6 Consistencies Your Kids Need At Home

Q: “How can I get my teen to buy into the importance of using an academic planner or at least writing things down? She thinks it is a waste of time and won’t listen to me when I suggest it.” — ProPlannerMomHi ProPlannerMom:One of the most frequent questions I hear from parents is how to get their students to use a daily planner. And as an academic/life coach who works daily with students with ADHD and executive functioning challenges (as well as the creator of an academic planner that teaches time management), my answer may surprise you.Using an academic planner is a terrific strategy for knowing what we need to do and when we have the time to do it.

About 30 million people in the U.S. will develop an eating disorder during their lifetime.1 The most common eating disorders – anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge-eating disorder (BED) – are characterized by unhealthy behaviors and thoughts around food, eating, and body image.Eating disorders often occur alongside other conditions.

January 10, 2023Psychiatrist, ADHD expert, and ADDitude contributor Joseph Biederman, M.D., passed away late last week, just days before he was scheduled to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD), which he co-founded, honoring his decades of groundbreaking ADHD research and advocacy.Biederman, age 75, served as Chief of the Clinical and Research Programs in Pediatric Psychopharmacology and Adult ADHD at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Director of the Alan and Lorraine Bressler Clinical and Research Program for Autism Spectrum Disorders at MGH, and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.Considered the father of pediatric psychopharmacology, Biederman dedicated his career to examining the causes, diagnosis, and ADHD treatment across the lifespan.“He was truly a giant in our field with a brilliant mind and compelling personality,” wrote APSARD president Ann Childress, M.D., on the organization’s website. “As one of the most highly cited child and adolescent psychiatrists in the world, he changed the course of pediatric psychopharmacology.

Routines unravel with great frequency and frustration thanks to a very Catch-22 truth about ADHD: Daily habits make ADHD easier to manage; at the same time, ADHD symptoms and executive function challenges make it inordinately difficult to establish and consistently follow routines. Not to mention the common ADHD pitfalls of perfectionism and all-or-nothing thinking that derail great intentions every day.The bottom line: Routines are supposed to simplify your life, not complicate it.

“Forgive yourself for not knowing better at the time. Forgive yourself for giving away your power. Forgive yourself for past behaviors. Forgive yourself for the survival patterns and traits you picked up while enduring trauma. Forgive yourself for being who you needed to be.” ~Audrey Kitching

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Hi friends! I imagine many of you, like me, are still finishing up your holiday shopping, and what better present to give someone than the gift of insight, peace, joy, and healing? The seven books below are some of my recent favorites, and I’m sure they’d be a wonderful addition to your loved ones’ libraries—or your own!

The older I get, and the older my kids get, the more I realize how much I should or could have done differently. One thing that has been on my mind, is the words that I chose to say and how often I said them.If I could go back, there are so many things I would have done differently. There are so many things I would have said more often.

William Pastor is one of the coaches that we found this month and we did a little interview with him. He impressed us with his kindness and encouraging personality. He is born to be a coach. However, his coaching career didn’t start until 2019, but it was mostly sport related coaching. His mission was to […]

December 15, 2022The months-long Adderall shortage persists nationwide and is now compounded by new restrictions on pharmacists related to the opioid crisis. As part of a recent $21 billion settlement, three U.S.

Persistent tic disorders, including Tourette’s disorder, affect about one in fifty children in the U.S. according to the latest research – more children than previously thought, and a figure that carries important implications for clinicians.1 What’s more, tic disorders are highly comorbid.

Michelle Mendez is one of the coaches that we found this month and we did a little interview with her. She impressed us with her life story and experience. She helps people, especially female entrepreneurs to change their beliefs and paradigm for success in business and life. But she didn’t start there. Her life was […]

Death is perhaps one of the most controversial topics because there is so much we do not realize about dying. However, unfortunately, we all will ‘meet our maker’ one day, and because of that, it’s best to understand what is and what isn’t true.Death is pretty terrifying. It means that we are no longer alive, and because we are born with survival instincts, it’s pretty natural to be afraid.

