Edge Foundation Blog

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

College is a critical time for students with ADHD. Finding new strategies that work with ADHD is the key to success. We are pleased to announce that a new resource for college students is now available, free of charge! ADHD and College Success is an invaluable resource, jam-packed with ideas, tips, and encouragement to help college students with ADHD succeed.

Included in the whitepaper are 60 practical solutions for typical ADHD challenges. Highlights include:

• Using creative ways, like music, to keep yourself on schedule
• Working with your urge to procrastinate, not against it
• How to study smarter, not harder
• How to use fidgeting to stay focused
• 4 student qualities for success

Everything you need to know about ADHD, college, and living your dreams. Download your FREE copy at the bottom of this link today!

Editor’s Note: This week’s post was written by Award-winning Professional Organizer,
Judith Kolberg.

The first step to effective note taking is focused listening

Maybe it’s the school season, or that its “conference season”; whatever the reason, taking note and note taking is on the agenda. Note taking is no small task.

• It starts with taking note — listening intently to the talking-head and getting a grasp on what is said.
• Then it involves writing down both the most pertinent ideas and the relevant details and ignoring extraneous material.
• Finally, good note-taking results in actually using the notes in the appropriate context.

Inattention and distractibility make note taking hard for everyone

Even people without ADHD find it difficult to take note and note-take. Inattention, which makes the ADHD brain struggle to focus long and hard enough to get information into the brain in the first place, and distractibility, which moves attention away from the task at hand, conspire to make taking note really tough. And figuring out as you listen and write what is important and what is not is also challenging.

Note taking Tips for the ADHD Student

• Don’t look: Consider not looking at the speaker, but instead looking down at the paper or your laptop or whatever it is you are taking notes on. Sometimes knocking out some of the visual of looking at the speaker, can reduce distractions.
• Use the handouts! These days, most speakers and teachers give handouts with the central concepts already on them. Write on the handouts. Use highlighting. Add your own comments or thoughts. Since you did not create the handouts, you have to put your own imprint on them so they live and breathe and work for you.
• Share notes with a friend: Let someone else handle the details; go for the main concepts and ideas. You can often get the details from someone else’s notes, an audio recording, or a written transcript.
• Use shorthand: Develop a simple short hand but be certain you understand it! You might write the word “details” like this “dtails”. The letter “t” can stand in for “the”. A long phrase that is repeated, like “note-taking” can be written out once, and thereafter written as “n/t”.
• Try Mind Maps: Consider taking notes graphically by using mind maps. Click here for more information.
  Consider using note-taking software. Click here for more information.

Using Your Notes Effectively

Just a word about using your notes: separate your notes out by topic or subject and you’ll be able to utilize them better. Say you went to a conference on ADHD and took notes about medication and on memory and on ADHD humor. Separate them, make the topic prominent, and stick your notes where they will be used next. For instance, put the medication notes in a file to bring to your next doctor appointment to discuss with your doctor. In your calendar, on the date of the doctor appointment write “bring notes”. The notes on memory might just be for your own edification so call then “Don’t Forget” and file them under “ADHD”. Maybe you’ll want to use the ADHD humor notes in your next presentation. Stick the notes in with your presentation material. In other words, put notes where they are most likely next to be utilized.

Have you ever tried recording important lectures? Do you have your own shorthand? Have you ever asked someone to share notes with you? Let us know what note taking strategies have worked for you.

Last week we shared Mark Katz’s inspiring talk about resiliency from CHADD’s regional conference in Anaheim.  This week we’d like to highlight comments presented by our founder, Neil Peterson, at the same event. College success was the focus of Neil’s presentation.  He covered four key points:

1. 18 year old is really not 18
2. There is an option of not going to college right away
3. The process that we’ve set up in our colleges is still daunting and students need help navigating that process.
4. Get a coach.

An 18 year old with ADHD is really much younger developmentally

Experts remind us that an 18 year old with ADHD is really more like 15 or 16 year old developmentally.  What this means is even though our kids are entering college as adults at 18, they really aren’t ready to learn self-advocacy skills their peers are expected to.  Neil encouraged parents and educators to remember that ADHD youth are often not mature enough to handle the independence that comes when they lose the scaffolding of their parents and home.

A gap year can help students catch up with their peers developmentally.

