ADHD Focus

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“It’s too hard!” “Why do I have to do this stupid book report? It’s dumb!”“I finished it in school”…which you find out later is not the truth.Have you heard this before, or something like it? Frustrating to say the least! For you, the teacher(s) and your child. My show today is about how to change the repeated failures into repeated successes.Dr. Jerome Schultz is a neuropsychologist of 38 years’ experience who has developed a simple technique to turn this around. Simple but it does take effort and practice to make it work. You can do it! We discuss what is “behind the curtain”, why kids evade homework and hate school, how the brain differences in ADHD are a setup for failure if not recognized and an approach that works to develop successes leading to a Growth Mindset.He outlines this approach in his book Nowhere to Hide: Why Kids with ADHD & LD Hate School and What We Can Do About It. He spends 2 days a week in schools working with teachers and students, consults with School Districts in the Boston area, and he writes articles in ADDitude magazine (additudemag.com (http://additudemag.com)) and blogs for Understood which is now at u.org (http://u.org). He walks the talk! Check those out, but right now listen and learn!Follow Dr. Schultz on twitter @docschultz  

How can someone with ADHD figure out what career to pursue?What if I don’t like what I chose in college? Where can I get some practical experience and discover my true interests? I have many interests, do I have to choose just one and leave the others behind? In this show my guest Rick Green and I discuss these questions and more.Rick is the creative mind behind TotallyADD.com, which has grown from their first video/documentary “ADD and Loving It?!” in 2010 to many more documentary-style shows addressing all aspects of ADHD.   He and a colleague in the comedy business started the TV show “The Red Green Show” which ran for 12 seasons on Canadian TV and can still be seen in syndication on many PBS stations in the US. His college degree is in Physics. Following one’s passions and interests can result in a career vastly different than the college degree, as Rick and so many others have found.First step?  Accept your ADHD, don’t fight it. Then learn to know your strengths and play to those. Develop your interests, meet your challenge areas with support systems and strategies, and be open to whatever comes along. You can have a rewarding career and life while using your ADHD as an advantage. Listen, and learn! 

Here are more answers to the FAQs on the “High School to ‘after’ transition” for students and families dealing with ADHD – a parent’s role is coach, not player; what teens wish parents had done to help the transition; important facts about medications at college. Dr. Theresa Maitland returns to discuss these topics and more.She has over 45 years of counseling/coaching experience in this field. She has co-authored 2 books with Patricia Quinn MD - Ready for Takeoff, Preparing Your Teen for the Transition from High School to College for parents, and On Your Own, College Readiness Guide for Teens with ADHD/LD. Her work as one of the first professionals doing ADHD coaching with students has grown to include families as well. She is open to receiving questions by email at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]). In this show we continue our discussion on the best ways to prepare adolescents and their parents for the move to what comes after High School. Listen and learn! 

Does your spouse/partner/you have ADHD? Do any of these sound familiar?“You never listen, you don’t care about me.”“I’ve told you so many times…(pick any of 15 things)”“I’ve had it. Either you get this fixed or I’m leaving.”ADHD affects relationships in so many ways and can derail them in so many ways. It’s not the fault of either person, but it needs to be figured out or the relationship will fall apart.My guest today is Don Baker, a Masters level therapist in Seattle. Don has worked in the field of ADHD since his own diagnosis in 1997 and obtaining his counseling license in 1998. He works with couples in all stages of their journey/struggles with ADHD. His website is www.unpackingadhd.com (http://unpackingadhd.com) and Facebook page is unpackingADHD (https://www.facebook.com/unpackingadhd/). He posts tips and thoughts daily.In this show we discuss the three key stages of the process of working through the effects of ADHD on relationships and give you resources to help in your journey. It’s hard work. Takeaways from this show – 1) There is hope, and 2) Commitment on the part of each partner to the process, both in his/her individual therapy work and in how they can approach the issues together is the key to success. Listen and learn!

