Edge Foundation Blog

You may have noticed that the Edge Foundation has never taken a position about whether or not to use of medication (ex. Ritalin, Adderall etc.) in treating ADHD symptoms. The reason for this is simple: we believe that whether or not you take medication is a personal decision that each family must make after consulting with a qualified doctor. It is not our place, nor the place of people who aren’t living with your ADHD to have any say in the matter.

Yet, there are plenty of vocal opponents to ADHD medication. You don’t have to look far to hear the criticism that we are overmedicating our children in this society. We say to them, walk a mile in ADHD shoes before you start to criticize. Judith Warner has done just that.

Author discovers over medication is a misconception

When best-selling author Judith Warner landed a book deal, she believed that American children were overmedicated. Surprise - turns out she was wrong! What she discovered instead was that this common misconception couldn’t be farther from the truth. “Not only has Warner never met a parent who lunged for the medicine cabinet to dope up their kids, but some fought the medication route as long as they could, to the detriment of their child,” says Kirkus Reviews, Dec 01, 2009.

Warner’s book, We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication, ended up being a thoughtful exploration of how we can help our children live successful lives using all of the tools we have at our disposal - including medication. We hope Warner’s book will help assuage the shame, fear, guilt and embarrassment felt among many people who have decided to use medications as part of their ADHD treatment plan.

Medication doesn’t cure ADHD

And we also want to underline the importance of understanding that medication is not a cure for ADHD. “Medication should be viewed as a useful tool to help individuals with AD/HD make positive changes in their lives as a part of a multi-modal approach which should include positive behavioral management and supports such as ADHD coaching,” says Edge Foundation Executive Director, Robert Tudisco. Tudisco is much more concerned about the diversion of AD/HD medication to individuals who have not been prescribed to use them by a doctor such as sharing them with friends to help them pull an all-nighter, or failing to safeguard prescribed medication that is stolen on campus and either sold or taken by individuals without medical supervision. He is currently working on an article on the subject to be published in Attention Magazine later this year.

The important thing for parents and students alike to know is the best person who can know whether or not medications are for you, is you (along with your physician’s guidance.) And as for those who are misinformed, operating under popular misconceptions, or trying to sell a product, we encourage you to get the facts from a qualified physician and point them in the direction of Warner’s book.

Dear Coach,

My son is in 9th grade and is struggling to keep up with his new high school responsibilities. Is he too young for a coach?
Signed,  Worried

Dear Worried,

Many students with ADHD who have done fine in school, may hit a wall when they take a step up to a higher level of responsibility - like high school. So while you and your son may be worried about whether or not he can hack it, don’t worry, we DO have coaches for students in 9th grade. While most of our coaches work using emails and the phone, it may be better for a someone younger, like your son, to receive in-person coaching. Let us know your location and we will do our best to match your son with a coach that can work with him in person or using a face-to-face internet tool such as Skype. Here’s the link to sign up to find out more. Good luck! And let us know how it goes.

Do you have a question for the coach? Send it to coach@edgefoundation.org. We’ve love to hear from you.

And be sure to check out these other ADHD Coach questions:

What is an ADHD Coach?

Why am I always late?

What should I do about spring fever when I need to buckle down and study?

How do I know I need an ADHD Coach?

Is there a “best” ADHD web site? We’d like to think the Edge Foundation would top your list of best ADHD resources. But just in case you are looking for information we don’t offer, we thought it might be helpful to list some of our favorite ADHD resources.

The 5 best ADHD resources

1. CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), is a national non-profit organization working to improve the lives of affected people through education, advocacy and support. From lobbying to local support groups, CHADD is a leader in the field of ADHD.
2. CHADD is also the sponsor of the National Resource Center on AD/HD. The center is funded by the CDC and has tons of science-based information about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
3. About.com has a great AD/HD column written by Keath Low. Keath posts new content each week that is full of information, support and ideas you can use. Her past columns provide an excellent on-line resource for nearly any ADHD related topic you can think of. (About.com is owned by the New York Times Company.)
4. ADD Resources is another non-profit serving the ADHD community. It has an extensive directory of workshops, conferences, publications, and articles for parents, teachers, adults, and medical professionals. The organization supports itself through memberships. And there is a fee to access some content.
5. ADDvance.com is a site where Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D. and Patricia Quinn, M.D. (Edge Foundation board member) provides answers to questions about ADHD for families and individuals at every stage of life from preschool through retirement years.

