Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) should get careful cardiac evaluation and monitoring – including an electrocardiogram (ECG) – before treatment with stimulant drugs, a new American Heart Association statement recommends.

The scientific statement on Cardiovascular Monitoring of Children and Adolescents with Heart Disease Receiving Stimulant Drugs is published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In 1999, concerns over potential cardiovascular effects of psychotropic drugs, especially tricyclic antidepressants, but including stimulants, prompted an American Heart Association Scientific Statement: Cardiovascular Monitoring of Children and Adolescents Receiving Psychotropic Drugs. However, no specific cardiovascular monitoring was recommended for the use of stimulant medications. Warnings from the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about stimulant medications and public concern for the safety of using them have prompted the current statement.

Studies have shown that stimulant medications like those used to treat ADHD can increase heart rate and blood pressure. These side effects are insignificant for most children with ADHD; however, they’re an important consideration for children who have a heart condition. Certain heart conditions increase the risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD), which occurs when the heart rhythm becomes erratic and doesn’t pump blood through the body.

Vetter also said doctors should evaluate children and adolescents already taking these medications if they were not evaluated when they started the treatment.

If heart problems are suspected after the evaluation, children should be referred to a pediatric cardiologist. Once stimulant treatment begins, children should have their heart health monitored periodically, with a blood pressure check within one to three months, then again at routine follow-ups every six to 12 months.

“Children can have undiagnosed heart conditions without showing symptoms,” Vetter said. “Furthermore, a child’s body changes constantly, with some conditions not appearing until adolescence.”

If the initial ECG was taken before age 12 years, it may be useful to do a repeat ECG after the child is over age 12 years, the statement says.

Widespread use of ECGs to detect heart abnormalities, including screenings for competitive athletes, is not routinely recommended by the American Heart Association. However, the writing group found using ECG screening in this specific population of children prescribed ADHD medication is medically indicated and reasonably priced. That said, however, lack of an ECG shouldn’t mean that kids who need ADHD treatment can’t get it.

“While we feel that an ECG is reasonable and helpful as a tool to identify children with cardiac conditions that can lead to SCD, if, in the view of their physician, a child requires immediate treatment with stimulant medications, this recommendation is not meant to keep them from getting that treatment,” said Vetter, who added that some children may not have access to a pediatric cardiologist who can evaluate an ECG or perform a cardiology consultation.

In 2003, an estimated 2.5 million children took medication for ADHD. Surveys indicate that ADHD affects an estimated 4 percent to 12 percent of all school-aged children in the United States, and it appears more common in children with heart conditions. Studies report that, depending on the specific cardiac condition, 33 percent to 42 percent of pediatric cardiac patients have ADHD, Vetter said. The number of undiagnosed children with heart conditions is unknown as routine heart screening is not performed, but Vetter said that a recent pilot study she presented at the American Heart Association’s 2007 Scientific Session indicated that up to 2 percent of healthy school aged children had potentially serious undiagnosed cardiac conditions identified by an ECG.

Data from the FDA showed that between 1999 and 2004, 19 children taking ADHD medications died suddenly and 26 children experienced cardiovascular events such as strokes, cardiac arrests and heart palpitations. Since February 2007, the FDA has required all manufacturers of drug products approved for ADHD treatment to develop Medication Guidelines to alert patients to possible cardiovascular risks.

Future studies are necessary to assess the true risk of SCD in association with stimulant drugs in children and adolescents with and without heart disease, Vetter said. However, studying SCD associated with drugs is difficult because the government’s reporting system is voluntary, which means local data on these types of deaths isn’t always reported nationally.

A registry of SCD events is necessary for further investigating this issue, the writing committee said. Such a registry would allow for a more accurate understanding of SCD, including the true incidence of it and the potential effectiveness of universal ECG testing and pre-participation screening questionnaires.

The statement writing committee said its recommendations are not intended to limit the appropriate use of stimulants in children with ADHD.

“Our intention is to provide the physician with some tools to help identify heart conditions in children with ADHD, and help them make decisions about the use of stimulant medications and the follow-up of children who take them,” Vetter said. “The goal is to allow treatment of ADHD, while attempting to lower the cardiac risk of these products in susceptible children.”

