>Hi you all,
A quick history: we have a 91/2 yo daughter who was diagnosed with ADD and
minor LD. Thank God, we have a wonderful private school here in Raleigh
which is for ADD/LD students only.  Core classes are a 1:4 ratio; teachers
and administration are VERY involved with the home scene.  Anyway, after 6
months there her teachers and parents decided to try Ritalin for her severe
ADD (we had previously been very resistant to this course of action).  For
her, it was a miracle drug.  Our daughter is an excellent student now... her
self esteem has improved greatly, she is more confident about her abilities,
her LDs have abated, she is rarely ADD in class while on the medication,
etc.  During her drug vacation this summer we could see her backslide and
become more and more disorganized.

Anyway, now we have a fabulous student on our hands!  Yet, my husband and I
continued always searching for different/additional information.  Our quest
for information has been piqued by Skye Weintraub's book Natural Treatments
for ADD and Hyperactivity.  She advocates an examination of diet and
nutrition (food allergies, food additives, sugar, yeast, etc), environmental
factors (heavy metals, pesticides, preservatives, etc)and other possible
causal factors of ADD (thyroid, senses, etc).  Then treating the child by
solving defficiencies with a combination of homeopathic, cellsalts, herbs
and other supplements.

Our immediate course of action is to stop all dairy and begin weaning from
wheat to see what if any reactions it may cause.  Diary is fairly easy to
eliminate for us as we have already cut back 80% of her dairy consumption
(limited cheese and ice cream and yogurt).  But wheat?  It's going to mean
major changes for all of us!  How do others cope with the COST DIFFERENCE?
$1. for a loaf of wheat bread versus $2.50 for rice bread?  Plus the
additional costs for organic foods!  Too bad we can't start a garden now but
we're too far into fall here.

Finally, I'd be interested in recipes, cookbooks, etc.  I've learned so much
from you all on the no-milk group... is there a no-wheat group, too?

Thanx for listening.  I'll share results (if you want it) from our journey.
Jeny