Obesity in America has become a serious health problem. Research has shown that children who have a parent that is obese are 40% more likely to be obese, and when both parents are obese that number is doubled to 80%. The results are kids having metabolic syndrome at an early age including the onset of arterial disease among other problems. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that:

Prevalence
Among children aged 6 to 11 years, the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled over the past three decades, rising from 6.5% in 1980 to 17.0% in 2006. The rate among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years has more than tripled during the same period, increasing from 5.0% to 17.6%.

Health Impacts
· Young people who are obese are at greater risk for bone and joint problems and sleep apnea.
· Obese children and adolescents can suffer social and psychological problems, such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.
· Young people who are obese are at risk for early onset of diabetes.
· Six in ten obese young people have at least one additional risk factor for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.

Although good eating habits and regular physical activity are critical for maintaining a healthy weight less than 25% of adolescents eat enough fruits and vegetables, and only a third of adolescents get the recommended 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily.”
Using an Integrated Model for treatment and behavior rmodification approaches the ADD Wellness Group will approach your child’s obesity from a medical, psychological, nutritional, social and activity aspect.  Therefore in addition to receiving medical evaluation and nutritional counseling your child‘s psychological and social functioning will also be assessed and where necessary treated through psychotherapy, counseling and social skills training.

Our focus is on intervention, and particularly family-based approaches, because the efficacy of these interventions, compared with individual treatments in youth, is backed by empirical evidence.

• We implement the fundamentals of behavior modification for weight control along with encouraging social and family support.
• We help the family to devise and implement dietary interventions for weight loss in youth.
• We help our patients acquire a program of regular physical activity which is important for the maintenance of normal weight.

Self-Monitoring:
The main purpose of self-monitoring is to provide feedback on the frequency with which the target behavior typically occurs, something that individuals can be notoriously poor at estimating.

Functional Analysis of Behavior:
Understanding the functions or purposes that behaviors serve is important for behavioral change. A functional analysis of behavior (FAB) can be used to determine the situation circumstance that promote a target behavior and the consequences that sustain it.

Goal Setting:
On the basis of the learning principle of successive approximation, children are encouraged to set small, attainable goals that build up to a larger goal.

Stimulus Control:
Increasing the frequency of more healthy behaviors(e.g., fruit and vegetable intake) is easier when environmental cues for less healthy behaviors are removed or limited.

Feedback:
Feedback is a critical component of behavior change and is typically achieved through careful self-monitoring of behavior.

Positive Reinforcement Strategies:
Positive reinforcement is an important component of the individual behavior change, especially when it can help offset the discomfort of giving up less healthy behaviors. Praise and recognition can be among the strongest strategies, which may explain why weight loss is enhances when family members are supportive.

Social Support and the Role of Family:
Social learning theory underscore the importance of social support for facilitating individual behavior change. Indeed, studies indicate that family members play pivotal roles in facilitating weight control by other family members.