Source: EurekAlert, DC
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/aha-cwa041808.php

A 13-year-old schoolgirl in southern Austria celebrated the start of her spring break with a bottle of schnapps.

She ended up in intensive care.

In other countries across Europe, adolescents are making similar headlines for drinking themselves into a stupor, often passing out in the process.

And they’re getting younger: A June 2006 European Union-commissioned report says nearly all 15-to 16-year-old European students have had alcohol at some point in their lives and, on average, now start when they’re just 12 1/2 years old.

The data comes from a 2003 survey by the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs.

More than one in six have “binged” - had five or more drinks on a single occasion - three or more times in the last month, said the report by the London-based Institute of Alcohol Studies. It excluded EU newcomers Bulgaria and Romania.

In contrast to the United States or Canada, where even adults are often asked to prove their age when buying beer and other alcoholic drinks, laws in Europe are more lax and the drinking age generally hovers around 16 or 18.

Supermarkets sell alcohol and, unlike in the U.S., bottles and cans are seldom stashed away in areas that are off-limits to underage customers. Carding is uncommon.

In Austria - where binge drinking is known as “Komatrinken,” or “coma drinking” - a new law prohibits the sale of alcohol to anyone under either 16 or 18, depending on the region, and requires cashiers and establishments to card customers if they have any doubt about their age. Failure to do so can result in fines of up to $5,610 and loss of a liquor licence.

“When it comes to coma drinking among young people, we’re dealing with a phenomenon that needs to be battled to the best of our abilities,” Economics Minister Martin Bartenstein said.

Authorities and experts alike acknowledge the issue isn’t going away.

The WHO estimates there are 76.3 million people with alcohol use disorders worldwide.

The experts warn that some barely pubescent juveniles are starting to reach for the bottle sooner.

“We’ve seen a whole series of new trends over the past five to 10 years,” said Michael Musalek, director of the Anton Proksch Institute, a renowned Austrian detox center that claims to be Europe’s largest.

“For one, the age of alcohol beginners keeps declining. Today, 11-, 12-, 13-year-olds are already drinking - some on a regular basis,” he said.

Hospital officials notice the same trend.

At Vienna’s General Hospital, up to three teens are admitted each weekend after drinking escapades escalate, often leaving them so intoxicated they become unconscious, pediatrician Zsolt Szepfalusi said. More cases are common during special events, such as the city’s annual Danube Island Fest in the summer, he said.

“The numbers aren’t really up - but we’re seeing a decrease in age,” Szepfalusi said. “Some of our patients are as young as 12.”

It’s not just a big-city problem. Robert Birnbacher, head of pediatrics at a public hospital in the southern Austrian town of Villach, said his clinic sees about one to two cases of young “coma drinkers” every weekend.

“The patients are getting younger and there are more girls among them,” he said.

Vladimir Poznyak, coordinator of the team working on the management of substance abuse in the World Health Organization’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, confirmed a general decline in age for initial contact with alcohol worldwide.

“It’s definitely happening and reflects general cultural changes,” Poznyak said.

The risks of starting to drink early include developing a dependence on alcohol and hampering brain development, he said.

In Germany, where beer is a big part of local culture, authorities are calling on adults to counsel their children to put off their first experiences with alcohol.

In October, the government’s “drug czar,” Sabine Baetzing, said every fourth teenager gets drunk off five or more alcoholic drinks at least once a month. The number of teenagers who ended up hospitalized with alcohol poisoning doubled from 9,500 in 2000 to 19,400 in 2005, she said.

But one expert, while welcoming action to fight alcohol abuse among Austria’s young, cautions against blowing the problem out of proportion.

Alfred Uhl, senior scientist at the Vienna-based Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Addiction Research, said alcohol consumption in Austria peaked around 1970 and has declined ever since - despite the fact that prices have nose-dived. He warned that hospital statistics may be misleading because alcohol-related diagnoses were made less frequently in the past than they are now.

“Generally speaking, Europe’s youngsters are growing up faster than they used to and in countries such as Austria where alcohol is a part of the going out culture, it would be strange if they didn’t consume alcohol as well,” he said.