There are a ton of great ADHD sites out there.  If you had to pick just 5 ADHD resources to list, what ones would you include? Let us know what your list would include.

Many people joke about having ADHD these days.  But what if you really think you might have it?  There’s a super simple test that Harvard University and the World Health Organization developed that can help you find the answer.  It’s called the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-V1.1 (ASRS-V1.1) Screener.  It’s just 6 questions long and takes only 5 minutes to complete.

Can a simple test really tell me if I have ADHD?

Well, no.  But it can give you an idea of whether you should talk to you doctor about it or not.

What if I don’t have ADHD?

There’s probably a good reason you are wondering if you have ADHD.

Do you get easily distracted?  Do you have trouble focusing long enough to finish your homework?  Are you the kid in class who gets in trouble for interrupting or doing random stuff?  Do people tell you you’d do fine if you just tried harder?  Do you sometimes feel like you’re always forgetting things, always late, always in trouble, always behind?

If you are struggling with these issues in school, you don’t need to wait for an ADHD diagnosis to start working with a coach on these issues.

A coach is your advocate. He or she gets to know you and finds ways to help you succeed in your life.  You and your coach talk regularly and check in about how your life is going. Your coach can help you find strategies to stay organized and remember important things. Your coach can help remind you to take care of yourself and show you ways to stay focused. Your coach can also help you improve your relationships with friends, classmates, teachers, and family members. Your coach is there to talk to, strategize with, and advocate for you as long as you want.

Other posts you might be interested in:

ADHD Screener in Chinese, Spanish, English and more

ADHD Symptoms in Girls

How to determine if a you need an ADHD coach

Do you know a high school student who is struggling?

Living with ADHD can be frustrating - for the students that have it and the adults who care about them. While every high school student is learning important skills that will help them be successful in school and life, the ADHD student has to work much harder to learn these same skills.

The added challenge of high school is that students are also moving away from accepting help from their parents, and may be embarrassed to let others know they are struggling with basic skills such as studying, remembering things or keeping track of time. Many times they mask these struggles with “poor attitude.” Added to the challenge are adults who see these behaviors as a failing of character–just not caring or just not trying hard enough–when there are actually fundamental neurological issues contributing to the problems.

Help is here!

At the Edge Foundation, we believe that coaching can mean the difference between success and failure for high school students with ADHD. An ADHD coach works with the student to help make the most of his or her strengths and overcome the challenges. An Edge Coach is not a doctor or teacher but rather a skilled specialist who works with your student to help your student learn and practice important skills that will last a lifetime. A coach gets to know each student’s individual strengths and finds ways to help your student succeed academically, socially, and in all areas of life.

After your student is matched with an Edge Coach, they set up weekly sessions to talk about how school and personal life is going. The coach helps the student find strategies to stay organized, utilize time well, and stay on track in class. The coach can help remind the student to make good choices and take care of him or herself emotionally and physically. ADHD coaches can also help students improve relationships with friends, peers, teachers, and family members.

The end result is a student who has increased capabilities, confidence and sense of self!

Sign up today!

Why not sign up today to get more information?  It doesn’t cost anything to check it out.

For students under 18 years of age, parents will participate in all phases of the application process. For students 18 years and older, it is expected that the student take the initiative for selecting his or her own coach and that the parents take a supportive but secondary role.

If you know a student who is struggling, an ADHD coach can make all the difference in the world. Pass the word. ADHD doesn’t have to be a disability that holds you back from living a fully accomplished and successful life.

Editor’s Note:  This month we are pleased to publish a guest post by Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D.  Nationally recognized psychologist, Kathleen G. Nadeau, Ph.D., has many years helping children, teens and adults to learn better planning and organizational skills.   Dr. Nadeau is the brains behind, Skoach, an integrated online time management and task planning tool.

