Everybody gets these, but automatic negative thoughts can be particularly difficult and damaging to kids and teens with ADHD.

And, most of the time, parents feel helpless (or helpless and frustrated) when they can’t seem to help their kids get past these negative thoughts.

ADD Coaching Diane O’Reilly (from Indigo Tree Coaching) is featured in this video which discusses this issue and will help parents to better understand the issue of ‘gremlins’ and also give you some strategies to help you to help your teens.

Step 1: Watch this video:

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD, Coaching, Parenting

And most parents are thinking: ” This whole thing could have been avoided, if my son (or daughter) didn’t leave this till the last minute!”

Procrastination is a complicated issue. There isn’t a one size fits all answer to it. To fully understand what’s going on with procrastination, and to help you to find solutions for it, I’ve interviewed Diane O’Reilly, from Indigo Tree Coaching below. She’ll help you to understand what’s going on with clutter, and also how to develop strategies to improve it.

To Join The Attention Difference Disorders Insiders Membership and

Participate in the Coaching Call for Parents

of Kids and Teens with ADD/ADHD:

“Overcome Procrastination”

>> CLICK HERE NOW <<

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©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, Coaching, Procrastination

We all want our kids to start off the year right, and to do the best that they can do this year at school.

I wrote an article on ‘back to school’ a couple of summers ago – and you can access it here: back to school with ADHD.

This year, on Wednesday August 17, 2011 at 8 pm Eastern time – I’ll be doing an interview on Attention Talk Radio about getting back to school.

You can read the information from the news release here:

Tampa, FL, August 09, 2011 –(PR.com)– Attention Talk Radio, produced by DIG Coaching Practice, presents “Back to School with ADHD” with Kenny Handelman MD. Attention coach and host Jeff Copper talks with Dr. Handelman about the challenges facing ADHD children when it’s time to return to school after summer vacation. According to Dr. Handelman, the transition can be difficult for ADHD children, but parents can help prepare for the change by easing their ADHD child into it. Dr. Handelman shares strategies and tips for a smooth transition back to a routine after a summer of freedom.

Dr. Handelman, a board-certified psychiatrist in both the US and Canada, specializes in assessing and treating children and adolescents with ADHD. His practice is established at the Halton Healthcare Services in Oakville Trafalgar Hospital near Toronto, Canada. He is an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of Western Ontario where he won an excellence in teaching award in 2006. He teaches parents, kids, and educators about ADHD. He has appeared on TV and radio, talking about ADHD, and maintains a number of websites and an ADHD newsletter to give evidence-based, up-to-date, online information about ADD/ADHD. His websites garner more than half a million visitors each year.

He is the author of Attention Difference Disorder: How to Turn Your ADHD Child or Teen’s Differences into Strengths in 7 Simple Steps, foreword by Edward Hallowell MD. The book was released in June 2011. More information is available at www.attentiondifferencedisorder.com.

The program will be aired on Wednesday, August 17, 2011, at 8 pm ET, on Attention Talk Radio, a live, interactive, Internet talk-radio show hosted each week by attention coach Jeff Copper. The show focuses on insight and insightful thinking, preparing the mind to solve problems through insight or the sudden comprehension after viewing something in a different light. The show is hosted on a web-based platform so that anyone with a phone or a computer can listen, participate, or interact with the show.

The public is encouraged to participate by calling 646-652-4409 to listen or ask questions. The show schedule, stream, and archives are available at www.attentiontalkradio.com immediately following the show. Listeners can also subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page or on iTunes.

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADHD, Parenting, Radio, School

Bryan Hutchinson has authored 3 books on ADHD, and several free ebooks. I’m writing to share with you about one of the free ebooks which I think you’ll find very helpful.

In this ebook, Bryan shares 7 crucial tips for parents and teachers of children with ADHD. These tips are very good. Bryan writes with great understanding of what kids and teens with ADD/ADHD need, because of the fact that he grew up with undiagnosed ADHD. He was diagnosed as an adult, and has looked back on the challenges of his childhood. Fortunately for us – Bryan has chosen to share his experiences and insights to help us to understand better what goes on for kids and teens with ADD/ADHD (whether they are undiagnosed, or diagnosed).

