Fire Child, Water Child

In his years working with children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), pediatrician Stephen Scott Cowan has discovered that what helps one child focus his or her attention may not benefit another. There are five distinct ways children focus, presented for the first time in Fire Child, Water Child. This guide to parenting children with ADHD helps parents identify their child's focusing style--fire, metal, water, wood, or earth--and use the appropriate skills and parenting techniques to reduce ADHD symptoms. For example, while children with metal focusing styles thrive with rules, regulation, and structure, and like knowing what is going to happen next, fire children seek explosive excitement and adventure. This guide offers practical skills and activities parents can use with each of the five adaptive ADHD types to help their children tap into their innate ability to develop calm focus. The author also discusses medication and other adjunctive treatments parents can use to supplement the five adaptive phase model in this book.

“"This is such a good book-as practical as it is poetic. Dr. Cowan helps us to know our anxious, troubled, and sometimes troubling kids in new, more appreciative, and more compassionate ways. He teaches us that ADHD is as varied as the children who show its symptoms. In helping us adults step-by-step to help them, he helps us grow in love as well as knowledge." -James S. Gordon, MD, psychiatrist, founder of The Center for Mind Body Medicine, and author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression”

"Fire Child, Water Child is a breakthrough work. Children are unique and deserve an expanded and elevated approach to healing. This stunning book points toward complementary and healthy alternatives to pharmaceutical remedies."
--Deepak Chopra, MD, author and cofounder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing

"'Not a disease, but a symptom, ' is Dr. Cowan's stunningly insightful summation of ADHD. Fire Child, Water Child offers a deep understanding of the types of children who may manifest attention difficulties. Dr. Cowan identifies what is right about them, innate positive qualities we can support to promote their development. Far more compassionate than the standard narrow medical approach, this book is also more scientific in its appreciation of children's relationship to their environment."
--Gabor Mat�, MD, author of Scattered: How Attention Deficit Disorder Originates and What You Can Do About It

"Cowan empowers us to see beyond generic labels that lead to one-size-fits-all thinking. He offers dazzling insights into the nature of each individual child, potentially revolutionizing how children are cared for by their families, educated by their teachers, and treated by their physicians."
--Harriet Beinfield, coauthor of Between Heaven and Earth

"Dr. Cowan has written an exceptionally thoughtful, repercussive book that will surely change the lives of children and parents looking for profound, holistic ways to understand and heal attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Not only has he created a masterful treatise in which children's root natures are brought to light as key ingredients in their bespoke recoveries, but he has also contributed a beautifully crafted ode to rebuilding attention. Dr. Cowan's support and recommendations have indeed proven transformative for me and for my son, Water child extraordinaire. This unique and brilliant book is a tour-de-force and finally, blessedly, reveals Dr. Cowan's gentle genius to the world."
--Maggie Lyon, writer on wellness and spirituality, holistic lifestyle consultant, and founder of lyonlifestyle.com

"Dr. Cowan's Fire Child, Water Child is a breath of fresh air in the current world of ADD and ADHD literature. He combines his true healer's motivation, years of successful practice, sound modern medical knowledge, and sane judgment derived from serious study of time-tested Asian medical wisdom to present us with a new way of seeing ADHD. His method encourages us to look at kids as the wondrous individuals that they are, care for them one by one in a truly human way, and save them and their parents from deep angst. As a dad and a granddad, I love this book and recommend it highly to everyone who loves their kids and wants to make sure that they thrive against whatever odds they face."
--Robert Thurman, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and professor of Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University

"I was deeply fortunate to have Dr. Cowan as our devoted and honorable pediatrician. His passionate and essential life's work is expressed beautifully and accessibly on these pages and profoundly serves to revolutionize, demystify, and guide families lost in the ambiguities of ADHD/ADD; pharmaceuticals; the cultural divide; and diversities of treatments, awareness, and balance. This book is a critical tool parents can use to support their children and encourage them to find a home within themselves, a precious gift."
--Paulette Cole, CEO and creative director of ABC Home in New York, NY

"Stephen Scott Cowan's clinical skill and experience is unrivaled. His original approach has helped hundreds of children. Read and heed the wisdom embedded in his work."
--Frank Lipman, MD, author of Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again

"This is an extraordinary addition to the literature on childhood developmental disorders. Every parent and clinician treating this complex set of problems needs to read this book. Dr. Cowan has taken his thorough knowledge of medical science and decades of personal experience in studying and treating ADD and other developmental disorders, then combined them in an amazing synthesis with the energetic principles and characteristics of imbalance given to us by traditional Chinese medicine. This allows a broader, deeper and more individual understanding of each person's unique problems and needs, allowing a much better chance of success in producing lasting transformations. Brilliant."
--Woodson Merrell, MD, chairman of the department of integrative medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, NY, and author of Power Up

"This is such a good book--as practical as it is poetic. Dr. Cowan helps us to know our anxious, troubled, and sometimes troubling kids in new, more appreciative, and more compassionate ways. He teaches us that ADHD is as varied as the children who show its symptoms. In helping us adults step-by-step to help them, he helps us grow in love as well as knowledge."
--James S. Gordon, MD, psychiatrist, founder of The Center for Mind Body Medicine, and author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression

Stephen Scott Cowan, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician specializing in holistic developmental pediatrics who has over twenty years of experience working with children and families. He is a fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics, a member of the AAP section on developmental disabilities, a member of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, and a clinical faculty member at New York Medical College. He has lectured internationally and currently practices in New York.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.