Neil could see his daughter wasn’t ready for the “free flowing” college dorm situation so help keep her out of school for a year.  A structured gap year that provides experiences and opportunities for your

Getting accommodations is difficult

While we’ve made a lot of progress in serving disabled students in college it’s a daunting process to qualify for services and then inform each of your college professors that you need accommodations.  Neil recommends that parents need to teach their children how to self-advocate for these services if they haven’t done so already.

An ADHD coach can help you keep on track

Neil Peterson is a very successful entrepreneur and former CEO.  His favorite analogy about why a coach makes sense is “If a coach is good enough for a CEO, its good enough for a struggling 18 year old.”  He should know, he uses a coach himself to stay on track.  For Neil’s daughter, Kelsey, an ADHD coach is invaluable in helping her break down the steps of getting her assignments done, setting and following through with commitments to herself, and planning, prioritizing and staying on task.

Do you agree with Neil and other ADHD experts that an 18 year old with ADHD isn’t really 18 developmentally?  Let us know!

Editor:  We are honored to have had Dr. Patricia Quinn involved with the Edge Foundation since our founding.  Dr. Quinn is a leading ADHD expert who has worked with, written about and provided training in the field of ADHD for more than 30 years.  This month we are pleased to be talking with her about one of her primary concerns:  girls with ADHD.

Key ideas:

• Many girls with ADHD are left undiagnosed because their symptoms look different than boys.
• Hyperactivity in girls can appear as being hyper-talkative or hyper-reactive (more emotional).
• ADHD girls have greater problems with disorganization than boys.
• Depression and anxiety are symptoms to watch for in older girls with ADHD.
• ADHD coaching can help girls with ADHD learn what works to be successful in school and in life.

Edge: Thank you for all you’ve done on behalf of people with ADHD over the last 30 years.  What are the ADHD projects you are most excited about these days?

Dr. Patricia Quinn:   I can honestly say that working with young girls with ADHD, helping them understand the disorder and learn to live happy, productive lives is very close to my heart.  My most recent book, Attention, Girls!  A Guide to Learn All about Your ADHD, is special because it focuses on the lives of girls ages 7 to 13 years.

I also feel passionately about my work with college students with ADHD most of whom are newly diagnosed and struggling to stay in school.  When I get a call from someone who has just earned his law degree, and he says that he couldn’t have done it without my help when he was in college, it makes my day!

Edge: Girls have had a history of being under-diagnosed with ADHD in part because their symptoms can look very different from boys who have ADHD.  Can you speak to that a little bit?

Dr. Patricia Quinn: Boys with ADHD are easy to spot in the classroom, and are much more likely to be referred for an evaluation.

• Most questionnaires used to screen children for ADHD emphasize items that describe these boys, items about hyperactivity, impulsivity and defiant behavior.
• Only those few girls who are like these boys with ADHD are sent for assessment.
• The ratio of children referred to clinics for ADHD evaluations continues to be about four or five boys for each girl.

What we are beginning to realize is that there are many girls left undiagnosed because their symptoms look different.  One big difference is that girls are less rebellious, less defiant, and generally less “difficult” than boys.  Sadly, they lose out due to their good behavior.  It’s the squeaky wheel that gets oiled.  When a boy is causing frequent discipline problems, either at home or in the classroom, he will quickly be referred for treatment.  Parents and teachers alike want quick relief from their constant challenges.  Girls with ADHD are more compliant, and are not as easy to spot.  Often they are left to drift along from one school year to the next, never working up to their potential and suffering silently.

Edge: So you are saying girls have the same symptoms as boys, they are just less rebellious?

Dr. Patricia Quinn: Basically there are core symptoms of ADHD that are critical to the diagnosis.  These include problems with attention and hyperactivity/impulsivity.  In general, girls usually have more problems with attention.  However, girls can also have hyperactivity, but it manifests in different ways.  For example, girls with ADHD can be hyper-reactive rather than hyperactive.  They are more emotionally labile with tantrums, slamming doors, etc.  Instead, of running around and being motorically hyperactive and disruptive like boys with ADHD, they can be hyper-talkative.  In addition to problems with attention, girls have problems with disorganization and, after puberty, have greater incidence of coexisting depression and anxiety.

Edge: Is there any advice you can offer to high school or college age young women to help them work with their ADHD to be successful?

