It is actually not my new book, but our new book, as I wrote it with my wife, Sue Hallowell. It is the first time that Sue, a social worker and couples therapist, has teamed up with me to write a book, and we are over-the-top excited about it. We’ve been married for 20 years. We have 3 children. We’ve been getting ready to write this book since we first met, some 25 years ago. That’s why we’re so excited.

Excited enough to promise that you will love this book. At least if you care about love, you will love this book.

It probes the world of closeness and commitment in today’s crazy busy world. It is not a book about ADD in marriage, it is a book about modern life and marriage. It looks at how difficult it can be just to get your partner’s attention and deal with constant interruptions. It looks at how frustrating it can be to conduct a relationship via cell phone, BlackBerry, or email. But is also shows how the problems can be solved and marriages can thrive in our modern, fast-paced world. Our book shows how people can get from their relationship what they are truly looking for.

It shows how to end what we call “the big struggle” and replace it with a relationship based on mutual empathy and understanding. It shows how you have fun together once again, laugh and play together, and enjoy life. We show you how to make your relationship special, in the way that we all want our number one relationship to be special. We believe in romance, but we also believe in practical advice and dealing with reality. We offer many concrete tips, and we close the book with a workbook called “30 Minutes, 30 Days.” We ask you as a couple to spend 30 uninterrupted minutes with each other, once a day for 30 days, and we give you various enjoyable exercises to do during those 30 minutes, exercises that will bring you closer together, that will make you laugh and cry, that will lead you to plan and feel hopeful and excited to be together. If you do what we know you can do, if you make your marriage as good as it can be, life’s other problems recede into proper perspective.

We fervently believe, indeed we know, that marriage can not only improve but can rise to the level of fulfillment and fun you yearn for and seek. That’s the promise of this new book.

We hope you will order it, read it, and send us your feedback. We love getting thoughts and ideas from our readers. If you are receiving this email, we already know that you are interested. We can’t wait to connect with you after you’ve read the book.

With warm wishes,
Edward (Ned) Hallowell, M.D. and Sue George Hallowell, LICSW

By addressing several systems simultaneously, you can get more bang for your buck, so to speak, more bang for each minute spent using the program, more bang for each calorie of effort spent.　 Since such calories are not infinite, it is best to get the most out of each one! 

iLs has expanded upon an auditory therapy developed in Europe years ago, and added visual and balance exercises. The program can be customized to address different purposes, e.g. reading, auditory processing, attention, autism, etc. Furthermore, iLs has designed it so that kids actually have fun doing this program, instead of looking at it as drudgery. Fun leads to compliance, and compliance leads to success. 

The combination of listening to filtered music, which sounds just like standard classical music, while doing exercises, like balancing on a wobble board or hitting a ball suspended from the ceiling, works the brain in special ways. While the full neurology has yet to be worked out, the results the program usually provides are impressive indeed. A controlled study of 64 at-risk students in New Mexico showed an average improvement in reading of two years after the three-month intervention. And at a clinic in Florida, 27 out of 29 children diagnosed with auditory processing disorder were successfully remediated after completing the program.

I have been sufficiently impressed with iLs myself to start offering the program in my offices in the Boston area and in New York City.　 I have also become a paid consultant to the company to help them advance research into iLs and also to help them get the word out as to its effectiveness and availability. 

As you all know, I am asked to endorse a host of products and interventions, and I only do so when I am convinced that the product or intervention is worthwhile. iLs meets my strict standards. Of course, we need more research to be able to predict results reliably. But children grow and develop, and they can’t always wait for the prospective double-blind studies to be done. 

I believe that iLs can help millions of children, as well as adults, who have ADHD, dyslexia, or other learning issues. It can also help with autistic spectrum disorders as well as auditory processing issues. A big plus is that the program can be implemented in clinics, schools and at home.

For more information, you can visit their website at: http://www.integratedlistening.com  

 I welcome hearing from any of you with questions or comments.

The CAPE COD INSTITUTE is a summer long series of 27 week-long in-depth continuing education courses for mental health and management professionals, taught by leading contributors to knowledge and practice. Sessions are held Monday-Friday mornings, leaving the afternoons free for leisure and study. The courses are approved for continuing education credit for various professional groups.

I am totally and completely opposed to the use of marijuana by people who have ADHD.  John Ratey and I made this clear some fifteen years ago in our book Answers to Distraction, and our opinion has not changed.  The reason I feel this way is that I have seen too many patients get into enormous difficulties due to their use of pot.  Not only can they get into trouble with the law, they can develop a dependency that leads them to be less productive in their lives than they otherwise could be.  People with ADHD are at great risk for developing addiction or dependency on all illicit substances, as well as activities like gambling, spending, sex, food, and even exercise.  In my experience, marijuana ranks at or near the top of the list of substances that cause problems for people who have ADHD.