This free ebook is: an easy read, useful, and practical. There is wisdom in these (virtual) pages. I encourage you to claim your copy of this ebook right now.

You can get your free copy here: 7 Crucial Tips for Parents and Teachers of Children with ADHD

If you find the information helpful, why not learn more from Bryan?

You can get copies of his other ADHD books here. (I particularly recommend ‘One Boy’s Struggle’)

And, of course, because this ebook is free – you are allowed to pass it along to other people who you think may benefit from it.

Enjoy!

Dr. Kenny

p.s. here’s the link again to the free ebook:

7 Crucial Tips for Parents and Teachers of Children with ADHD

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADHD Ebook, Parenting, Teachers

Attention Difference Disorder

I’m very excited to announce the release of my book: “Attention Difference Disorder: How To Turn Your ADHD Child or Teen’s Differences Into Strengths in 7 Simple Steps”. It is published by Morgan James, and the release date is June 7, 2011. By: Dr. Kenny Handelman. Forward by: Dr. Edward Hallowell.

You can read more about the book here: Attention Difference Disorder Book.

You can read the press release here.

Please join me for a ‘book launch online event’ – tonight – June 7th at 8 pm Eastern time. I will be doing a free teleseminar call – to teach you all about differences rather than deficits, and I’ll share my 7 steps system for parents to use to help their children and teens. There will be a special bonus for people who purchase the book during the live call. You can access the live call here: Attention Difference Disorder online live event.

And of course – you can get your copy on Amazon.com here.

I hope you enjoy the book!

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, Attention Difference Disorder

We’d love to hear from you, as well as other readers from our online community.

While there are many great teachers out there, who make a dramatic difference in kids’ lives, there are also teachers who just don’t mesh well with kids with ADHD. I’d love to hear from you – have you had a real problem with a teacher for your child with ADD or ADHD?

Sometimes there are problems with teachers not helping, and other times there are teachers that seem to make things worse. I think the latter falls into the category of ‘horror stories’.

I open up this discussion, because I think it can be helpful for all of us to learn about the challenges that many people have gone through. That said – I want to be clear here about the ‘ground rules’ for comments below:

1. All comments are moderated – so your comment won’t appear right away, and if it is deemed inappropriate in any way, it won’t be posted to this blog
2. It is not OK to identify teachers by name and school – i.e. I don’t want this to turn into a place to specifically ‘get back’ at a teacher you were upset with. Please don’t use names or school names, and we can just learn about your challenges (and hopefully solutions you eventually found)
3. It is not OK to include hateful, racial or threatening comments (it is completely up to us to determine the definition of those terms)

So — after reading those ‘ground rules’, you may wonder what I’m expecting… I’ve been blogging in the ADHD space for a few years now, and I know that when people are typing comments in (often late at night), they can include more than they intend to. If you stick to the ground rules, we’d love to hear your comments about struggles with teachers.

As I’ve posted before, teachers are wonderful and can be tremendously helpful. I hope that the comments below will help teachers and other educators to know what NOT to do, and it can also help parents to understand other people’s struggles and hopefully the solutions they found.

All the best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, School, Teacher, Teachers

We’d love to hear from you, as well as other readers from our online community.

Has your son or daughter had a teacher who has made a tremendous difference in your child’s life?

Please take a moment and share some comments below – we’d love to hear about it.

… and it could help to inspire other teachers, and let some parents know what is possible.

Personally, I remember many of my teachers over the years who had a dramatic impact on me. I remember them well, and I have stories about how they went ‘above and beyond’.

Please share your comments and experiences below.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, Parenting, School, Teachers

Treatment of ADD/ADHD needs to be ‘multimodal’ – i.e. more than just medication! We need counseling, strategies, as well as parenting strategies and school strategies.

When it comes to school strategies – parent-teacher communication is one of the cornerstones of the strategies that work.

Why is this?

Because your child is with the teacher for so many hours a day, and the teacher is the one who is evaluating your child, giving feedback to your child, and helping (or not helping) your child to get the right resources in the school.