Dr. Patricia Quinn: To successfully deal with and manage both ADHD symptoms and their lives, girls with ADHD must accurately assess their strengths, as well as weaknesses, and develop a plan for going forward.  For many girls, this means facing and shouting down the shame, low self-regard and those self-defeating scripts they have in their heads that tell them how terrible they are.  In addition, they need to develop a plan, building on their strengths, to deal with time management, disorganization and the other issues that get in the way of their success.

High school is the perfect time to begin developing strategies to deal with their ADHD symptoms.  However, teens do not need to face these challenges alone.  Family members, teachers, therapists and ADHD coaches are there to help.  By enrolling the aid of a coach early on, the girl with ADHD can learn what works for her and what she needs to do to be successful in college and life beyond.

This month we are pleased to feature an interview with Robert Tudisco, Edge Foundation Board member. Tudisco is a practicing attorney, an adult diagnosed with ADHD and has served on the Board of Directors of CHADD and ADDA.  As a freelance writer, he has been published in both Attention! and ADDitude Magazines and is a frequent resource for the media about ADHD and disability advocacy.

Edge:  You’ve been a leader in the disability community for the 10 years since you were diagnosed with ADHD.  What are the ADHD projects you are most excited about these days?

Robert Tudisco:  I am excited about the work that is going on at the Edge Foundation to provide scholarships and subsidized coaching for college students with ADHD.

When young students leave the structure of home and high school they often find themselves floating along in college without structure, accountability and the ability to advocate for themselves. For individuals with ADHD, this is a recipe for disaster.  Edge Foundation coaches establish the structure and accountability that is crucial for these transitional young adults.

Edge Foundation is also making significant strides in establishing a scientific basis for the efficacy of coaching which has been lacking in this field as well as a means of standardization through their own coaching certification program.

Edge:  So I imagine a coach can be helpful to a student in assessing whether or not they want to disclose they have ADHD or keep it private.  Do you have an opinion on whether students should come out about their ADHD or not?

Robert Tudisco:  Actually, I do not see it that way at all.  A coach can be very helpful in helping a student understand their specific needs due to their ADHD and help them self report and seek supports in a post secondary environment.  Under the law, it is always an advantage for students to self report their ADHD.  In fact, under Section 504 and the ADA, post secondary students are required to self report and ask for services if they are to have any protection from discrimination about their disability.  Disclosure for students is therefore a must.

Disclosure of ADHD in the workplace is more complicated than when attending school

When students enter the working world is when the question of disclosure becomes more delicate to resolve.  In the first instance, most employers do not accept federal subsidies and employers with less than 50 employees are exempt.  Additionally, for an employment claim, the disabled person also has to prove that they are otherwise capable of performing the job.  Disclosure becomes even more complicated with respect to certain types of businesses where there is much competition for advancement and traditional stigmas can hold an employee with a disability such as ADHD back from advancement.  Here, a coach can be particularly helpful in guiding a client toward a career that better suits their ADHD where their particular work style and creativity can maximize their effectiveness and also how to seek support without necessarily disclosing something that may be seen as a negative.

We’re pleased to announce that Edge Foundation has set up a page on Facebook.  The page is all about providing ADHD college students with news, tips and resources to help them overcome ADHD obstacles and reach their goals in school and life.

Real life solutions to problems college students face everyday

You may have already seen the Edge Foundation Group on Facebook.  It was set up by an Edge Foundation fan who knows, first hand, how effective coaching can be for students with ADHD.  But don’t be confused - so far, it hasn’t been a very active community.  The Edge Foundation Page will have much more to offer.  We will be inviting community members to join us in discussions about real life strategies to stay on top of common issues every college student faces like money management, procrastination, all nighters, and assignment planning.  We’ll also let you know about our latest blog posts, keep you on top of what the experts are saying about ADHD, and link to other reputable sources for ADHD information.

Become our Facebook Fan and help spread the word:  ADHD coaching works!

We hope you’ll visit out page soon and become one of our fans.  And if you know a college student who has ADHD, we’d appreciate it if you’d share the word.  So many people have never heard about ADHD coaching, much less know how helpful it can be.  As readers of this blog, we’re betting you already have a clue about the power of ADHD coaching.  We also are betting you know several other people who have ADHD and are probably on Facebook.  Becoming our Facebook fan is an easy way to help spread the word about Edge Foundation and the benefits of ADHD coaching to your friends and family.  Please check us out!  And when stop by, we hope you’ll write a note on our wall and let us know what you’d like to hear more about from Edge Foundation.