On the streets of the Austrian capital, teenagers dispute they drink heavily - but acknowledge alcohol has a presence in their lives.

“I started when I was 15 and like beer and tequila,” said 16-year-old Patrick Settinger, smoking a cigarette on his way home from school.

Source: The Canadian Press, Austria
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3fB9g7BnwevWxz-erjPnU3VdYGQ

Children are more than twice as likely to be injured falling out of bed as they are tumbling out of a tree, figures have revealed.

Seven years ago the chances were about equal. But as the lives of “the Xbox generation” have become dominated by sedentary activities, the likelihood of them having an outdoor accident has plummeted.

The statistics from accident and emergency departments in England demonstrate just how differently youngsters play these days.

In 2006/07 - the latest year for which data is available - 1,067 children under 15 needed medical assistance for tree falls. In 1999/00 the figure was 1,823.

Meanwhile, the number of youngsters under 15 admitted to A&E after bed falls in 2006/07 was 2,531, up from 2,226 in 1999/2000.

The figures lend weight to the Government’s campaign to get more children away from computer games and into the great outdoors.

Ministers are giving councils £235million over three years to develop up to 3,500 play areas.

Unfortunately, when Children’s Secretary Ed Balls and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham tried to swing on ropes in a London park at the strategy’s launch earlier this month, they ended up colliding in a twisted mess of limbs.

Frank Furedi, a professor of sociology at the University of Kent, and author of Paranoid Parenting, said: “One of the things I have noticed is that trees seem to attract less children than in the past.

“Parents and family members would have encouraged their children to climb trees years ago but now they’re becoming no-go areas.

“It’s important to remember that climbing trees and having the odd accident is part of a wonderful childhood experience. It teaches us how to manage risk and how to handle ourselves in unexpected circumstances.”

He added, however, that promoting play strategies in parks is the wrong kind of focus.

“A lot of kids want to work out for themselves how they want to play.”

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: “Climbing trees allows kids to get out and about, be active, experience the world around them and interact with nature.

“We’ve got nothing against climbing trees, it can be a great way of kids learning to deal with risks.

“We have asked ourselves whether it’s better to break a wrist falling from a tree than developing Repetitive Strain Injury from playing computer games.”

The number of children under 15 arriving at A&E after falls from playground equipment has risen slightly from 6,581 in 1999/2000 to 6,617 in 2006/07, according to the Hospital Episode Statistics.

But the rise in accidents could be due to a growing number of parents installing apparatus such as climbing frames, slides and trampolines in their back gardens.

Source: Daily Mail, UK
http://tinyurl.com/5hq6ph

Each weekday, come rain or shine, a group of children, ages 3 to 6, walk into a forest outside Frankfurt to sing songs, build fires and roll in the mud. To relax, they kick back in a giant “sofa” made of tree stumps and twigs.

The birthplace of kindergarten is returning to its roots. While schools and parents elsewhere push young children to read, write and surf the Internet earlier in order to prepare for an increasingly cutthroat global economy, some little Germans are taking a less traveled path — deep into the woods.

Germany has about 700 Waldkindergärten, or “forest kindergartens,” in which children spend their days outdoors year-round. Blackboards surrender to the Black Forest. Erasers give way to pine cones. Hall passes aren’t required, but bug repellent is a good idea.

Trees are a temptation — and sometimes worse. Recently, “I had to rescue a girl” who had climbed too high, says Margit Kluge, a teacher at Idstein’s forest kindergarten. Last year, a big tree “fell right before our noses.”

The schools are a throwback to Friedrich Fröbel, the German educator who opened the world’s first kindergarten, or “children’s garden,” more than 150 years ago. Mr. Fröbel counseled that young children should play in nature, cordoned off from too many numbers and letters.

They are also a modern-day snapshot of environmentally conscious and consumption-wary Germany, where the Green Party polls more than 10% and stores are closed on Sundays.

Only a fraction of German children attend Waldkindergärten, but their numbers have been rising since local parent groups began setting up these programs in the mid-1990s, following the lead of a Danish community. Similar schools exist in smaller numbers in Scandinavia, Switzerland and Austria. The concept is sparking interest far afield — even in the U.S., whose first Waldkindergarten opened in Portland, Ore., last fall.

