Hyperactivity

...ba href=/hyperactivity/a/b disorder drugs, saying they can trigger scary hallucinations in children.

The panel said parents and doctors need to be told that the hallucinations can feature such things as insects, snakes or worms, reports The New York Times.

One expert said the drugs affect 2 to 5 of every 100 children.

A different panel had earlier voted 8 to 7 that the Food and Drug Administration place its most serious warning on stimulants, saying they could have dangerous effects on the heart, particularly in adults.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the reasons the latest panel, which focuses on pediatric issues, did not recommend the strongest warning label was partly because psychiatrists and other specialists have said the drugs help treating mental health problems in children.

The makers of the drugs have said their data indicate low rates of serious side effects such as heart problems, hallucinations, aggressive behavior or suicidal thoughts, the report said.

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Thursday, March 23, 2006 ALIDA hosting conference for parents, educatorsTracy B.

Cieniewicz, Madison RecordA workshop for parents and educators of children with learning disabilities and attention disorders is being planned in Madison."Strategies for Developing Success Attributes" presented by Cherrie Farnette, director of FACES of Learning at Currey Ingram Academy of Brentwood, Tenn., and Jonathan Jones, director of Success Oriented Achievement Realized, will be held Saturday, April 1, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

at Asbury United Methodist Church in the Hope building.The workshop, hosted by the Alabama Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (ALIDA), will define and explore practical strategies for success in youth with learning disabilities and Attention Deficit ba href=/hyperactivity/a/b Disorder.Marcia Ramsey is the principal of Greengate School in Madison, a kindergarten through eighth grade school for children with learning difficulties related to language.

Ramsey attended the workshop in February 2005 and said she learned a variety of useful strategies for children to develop time management, ...

...ba href=/hyperactivity/a/b disorder (ADHD), though they avoided strong safety alerts backed by a separate panel last month.

A committee of mostly pediatric experts urged the FDA to warn doctors and parents about reports linking popular stimulant drugs to aggressive behavior, manic episodes, and psychotic symptoms like hallucinations.

The reports remain rare among the estimated 2 million American children who fill stimulant prescriptions each month.

But experts said that events appeared often enough that parents and their doctors should be alerted so that they can stop the drug if such problems arise in their children.

They recommended that warnings be included in medication guides distributed to parents along with children's prescriptions.

"[Parents should] be aware that this could happen, and it may be a justification for stopping the drug," says Robert Nelson, MD, a critical care specialist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the panel's chairman.

Psychiatric Effects Some reports of suicidal thoughts or behaviors have cropped up in children and adolescents taking some stimulant medications.

Those reports were most common with the ADHD drug Strattera, which is not a stimulant and already carries a "black box" alert warning of potential suicide risk.

The committee concluded that further suicide warnings for stimulant drugs, including Ritalin, Concerta, and Adderall XR, are not warranted at this time.

The agency received hundreds of reports of aggressive behavior during the la...