Figure out why you procrastinate, then match your strategy to motivate accordingly.

Procrastination can be caused by several things. You may procrastinate because you don’t enjoy a task. You may procrastinate because a task is large and challenging to organize. Or, you may procrastinate because you aren’t sure how to accomplish the task.

1. Procrastination due to dislike of an activity

If you procrastinate because you don’t like a task, look for ways to increase task appeal such as:

* Make it into a game, and keep score.
* Make it into a game, competing with others.
* Listen to upbeat music while doing it. Schedule a reward immediately after you complete it.

2. Procrastination due to overwhelm

If you’re avoiding a task because it is lengthy and overwhelming, then “divide and conquer”:

* Break the large task into separate, short-term segments.
* Then check off each segment as an accomplished short-term task.

3. Procrastination due to inertia

If you procrastinate because you have difficulty initiating a task, create something to react to. Tasks that can be reacted to are easier to begin than those that you must initiate yourself.

* Work on the task with others - then you can react to their questions, emails, etc.
* Establish a deadline with your supervisor.

4. Procrastination due to lack of organization

Sometimes we procrastinate on beginning a large project because we haven’t organized the task and don’t know where to start. If you can’t seem to get a project organized:

* Think through the task.
* Talk with your supervisor or collaborators to plan it.
* Break the larger task into do-able segments.
* Create a list of resources and supplies needed to accomplish the task.
* Create a timeline for the task.
* Then schedule the first segment of the task.
* Create an email or text reminder for this segment.

5. Procrastination on difficult tasks

Not all tasks can be made easy, but if you find a task particularly difficult, you must analyze how it can become easier.

* Do you need help?
* More training?
* More practice?
* More assistance from other?
* Analyze what is making the task so difficult, and then get the help you need to succeed.

6. Procrastination at certain times of day

More challenging tasks should be done at whatever time of day you seem to feel more focused and energetic. Take note of your daily rhythms, and then try to schedule the most avoided tasks for the time of day when you’ll have more energy to tackle them.

Problem-solve and apply your solution

To combat patterns of procrastination, select a task that you keep putting off. Then look at the list of possible solutions above and choose one that you think is most likely to be helpful.

Pick one (or more) of these solutions, and keep track over the next few weeks. Are you getting things done on a consistent basis? If so, keep up the good work! Your new solutions will soon become habits that require very little effort to maintain.

Final note for severe or chronic procrastinators
Some people seem to have a generally low level of motivation and tend to put off all tasks that take energy or effort. These people are classic “couch potatoes” that would rather do “nothing” than anything at all. If you fall into the couch potato category, you may actually struggle with chronic, low level depression.

Others are couch potatoes due to chronic sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, or poor physical fitness. If you feel as if everything is too much trouble, then get a medical check-up to see if depression or some other health problem is playing a role in always putting things off.

ADHD, Depression and Why it Matters

ADHD and Depression II: Types of Depression

ADHD Depression Busting Tool Kit

Editor’s Note: Last night my daughter sat with me and talked to me about how frustrating she was that day having ADHD. She had just made another impulsive boo-boo and was being really hard on herself. I know from talking to successful people with ADHD that feeling discouraged sometimes is part of the package.

We talked about writing down the times that ADHD has been an asset for her so she can remember them on days like these. Like the time she was quick to notice her brother left his favorate sweatshirt behind, or when her out of the box thinking creates a new way of seeing a problem that didn’t seem to have an answer.

And here at Edge, we thought it would be inspriring to hear from other students who have found success using an ADHD coach. You know we are sold on coaching as a powerful way to channel your ADHD for success.

We encourage each of our readers to share their success stories in the comments. Our stories together can remind us all to keep our focus on what is possible in those moments we are discouraged.