“The computer arrives early enough,” adds Norbert Huppertz, a specialist in child development at the Freiburg University of Education and a Waldkindergärten booster in Germany.

Academic studies of such schools are in their infancy. Some European researchers believe Waldkindergärten kids exercise their imaginations more than their brick-and-mortar peers do and are better at concentrating and communicating. Despite dangers, from insects particularly, the children appear to get sick less often in these fresh-air settings. Studies also suggest their writing skills are less developed, though, and that they are less adept than other children at distinguishing colors, forms and sizes.

In the rolling countryside of Idstein on a recent rainy morning, parents dropped off their children at a muddy parking lot a bit after 8 as the temperature hovered around 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Inspecting a Worm

Some of the children, wrapped in thick winter clothing, stooped over to inspect a worm. Then the five girls and four boys trudged into the neighboring woods with their two teachers before pausing to hold hands in a circle. “Good morning, sun, even though we can’t see you today,” said the 51-year-old Ms. Kluge, as the children joined in song and then acted out a play involving rabbits.

They hiked a few hundred feet into the forest before settling down to jump in puddles, examine a hibernating lizard and paint Easter eggs. A girl named Maxi went off to whittle a branch with a hunting knife. Another made “chocolate-vanilla-strawberry-herbal pudding” by stirring mud with a twig.

At snack time, the children sat on logs and munched on carrots and nuts while Ms. Kluge told them about the life cycle of toads. A boy named Ben wanted to know whether a North American visitor accompanying them was “a cowboy or an Indian.” A bit before 1 p.m., after jumping in more puddles, playing around a makeshift tepee and singing another song involving the Easter bunny, the children emerged from the woods grinning and caked in mud to be picked up by their waiting parents.

“It’s peaceful here, not like inside a room,” said Ms. Kluge, who has headed the Waldkindergarten since it opened five years ago.

The children rarely venture into a trailer in the forest that’s used as a shelter in extreme weather. Ms. Kluge says no child has ever asked for a toy. The children improvise instead with what the woods have to offer. And there haven’t been any bad accidents beyond the occasional scrapes and bruises.

Not everyone has a feel-good experience. Frankfurt resident Donna Parssinen sent her son to a Waldkindergarten last year but says he got Lyme disease from ticks. It resulted in meningitis that temporarily paralyzed half his face. “I still like the idea” of Waldkindergärten, says Ms. Parssinen, “but once is enough.” Her son now attends a four-walled kindergarten.

Still, many German indoor kindergartens take children to nearby forests once a week to tramp around. A spokesman for Germany’s Ministry for Family Affairs said it welcomes the arrival of Waldkindergärten, which typically receive local government subsidies similar to those of state-run kindergartens.

Iwao Uehara, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture, says he has been trying to set up such a school in Japan, but the project is struggling. Until there’s evidence that Waldkindergärten graduates end up attending “famous universities,” it’s going to be a tough sell, he says.

In Portland, though, Marsha Johnson launched Mother Earth kindergarten last fall to combat what she calls “early academic fatigue syndrome….We have 5-year-olds who are tired of going to school.” The 14 children spend four hours a day at the privately run school playing in a state park forest.

How to Handle a Saw

Among the nature-based activities, children learn how to handle a real saw. “A plastic saw is no good,” says Ms. Johnson. “You might as well give them a plastic life.” The worst that has happened thus far to the children is the occasional bee sting, she says.

Mimi Howard, a director at the Education Commission of the States, which advises states on policy from Denver, says some U.S. teachers feel pressure “to push academics earlier and earlier.” The federal No Child Left Behind law introduced standardized testing for reading and writing by third grade, but some studies recommend more “open-ended learning experiences” for young children. “We’re in the debate phase,” she says.

In Fife, Scotland, Cathy Bache recently took matters into her own hands and founded a private nursery school. About 20 children explore the local forests, “saw logs, make fires when cold and look at fungi,” she explains. Ms. Bache admits the children fall out of trees “quite often” — but that she doesn’t let them climb higher than 6 feet, the cutoff point for her insurance policy.