Do you worry about how your ADHD child will do when she/he goes off to college? Do you wonder how you can give him/her the best preparation for demands of living away from you, not to mention the college academics?Dr. Theresa Maitland has over 45 years of counseling/coaching experience, the last 24 years at a college specifically assisting students who are struggling with those exact challenges. She has written 3 books, including Ready for Takeoff, the Transition from High School to College for parents, and On Your Own, College Readiness for teens (co-authored with Patricia Quinn MD). She was one of the first professionals doing ADHD coaching in this issue, and soon realized it had to include families, not just students. She is open to receiving questions by email at [email protected]. In this show we discuss to best ways to prepare adolescents and their parents for the move to college life and academics. Listen and learn!

There are so many sources of information and myth - information about medications for ADHD it is hard to get reliable information. Dr. Ted Mandelkorn began working with children with ADHD in the mid-1970s in his Mercer Island practice (near Seattle) and continues to do so. He is a pediatrician who saw many of his patients, and their families, struggling with the behaviors and impairments of ADHD, and recognized the critical importance of treating the neurochemical imbalance of ADHD with medication. He shares with us in this show some of the wealth of information on this topic, informed by experience “on the front lines”. Practice-based Evidence.PLEASE NOTE: Dr. Mandelkorn and I firmly believe that medications are only one of the aspects of treating ADHD, an essential one but certainly not the only one. This discussion is only about medications. Other shows address many of the other important strategies for helping people cope with ADHD. 

Roberto Olivardia, PhD - Body Dysmorphic DisorderDo you know anyone who absolutely hates some aspect about his/her body? Enough to obsessively try to change it? Some do with cosmetic surgery, but many do with behaviors – hours of exercise daily, extreme diets, etc. These people check the mirror daily if not more. And as a group 20% of people who suffer from BDD commit suicide. 20% !! Listen as Dr. Roberto Olivardia, an expert in the field of eating disorders and BDD, tells us about this condition that affects 1-2% of the population, how to help someone you may think has it, and resources for families and individuals affected by it. People with ADHD are at risk for it by the very nature of the emotional turmoil caused by ADHD. One key resource is https://iocdf.org, the website of the International OCD Foundation. Dr. Olivardia has a private practice in the Boston area, and is on the clinical faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has written a book The Adonis Complex, about eating disorders in boys and men, and his clinical work centers around eating disorders and BDD.

Do you struggle to parent your ADHD child? Does your ADHD child resist, dismiss, rebel against your requests, advice, guidance, and rules? This is a podcast you will not want to miss! Cindy Goldrich explains how an ADHD mind works, and why your child appears to defy reason, logic and you. Starting with “parent the child you have”, she explains 8 Keys to Parenting  Children with ADHD (also the title of her book), and how to go about developing a collaborative relationship with your child. Communication and collaboration are the keys to success, reducing the stress levels, and guiding your child to a more effective way of dealing with the world. Learn more and sign up for online coaching at www.ptscoaching.com (http://www.ptscoaching.com) Listen and learn !

How can kids learn to identify their feelings, and to read social cues to identify how others are feeling? Feelings are facts to the one doing the feeling, and many are uncomfortable or scary; what tools can one use to cope with them?  My guest today is Anna Vagin, PhD, a Speech and Language Pathologist, whose work in the past 30 years has been in the field of social learning. She has developed a process by which kids can learn about emotions – their own and those of others – and how to deal with them.  YouTube videos! Who knew there were good ones out there!Her website is www.socialtime.org (http://www.socialtime.org/) , she is on Twitter  @anna_vagin and her first book is YouCue  FEELINGS, Using Online Videos for Social Learning.I think you will find this a fascinating topic, one which every parent, child, teacher, and all the rest of us can use to improve our social awareness. Listen and learn !! 

Are you a woman with ADHD? Do you know one? You need to listen to this show with Kathleen Nadeau, a psychologist and pioneer in the field of ADHD in women. She began her clinical practice over 30 years ago working with children, then with parents of those children, and then concentrated on the issues faced by women with ADHD. She has written many books on aspects of ADHD and continues her clinical practice at the Chesapeake ADHD Center. We discuss how ADHD in women is often missed in diagnosis and how it affects a woman’s self-esteem and ability to function well in all the arenas of life she is called upon to manage. Dr. Nadeau is in the process of writing a book on Aging with ADHD, and would love to interview women over the age of 60 with ADHD; please contact her through her website www.chesapeakeadd.com (http://www.chesapeakeadd.com/).

