ADHD and the FierceFamily

Mel Levine seems like such a nice, empathic guy. The way he writes about the struggles that students have makes me wish I could go to him and have him solve the puzzle of all of my challenges. Maybe most importantly, I want Dr. Levine to explain those challenges to me in a way that makes me feel as empathic towards myself as he sounds towards his patients. Continue Reading »

Girls are underdiagnosed with ADHD because, very often, their symptoms are not as recognizable and/or as annoying as the symptoms in boys. Nadeau, Littman, & Quinn state,

Girls, through biology and socialization, tend to be less active, more compliant, and less aggressive… Girls who are distracted, disorganized, quiet daydreamers receive less attention from parents and teachers than do boys who are more active, disruptive, and defiant. It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease!” (p. 18) Continue Reading »

My friend J turned me on to Getting Things Done . Though I’ve tried (and failed) every organizational system known to humans, the evangelical nature with which J spoke made me try one more time. My use of David Allen’s organizational system out-lasted all of the other organizational systems combined. I don’t do it faithfully anymore - but if I were to get myself re-organized, I would return to his system. Even though I don’t do the whole shebang, I have incorporated many of the principals for good. Much of it is common sense, but it’s common sense that is lacking in other organizational systems. For example, things like Franklin Planner, and Palm and Axim and whatnot, all want you to use priority codes (e.g., A1, B3, etc.) for your to do list. Allen says, throw all that out the window. You can glance at a long list and know what the priorities are - don’t waste your time ranking and re-ranking your stuff. Continue Reading »

We were supposed to go camping this weekend with the Girl Scouts and instead there was a hefty storm here. So, I read two books we recently checked out from the library for the kids: Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and Joey Pigza Loses Control. CommonSense Media review here.

Joey is a 4th grader with ADHD that is inadequately treated with medication, and is not treated with any other method. I found these books simultaneously entertaining and kind of depressing. Joey goes through lots of wacky highjinks and well-intended acts that end in disaster. Like the reviewer at CommonSense, I like that adults that live and work with Joey are not villanized - a very flawed and human bunch of well-meaning folks. But, the picture of ADHD is severe. Joey is unintentionally dangerous to himself and others, as many kids with ADHD can be - but to a really significant degree (he jumps from the rafters of a barn, he runs with scissors and chops off the end of a classmate’s nose, he pierces his dog’s ear with a dart, sticks his finger in a pencil sharpener, etc.). Both of his parents are alcoholics. His teacher’s idea of a behavior management plan is to tape a list of rules to his desk and to send him to the “Special Ed room” when he breaks them. Continue Reading »