Best Approaches To Good Communication With The Teacher:

1. Respect the role that the teacher plays
2. Understand that the teacher is often under tremendous pressure
3. Book a meeting early in the school year, with regular follow ups
4. If all else fails, Part 1: get help from the office
5. If all else fails, Part 2: aim for the right teacher next year

Now let’s go through these one by one.

1) Respect the role that the teacher plays:

Teachers play a tremendously important role in our children’s lives. They teach our kids, and they also model good behavior, and evaluate how our children are doing. As they evaluate, they get an idea as to whether our children have increased symptoms of inattention, or hyperactivity, or sadness or even anxiety, for that matter.

Teachers can’t diagnose ADHD, and they can’t recommend medication, but they can let you know that your child may be having difficulties, and you should talk to your doctor.

Remember – the teacher will see your child in different circumstances than you see them in – so your child may display symptoms in a different way in school (i.e. you don’t see them doing math work in a class with 25 other children…). It is important to respectfully listen to the teacher’s feedback, and then take action on it. Don’t get defensive! This can just make things harder…

2) Understand that the teacher is often under tremendous pressure:

Realize that teachers are often asked to give more and more to their classes, with less and less resources. Even great teachers can get tired and frustrated with administrative issues and financial pressures. Be sure to share your appreciation for what your child’s teacher is doing to help your child to succeed. Like all people, teachers like to be appreciated. And they will be more likely to do more to help when they feel that what they are doing is helping and being appreciated.

3) Book a meeting early in the school year, with regular follow ups

Many parents wait for the teacher to call them for meetings. If you know your child has ADD/ADHD, be proactive. Contact the teacher early in the year, and let him or her know that your child has ADD/ADHD, and you’d like to touch base to discuss strategies that work. Even when teachers have notes on your child, the beginning of the school year is so hectic, that the teacher will usually appreciate the opportunity to hear from you about what works best for your son or daughter.

This first meeting also sets the tone of you being a proactive parent, who wants to keep in touch and work collaboratively with the teacher about your son or daughter. That can help a lot as the months go on through the school year.

Aim to have regular communication with the teacher. You can either ask to meet in person every 6 weeks, or if the teacher is OK with email, you can use that for weekly updates. Maybe a parent-teacher communication book would be ideal. Ask the teacher, and then work on your end to support that mode of communication. Remember – you should be more flexible! So, if the teacher wants to write in a communication book, and you prefer email – just accept the communication book!

4) If all else fails, Part 1: get help from the office

Sometimes, despite the best efforts (on both the parent and teacher’s side) the communication doesn’t work well. There can be frustrations and challenges. If that is the case – seek help from the office.

Often times a guidance counselor, special ed teacher, or even the Vice-Principal or Principal can get involved to help to smooth things out with the teacher if things aren’t going well. They may also be able to get more resources into the classroom to help your child on  a day to day basis.

5) If all else fails, Part 2: Aim for the right teacher next year

Actually, this idea holds whether your child has had a great year, or a not-so-great year this year. In the spring, ask the teacher, or the guidance counselor, “who would be the best teacher to help my son/daughter next year?”

Although staff in the school would never say: ‘make sure that Jim doesn’t get Mr. Smith’, they would say that, ‘We think Jim would do much better with Mr. Jones.’ This allows them to try to find the best match for your child.

Be sure to ask early enough toward the end of the school year to make sure that the school can have time to put the recommendation into effect for the next school year. Shouldn’t they do this already? Maybe… But they have so many administrative things to think about, that they may not come up with this without your reminder/request.

Hopefully these recommendations can help you to communicate well with your child’s teacher. Good communication with the teacher can make a great difference in your child’s outcome for any given school year.

Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, Parenting, School, Teacher

Watching it can help parents of kids/teens with ADD/ADHD, and spouses of adults with ADD/ADHD understand what is really going on for people who have this condition.

Enjoy!

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: Adult ADD, Adult ADHD, Age Activated ADHD, Video ADD, Video ADHD

I’ve created a follow up video – as well as the chance for people to take part in a very affordable form of ADD Coaching.

You can watch the video and learn more here.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADD Coaching, ADHD, ADHD Coaching