Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps America's Biggest Drug Pusher
Review: I recently had a conversation with a number of colleagues who work with children and adults with ADD/ADHD. One suggested that the author, Russell Barkley, had single-handedly had more to do with getting millions of kids on drugs than any other one person. The rest of the people in the discussion-- all psychologists, educators, physicians-- agreed. Read this book and you read a drugging perspective. This book might as well be titled DRUGGING YOUR ADD CHILD.
Rating: 
Summary: Most helpful book I've seen.
Review: I've noted the lower ratings by others, or what appears to be others. Frankly, it's probably just one person signing in under different names. In any case, I can't see how anyone could ever think this book is less than fantastic. It's the most helpful thing I've found. Being a nurse, I've read a lot of clinical information on ADHD. This book is well written as well as researched. It's very easy for parents and teachers to read understand. It doesn't talk down to you and you come away feeling a relief that someone actually understands and you can relieve yourself of the guilt should you choose medication. Don't let those who insist on 'alternatives' or those persons who try to say ADHD doesn't exist sway your from at least reading it. Read it, and you'll see. I promise.
Rating:
Summary: Sick of Drugs Being Pushed for ADD--Then Don't Buy
Review: If you are weary of people pushing medications as the primary treatment approach for ADD/ADHD, then this is NOT the book for you. Barkley has received financing from drug companies, and what seems to me to be his rigid approach demonstrates an over-reliance on medication and a lack of openness to other approaches. More balanced volumes include Joel Sears and Lynda Thompson's, The ADD Book; J. Ratey's, Driven to Distraction; and Thom Hartmann's Complete Book on ADD/ADHD--all of which are more helpful and even-handed in their approach, and all of which include neurofeedback for retraining the brain as a realistic alternative to drugs. D. Corydon Hammond, Ph.D., Professor, University of Utah School of Medicine.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I needed
Review: Isn't there a book out there that talks about ADD in a non professional way? Something that gives parents solutions to the things that we face?
Rating:
Summary: Taking Charge of ADHD, Revised Edition
Review: It is the most comprehensive book on ADHD I've read so far, and I've read a lot. It answers a lot of questions, clears up some myths, and tells you how to prepare if you are meeting with a psychiatrist or psychologist for a diagnosis. It also tells you that pediatricians are qualified to diagnose ADHD once testing has been done through the school system.
Rating:
Summary: Over-Pathologizing, Negative view of ADHD. Don't buy first
Review: It's rare that I give low ratings to a book. But in this case, I feel the need to forwarn potential readers. Having a kid with ADHD can be very trying, can drive you crazy and or make you cry. But these kids very often have real strengths too, and their differences make them special. There are so many really good books on ADHD that the liabilities of this book make it silly to waste your money on this over-pathologizing book which casts such a dark picture.
Barkley's approach to ADHD sinks it's fangs into hope and sucks it dry, leaving you with the idea that ADHD is a brain disease or disorder that is permanently damaging, with no redeeming qualities. There are so many kids with ADHD who are bright and gifted, so full of energy that they grow up to be highly successful. Different--- but successful. I suggest that you first check out Thom Hartmann's Complete Book on ADD ADHD, Ned Hallowell's and John Ratey's DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION, William Sears and Lynda Thompson's THE ADD BOOK, and books by Lynn Weiss. These have more balanced, hopeful approaches to ADD/ADHD. This is my interpretation, but it seems to me that Barkley, who has done considerable consulting for drug companies (including paid lectures) leans WAY too much towards the use of drugs to treat ADHD. And he has repeatedly attacked a research-supported non-drug approach-- neurofeedback, also called EEG biofeedback-- which teaches clients to balance their brainwaves, decreasing brainwaves associated with distractability, increasing brainwaves related to attention and calm, stillness (See Jim Robbins' Symphony in the Brain.) While this book does offer some useful tips on behavioral interventions, I must caution you to read it after you've read at least one of the above books, or you are at risk of developing a depressingly bleak approach toward ADD. I've met so many successful adult ADDers who consider ADD a blessing. It is a shame that Barkley casts his shadowy point of view on so many parents, children and adults with ADD.
