In a few weeks, parents will be having their first teacher conferences of the year, and many parents of first- and second-graders will hear, "We think your child has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder," also known as ADHD.

It's become the snap diagnosis for the wigglers, the daydreamers and the disruptive children in our schools.

As a consequence, 12 to 15 percent of children are now taking Ritalin-type drugs. A local physician is on a crusade to get educators and doctors to consider a different approach to treating ADHD.

"I had a hard time concentrating, when teacher gave homework," 13-year-old Stephanie Orosz, who has ADHD, said. "(I) never wrote it down, so at night, (I didn't know) what to do. (I was) seeing other kids get As and Bs, (and) I'm getting Cs and lower."

Most children with attention problems end up on Ritalin -- a solution that Dr. Walter Offenhartz said is overused and ultimately ineffective.

"Most people think Ritalin-type drugs improve school performance, and it has never been proven," Offenhartz said.

Offenhartz has treated about 500 patients with attention problems by using biofeedback.

"What EEG biofeedback is about is a training program that says some people weren't born to naturally sit still and pay attention to lectures in school, but this is something they can learn," he said.

Biofeedback shows how people's brain waves change when doing different tasks. Daydreaming and thinking about lots of different things, as in ADHD, makes the blue waves on the middle graph larger, while intensely focusing makes the red waves on the bottom larger.

Eighteen months of biofeedback therapy has helped Orosz bring her grade point average up to 3.5, and it has changed her whole outlook.

"It feels really good to know that I could do it, because I never thought I could be where I am right now," she said.

Offenhartz hopes that solid research will help attention disorders be viewed not as a black-and-white medical problem, but as an education problem.

"I think the medical community is looking at this like the world is flat," Offenhartz said. "The world is round; there are different people and ways of learning. If you just say, 'Yes/no, you have ADD; yes/no, you have hyperactivity; yes/no, you have impulsivity,' you're not looking at people (and) not looking at how to solve the problem. You're looking at how to get people not to disturb others, and is that what's really important?"

For more information on the treatment, as well as an upcoming golf outing with Tom Weiskopf to raise money for research, call (440) 542-9922.

For More Information:

• National Attention Deficit Disorder Association
• ADHD News
• ADHD Owner's Manual
• ADHD: A Path to Success

Previous Stories:

• February 16, 2000: Paying Attention To Those With ADD
• December 15, 1999: Study: Drugs May Help Hyperactive Children
• November 5, 1998: Paying Attention: Hard For Some Adults
• July 30, 1998: An ADHD Summer Camp