I want to start this review out with a very clear understanding.
I am a skeptic. I do not believe that dietary changes and vitamin supplements can cure ADD/ADHD.
While I do believe that nutrition can absolutely have an affect on ADHD and should be part of the treatment plan, I believe that if a diet change or supplement “cures” a case of ADHD that means that ADHD was a symptom, not a diagnosis. There, I said it.
I’m talking from experience here. I have a son who maxed out the scores on the hyperactivity/impulsivity section and the inattentive section of the Vanderbilt ADD/ADHD Assessment Scale.
Anyone who has a child like mine can appreciate what I’m about to say.
My son is not a monster. My son doesn’t need to be cured. My son is brilliant, loving, kind and perfect. Sometimes, however, he lets this condition get the best of him. Some days are wonderful while some days are very, very trying.
As part of a multi-faceted approach he takes a natural multivitamin and a good omega 3/DHA supplement every day. We avoid artificial food coloring as much as possible. He is not on a special diet at the moment but trust me when I sat that we have tried them all. ALL of them. And they didn’t make a darned bit of difference.
Amy over at Who Said Nothing in Life is Free, happens to be a good friend in real life. She is my shoulder to cry on when it comes to my son. She told me about Sol & Sam, the folks who make Focus, and was even able to get me a one month supply to try. I started little man on it right away. I had mixed feelings at first and I expected nothing.
Focus comes in powder form, the In School variety is cherry flavored. It smells very strongly of cherry but I suspect that’s to hide the actual smell, it’s pretty bad. Focus is dosed by weight, two scoops per 60 lbs of body weight, use half a dose the first week. Mix the Focus in a small amount of warm water, then mix in with juice or another drink the child likes.
I don’t buy juice for my kids to drink but I happened to have some leftover orange juice from a recipe so I used that the first time. Little man wasn’t really happy with the taste. The next day we tried chocolate milk (I bought the chocolate just for this reason, normally I stay away from added sugar) but again he wouldn’t drink it because of the taste. Finally I bought some apple juice to try and viola, that was it.
According to Sol & Sam you should start seeing results in about a week, and that was spot on for us. After a week of consistent use I didn’t notice that my kid was “cured”, but I noticed that he was one notch less active and more apt to listen. Is it coincidence that by the end of week two he had learned to read, practically overnight? It’s like his mind was finally slowed down enough so he could take everything he knew and put it together. And now he can read. He’s still hyper and still needs a lot of intervention during school hours, but it’s not quite as bad.
We’re in week three now and I’m pretty confident in saying we’ll be long-term Focus users.
Now is a great time to buy any of the three Focus blends, they’re featuring a buy one, get one half off deal.
Now it’s YOUR chance to try Focus in School by Sol & Sam. Sol & Sam has offered a free one month supply (5.3 oz jar) to one lucky reader!
The contest runs 2/13/13 9:00am EST to 2/15/13 9:00am EST
*Disclaimer: I received a one month supply of Focus In School to try in exchange for a review. All opinions in the review are my own based on the experience of my family. Please read all of the ingredients in the product before you try it. Focus is not a medicine, it is a dietary supplement. You take all risk in trying the product. No one at or affiliated with This Big Happy or ThisBigHappy.com can be held responsible for any negative side effects or occurrences relating to taking this product. Winner will be chosen at random*
I think I would try this on my two daughters. While they don’t have overt ADHD/ADD, they’ve been squirrely lately….
I’m glad you posted this review. I’ve often wondered about my son….I’ll be interested in checking out the assessment scale you posted. I have some omega 3 to give him, but he and my daughter both hate taking them. Perhaps the powder would be better?
Billie,
We can talk more privately but the Vanderbilt scale is what our ped and the behavioral clinic had us fill out. The pediatrician looked at it and his mouth dropped, I don’t think he believed me until little man started acting up in the office.
Little man takes Nature Dynamics omega 3 gummies. They smell like fish oil but he doesn’t seem to mind them. His older brother won’t take them, he prefers to take fish oil capsules. The gummies aren’t solely fish oil so it’s supposedly more absorbant. We chose this brand because it’s easily available (our grocery store sells it), it’s reasonably prices (about $13/bottle, one bottle will last him 3 months because of his weight) and it has high concentration of DHA and EPA, more than other gummies.
The Focus is very heavy on omegas 3, 6 and 9 as well.
We bought Nordic Naturals DHA, it is strawberry scented. I say “scented” because our kids still don’t love the flavor. They are gels (you can chew them or not). I suppose it would help if I’d remember to give them on a daily basis.
The gummies we have are orange scented, which is almost as bad as smelling like fish ;) Little man is *very* good about reminding us to give him his meds, if it was up to me I’d forget every day.
This is definitely something I’d like to try. Maybe I’ll win the trial bottle for Timmy! :)
Thanks for hosting this giveaway. This looks like something we could use!
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