ImpactADHD Blog Logo in Purple wth Rollercoaster

Guiding parents and teachers to navigate the challenges of ADHD

ADHD is a medical condition marked by developmental delays in children and teens, and often leads to challenges in parenting. It tends to be greatly misunderstood by medical and therapeutic providers, who may develop treatment plans that rely on medication as a sole source of treatment to the exclusion of behavior management training in parenting. Parenting interventions are effective, recommended, and have been proven to improve symptoms for children and teens. Most experts agree that ADHD is much (cont'd below)

Filter by Focus Area

Leading Articles about Managing ADHD

motivate your whole family

9 Tips for Non-ADHD Parents to Motivate Your Whole Family

By Melissa Orlov

Families with children with ADHD often discover that one (or both!) parent has ADHD, too. And when this happens, non-ADHD…

CONTINUED
teacher training and ADHD

Does My Child with ADHD Have to Work Harder Than Other Kids?

By Elaine Taylor-Klaus and Diane Dempster

Do kids with ADHD have to work harder than their peers? Elaine & Diane respond to a mom’s question below.…

CONTINUED
Managing Summer Stressors: A Message to Moms with ADHD

Managing Summer Stressors: A Message to Moms with ADHD

By Sari Solden, MS, LMFT & Michelle Frank, PsyD

Do you remember the joy you felt as a child on the last day of school before summer vacation? The…

CONTINUED
Life Easier for Yourself as an ADHD Parent

5 Tips to Make Life Easier for Yourself as an ADHD Parent

By Diane Dempster

Parenting Can’t Be Automatized Some tasks, like driving, become automatic when we master them. When you’re 16, every turn of…

CONTINUED
Rhythm and Routine with Kids

Planning Summer Days: Rhythm and Routine with Kids

By Lesli Preuss

Summer! Kids are excited. Teachers are relieved. Parents around the country start feeling a familiar knot in the pit of…

CONTINUED
Practicing Mindfulness with ADHD

Calm the Chaos: The Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness with ADHD

By Diane Dempster

Feel like you’re always running on an empty tank because you have to live in the past, present, and future…

CONTINUED
take care of your brain

Take Care of Your Brain, Take Care of YOU

By Lauren Zimet

You love your child unconditionally and will do anything for them. That 24/7 job is hard enough, but with something…

CONTINUED
getting active

Getting Active is More than Just an ADHD Issue

By Elaine Taylor-Klaus

Let’s hear it for jumping jacks and somersaults! Exercise and getting active is a terrific way to activate the brain…

CONTINUED
setting boundaries for summer

Setting Boundaries for Summer

By Diane Dempster

Aaahhh, Summer. The school year comes to a close, and parents start to dream about the days when schedules are…

CONTINUED

(continued) more than a ‘deficit of attention.’ Instead, ADHD can appear as a rather complicated collection of symptoms, manifesting somewhat differently for each individual. It may more easily be understood as a brain-based developmental delay in executive function. It can also be confused with or compounded by the many co-existing conditions that are common for people with ADHD, including anxiety, learning disabilities, depression, asthma, allergies, autism, Tourette syndrome, as well as newer (and less-well-known or researched) conditions, such as rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD).

Executive functions are responsible for how we think, feel, and act. They’re how we get ourselves to do (or not do) absolutely anything. Therefore, the symptoms that lead to an ADHD diagnosis are not just whether or not someone can pay attention, but whether they can self-regulate – whether they can decide what to pay attention to, stick with it, finish what they’re focusing on, minimize their impulses, and avoid getting distracted in the process. That’s what makes parenting so difficult.

The five areas most commonly reflected in ADHD symptoms rely heavily on executive function: attention (focus), impulsivity, organization, emotional intensity, and (sometimes) hyperactivity. Again, when kids, teens or young adults struggle with these issues, it can cause significant challenges in parenting.

Whether parents are trying to get life moving in the mornings or just help their kids and teens manage any or all of their responsibilities, ADHD is best treated by a combination of medication and ‘behavior therapy,’ otherwise known as parent management training, or behavior management training. With training, parenting can work with medication (when relevant) to teach children and teens skills in self-management, and ultimately improve outcomes for the whole family.