Source: Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120813155330311577.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

(…) As a sexuality educator for almost 20 years, I was disappointed to read that after observing a three-hour program about sexuality for teenagers and parents, Mr. Winerip felt that the prospect for having an open dialogue about sex was “pretty much devoid of hope.”

I applaud all opportunities for parents to talk with their children, but parents should begin to talk about sexuality long before the teenage years.

Teaching our children early on how to assess risks in any number of areas helps them become thoughtful, safe and responsible adults. We want them to know our values as parents. This does not happen in one conversation, but rather in many conversations as our children grow.

In a given day, parents have a wealth of opportunities to share their values in casual conversations. Teenagers need parents who learn to be comfortable using these teachable moments to share their values, which takes practice.

Despite what teenagers say, studies show that teenagers want their parents to share their values about sexuality with them. Furthermore, teenagers whose parents have overcome their discomfort delay having sexual intercourse. (…)

Source: New York Times, United States
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/opinion/l13parenting.html?ref=opinion

The internet offers a world of possibilities for children — but adults need to manage the risks, say Matt Warman and Claudine Beaumont

It has not been a good few days for the internet: a succession of recent reports and surveys has warned of the dangers the web poses to children, and parents could be forgiven for cancelling their broadband subscriptions and dumping the family computer.

In Britain, a government-backed report got the ball rolling, calling for a new code of conduct for social networking sites. This was swiftly followed by detailed research which found that more than a quarter of eight-to-11-year-olds with internet access had circumvented ineffectual age restrictions to join social networking sites aimed at older people.

The British Home Office published a 73-page report that makes a series of recommendations about the steps social networking sites and websites need to take, in order to improve child safety online, including providing links that advertise phone numbers for the emergency services.

So, what steps can parents take to ensure their children’s online safety, when the internet appears to be little more than a lawless playground?

Those with younger children, not yet tempted by the forbidden fruit of Facebook or Bebo will also know that such inquisitive urges are just around the corner, and wonder how best to prepare their children for it.

Here are our top five tips for keeping children safe online, as well as our guide to the best websites for young children:

1: Be realistic

There are dangers online just as there are in real life. Make sure you know where children are going online, just as you would make sure you know who they’re playing with. Ask what websites they’re visiting and what their appeal is.

Make sure the computer is in a public place, such as the living room or kitchen, so you can see what’s going on. This will reduce the temptation for young people to shut the door on the pleasures of the real world, too.

2: Use parental controls or protective software

Almost all internet browsers now have effective parental controls built in, which can be easily tweaked to filter the kind of sites children can access. Don’t ask your children to help set it up — employ a competent friend or IT professional if it’s beyond your expertise.

There are also several commercial options: for instance, Cyberpatrol.com offers you the chance to limit time and type of web access, and an awful lot more besides; McAfee and Norton make equivalent versions, too, but be aware that the walled garden approach can always be circumvented by using another computer, so education about the rules and responsibilities of internet use needs to go hand-in-hand with such software solutions.

3: Protect your child’s online identity

Adults should know by now that signing up to a website usually involves a choice about how much personal data you want to give out, and how much you want to make public.

Try to explain to your children, too, that they can use pseudonyms, and that they shouldn’t ever tell strangers they meet online too much about themselves.

4: Remember that there is real danger out there

There’s been a huge amount of media coverage of a small number of incidents of young people being ‘groomed’ online by people who have subsequently ended up in prison.

Much of the internet offers anonymity, which makes this kind of criminal activity easier to perpetrate.

If you think that something really is amiss, talk first to your children, but don’t dismiss as harmless behaviour online that would be really suspicious in person.

5: Try to get the most out of technology

Remember that prohibition simply won’t work. Your children will use computers, even if it’s at school or at friends’ houses.

If you understand what’s worthwhile for your child, what’s harmful and how to balance risks, both you and your child will be able to get a lot more out of the web.

Best websites for young children

The internet is a useful educational tool for children of all ages, and when used properly, can provide a safe environment for creative play, as these sites show:

Club Penguin: a virtual world aimed at children aged between six and 14, where youngsters can play games and interact with other ‘penguins’.

Adventure Rock: a site from Children’s BBC that encourages youngsters to explore a long-forgotten island.

Moshi Monsters: adopt and care for a virtual pet monster.

