Attention Magazine August 2022

The brainchild of behavioral pediatrician Nerissa Bauer, TEACH Me ADHD is a fun and interactive eight-week virtual course. Dr. Bauer designed the course for children with ADHD aged eight through twelve and their parents.

During the virtual course, the children become “junior detectives” while the parents become “senior detectives.” Both children and parents learn about ADHD and “investigate” different ways to manage and improve behavioral skills associated with ADHD. Each weekly training “mission” meeting lasts for 60 minutes and is limited to twelve parent-child pairs. All the participants can see each other and interact. Time is set aside for a brief “brain break” during every meeting.

Dr. Bauer addresses the following content areas in the course:

• What IS ADHD?
• Healthy Habits: Zzzs and Eating
• Emotions Without Commotion
• School Planning and Organization
• Communication Strategies for Healthy Relationships
• ADHD Medicines as Part of an ADHD Care Plan
• Gratitude and Ways to Boost Feeling Positive
• My ADHD Care Plan and Celebration of YOU and all you’ve learned!

At the end of the eight weeks, families are ready to fill out an ADHD Care Plan. They are encouraged to share the plan with their pediatrician or primary care provider. The families receive ongoing support for four additional months in a private Facebook community where Dr. Bauer brings two guest experts, arranges a junior-detective-only activity/get together, and holds one senior-detective-only call to allow parents to ask questions and share wins or ongoing challenges. Families may opt to pay a monthly membership fee to continue monthly meetings thereafter.

Welcome to the All Deed Detective Agency

At the start of the course, junior and senior detectives each choose different detective names to go by. Following each week’s virtual meeting with Dr. Bauer at “detective headquarters” (HQ), the junior and senior detectives are assigned family missions to solve mysteries related to what they learned about ADHD at HQ that week. As they solve these mysteries, they share pictures in the private community as “evidence” to HQ so that Dr. Bauer can review them and give feedback. Parents can also give and provide support. All of the mysteries they explore help children learn more about ADHD, the brain, their “superpowers,” and their differences.

Parents, caregivers, and children need a computer or tablet to participate in this interactive course. Dr. Bauer notes that a laptop or computer with a keyboard is also important, since children are encouraged to use the chat box function. A sibling discount is provided, as long as the second child also has an ADHD diagnosis and is within the recommended age range. Dr. Bauer encourages families to have a different parent or adult sit with the second child during each meeting.

Upon registration, parents are mailed a supply box along with a mission map. Each box contains sealed bags that correspond to each week’s mission and all the supplies families will require. The bags are opaque to keep the children curious about the contents. At the beginning of class, HQ instructs the children to open only the bag corresponding to that week so they don’t see or lose items essential for the next classes.

For parents unsure their child would respond positively to the course, Dr. Bauer offers a mini-class simulation for “aspiring junior detectives.” The child gets an opportunity to meet Dr. Bauer virtually, and parents can assess how well they feel their child will respond to the TEACH Me ADHD program.

For parents who want to work with their child at their own pace without involvement in the more structured eight-week course, Dr. Bauer offers TEACH Me ADHD On Demand. The on-demand program also provides access to the Facebook support community.

TEACH Me ADHD provides children with a safe place to explore their strengths and challenges, and to legitimize rather than stigmatize their differences. All children come away with a personalized care plan they and their parents created that pinpoints their specific strengths and challenges. Dr. Bauer’s intent is to empower children and to better prepare them to share any challenges they may be experiencing with their pediatricians.

Dr. Bauer currently offers the eight-week course three times per year. She has been invited to highlight her model during the Innovative Programs session at the 2022 Annual International Conference on ADHD in Dallas, Texas.

LEARN MORE
Learn more about the course, including dates of enrollment and fees: https://www.letstalkkidshealth.org/sales-page

Watch an interview with Dr. Nerissa Bauer about the course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLZtFlfRU1k

Read about TEACH Me ADHD On Demand: https://www.letstalkkidshealth.org/teach-me-adhd-on-demand

Hear from families who’ve completed the course: https://youtu.be/QQFYO05Hu_s

Read about Dr. Bauer’s other ideas for helping children with ADHD and their parents: https://www.letstalkkidshealth.org

Learn more about the 2022 Annual International Conference on ADHD: www.chadd.org/conference.

A clinical and consulting psychologist, Mark Katz, PhD, is the director of Learning Development Services, an educational, psychological, and neuropsychological center in San Diego, California. As a contributing editor to Attention magazine, he writes the Promising Practices column and serves on the editorial advisory board. He is also a former member of CHADD’s professional advisory board and a recipient of the CHADD Hall of Fame Award.