ADHD and the Edison Gene

Thom Hartmann is a progressive nationally and internationally syndicated talkshow host and an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of 24 books, including Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, which inspired Leonardo DiCaprio’s film The 11th Hour. A former psychotherapist and founder of the Hunter School, a residential and day school for children with ADHD, he lives in Washington, D.C.

“Like Edison, Thom Hartmann is a visionary who uses history to illuminate the potential cost to society of shackling unique minds aching to soar. He questions the cultural imperative that compels us to label what is outside the bell curve as pathological rather than extraordinary. In this new edition, Hartmann urges us to nurture the fearlessly innovative child and celebrate their differences. Our futures will ultimately be shaped by those undaunted by the spectra of the impossible--because they have been taught to believe in their own self-worth.”

• Foreword by Lucy Jo Palladino, Ph.D. Acknowledgments Introduction: A New View for Our Children Genetics and Differences 1993: The Hunter Gene Distractibility Impulsivity Risk-Taking Where Have All the Hunters Gone? Indigenous Hunters Today The Agricultural Revolution Our Society’s Hunters The Edison Gene The Crisis-Survival Gene Hunters Before the Holocene Adapted to Adversity and Change Part 1 The Past 1 The World of the Edison-Gene Child The Ancient World The Salt Pump The Great Ice Age Heated by the Great Conveyor Belt 2 The Dawn of Civilization What Made Us Human? The Bacteria That Took Over the World The Human Bottleneck Before the Bottleneck 3 Three Ways Humans Were Killed Off by Weather Warming by the Sun Vulcan’s Hammer Survivors: AIDS Chimps and the Black Plague Creativity Saves the Day ADHD and Creativity The Beads: Clue to the First Edisons Part 2 The Present 4 Anatomy of a Diagnosis How Edison-Gene Children Are Different Are They Disordered? Anthropology Meets Psychology • From Hunters to Inventors 5 The Mystery of Novelty-Seeking Behavior The “Novelty Gene” The Novelty Gene and ADHD 6 Genes Move Around and Turn On and Off The Genetics of Behavior Turning on Genes Codominant Genes Turning on Edison Characteristics 7 Other Genes and Influences Neurotransmitters and Personality Characteristics The Reasons for Genetic Variations Culture and Genes 8 Scientists Find the “Adaptive” Edison Gene But Some Say It’s a Disease Is It a Disorder? Novelty Seeking 9 The ADHD Gene and the Dawn of Human Civilization The Time Machine The News Hits the Streets The Edison Gene and Democracy 10 Brain Development and the Edison-Gene Child Sense of Self A Process that Mirrors Evolution The Reptilian Brain The Limbic Brain The “New” Brain The Unique Prefrontal Brain The Brain Develops After Birth, Too The First Pruning of the Brain The Impact of Stress The Brain in the Birth Period The Brain in the Toddler Period The Brain in the Early Childhood Period The Brain in the Teenage Period The Brain in the Early Adult Years Adult Memory of the Stages of Brain Development Intuition versus Information The Loss of Intuition The Tragedy of Lost Potential Invasion of the Lizard People? Are We Stuck in a Loop? Triggering Events Raising Fully Human Children Schools May Be the Key School as Torture Condemnation School as Work Comorbidities Applying Comorbidities to Edison-Gene Children Breaking the Loop Offering a New Story 11 The Edison Gene, Drugs, Exercise, and Nutrition Nutritional Deficiencies Are Rampant Environmental Toxins Nutriceuticals Yerba Maté: Nature’s Ritalin Drugs for Edison-Gene Children Medications Bite Back Burning Out Brain Cells? Do Drugs Help Over the Long Term? The Loss of Play EEG Neurofeedback Exercise: The Optimal “Treatment”? 12 Providing Discipline and Structure for the Edison-Gene Child Nurturing the Hunters Reward/Punishment versus Inclusion/Interdependence Separating Person from Behavior Break the Pattern with a Positive Message Watch for Islands of Success The Importance of Mastery Turn Off the Television 13 Alfred Adler’s Principles for Raising Children Promote Mutual Respect Encourage Foster Security Avoid reward and Punishment Use Natural and Logical Consequences Act Instead of Talk in Conflict Situations Use Withdrawal as a Counteraction Withdraw from the Provocation, Not from the Child Don’t Interfere in Children’s Fights Fighting Requires Cooperation Take Time to Teach Essential Skills and Habits Never Do for a Child What He Can Do for Himself Don’t Overprotect Avoid Being Overly Responsible Distinguish between Positive and Negative Attention Understand the Child’s Goal A Habit Is Maintained if It Achieves Its Purpose Minimize Mistakes Try a Family Council and Have Fun Together The Edison-Gene Family 14 Educating the Edison-Gene Child Learned Helplessness Reframing Identity = Success in Learning Government Studies Pronounce on Medication They Ignored the Environment The Study Proved Ritalin Doesn’t Improve Learning But It Makes the Teachers Happy Lighting a Fire for Learning Education and Testing Corporations How Modern Education Came About German Schools Come to America American Education and the Catholic Problem Backlash Against the Authoritarian Model of Public Education Maria Montessori Rudolf Steiner Free and Alternative Schools Homeschooling and Internet Schooling But What About Socialization? Why Homeschooling Works for Edison-Gene Children The Edison Gene through the College Years Find a Mentor or a Coach 15 Edison-Gene Girls and Women Be a Good Girl Cinderella in a Hostile World Cultural Barriers Cultural Programming and Expectations Healing the Wounds Spirituality and the Edison-Gene Child Edison-Gene Mystics The Hunter’s Reality The World of the Hunter’s Dreams Dreaming with the Natives Learning to Know Understanding the Real World Wild People and Tame People The Loss of True Wisdom When Access to Personal Spirituality Is Lost Part 3 The Future 17 How Edison-Gene Children May Change the World Glimmers of How Culture Works What Causes Culture? The Biology of Culture Primal Human Cultures Cultural and Genetic Selection 18 Is Human Evolution Finally Over? As Good As It Gets We’re Going Downhill It’s the Fault of Those People with ADHD! Are We Standing Still? Distant Bottleneck Events 19 One Generation to Save the World Climate Flip-Flops to the Next Ice Age A Global-Warming Bottleneck Afterword: Yesterday’s Child by Janie Bowman Notes Index