Imbee: make trading cards, a personal blog and create interest groups for like-minded children.

Lola’s Land: launching on April 22, and aimed at slightly older girls, this social-networking site is based on the Lola Love character created by author Lisa Clark.

> Alternatively, you could try an internet browser designed specifically for children.

KidZui (www.kidzui.com ) restricts children’s online experience to half a million websites approved by teachers and parents.

It combines elements of social-networking and personalisation with educational information and fun games. Although US-centric in its focus, it’s worth taking a look at.

Source: Irish Independent, Ireland
http://tinyurl.com/64zn85

A proposal to restrict the sale of violent video games in Massachusetts has caused famed horror author Stephen King (…), who admits he is no fan of video games, to speak out against what he refers to as the government’s surrogate parenting.

“According to the proposed bill, violent video games are pornographic and have no redeeming social merit,” he wrote in an Entertainment Weekly column. “What makes me crazy is when politicians take it upon themselves to play surrogate parents. The results of that are usually disastrous. Not to mention undemocratic.”

Designated HB 1423, the state legislation would limit the sale of violent video games to anyone under the age of 18. “Which means, by the way, that a 17-year-old who can get in to see Hostel: Part II would be forbidden by law from buying (or renting, one supposes) the violent but less graphic Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” King pointed out. “If there’s violence to be had, the kids are gonna find a way to get it.”

Instead of a state-mandated restriction on violent game sales–many of which have been found to be unconstitutional in the past–King suggested that parents make an effort to take a more active role in raising their children as video games are not the only readily available source of violence in America.

“There’s a lot more to America’s culture of violence than Resident Evil 4,” he explained. “Parents need to have the guts to forbid material they find objectionable…and then explain why it’s being forbidden. They also need to monitor their children’s lives in the pop culture–which means a lot more than seeing what games they’re renting down the street.”

Source: Shacknews
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52090

· Anti-psychotics may cause long-term harm, say critics
· Youngsters under 6 being given unlicensed drugs

New evidence has shown children’s lives are being put at risk by a surge in the use of controversial tranquillising drugs which are being prescribed to control their behaviour, the Guardian has learned.

The anti-psychotic drugs are being given to youngsters under the age of six even though the drugs have no licence for use in children except in certain schizophrenia cases, the report says.

The number of children on the drugs has doubled since the early 1990s as the UK begins to follow a trend started in the US, but critics say they are a “chemical cosh” that could cause premature death.

The first comprehensive analysis, carried out by Ian Wong, professor of paediatric medicines research at the London School of Pharmacy, suggests the number of children on the drugs has surged sharply.

His analysis, to be published next month in the US journal Pediatrics, shows that between 1992 and 2005, 3,000 UK children were given anti-psychotics.

Although the drugs are not licensed for children, doctors can prescribe them on their own responsibility.

The increase follows a huge rise in the use of the drugs in children in the US. Yet nobody knows how the drugs affect a growing child’s body or what may happen in the long term. The increase has come at a time when former psychiatric best-sellers Prozac and its class of anti-depressants have gone out of patent. Wong says children on anti-psychotic medication are more likely to die earlier - something which may not be caused by the drug but which gives cause for concern. “The mortality rate is much higher. It could be some underlying problem of the brain. It doesn’t show the drug is causing any deaths, but there is this inequality.”

Some of the children of whose deaths he is aware had underlying incurable conditions such as Aids, so it is hard to establish whether the drugs played any part.

David Healy, professor of psychological medicine at Cardiff University, says the drugs may cause heart, circulation and breathing problems. “There is a real question over whether the drugs can kill for a number of reasons. One is that all anti-psychotics act on [the brain chemical] dopamine.” He said dopamine was known to have a role in cardiovascular regulation. A number of children in the US, given stimulants - which also act on the dopamine system - after being diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), have suddenly died, said Healy. He was asked by lawyers in the US to give an opinion on a child who was diagnosed when she was a baby first with ADHD, then depression and finally bipolar disorder (manic depression). “Having spent 75% of her life on one of these drugs, she dropped dead at the age of two,” he said.