Organization – a word that brings a shudder of shame and guilt to all with ADHD. We know we don’t do it well, even though we may have read all kinds of books and tips. There is an approach which holds hope for us, and that is “marginal gains”, progress that comes from making incremental changes.Organization is not just “arrange the clutter”, it also applies to managing time. That may be the aspect of it that leads to many of the frustrations of ADHD. Simple changes one or two at a time can reduce that frustration quotient significantly.My guest is Denise Allan, a professional organizer who holds a designation of ADHD Specialist from the National Association of Professional Organizers; she figures 70% or more of her clients have ADHD. Her monthly newsletter can be found at www.simplyexperts.com (http://www.simplyexperts.com/) and on her Facebook page Simplify Experts has a daily tip on organization.

Baking, get cards sent out, family dinners, Santa pictures, decorate the house, get the lights up, finish the costume for the play… presents? Oh no, I’ve got to get some for the kids to give to Aunt Gladys, and…and…and….  In one way or another most of us have been there. What are some things parents can do to create and celebrate family traditions, include their children in the planning and doing, and give themselves the gift of self-care along the way, so they can satisfy their desire to give their families a wonderful Holiday time?  Listen as I talk with Elaine Taylor-Klaus, co-founder of IMPACTadhd, an online parent training and coaching program for parents of complex kids, and co-author of the recently released book Parenting ADHD Now. We discuss how to stay mindful of celebrating holiday time, not just getting through it.  And if it has been a struggle this year, take heart, next year can be better !

Lose your keys again? Up too late doing “one more thing”? Down on yourself because “I got nothing done today” when only 3 of your 18 items on the to-do list got done? My guest on this show is Doug Puryear MD, a psychiatrist who discovered at age 64 that he had ADHD, and he set out to change the ways ADHD had interfered with his life. His book Your Life Can Be Better outlines many strategies you can use to do exactly that. He also has 2 blogs on ADHD issues, at www.ADDadultstrategies.wordpress.com (http://www.addadultstrategies.wordpress.com/) . His basic approach: identify the problem, create a strategy, make a rule and follow it (expect that you will flop a few times, pick yourself up and start again) and the rule becomes a habit.  Listen up, find out how you can do the same !

Does “screen time” on Smartphones, laptops, tablets etc affect my child’s brain? If so, how? Is she losing anything, or not developing some skills because she’s on YouTube and Netflix and Facetime so often? How much screen time is OK, and at what age? Listen to this show with Dr. Mary Burke, psychiatrist in San Francisco who has studied, written and lectured about these questions. One crucial skill everyone needs is the ability to read emotions from facial expressions, and that is based upon face-to-face time with parents mainly. When children are in an unresponsive social environment (parent or sitter or sib on screen, not interacting), that alters the expression of some genes and critical pathways are undeveloped. Does it matter? You bet it does! Listen up !What can replace screen time? Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood (http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/%20)  has great ideas, check it out !

Have you ever wondered with your child or a family member might have bipolar disorder, in addition to or instead of ADHD?  Do the rages your child exhibits always represent bipolar disorder?  This can be a difficult distinction to make for health care professionals and yet it is an important one to make, due to the serious nature of bipolar disorder.  In today’s show my guest Dr. Robert Olivardio and I will discuss how parents and family members can provide information to the health care professionals they’re working with that can be very helpful in determining whether a bipolar disorder is present.  Dr. Olivario is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Lexington Massachusetts and also a clinical instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School.  He specializes in the treatment of ADHD, executive functioning disorders, OCD, and issues faced by students with learning disorders.  He serves on the Advisory Boards of ADDitude magazine as well as national ADHD organizations.

Do you get knocked off balance by unexpected events in your life? While you are going about your business does life come along and interrupt? For those with  ADHD these events can knock us out of action, unable to function well, and our ADHD symptoms come roaring back in spite of medications, our own coping strategies, coaching, counseling, whatever had helped before. My guest today is James Ochoa, a Licensed Professional Counselor in Austin TX and Director of the Life Empowerment Center in Austin (www.tlec.info (http://www.tlec.info/) ). He conceptualizes this as an Emotional Distress Syndrome which affects literally 100% of people with ADHD. We discuss what this looks like, how it comes about, and what to do about it. More details on the tools you can develop to navigate the unexpected storms that come up are in his latest book Focused Forward: Navigating the Storms of Adult ADHD (also available in audio format). Listen in, learn, and take heart – there is hope!

