ADHD which stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has become the pre-eminent childhood mental health disorder of our time. The increase in diagnosed cases has also lead to a near parabolic increase in prescriptions written for pharmaceutical stimulant medications.

But what if ADHD wasn't becoming more common at all, rather simply more obvious, especially in environments where ADHD children struggle? This in turn was putting pressure on parents to take action in an attempt to fend off academic under achievement and behavioral problems.

As far back as anyone can remember play time has traditionally been a scheduled part of childhood. However, this rapidly changing. Once there were hours of unstructured time for children to explore, be creative, and play.

ADHD children are naturally creative and are typically independent enough to want to explore.

Today children are in pre-arranged after school activities or organized lessons. While these activities generally deliver value, all children (especially those with ADHD) need a variety of play activities that develop gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, and social-emotional skills.

If you believe the recent findings by the National Institute of Health that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is driven by under development in the areas of the brain responsible for self-regulation it would be quite easy to draw a correlation between reduction in play time and an increase in childhood ADHD.

A 2007 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics documents that play promotes not only behavioral development but brain growth as well!

Play that involves large muscles (climbing, running, jumping) develops motor skills, helps reduces the chances of obesity, and promotes general wellness.

Building with blocks, drawing, and painting has been shown to aid in the development of fine motor skills, while organizing and sorting objects, doing puzzles, and having fun with guessing games are important to cognitive development.

Make believe games help with problem solving, developing communication skills, and social-emotional skills.

Most schools are dramatically slashing time allocated for play to make more time for €teaching€. Recess is viewed as time better spent in other ways and in many school the amount of time allocated for lunch has been shortened. A 2009 study published by the Journal Pediatrics shows students who received more than 15 minutes of free play behaved and concentrated better than those who had no recess period.

Research also tells us that there has not been an academic advantage in either math or reading for children in programs where there was shift from play to a more academic curriculum. Pair this with an increase in test anxiety, and a more negative attitude toward school and we are looking at an environment that puts a great deal of pressure on ADHD children who are already much more likely to drop out, or simply quit trying, than their peers without the disorder .

As you can see there is great deal of evidence to support the possibility that reduction in play time results in aggravating already problematic attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms.

Many parents have taken matters into their own hands setting aside extra time at home for their children to have fun with play. Some have even taken it a step further by adding a natural homeopathic ADHD remedy in addition to expanding play time. This powerful one two natural punch has been shown to dramatically reduce child ADHD symptoms especially when combined with diet modification and could be a drug free treatment alternative worth considering.