The drugs have potentially serious and harmful side-effects which need to be balanced against any benefit for the child or its parents. These include substantial weight gain and tardive dyskinesia (uncontrollable tongue and facial movements).

The drug watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority, is concerned about the use of such drugs without evidence to prove they are safe in children, but unless the manufacturers conduct trials, its hands are tied.

Source: Guardian, UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/07/mentalhealth.drugs

(…) The Huron Heights Grade 9 student attended an assembly about hearing loss, organized by a dozen Grade 11 students, their health teacher and the Hearing Foundation of Canada. She was one of two volunteers who had the volumes of their iPods tested.

When Klooster went to the front of the large cafeteria packed with students and was asked to turn her iPod to her normal listening volume, it was easily audible across the room.

When Gael Hannan of the Hearing Foundation tested it, she found it was at 120 decibels — louder than a typical rock concert and a level at which it’s impossible to listen to even briefly without risking hearing damage.

“I didn’t know it was going to be the loudest she had ever recorded,” Klooster said later. “It was a bit shocking.”

Hannan explained exposure to loud noises damages hairs in the cochlea, a part of the inner ear, which transmits sounds to the brain.

Ringing in the ears that goes away is a form of temporary hearing loss, and a warning sign ears have been exposed to a dangerous level of noise.

When Hannan asked the students who had ever had ringing in their ears, almost all put up their hands.

Dangerous noise levels have to do not only with the sound volume but also the length of time you’re exposed to it. A dial tone or a vacuum cleaner is 85 decibels — safe for eight hours. But with every three decibels a sound goes up in volume — a difference difficult for people to detect — safe exposure time is cut in half.

So the noise of a forklift, at 88 decibels, is safe for four hours; a subway, at 91 decibels, for two hours. A typical school dance or snowmobile is 100 decibels, which is safe without hearing protection for only 15 minutes. A leaf blower, at 110 decibels, is safe for about a minute and a half.

There is evidence many teens have already suffered hearing loss.

A recent B.C. study of 140,000 young people entering the workforce found 22 per cent had the early warning signs. A further 4.6 per cent had worse hearing.

Some lose hearing for reasons such as ear infections in early childhood, but only 12 per cent of children starting school have hearing loss, suggesting noise causes most of the increase, Hannan said.

Caroline Cook, 16, took the stage to tell students what it’s like to be hard of hearing. The Toronto student was born with 90 per cent hearing loss. She explained she has to be facing people to understand what they’re saying. She often has to ask friends to repeat themselves, and they often brush her off with a “never mind.”

Often, Cook doesn’t hear people say Hi, and people assume she’s stuck up. She never has private phone conversations because she has to use a speaker phone. She can only watch TV or go to movies when closed-captioning is available, which limits her selection.

Her hearing dog alerts her to noises such as the toaster popping or her mother calling. Still, “I face a lot of challenges in my life,” Cook said.

Jordan Smith, 18, who plays in a band with Huron Heights students Brendan White, 17, and Riley Moore, 15, was also born with hearing loss, though less severe than Cook’s.

He and his band all wore earplugs as they played at the assembly, but Smith has no choice. He has tubes in his ears that contain microchips to augment his hearing. He said amplifiers cause so much reverberation for him, he gets an instant migraine.

Musicians who wear earplugs actually hear the music better because there’s no distortion from too-loud sounds, White said.

After the assembly, when Klooster turned her iPod on, she turned it down. “It meant a lot to me to figure out how loud I’m listening to my music,” she said. “I pretty much listen to it full blast, so I guess I need to work on that a little bit.”

Source: Waterloo Record, Canada
http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/332468

Paedophiles are not the only threat to children with no real concept of the dangers of the net, writes Carol Hunt

It’s ironic that in an age where parents are so sensitive to the dangers of allowing children socialise without supervision that the biggest threat to their safety could possibly be within their own home.

This week a report by the UK’s communications watchdog, Ofcom, showed that children as young as eight are at risk from paedophiles and bullies because of their use of the internet.

Of the 3,000 children surveyed, who had internet access, half of eight-to-11-year-olds have a profile on a social network — Bebo being the preferred site for nearly two-thirds of this age group. Many of the kids admit that they lie about their age when networking and nearly half say that their parents have laid down absolutely no rules or guidelines concerning their use of the internet.