Are you often late for appointments? Is your task list hours long but the time in your day disappears before the 3rd item is done? Is there time for yourself in all the busyness of the day? Most ADHDers would answer Yes/Yes/No. My guest today has great ideas on how to turn those answers into No/No/Yes.Denise Allan, is a Certified Professional Organizer whose business, Simplify Experts, is in the Seattle area. She has added accreditation in the field of ADHD from the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (http://challengingdisorganization.org). You can search their Directory by ZIP to find an Organization expert near you.We will be discussing how to improve your time awareness, to keep your tasks on track, and to reward yourself each step of the way (keeps the motivation going!). Sound daunting? It’s not, take it one small step at a time. Listen and learn!

Do you plan out your day? Do you have a  good idea on how long a task will  take you to finish?  Do you have an ADHD accountability partner? For answers to these questions and more, listen to my conversation with Eric Tivers, LCSW, MSSW. Eric is a nationally recognized expert in the field of ADHD and productivity.   In his private practice he works with clients of all ages; he also has a “public practice” using online approaches in a variety of ways.His website is www.ADHDreWired.com (http://www.adhdrewired.com/). On it you can find links to his podcast  “ADHD rewired” as well as  his unique approach to coaching for ADHDers that utilizes easy to use video conference technology -  ADHD reWired Coaching and Accountability Groups. This is an intensive online program, structured 12 week interactive groups of 12 people per group, from all different walks of life with the shared issue of difficulty coping with ADHD roadblocks. You can learn more about the group atwww.coachingrewired.com (http://www.coachingrewired.com/). Eric has also put together a 5 part video series called "125 Strategies to get your ADHD reWired.". You can find that at www.erictivers.com/125strategiesvideo (http://www.erictivers.com/125strategiesvideo)So listen up, discover more ways to change your ADHD challenges into solutions that work for you!

Do you put things off you know you have to do? If you don’t, you may not have ADHD, though many neurotypical folks probably do it as well. But for ADHDers this is a MAJOR issue. My guest for this show is Rick Green of TotallyADD.com. After he was told he had ADHD, Rick’s background in TV and broadcasting enabled him to put together documentaries on all aspects of ADHD. ADD and Mastering It! was the second one, the “now what do I do?” part, with many tips for getting past the major stumbling blocks posed by ADHD.Procrastination and steps to beat it, tracking tasks, getting ideas down that pop up in the midst of other tasks then returning to the task at hand, all these and more are included for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Are there effective treatments for ADHD issues which do not involve medication? How can I overcome the negative self-talk I use when my ADHD gets in my way? Listen to this segment to find out!My guest is Dr. Russell Ramsay, an expert in the field of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for ADHD.  He is a psychologist, co-founder and co-director of the Penn Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program in Philadephia, Associate Professor of clinical psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Univ Pennsylvania School of Medicine, a full-time clinician, researcher, and author of books and journal articles about the use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for ADHD.  His two books for ADHDers are The Adult ADHD Tool Kit: Using CBT to facilitate coping inside and out, co-authored with Anthony Rostain MD; it is a "companion patient guide" for the CBT approach used at the Penn program, and Nonmedication Treatments for Adult ADHD: Evaluating impact on daily functioning and well-being.Listen up to learn how CBT works and how it may help you with some of your ADHD-related struggles. 

What are Executive Functions anyway? What do they have to do with ADHD? Are there ways to get them to function better? Listen up, answers to these questions and more are right here!My guest today is Dr. Ari Tuckman, a clinical psychologist who specializes in the field of ADHD. In addition to his private practice, he has a podcast with over 100 episodes, has written three books and gives presentations on ADHD diagnosis and treatment. His websites are www.tuckmanpsych.com (http://www.tuckmanpsych.com) and www.adultadhdbook.com (http://www.adultadhdbook.com) . More Attention, Less Deficit has a wealth of information on all aspects of ADHD, it’s an encyclopedia of ADHD. And those Executive Functions? Get yours to work better with his workbook Understand Your Brain, Get More Done. Dr. Tuckman guides you as you develop your own solutions to issues like time management, organization, procrastination…well, if you happen have any issues with those. Give it a go! 

