Child Development Central

Practical, evidence-based information for parents and professionals.

by Mark Bertin, MD

ADHD Goes to School

When a child has a language delay, people tend to accept this fact at face value: Joseph is 6 but speaks like a 3-year-old. While understandably upsetting to many parents, no one expects Joseph to speak differently before he is able. Read More

Mindfulness and Adult ADHD

Adult ADHD affects near five percent of the population, although the actual diagnosis rate is far lower. Many adults live unaware of what sits behind their chronic struggles with attention, time management, emotional self-regulation, and a host of related abilities that impact family, work, and well-being. Read More

ADHD News Not Fit to Print

The fact that some individuals harbor unfounded doubts about ADHD isn't surprising to see in print once again. The fact that a reputable newspaper like the NY Times would publish an individual's opinion stated as fact, without regard to basic science, was more troublesome. Read More

Understanding the DSM-5 Autism Criteria

As I was preparing to write about the new diagnostic criteria proposed regarding the identification of autistic spectrum disorders, a front page New York Times article created a stir about them. Read More

One Size Doesn't Fit All, Part Two: How Compulsory Mainstreaming Fails Our Children

Any educational system that tries to meet the needs of all children in a single setting misses the mark for many of the students it is so desperately trying to serve. Read More

Reframing ADHD

For each area of executive functioning in your child, there is a reality: Does my child have these executive function skills, or don't they? Be curious, looking for patterns. Read More

A Holiday Gift to Yourself

The holiday season can be a time of great, uncomplicated joy-honestly it can. It doesn't have to be an intense, draining, consumer-driven mess. We cram into four weeks a stew of stress-raising ingredients for our families, letting it simmer until New Year's Day. Read More

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

One of the standards of American education today is the concept of ‘heterogeneous grouping' within ‘mainstream' classrooms: Children of every skill level remain together in every subject. This may be a pushback against a time when grouping children according to their abilities lead to a sense of isolation, with kids seeming to languish on the special education track. Read More

New Guidlines for ADHD Treatment and Evaluation

The American Academy of Pediatrics just released updated guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of ADHD. Although specialists have been identifying ADHD in preschool children before now, the guidelines expand the 'official' age range for diagnosis down to age four. They still encourage behavioral inteventions before medication in preschool children. Early indentifca Read More

Managing Media with Brain Development in Mind

Fifty years ago, the first fast food restaurants opened in our country. Since that time there has been a steady increase in obesity. Whenever American fast food is introduced in a new nation, obesity soon follows. Read More

School Planning 101: Advocating for Students with ADHD

For students to enjoy and take ownership of their own academic career, underlying issues affecting school must be addressed first. Here are suggestions (in fewer than three hundred words) to avoid common pitfalls while planning for the upcoming year ... Read More

How ADHD Affects Obesity, Weight and Healthy Eating Habits

One common, under-addressed symptom of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is its impact on eating. Children and adults with ADHD are significantly more likely to be overweight. Read More

Discovering Our Own Parenting Limits: Part One

It's no leap of brilliance to state that kids require consistent limit setting. And yet, we all struggle in different ways as to how to go about implementing it. Our kids resist, often quite resourcefully. We want them to be happy, and we want to be happy ourselves, so we relent, perhaps because just at that moment we're too tired and rundown to rally. Read More

ADHD and High School Planning: What It Takes to Thrive

The statement “he’s fifteen and should take responsibility for his school work” doesn’t always hold water. It doesn’t have anything to do with “should.” Either he can or he can’t keep track of it. You can “should” him and yourself and his school all you want ... Read More

Mindfulness and Media: Use It, Enjoy It, but Don’t Let It Rule Your World

In the 1950s smoking was everywhere.There was a cultural assumption that it was cool to smoke and everyone had the right. People smoked sitting next to you on planes or restaurants, and in the office. Advertisements were plastered on billboards around the world, and actors smoked throughout both television shows and movies. Even doctors touted their favorite cigarette brand in magazines. Read More

ADHD and Family: Chaos to Calm through Mindfulness

One truth of family life is that it is inherently uncertain. We feel everything is under control one moment and then things suddenly change around us. We make plans that don't work out exactly as we pictured. We imagine our future one way, and then life takes a different path. Sometimes we make assumptions ... Read More

ADHD: Attention Doesn't Half Describe It

The starting point for The Family ADHD Solution and for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) care in the real world is understanding that ADHD (and this includes ADD, which is now more accurately labeled ADHD-inattentive type) is a proven, often misunderstood medical disorder. Read More

Mark Bertin, M.D., is a developmental behavioral pediatrician, an assistant professor of pediatrics at New York Medical College, and the author of The Family ADHD Solution.

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