G.S.
Okay, I have an 11-year-old and a husband with ADHD/ADD. I'm going to tell you exactly what to do, and it will work!!! I have chosen not to medicate my 11-year-old. My husband takes medication. He also just started taking Constant Focus. For your child, do this without fail:
1. Get rid of all simple sugar foods and snacks, and get rid of all artificial colors, dyes and most artificial flavors and additives. This means NO juice, NO fruit snacks or fruit roll-ups, NO sugary breakfast cereals, NO fake pancake syrup (use only real maple syrup...yes, it's expensive), NO Nutrigrain bars, NO soups with MSG, etc.
2. Replace all snacks with low sugar, complex carbs containing whole grains...NOT enriched whole grains. He will have trouble with this diet change at first, b/c his body is addicted to this stuff. He may even have withdrawal headaches.
3. Add at least double or triple the fiber into his diet.
4. Add the following supplements:
Attentive Child: http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?c=1&pid=974&...
Jr. Strength Fish Oil: http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?c=1&pid=4199...
You can order these on this website for cheap with fast shipping:
You can also get these things at Mother's Market, Henry's or any whole food store.
Try this for at least 4 weeks to see a big difference. Trust me (a perfect stranger on the internet - haha)...I made these changes 3 years ago (food) and over a year ago (supplements). Life has been different. My son has given me positive feedback, and he is like a new kid.
Besides these supplements, I will add that I also do behavior modification with him to work on his behaviors. I have ordered a whole slew of ADHD workbooks just for kids like him. If you want some ideas, e-mail me back. I also use a computer-based program called Easy Child to help him maintain his responsibilities. He also has a big bulletin board to help him stay organized. It's a lot of work, but, for us, it's a better alternative to medicating him. I'm a SAHM, so I have extra time to give to all my kids. I have a 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy, as well.
Hope this helps!