Would having a coach for some of your ADHD issues be helpful?  How does a coach help with some of the challenges of ADHD that medications cannot?You will want to listen to this show to hear answers to these questions, and to hear of a unique approach to the day-to-day challenges we face as ADHDers. You will learn how to understand your unique ADHD challenges in ways you probably have not heard before, enabling you to develop solutions to remove the barriers that keep you from living into your potential.My guest is Jeff Copper, an attention coach whose business it is to help those with ADHD achieve what they are capable of doing and being. His coaching business is Dig Coaching Practice, found at www.digcoaching.com (http://www.digcoaching.com/). He has “free fun stuff” on www.digcoaching.com/bundle (http://www.digcoaching.com/bundle), including challenging exercises to help you see attention and focus in a different light.In addition to his personal coaching business, Jeff hosts Attention Talk Radio andAttention Talk Video, shows which bring other aspects of ADHD to public awareness.  Listen up! You will be glad you did!

Do you struggle with organization, time management, getting started on tasks, not following the squirrels (aka getting distracted)? If you have ADHD, you know that these are challenges you face every day, among others.My guest today is Alan Brown, an entrepreneur, ADHD/productivity coach and host of Crusher™TV (www.CrusherTV.com). He is the creative force behind ADD Crusher™, an award-winning video series for ADHD teens and adults. Diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, he found it difficult to learn coping strategies from books, so he developed his own unique strategies which he calls “brain hacks”. He shares these on his TV show, his video series and at his websites, and … in this show! You can get Alan’s free eBook, “5 Things You’re Doing Every Day that Make Your ADHD Worse!” atwww.ADDCrusher.com .

What is the “central mystery” of ADHD? What do “executive functions” have to do with ADHD? My guest today is Thomas Brown PhD, one of the foremost clinicians and thinkers in the field of ADHD today. Dr. Brown is the Associate Director of the Yale Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders and has a private practice in Hamden CT as well. He says of his 40 year career “All I know about ADHD I have learned from listening to my patients”, and he shares some of that knowledge here in this show. His latest book Smart but Stuck explains, with stories from his patients, the role that executive functions play in the emotional reactivity and unpredictability of people with ADHD. Tune in to hear about that “central mystery”!

Have you, or your ADHD child or pour ever gone into a rage or withdrawn from others over nothing?What triggers ADHD'ers into instant rage or expression?  Dr. Bill Dodson and I discuss Rejection Sensitivity - a common issue with ADHD.When one with ADHD perceives she or he has been rejected, discounted or unheard ... watch out!You need to know about this!  It can be destructive to relationships!Bill dodson, MD is the founder of Dr. Dodson ADHD,  a clinic in Denver, Colorado for the evaluation and treatment of ADHD and Learning Disorders.  He has specialized in the field of Adult ADHD for over 20 years.His book is in the press - watch for it!

Parenting an ADHD child takes parenting to a new level way beyond the usual parenting challenges. You are now playing in the big leagues, so having a coach to guide you is a necessity, not an option. The best foundation for building a healthy child and healthy family relationships is effective parenting, which with ADHD children often runs counter to usual parenting efforts. With coaching you can prevent problems which can develop in the future and take much more work as a parent and family to cope with.My guest on this show is Elaine Taylor-Klaus, an ADHD Coach “and a Mom in a family of 5 ADHDers”. She is a co-founder of ImpactADHD, an online parent training program for parents of children with ADHD, and of Sanity School, an online parent training program for parents of kids with behavior problems, regardless of diagnosis.  We will talk about the importance of parent coaching; all parents want the best for their child but it can be difficult to figure out how to get there. This show will point you in the right direction! See her websites for further details.  ImpactADHD.com (http://impactadhd.com)   and SanitySchool.com (http://sanityschool.com)

In this show I explore that question with Rick Green of TotallyADD.com. We talk about some of the quirks that are often part of ADHD but may not be recognized as such, even by the one who has ADHD!  Rick’s documentaries on ADHD and all of its aspects, as well as webinars with experts on ADHD, are onwww.TotallyADD.com (http://www.totallyadd.com/) . Rick is a comedian by experience, a fellow ADHDer, and now a man passionate about helping others understand ADHD.  Join us!