breggin, (1994) The War Against Children: How the Drugs, Programs, and Theories of the Psychiatric Establishment are Threatening America’s Children with a Medical "Cure" for Violence. St. Martin’s Press.

Chapter 4 of this powerful expose is called "Born to be Disruptive." Highly recommended

Crook, W. (1991) Help for the Hyperactive Children. Professional Books.

An MD provides some good, clear guidance in dealing with nutritional and environmental factors in attention and behavior.

Duffy, W. (1975) Sugar Blues. Warren Books.

Still the classic on the bad news of sugar consumption.

Elkind, D. The Hurried Child: Growing up too Fast too Soon. (1988) Addison-Wesley.

Healy, J. (1990) Endangered Minds: Why Our Children Don’t Think. Simon and Schuster.

An impressive, carefully argued book about how electronic media, fast-paced life styles, environmental hazards and current educational practices affect our children’s thinking. Really drives the point home about overstimulation.

Kushi, M. & Kushi, A., Esko, W. & Esko E. (1994) Raising Healthy Kids. Avery Press.

Macrobiotic viewpoint on food and children’s health and behavior.

Liberman, J. (1991) Light, Medicine of the Future.

On the importance of sunlight and full-spectrum lighting.

Liedloff, J. (1985) The Continuum Concept. Addison-Wesley.

I love this book for its poignant reminder of how we’ve lost our way from the natural continuum of life in which we hold babies continuously "in-arms."

Mander, J. (1977) Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. William Morrow/Quill.

Mander, J. (1991) In The Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations. Sierra Club Books.

Chapter 5 and 6 confirm Mander’s great work on television. His explanation of TV’s "Acceleration of the Nervous System" is crucial to the problem of children’s attention. I am also grateful for his great reminder of the importance of "downtime." (Pp. 83-4)

McGuinness, D. (1985) When Children Don’t Learn: Understanding the Biology and Psychology of Learning Disorders. Basic Books.

This is a wonderful book which clearly shows the fallacies of a "hyperactive syndrome." A thorough research review shows that "Essentially nothing has been found," and that "stimulant drugs have failed in all cases to effect any improvement in academic ability."

Mendelsohn, R. (1994) How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor. Contemporary Books.

Oski, F. And Bell, J.D. (1977) Don’t Drink Your Milk. Wyden Books.

Solter, A. (1989) Helping Young Children Flourish. Shining Star Press.

This is a fantastic book on how to think about and counsel young children. Most highly recommended.