Understanding Meltdowns: The ADHD Volcano Model
A MELTDOWN CAN SEEM TO COME OUT OF NOWHERE. It’s one of the challenging or explosive behaviors we see in those who have ADHD. Sometimes it appears as poor self-esteem, yelling, rage, or tears. But sometimes the challenging behavior is your own in reaction to your spouse, child, sibling, or friend who has ADHD: “Why…
Read MoreBrain Management as a Developmental Path
FOR THE KIDS, let’s start with marshmallows. Why marshmallows? Because it turns out that the basic cognitive skill of putting off a short-term reward (one marshmallow) for a long-term gain (two marshmallows) correlates with success across a lifetime. It reflects one step on a developmental self-management path called executive function (EF). Understanding the impact of…
Read MoreHow ADHD Sometimes Improves
PART TWO FOR DECADES IT WAS ASSUMED THAT THE DISORDER CURRENTLY KNOWN AS ADHD always started in early childhood and always was outgrown sometime during adolescence. We now know that ADHD sometimes doesn’t show up until adolescence or beyond. We also know that for most, ADHD continues to cause impairments and sometimes gets worse during adolescence…
Read MoreHow ADHD Sometimes Gets Worse
PART ONE WHEN WE SAY THAT A PERSON’S ADHD HAS GOTTEN WORSE, what we usually mean is that the person’s executive functions, his ability to manage himself, have not yet developed enough to meet task requirements usually expected for a person of that age. As a child gets older, family, teachers, friends, and the wider…
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