About the Authors

LaVonne Kirkpatrick, Ed. D.

 With over 30 years teaching experience, Dr. LaVonne Kirkpatrick has taught courses dealing with various teacher preparation issues, including ADHD. She has presented at state, national, and international conferences. She has also been principal investigator of a school-based grant which involved working with ADHD children and their families.  

 Her interest in helping young children learn and be successful began over 30 years ago when she become an elementary classroom teacher.  While teaching elementary school, she had her first experiences working directly with ADD/ADHD children and their families.  This interest and connection has continued to the present day as an assistant professor in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas.

 As a faculty member, Dr. Kirkpatrick teaches elementary majors who are preparing to become classroom teachers. She has supervised numerous student teachers, as well as working directly with their mentors teachers in the field. With such close contact, she has heard novice and experienced teachers alike voicing their concerns over trying to reach all of the children they’re teaching. She has witnessed firsthand their struggles in dealing with the ADD/ADHD children in their classrooms.  Often their frustration in not feeling confident or not knowing where to turn next is expressed.  Principals and guidance counselors, as support personnel, are also seeking answers. Parents of these children are at a loss as well. 

Through all of these experiences, Dr. Kirkpatrick’s desire to help ADD/ADHD children has only grown stronger.  She began seriously focusing on researching information about viable treatment options approximately eight years ago. This book is the result of her strong commitment and desire to assist ADD/ADHD children and their families which has spanned over three decades.

Rick Kirkpatrick, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.

Rick Kirkpatrick has provided mental health counseling to children and adults for a variety of conditions, including ADD/ADHD, in both private practice and in various mental health facilities for approximately 15 years. He has presented at both state and international conferences on the utilization of “alternative therapies” for ADD/ADHD and other mental health conditions.

As Director of the Integrative Health and Therapies Program at a rehabilitation hospital, one of his responsibilities was to research complementary and alternative treatment options. Those showing a high level of validity were integrated into the traditional therapies that were provided for patients. Mr. Kirkpatrick observed that combining traditional medicine with various non-traditional therapies often resulted in improvements that neither treatment approach could produce on its own. He took this same integrated approach in the treatment of ADD/ADHD, resulting in improving the lives of both children and adults who suffer from this condition. 

The authors now wish to share what they have learned with the general public. It is their hope that The ADD/ADHD Revolution will be of assistance in helping those who suffer from ADD/ADHD have a better and more rewarding life.