Rating:
Summary: At last someone who's done the research
Review: My husband and son both have ADHD so when this book came up on the list of choices for a required book review for a psych class I was taking, I decided to read it. I was amazingly surprised at the well-informed, scientifically critical information he has presented. Now if you don't believe ADHD is a real condition or understand why drugs work (and why they sometimes don't) this book will only [*] you off. ADHD is the most widely researched childhood disease/condition and Russell Barkley presents the best scientifically proven info here. He not only tells parents what to look for but how to become your child's best advocate, educating you as the parent and walking you thru the process. His suggestions on methods to improve your child's performance I took to be used under the condition that either your child wasn't recieving or wasn't responding to medication. When my spouse and son, who are on different medications (my son is part of a Provigil study and my husband is using Adderall)are off their meds I find it necessary to use many of the methods he suggests, when they are on them I find they are just your average people. My bottom line on this book is read it. It should help you become more empowered as a parent. Then look at the research he sites. Being an informed, educated, discerning parent is the best thing you can do for your child.
Rating:
Summary: Chemical Restraints and Chips and Points
Review: There are several far better researched books than this one on the market concerning ADHD. There are serious and learned differences of opinion on the treatment for ADHD and far more than just some ill-conceived "controversy", as Dr. Barkley would have us believe, on the subject of the epidemic proportions of stimulant therapy for this condition. Please, do not read this book and proceed on with your decision making process on behalf of your child without reading some of those other books...
This book is being called "The Complete Authoritative Guide For Parents," which it most assuredly is NOT. This book dismisses the idea that the unbridled and irresponsible wholesale dissemination of stimulants is a bad thing for our children. He systematically takes each serious concern about chemical restraints and dismisses them in a few short sentences with a flippant attitude that these concerns are "mythological." He makes the unfounded claim that stimulants are effective in treating ADHD in 50-95% of patients. That claim is almost criminal in its inaccuracy, and could only be considered truthful if using a highly skewed definition of the word "effective." The typical "chips and points" or Token System is highly touted as another effective tool and while it may be useful for some children, it too, has come in to serious question as to it's actual effectiveness and in fact, is seen as a highly ineffective, abnormal, and in fact damaging method of handling the ADHD child or adolescent. My main problem with this book is that the author takes an arrogant, end-all and be-all approach to this complex condition. He makes it seem like this book is the definitive answer and by doing that he is cheating people out of possibly finding alternatives that are healthier and more effective at healing and helping children become effective human beings. This does not even take into consideration that there is vast controversy over the very idea that so many children actually even have ADHD. This book rather than encouraging dialogue or encouraging further study takes a paternalistic, and in my opinion destructive attitude concerning the parenting and nurture of ADHD children, and sadly of children in general. I suggest that rather than buying into the controlling and disabling policies and principles that this book offers as THE way, rather than looking at "Taking Charge of ADHD," we should consider taking charge of ADHD drug pushing and abuse. We should, instead, consider taking charge of our schools and our physicians and making them accountable to us, the individual children and parents who are being victimized by the type of system this book promotes. Start by NOT relying solely on this book if you feel you must buy it, borrow or buy as well at least one of the other books I have mentioned, and form your own considered opinion. Our children are not lab rats and they are not "problem children." They deserve better than this book offers.
Rating:
Summary: Depressing View of ADHD
Review: This book by Barkley is very old news dressed up in a new cover. Barkley has been trumpeting this tired message for years in previous books and I found this one to be no different. If you want to be depressed about your ADHD or your child's ADHD, then by all means read this book. If you want some hopeful news about attention and behavior problems, then there are many books by better informed authors who have more balanced perspectives on this issue. Barkely focuses on drug interventions for controlling children and adults with ADHD and gives the impression that current research supports his contention that drugs are the only way to help struggling kids. Fortunately this is just not the case. There are many hopeful approaches that do not use drugs and that have solid research support. (...) Barkley is first in line to cast a dark cloud over those who don't easily fit into the regimented classroom environment. Drugs do work to make kids more cooperative and more attentive but often at the expense of their ability to be creative and spontaneous. Do a search for ADHD here on the Amazon site and you will find many positive books. This one is too limited to be of much use to most people. A couple of suggestions are: Hartmann's Complete Book on ADD, Hallowell and Ratey's DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION, Sears and Thompson's THE ADD BOOK and for EEG biofeedback, you can read Jim Robbins' book, A Symphony in the Brain. Hope this helps.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful source book for parents of ADHD children
Review: This book is the best source of meaningful information for parents of ADHD children that I have read. Barkley explains ADHD in layman's terms, then provides excellent advice on managing your child's life and your life. I recommend it for parents, teachers, and other professionals who deal with ADHD children. It is candid and honest about the obstacles and challenges, but provides a logical management approach that works! It was a sanity saver for me.
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