Don’t parents realise that their child is probably more likely to link up with a paedophile masquerading as a fellow friend online than in the local park after school?

Okay, most parents of my age are still more than a little confused when it comes to the intricacies of social networking. We are not part of the millennial generation.

(Millennials, for all you old fogeys out there, are people [usually young] who are totally au fait with all aspects of internet communication).

But whether we like it or not, parents now have a responsibility to catch up with modern technology as quickly as possible — our children’s safety may depend on it.

And I admit that this may not be such an easy task, especially if — like me — you are a bit of a Luddite when it comes to technology.

I still get confused when I try to send group emails and I have never willingly accessed a social networking site.

I have an old-fashioned fear of posting anything on the internet — emails, photos, videos that I wouldn’t be happy seeing plastered over the front of a newspaper. Which is why I still find it quite unbelievable when I see what kids put up about themselves on the internet — most of them with not a thought for who will read it or what use their photos and personal details can be put to.

Most parents I know just can’t seem to get their heads around the casual manner in which kids will post sexually provocative material about themselves online.

They are genuinely shocked when they are shown Bebo or MySpace sites of precocious young girls who post porn-style pictures of themselves on their pages — complete with phone numbers and addresses — but still seem to remain ignorant of the fact that their own child may be posting inappropriate material about themselves online.

The Ofcom report states baldly that children and teenagers feel ‘invincible’ when on the web and it’s understandable that they fail to see the danger of posting sensitive information when cocooned in the privacy of their own homes.

Even Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has been caught out several times discussing schemes against a corporate enemy in emails which were admitted as evidence in anti-trust testimony.

And if he doesn’t know better, how can we expect teenagers to be aware of the dangers of posting information on the web that they would be far better off keeping to themselves? A few months ago I talked to a number of young, intelligent teenagers about their use of the internet and was amazed when most of them said they spent a minimum of two to three hours a day on it.

Many young people now spend far longer on the net than they do watching TV — up to 20 hours a week in some cases — and we wonder why they’re becoming obese?

In cyber-language they discuss their likes, dislikes, what they got up to at the weekend, drink/drugs, sexual preferences and a whole lot of other stuff that they would “die” if their parents found out about.

“But this stuff is out there for anyone to access, including your parents,” I said.

They dismissed my concern with a few shrugs and giggles: “My parents wouldn’t have a clue how to access my Bebo or MySpace site,” said one 15-year-old confidently. “My mother can’t even send emails, never mind find Google,” said another.

The teens are dismissive — and in some cases contemptuous — of the older generation’s inability to navigate the intricacies of social networking and other web activities.

What they don’t seem to be aware of — or care about — is that increasingly employers are using these sites to find out about current or potential employees. And it’s very easy for information and photos that you may have thought were confined to your own circle of friends to get out into the general arena.

Even if you never post a single incriminating item on the web, that’s no guarantee someone else won’t do it for you.

Earlier this year, a young teacher in Britain was suspended after an advertisement she did in her former career as an actress was posted on YouTube and spotted by her thrilled students.

Unfortunately for Sarah Green the ad was for Scruffs — clothing for construction workers — and featured three young women simulating sex with some lucky construction workers. The parents of the private school where Ms Green teaches were not amused.

“It appears her character is possibly not suited to such a highly regarded school,” one parent reportedly said.

Why do we give out so much personal information online when we cannot control its dissemination?

Not even George Orwell could have envisaged that the educated peoples of the free world would so enthusiastically hand over their lives to a pack of geeky global computer nerds: DIY surveillance — and it costs the manipulators nothing.

But whatever about the philosophical implications of a world where nothing is secret, our first priority is to teach our children how to protect themselves online: not just against possible predators, be they sexual or otherwise, but also against displaying information which may come back to haunt them in later years.

The Ofcom report states that many parents are oblivious to the issues of privacy and safety on the internet and seem to think that the sites themselves protect the users.

This isn’t good enough. If we allow our children to use the internet, we should also make sure that we know how to protect them from the risks they can incur online. As Robin Blake, head of media literacy at Ofcom, said: “This is an issue about parenting.”

Source: Irish Independent, Ireland
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