We often think of children as having it easy- I mean, after all, what is so stressful about being a child? Well, as it turns out, when you think about it, being a child is pretty overwhelming.Think about it: the world is brand new, they have almost zero control over their lives, and their brain isn’t 100% developed. The world is a pretty chaotic and scary place when you are small and have little choice over what happens in your life. With that said, when life becomes complicated, and your little one needs help navigating through their big emotions, what do to? I’m glad you asked.

Parenting is a tough, yet rewarding job, and it most certainly helps to have a ‘village.’ However, there are times when someone else steps into parent your child a little too much, so it’s easy to become offended when someone else tries to step in and parent your child.If you find that when someone steps in and tries to overstep their position in your child’s life you become offended, you might question if your reaction is the right one. As parents, it’s our human nature to protect our kids and defend our parenting.

Is your child’s irritability a normal, age-appropriate reaction or an indication of emotion regulation difficulties (ERD)? It’s difficult to tell, leaving many caregivers feeling anxious and uncertain about their child’s diagnosis.A further complication: youth with ADHD are at higher risk for developing mood disorders, such as disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) or oppositional defiant disorder.During a recent ADDitude webinar on irritability, we asked nearly 1,000 attendees, “What is the most challenging aspect of emotion regulation for your child or patient?” Here are the answers they gave:Comments and questions submitted during the webinar, titled “Emotion Regulation Difficulties in Youth: ADHD Irritability vs. DMDD vs.

Not available January 19? Don’t worry. Register now and we’ll send you the replay link to watch at your convenience.The benefits of ADHD medication are well-documented: Children with ADHD are more likely to improve their focus and academic performance when receiving proper ADHD treatment.

Usually, when you think of four-letter words, it’s likely you are thinking about swear words. However, in this case, there are some four-letter words that are bad words, just not in the way you would think.When it comes to kids, words are quite powerful. You might say something that should have been taken with a grain of salt, but to your child, those words will stick with them forever.

As parents, we are tasked with a pretty important job, part of which is to help provide emotional support to our children. Our daughters, most especially, need our help more than ever, and making sure to give the right support can make all the difference in the world.A major portion of this task is providing the support that they need. Sometimes, the support that they need, may not be the support that we think they need.

Q: “My seventh grader’s teachers report that he has forgotten to complete assignments or turn in his homework — even though he insists he has done them. I check his computer every night, but some assignments don’t show up as missing for weeks.

Omu Obilor is one of the coaches that we found this month and we did a little interview with her. She impressed us with her experience. She joined the John Maxwell team in 2011 and became a founding member. She became a certified Emotional Intelligence Coach by Dr. Amen, Certified Brain Health Coach, Nueroencoding and […]

ADHD medications do not place patients of any age, including middle-aged and older adults, at greater risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a new meta-analysis of 19 observational studies that included 3.9 million participants. William Dodson, M.D., heralded the groundbreaking finding as a “turning point,” particularly for older adults who have been unable to treat their ADHD with medication due to fears of cardiovascular side effects.People with dyslexia have strengths in experimentation, innovation, and searching for the unknown, all of which play a crucial role in how humans adapt and survive, according to a new study.

Q: “How do I know if my child, who’s 10, is ready for a smartphone? Are there benefits or downsides to holding off when it seems like all my child’s classmates have access to one? Should I be concerned about potentially early exposure to social media?”Many parents are unsure when to give their child a smartphone. Ultimately, the decision is a personal and nuanced one, but we do know that most children today get their first smartphone by age 11.1 Also, many tweens are on social media platforms, even though virtually all these platforms require registered users to be at least 13 years old.1That said, your child’s maturity level is the most important factor to consider when deciding when to give them a smartphone.

from the public relations firm MSL U.S. and The Influencer League, which found a 29% pay gap between white influencers and influencers of color. The gap between white and Black influencers, specifically? A whopping 35%.That disparity comes as no surprise to Pamela Zapata, who saw firsthand the inequities in the industry during her decade-plus in marketing, production and influencer strategy—and set out to fix it.

1. Start ASAP. The sooner you get started, the more they will get into the routine of it all. 2. Remember to give lots of praise for their effort. 3. Be consistent.4. DO NOT expect perfection. 5. Make a chart.Here are 9, age-appropriate chores your kids can do.If you have pets, this is a great opportunity to teach your child responsibility.