I hope this clarifies my position.  Pot and ADHD do not mix well.

Happy Holidays to you all!!!!!

I am always looking for new, non-medication treatments for both ADHD and reading problems, and I believe this is one of the best.  It is actually not new, in that it has been in use clinically for 30 years.  However, some of the science behind it is new.  It is based upon the principle of stimulating the cerebellum, a region at the back of the brain that has connections to the front parts of the brain, which is where the symptoms involved in ADHD and reading problems originate.

By stimulating the cerebellum through physical exercises, like standing on a balance board, juggling, standing on one leg with your eyes closed, and a variety of others, you can actually bring about improvement in concentration and reading fluency, by taking advantage of the connections from the cerebellum to the front parts of the brain.  

The beauty of the Learning Breakthrough Program is that it makes this therapy affordable, convenient, and actually fun.  You order the kit and do the exercises at home.  You can demonstrate for yourself that it is working by doing the before and after comparisons the kit shows you how to do.  So, you get immediate positive reinforcement, which is a powerful motivator to keep you, or your child, doing the exercises.

One of my sons and my wife benefitted enormously from cerebellar stimulation exercises, my son with a reading problem, and my wife with a coordination problem (yes, these exercises also improve coordination and athleticism!).

LBP can–and should–be used as part of a comprehensive treatment program that also includes education, coaching, tutoring, perhaps medication, and perhaps additional complementary treatments.

I am so enthusiastic about LBP that I have leant my name to endorse the product.  I have become a consultant to the company, and while they do pay me for my time, I would never endorse a product I did not totally believe in.  While we do need more research to prove the efficacy of LBP, I have seen enough anecdotally for me to be a big-time fan of this effective, convenient, and affordable treatment.

 I think LBP is one of the most exciting innovations in the treatment of ADHD and reading problems since the advent of stimulant medication in 1937.  And it carries the possibility of going one better than medications, in that it addresses underlying causes.

The only drawback to LBP is that not enough people know about it.  I hope to help in the effort to change that soon!

To learn more, go to the LBP web site, learningbreakthrough.com

Reading plus is a new program being offered at the Hallowell Centers. It is a silent reading intervention designed by ocular therapists that helps people who can read but do it very slowly or have trouble with focus and comprehension. The testing involves a device called the Visagraph which tests  6 different ocular motor functions. When you have been tested the feedback on the computer can show you exactly how your eyes were moving while you were reading.

You do the program at home on your own PC and at your own convenience but it will tell you when you are not participating suficient enough to be helpful. There are several different exercises you do that are engaging and you have to keep up with the computer on this but it really pushes you out of your comfort zone and helps you move faster and still maintain a good level of comprehension. Your sessions will be at the level of expertise you achieved in the previous session. Most reading programs approach reading from a phonemic point of view. This one does it from the physiological stand point. Other reading programs work on reading out loud this one on reading silently. On these two counts it is a unique, enjoyable and helpful program for the many people including those with ADD/ADHD and reading issues as well.

To learn more, just call Olga in the Sudbury, MA office, 978-287-0810, or Kelly Montross in New York, 212-799-7777.  And please offer you own comments on this blog.

Hope you’re having a great Autumn.  It is my favorite season!

Several of Dr. Hallowell’s classic videos are now available again for the first time digitally in the Hallowell Webstore.  They are digital videos you can watch right on your computer.

ADD goes to School: A conversation with Dr. Edward Hallowell

Dr. Edward Hallowell discusses ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) in children, including descriptions of what ADD is, and strategies for achieving the best possible outcome for children with ADD.

Running Time: 51 Minutes, File Size: 611 MB. File Format: AVI (runs with both windows media player (standard on almost all computers running Microsoft Windows) and Apple Quicktime

Buy ADD goes to School: A conversation with Dr. Edward Hallowell now!

Children and ADD: A conversation with Dr. Edward Hallowell

Dr. Edward Hallowell discusses ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) in children, including descriptions of what ADD is, and strategies for achieving the best possible outcome for children with ADD.

Running Time: 51 Minutes.  File Size: 611 MB.  File Format: AVI (runs with both windows media player (standard on almost all computers running Microsoft Windows) and Apple Quicktime

Buy Children and ADD: A conversation with Dr. Edward Hallowell now!

Connect: The Power of Human Relationships

Dr. Edward Hallowell outlines the steps we can take to make or reaffirm the connections that nourish the hungry heart. Through his own life experiences and those who have shared their stories with him, we learn of the great joy and peace that come from connecting, and the consequences of remaining detached. And we learn how to nurture that part of us which is so often neglected, and so very crucial to our emotional, psychological, and physical well-being — our connections.

Running Time: 75 Minutes. File Size: 1 GB. File Format: AVI (runs with both windows media player (standard on almost all computers running Microsoft Windows) and Apple Quicktime

Buy Connect: The Power of Human Relationships now!