Edge Foundation is joining other leading experts during the months of May and June for the 2009 ADHD Family Summit. This free event is being organized by Rory Stern, a passionate advocate in the ADHD community. The tele-seminars will be held Monday and Wednesday evenings at 9:00 pm Eastern (8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain, and 6:00 Pacific), and includes access to a 24-hour replay line for people who aren’t able to listen in live.

Topics include understanding the ADHD brain, giftedness and ADHD, supporting family members when they need it, working memory, attention master and more. Edge Foundation’s Neil Peterson and Sarah Wright will be presenting Coaching for Teens - The Power to Succeed Academically, Socially, and in Life. Neil’s personal story and Sarah’s experience will be simply one call NOT to miss!  The date of the Edge Foundation presentations are still being finalized, but if you sign up for the series, you’ll be sure to get the news!

While this series officially kicks off on Monday night, May 4th at 9 PM EDT,  a special pre-series call has been scheduled for this coming tomorrow night, Wednesday, April 29th.

One of the biggest for people with ADHD is time management strategies.  Tomorrow night we’ll be talking time management strategies with a very special guest on the topic.  Sign up today to get the details on how to listen in on this exciting pre-Summit interview.

Ever tried to do two or more things at once?  Like doing homeworkand listening to your music?  Or listening to a talk and doodling your notes?  Did it work for you?

Those secondary “mindless” tasks (the doodling and the listening to the music) are what the Edge Foundation’s Executive Director, Sarah Wright, calls fidgeting.

A bored ADHD brain is a sluggish brain

“Everyone thinks of fidgeting as those restless movements we do when we’re bored, but really it’s more than that,” she explains.  “One of the things we know about an ADHD brain is that when it gets bored, it gets sluggish.  Literally.  In brain scans of people with ADHD doing boring repetitive tasks, we can see that pretty quickly the pre frontal cortex slows down.  One of the reasons stimulant medications are thought to work for ADHD is that they correct for this.  When compared to the general population, it is pretty clear people with ADHD just require a higher base level of stimulation to stay comfortably alert and focused.”

Fidgeting helps people with ADHD stay focused

Fidget to Focus is the book Sarah co-authored with Dr. Roland Rotz.  They make the case that instead of being a distraction, certain mindless tasks-like listening to music or doodling on paper or chewing gum or standing up at your desk-are really ways to help self-regulate and stay focused. Fidget to Focus was just featured in ADDitude magazine online.

She explains, “All adults self-regulate with sensory-motor activities.  When we get tired of sitting at our desks, we get up for a cup of coffee.  We switch on the radio in the car to keep us interested while driving.  We maybe splash some cold water on our faces to perk up.  Even as adults we need the right balance of sensory-motor stimulation to keep us in our comfort zone.

“Kids need more.  They need more frequent, more intense, and more variety of sensory-motor stimulation than adults does to stay in their comfort zone.  If you try to take those stimulating things away, they’ll just find something else.  And this is true for all kids, not just those with ADHD.  But because of the way the ADHD brain works, people with ADHD will essentially always need more stimulation than those without ADHD. It’s just a matter of degree.”

Three tips for self-regulating with fidgeting:

Sarah and her co-author emphasize three important points in Fidgeting to Focus that you can start using today.

1.       The great thing about fidgeting is that it’s perfectly natural.  Everyone does it.  The trick is to do it intentionally.  If you do it right, you can manage your ADHD symptoms in a way that’s totally unnoticeable to everyone else.

2.       It’s important to fidget respectfully: doing it in a way that works for you but that doesn’t bother the people around you.  For example, clicking your pen repeatedly during a meeting might not be so cool, but fiddling with a paperclip under the table would be soundless and invisible.

3.       It’s important to realize that a good fidget shouldn’t compete with the primary tasks.  For instance, if you need your eyes for reading, listening to music will be a better fidget than watching the TV.  If you need to listen, doodling or pacing will be a better fidget than being plugged into your iPod.

And ADHD coach can help you figure out which fidget help you focus, and which ones are getting in  your way.  We’d love to hear from you.  What fidget works for you?

Editor’s Note:

University of Central Florida study confirms fidgeting helps kids with ADHD concentrate as reported in the Orlando Sentinal, May 25, 2009.