Getting organized with ADHD coaching

ADHD coaching really helped me organize. I think it helped me the most in setting goals and making sure I got those goals done in a good way, in a motivational way. Before [I had an ADHD coach] all of my goals and all of my assignments were jumbled up in my head. Coaching helped me systemically put them into a schedule. - College Student

Learning strategies that get results

I’m already reviewing for exams a couple of weeks before I have them. I got this from coaching. Coaching has helped me see things more from a planning perspective - planning ahead and starting early helps make things much easier. I feel much less stressed now about exams, and things are much more doable. So now it is not just like memorizing everything right before an exam and then forgetting it, but doing reading as I go along so that I am actually learning the material when I review it a couple of weeks before a test. - College Student

I still look back and wonder how I was able to get through it. My grades were low, but it was not because I didn’t understand the material. It was simply because I was very disorganized and didn’t know how to study effectively. I lost assignments, I wasted endless hours “studying”, and I nearly drove my parents insane. Then, my mom called an ADHD coach. All it took was a 30-minute call once a week - just 30 minutes! We laid down plans and schedules to get myself back on track. My grades improved tenfold and best of all, I virtually eliminated my problem with missing assignments. With every call, I became better - my study skills improved, my organization was practically flawless, and my self-confidence and ability to motivate myself became fine-tuned. I truly can’t attribute my recent success to anyone but my coach. - High School Student

Astonishing your parents

ADHD Coaching has helped increase my overall organization abilities. It helped me get my room more organized ed. It’s still clean weeks after I did the major clean-up! My folks won’t even believe it when they come see me! And I’m also sleeping more. That’s helping a lot. - College Student

Reaching for the stars

I’m setting higher standards now because, coming into college, my expectations were, ‘Oh yeah; 3.6, 3.7 gpa, no big deal. Because, just coming from high school, that’s just the way everything worked… Now I’m thinking about the bigger picture and what I need to do to get into a good graduate school, and stuff like that. - College Student

ADHD coaching stops the last minute scramble

Grades weren’t really an issue for me ever, but the way I go about getting my grades is better… because of the going through on a daily basis, not waiting until the last minute. - College Student

Hearing more positive feedback

People have commented, ‘Wow, you’re really producing this semester,’ or, ‘Wow, you’re -‘ I don’t want to brag, but - ‘further ahead than everyone else,’ or whatever. I might not have heard [comments like this] last semester. - College Student

Giving perspective - you are not alone

I would say [to my coach], ‘Look, I’m having this problem, right?’ Or we’d be like, ‘Here’s a goal. Why aren’t I reaching that goal?’ ‘Oh, it’s because of this problem.’ And then you know what he’ll say, ‘Well, some people like yourself with ADD, they would try x, y, and z.’ And I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s really helpful to know what other people kind of like me in similar situations are doing and how they solve their similar problems.’ - College Student

An ADHD coach is an angel on your shoulder

Besides the benefits, I think the relationship. Developing a relationship is very helpful in keeping you; it’s almost like developing a relationship with an angel on your shoulder or something. It’s just kind of nice to have a good relationship with someone that can help you. - College Student

Reduces stress

Some people feel less stressed after they’ve sort of planned out what they’re going to do about something they are stressed about. Because it takes away the question of, ‘Oh, how am I going to do this? Oh, this is how I’m going to do it. I feel less stressed about it because I know I can get it done.’ - College Student

[Now I'm] in control, not of myself but of my daily life and of the situation; daily experience. Probably less stressed and more confident in my abilities to get the things done that I need to get done, again, in a timely manner. - College Student

An ADHD coach builds your confidence

I was going to say, ‘Confident. Everything is doable.’ [Smiling] Yeah. - College Student

Learning skills to last a lifetime

I was able to compensate until I reached grad school where I hit a wall and began to struggle with classes, scheduling, organization, and school/life balance. I [was] doing well academically but performed poorly in the field - showing up unprepared and missing deadlines. Sometimes the ADD habit of speaking-before-thinking got me in hot water. At home things were a disaster: it seemed impossible for me to keep up with life tasks like laundry, dishes and cleaning while working and studying. [Medication, therapy and academic accomodationns] didn’t address time management and didn’t help my social issues, disorganization, or the home/life balance disrupted by ADD. Before I started coaching, I was afraid I’d fail out of grad school. After a few months of coaching, both my Dean and my advisor congratulated me on my improvements. I’m actually getting honors in my evaluations, which is much more than I’d ever hoped for. I am also learning skills like time management and home/life/work balance, which will help me for the rest of my life. - Grad Student

