ADHD Help

This weekend Elwood and I led a workshop on social skills training for ChADD in Tucson. About 40 people attended, including 17 children. My goal was to present in such a fashion that it was attractive to the children as well as to the adults. I began with a vignette with Elwood in which we discussed the importance of communication, cooperation, kindness, and conflict resolution. After that Elwood shrunk my head. I am going to try to put the head shrinking up on my page. Everybody seemed to enjoy our presentation.

I have been thinking a great deal about how to conduct attractive and productive video seminars. I think that I will alternate between sessions for the parents and special entertaining therapeutic shows for the children. I will let you know when more information is available.

My thoughts have turned to 9/11. Currently I work at Fort Huachuca, an Army post in Southeastern Arizona. Not only am I remembering 9/11 but also quite aware of the impact the attack has had on young soldiers. I sincerely hope that peace will be with us in the near future.

Ever since I have been counseling children and families, I have tried to combine my entertaining talents with my therapy skills in order to make my treatments more powerful.  I even conducted workshops for mental health professionals on how to use unique toys to improve counseling skills.  I also conducted workshops for ventriloquists on puppet therapy.  In fact, I am an honorary member of the Japanese Puppet Therapy Association.

For a long time I have wanted to use my skills to provide group family treatment for ADHD families.  However, living in a small town, it is difficult to start this type of group.  Also most people accept the fact that it is tricky to run groups for children with ADHD since they tend to set each other off.

That is why I have finally decided to run these groups online.  I am actively preparing them and hope that some of you will be interested in participating.  We can have fun while simultaneously improving the quality of family life.  More information will follow.

I did what Dr. C said. I found a kid who was sitting alone at recess. He did not look very happy. I went up to him and asked him if he wanted to play, and he said yes. It turned out that he has ADHD just like me. It was fun to play together. We did have one problem. I wanted to tell him what to do and he wanted to tell me what to do. I told Dr. C, and he said that next time we should flip a coin to decide what to do next. He said we could also just flip a coin to decide who gets to decide first and then just take turns deciding. I don’t know if this will work but I will try it. It seems like I have too much homework. I need to ask Dr C what to do about all that homework.

That’s all for now from me. Elwood, signing off.

School seems to be going ok except I don’t have any friends. Nobody likes me but at least I‘m not getting bullied. Dr. C says that it is important for everybody to have at least one friend. He said that I should look around my class for other kids who don’t seem to have a lot of friends. Then I could try to be their friend. He also said that we are going to be working with families to help the children get better at having a friend in their own family and to having friends at school. I’m gonna see if I can find someone who wants a friend like I do so that I can have somebody to play with at recess.
That’s all for now from me. Elwood, signing off.

Today was the first day of school. I always worry that the other kids will tease me and call me a dummy. Dr. C told me that puppets like me are called dummies. I told him that I preferred puppet or vent figure, and he told me that he would just call me Elwood.

The first day of school is always hard for me. I worry whether or not I will like my teacher. I worry whether I will know the children in my class, and if they will be nice. I also worry about bullies.

Dr. C. made a shirt with me on it. I say no, no, no, no, no, no, no to a bully who wants my money. The shirt is in Japanese, so all I can read are the no’s. I told Dr. C that if I said no, no, no, no, no, no, no to a bully, the bully might hurt me. Next he told me that I could tell the teacher or the counselor, or the principal. I told him that then the other children might not like me. Finally he agreed that bullies can be a big problem.

The writing on the shirt is in Japanese because Dr. C. wore it when he spoke about bullying at the Japanese Puppet Therapy meeting. I got to be there too because I am the puppet. Dr. C. said that bullies are even a bigger problem in Japan than in here in the USA. I am sure glad I don’t live in Japan because I don’t like bullies.

Anyway, probably it will be ok for me this year. Usually I have friends and nobody bullies me. Also my friends can help me if there is a bully. That’s good to know.

That’s all for now from me. Elwood, signing off.

There are many who believe that there is a positive relationship between ADHD and creativity and ADHD and high intelligence. Unfortunately, research does not support this belief. There are brilliant people with ADHD and also retarded ones. Some are artistically or creatively gifted, and others are not. ADHD is a disorder and not an advantage. The good news is that we are becoming progressively more successful treating ADHD. With good treatment, ADHD does not need to interfere with relationships, occupational success, or overall life quality.

As a child psychologist, I find that it is much easier to suggest
strategies to others than to successfully manage your own family. When
dealing with others, you can be much more objective and dispassionate.
Your emotions don’t interfere nearly as much. With your own children,
however, it’s an entirely different ballgame.

I also believe that the tricky part of being a therapist isn’t coming up
with suggestions but rather helping the parents figure out what to do
after your initial recommendations don’t work. Children with ADHD are
quite good at playing adults against each other. They also appear to be
good at learning your plan and figuring out how to work it to their
advantage in ways you probably never imagined. That is why you need to
be flexible, able to change the strategy as needed. Raising
psychologically healthy children is still an art rather than a science.

Help For ADHD

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A high percentage of children with ADHD , particularly boys, also have Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). ADHD alone can create friction within the family. ADHD, when combined with ODD, can make family life much more challenging. I have known parents who did not want to go home after work and face the frequent conflicts. Some were also concerned that if they did not go home, the problems might escalate even more. Family life with ADHD and ODD can become quite unhealthy for children and parents alike.

It is better to act than to react. In order to improve the situation it is a good idea to have a plan in place to improve family communication and cooperation. Consequences need to be clearly stated, and parents must follow through. I also want families to have fun together and accomplish goals as a team. I want people in families to treat each other with respect.

I have created a program specifically designed to encourage more peaceful families. The program takes into account the special needs of children with ADHD. I will be presenting the program in the near future in a series of teleconferences. I hope you will be able to attend.

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Today I have to go to summer school. I don’t like summer school. No, no, no, no, no, no but mom and dad say that I have to go ’cause my grades were bad. The good things about summer school, it doesn’t last very long and there’s not a lot of kids. I’m trying so I won’t have to go next year. Bye.

Behaviors tend to be cyclical. We deal with the same problems over and
over again.  This means that we don’t necessarily need to have good
skills thinking on our feet.  If we don’t get it right the first time,
we can plan how to handle the problem the next time around.

A general principal is that it is better to act than to react. If a
problem occurs and you are unhappy with your response, sit down with
your spouse or some other trusted adult, discuss what happened, and come
up with a plan regarding how to respond if and when the problem recurs.

Look at management of problem behaviors as problem solving. If a
particular response is not effective, come up with another one.
Eventually you will get the problem under control.

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