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ADD, ADHD – Tips for Getting it Together
- Making a space for everything so there was a clear place that everything went. (That meant a huge decluttering job first.)
- Using a “body double” when needed (a body double is someone who keeps you company and on task as you work. Their presence “obligates” you to get something done. Family and friends are good body doubles.)
- Make simple task lists
- Have lists for repeated activities that you have trouble remembering. (I have a permanent packing list for travel that is everything but my clothes so I don’t forget things that are important nor do I spend time deciding what I need to take. Things like cell charger, contact solution, etc.)
- Hire or trade out things you just can’t do or won’t do. (This maybe hiring someone twice a month for an hour to do your bills and filing or cleaning once a week or every other week, There are many configurations, get creative.)
- Use a calendar of some sort ruthlessly! (Paper, computer or cell phone – keep it with you and check it multiple times a day. Write/enter everything in it. Look ahead a week and a month so you know what is coming down the road so there are no surprises)
ADD, ADHD and Executive Functioning Skills: 2 Definitions
Executive Functioning skills are the crucial skills that both children and adults need to be functional, productive and successful in school, work and life. They are skills of memory, organization and goals. People with ADHD lack good executive functioning skills. Although everyone agrees on this, definitions of Executive Function skills abound.
The following are taken from two different sources: TE Brown (2001) Manual for Attention Deficit Disorder Scales for Children and Adolescents and Peg Dawson and Richard Guare (2010) Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention 2nd edition and demonstrate, while basically agreeing on content, two different approaches to the definition of Executive Functions.
Dawson and Guare model:
Planning– The ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or to complete a task. It also involves being able to make decisions about what’s important to focus on and what’s not important.
Organization– The ability to design and maintain systems for keeping track of information or materials.
Time Management– The capacity to estimate how much time one has, how to allocate it, and how to stay within time limits and deadlines. It also involves a sense that time is important.
Working memory– The ability to hold information in the mind while performing complex tasks. It incorporates the ability to draw on past learning or experience to apply to the situation at hand or to project into the future.
Metacognition– The ability to stand back and take a bird’s-eye view of oneself in a situation. It is an ability to observe how you problem solve. It also includes self-monitoring and self-evaluative skills (e.g., ask yourself, “How am I doing?” or “How did I do?”)
Response inhibition– The capacity to think before you act. This ability to resist the urge to say or do something allows us the time to evaluate a situation and how our behavior might impact it.
Emotional control (also called self-regulation of affect)- The ability to manage emotions in order to achieve goals, complete tasks, or control and direct behavior.
Sustained attention– The capacity to attend to a situation or task in spite of distractibility, fatigue, or boredom.
Task initiation– The ability to begin a task without undue procrastination, in a timely fashion.
Flexibility– The ability to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information, or mistakes. It involves adaptability to changing conditions.
Goal directed persistence– The capacity or drive to follow through to the completion of a goal and not be put off by other demands or competing interests.
Brown model:
1. Activation: Organizing, prioritizing and activating to work
2. Focus: Focusing, sustaining and shifting attention to tasks
3. Effort: Regulating alertness, sustaining effort, and processing speed
4. Emotion: Managing frustration and modulating emotions
5. Memory: Utilizing working memory and accessing recall
6: Action: Monitoring and self-regulating action
Though very similar, together they offer greater insight into understanding Executive Functioning skills. Together they offer insight from the vantage points of psychology, education and science.
ADHD and Going to College
High school seniors have made or are making their decision as to where they are going to college next year. They are excited. Freedom at last! But will this freedom work for or against them once they get to college. For the ADHD student the freedom will work against them. Going from the structured life of home and high school to the unstructured life of a college student hits many ADHD students very hard. The college graduation rates for ADHD students are much lower compared to non-ADHD students.
Why this lack of success? In order to thrive ADHD students need to maintain a certain level of structure. College is full of unstructured time and also full of temptations of time sucking activities. Activities like hanging out, drinking, partying and then sleeping it off. It is hard enough for an ADHD student to get to class on time without issues of lack of sleep and daily routines but add that into the mix and you have a disaster in the making.
That is why coaching or some other support system is so valuable to the new ADHD college student. Regardless, some of the lifestyle issues they will learn about the hard way through the consequences of their actions (or non-actions.) One of the first things an ADHD college student should do upon arriving on campus this fall is to check into the disabilities center at their college and see what kind of support systems are available. If the college does not have enough support, fight for! If that doesn’t work look outside your campus for coaches and other experts to help you. You can have fun, have ADHD and be in college successfully but it takes planning and support.
ADHD/ADD Coaching Basics
The following are some basic questions that you might have about ADHD/ADD coaching. For the sake of simplicity I will simply refer to ADHD/ADD as ADHD which is now considered the all inclusive term.
What is ADHD Coaching?
ADHD coaching is when the client with ADHD or symptoms associated with ADHD seeks out the services of a coach who specializes in working with people with ADHD. Coaching helps the ADHD client develop a more structured and goal oriented life. The coach can help the client work on executive functioning skill (see website for definition of executive function). Learn about ADHD and how to manage their life better.
How often does the coaching happen?
Usually ADHD coaching happens one session a week, especially in the beginning. Coaching can happen every other week or once a month. The frequency of the coaching is really up to you as you are the client.
How long does a coaching session last?
Usually a coaching session lasts 30 minutes to an hour depending on the coach and the client. Different coaches have different packages of set amounts of times while other coaches are flexible or base the time on the client’s preference.
Where does the coaching take place?
The coaching takes place in person, over the phone, skype and email. It all depends on the coach and how they work and what you want.
What role does ADHD coaching play in a family or couple?
An ADHD coach takes the responsibility out of the hands of the spouse or parents to constantly monitor the ADHD behavior so that they can just be a spouse or a parent and not have to play the duel roles of loved one and “enforcer/monitor” which begins to become a negative experience for both the ADHD member of the family and the parent or spouse. It allows everyone to play their natural roles and maintain positive relationships rather than relationships filled with nagging, conflict and/or disappointment .
Why do I need ADHD coaching?
Having ADHD can be hard. All your life you have been told that you are lazy, impulsive, unfocused, forgetful and/or unmotivated. You may have even begun to feel you aren’t very smart. Your life may feel chaotic and unstructured. Well, in coaching we assume that all clients are whole, competent and creative people. An ADHD coach will help you create more structure in your life which will result in you having the ability to conquer some of the disabilities associated with ADHD. You will have someone on your side when you encounter roadblocks to help navigate through them. What is key is that by having a coach expert in ADHD they understand the issues that confront you daily and are trained to coach to those issues.
How do I pick an ADHD coach?
First make sure the coach has ADHD specific training and ask what that is and that they have general life coach training as well (this adds a good balance.) Find out what populations the coach serves – children, adolescents and /or adults. Ask how they conduct their sessions – in person, over the phone, skype and/or email. Decide if the way they communicate is the right format for you and if they are flexible about it. Many ADHD coaches, myself included provide free daily checks-ins or calls between sessions, check the coach’s policy on that. Call around and chat with different coaches to see who you feel comfortable with. You want to find someone who you have a good connection with. The most important thing to remember is that you are the consumer in this relationship.