Feel more in control of your life with an ADHD coach

I became noticeably more organized [with the help of my ADHD coach]. I went from constantly missing homework assignments my first three years of high school to missing no homework assignments my senior year. I could easily find worksheets and packets in folders instead of looking around in my backpack or my room. I got into my first choice college. I believe the study and organization skills I learned with my coach have helped immensely in my first semester of college. I now feel more in control of my schoolwork and grades. - College Student

Share your success

Now it’s your turn.  We hope you’ll share your success stories in the comment section!

For a more in depth success story read One ADHD College Student’s Success Story

Do you dread January’s New Year’s resolutions? Does it feel like just one more opportunity to let yourself down? This year try something a little different: think small, make only ONE resolution.

The Kaizen Approach to Self Improvement

Unless you work in a manufacturing business, you probably haven’t heard the term kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese quality management philosophy that directs continual improvement in all aspects of a business - from the CEO to the assembly line.

In his book, One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, Robert Maurer takes the kaizen principal and applies it to everyday life. As the title suggests, Maurer recommends focusing your energy on taking small steps towards your goals instead of rushing and attempting to accomplish them in one big bite.

This might seem counterintuitive for the ADHD brain that can find it boring without going “all in” on a New Year’s resolution. But total immersion is hard to sustain and often leads to failure. We’ve all done it. Resolve to exercise 6 days a week. And we do, for the first week or so. But by the end of January, other parts of our lives have gotten in the way, and our “perfect record” is filled with holes. And by February we are discouraged and it’s easier to “forget” our goal than to keep failing at it.

Small Goals: Big Accomplishments

Maurer, a Kaizen expert, suggests setting small goals for yourself. Even large goals, like a doctoral thesis, can be broken down into a series of tiny steps that you take each and every day. Take piano, for example. Instead of trying to learn a whole piece of music on the first sitting, many musicians break down a new composition into a series of measures or bars. They work on these discrete units of music until they nail them. Only then do they move onto putting them all together. If you practice only one measure a day, you can still quickly learn an entire piece. But try to learn the whole thing in the first sitting and you’ll tire, your focus will lag, and discouragement can quickly follow.

Make Only One New Year’s Resolution

So instead of focusing on the big picture, try setting one or two small, achievable goals for yourself each day. Let yourself enjoy how great it feels to get those steps accomplished every day. How would the New Year look different to you if you just made one New Year’s resolution for yourself?

“I commit to doing one thing every day to achieving my intended purpose.”

It’s just over a week until Christmas and the shopping frenzy is building for us all.  Last year we published a very popular post about how to keeping shopping impulses under control.  It contained 5 steps that everyone can follow:

1. Make a budget
2. Make a list
3. Prioritize
4. Keep it in cash
5. Avoid the mall

This year we thought it would be helpful to provide a simple tool you can use to help you keep track of your spending.  This is a low-tech, print-it-out-and-keep-it-close-at-hand is a  simple budget tracking thermometer.  Go ahead, open up the file and print it out.  Then we’ll talk about how it works.  Ready?

The pdf includes an old fashion thermometer that you color in as you spend your money.  A budget worksheet so you can plan how much to spend.  And a sample that shows you how quickly you can spend $600 if you don’t think carefully about what you are buying.  Start by writing down who you want to buy stuff for and what you’ve already spent on items.  Then add up how much it all will cost.  Divide your thermometer into even segments.  Start coloring it in.  When you reach the top, STOP SPENDING!

Did you have any idea how quickly you could blow through $300 without spending very much money per person?  Let us know if using this old-school tool gives you a new view on budgeting and keeping your spending under control.

Student Interview Audio File

Ever wonder what coaching was like from a student’s perspective?  Then open the link above to hear how one student has found coaching to be more effective than the medication she’s been taking to help her set goals and structure for her life.