2017 Conference Handouts
Pre Conference - Thursday, November 9
TA01/ Understanding and Evaluating Executive Functioning in ADHD Across the Lifespan
Presenter: Sam Goldstein, PhD, ABPdN
This mid-level to advanced pre-conference session will focus on the understanding and evaluation of executive functioning within the context of ADHD across the lifespan. The presentation will include strategies for assessment and treatment.
Presenter: Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, PhD
College students with ADHD represent a population that is particularly vulnerable to problematic alcohol use, given the developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity characteristic of the disorder, combined with the college lifestyle. Despite the clear indication from emerging research of the need for interventions for this population, there are few published randomized controlled studies of psychosocial interventions for college students with ADHD, and none specifically targeting problematic alcohol use in those with ADHD at any age. Moreover, brief motivation-based alcohol interventions that generally have been successful for college students show limited benefits among individuals with elevated impulsivity and poor self-regulation, both hallmarks of ADHD, calling for the need to modify BMIs for this vulnerable group. Toward the goal of developing targeted interventions for college students with ADHD, it is crucial to determine treatment approaches that target problematic alcohol use and that are developmentally appropriate for this high-risk group. Although originally developed to treat depression, behavioral activation has been shown to be efficacious for a range of clinically relevant presentations including college students with problematic drinking patterns. Based on its core components that focus on planning and accountability, BA has clear relevance for addressing ADHD-related executive functioning deficits, which may increase the propensity for engagement in risky behavior. With funding from NIH, we modified brief BA to increase relevance to college students with ADHD who are engaging in problematic alcohol use, and integrated this approach with BMI. We call this program SUCCEEDS (Students Understanding College Choices: Encouraging and Executing Decisions for Success).
Presenter: Roberto Olivardia, PhD
There has been more empirical and clinical interest in the relationship between ADHD and Cluster B (borderline, narcissistic, antisocial, and histrionic) and Cluster C (avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive) personality disorders. Since both ADHD and personality disorders are widely misunderstood, there is much room for diagnostic confusion. This session will explore each of the Cluster B and C personality disorders and execute proper differential diagnosis with various case examples. Clinical anecdotes will include ADHD patients misdiagnosed with a personality disorder, patients with personality disorders misdiagnosed as ADHD, and cases where patients have both, but only one diagnosis or neither is diagnosed. ADHD can serve as a risk factor for the development of a personality disorder. Treatment implications will also be reviewed, especially focusing on patients with a combined presentation, as they are often at higher risk for dangerous, parasuicidal, or suicidal behaviors, less treatment compliant, and more clinically challenging.
TA04/ Mindfulness for Complex and Comorbid ADHD: From Research to Practice
Presenter: Mark Bertin, MD
From sleep and nutrition to cognitive behavioral therapy and emotion, from parent training to navigating medication, mindfulness can be used directly to augment almost all of the rest of ADHD care. Beginning mindfulness practice often starts with attention, to sounds or breathing—but that barely scratches the surface of the larger intentions of mindfulness. Like ADHD itself, mindfulness impacts far more than attention, impacting executive function and also setting an intention of greater awareness and wisdom around anything we do in life. A concept called the “foundations of mindfulness” reflects the larger psychology of why it works, and can be integrated with research around the benefits of bringing awareness to habitual patterns around physical sensations, emotion, thought, self-perception, and showing how that all relates to resilience. Complex and comorbid ADHD never responds to only one intervention—and for someone living with ADHD, navigating and sustaining a plan is undermined by ADHD itself. The intention of this session is to expand the common view of mindfulness, integrating it into traditional, evidence-based care while providing practical tools around both mindfulness and ADHD to take into everyday life.
TA05/Advanced Medication Management of ADHD Plus Coexisting Conditions
Presenter: William Dodson, MD
ADHD occurs with other mental health and medical conditions with other mental health conditions (bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, etc.) and medical conditions (pregnancy, cardiovascular disease, migraines, sleep disorders, etc.) in more than 70% of cases. This advanced course presents options for the medication management of ADHD when it co-occurs with other common ailments and explores the causes of medication treatment failures. Time will be reserved for participants to present their own case reports for group discussion.
TA06/ Customizing Growth: An Introduction to Using the Enneagram as a Catalyst in Coaching
Presenter: Tamara Rosier, PhD
As coaches, we are passionate about helping our clients break through old limiting patterns to live healthy, energized lives. This session offers you an introduction to an approach that facilitates sustainable shifts in your clients’ personal, interpersonal, and work lives. The Enneagram framework is a highly effective tool that uses specific processes and strategies to assist and support changes in your clients. The Enneagram is rooted in universal elements from most major spiritual traditions without specific dogma. Cross-cultural and demonstrated to be effective, the Enneagram is the sound tool for helping your clients at a basic level, such as communicating clearly, identifying strengths, identifying opportunities for growth, and taking personal responsibility. With a deeper understanding of the Enneagram framework, you can go even beyond identifying nine dominant personality traits and patterns in your clients to help them stimulate real transformation as they identify the beliefs, behaviors and thoughts that are no longer useful.
TB01/ Redefining ADHD for Modern Life.
Presenter: William Dodson, MD
The diagnostic criteria were written by and for researchers. The DSM criteria concern only visible behaviors that can be counted in studies and subjected to statistical analysis. They ignore the major areas of impairment that concern patients and clinicians such as emotional control and expression, cognitive and learning styles, sleep disturbances, relationships, and how ADHD changes through the life cycle. Indeed, the current DSM criteria have never once been research validated in person over the age of 16. The ICD-10 criteria used in the rest of the world match the DSM set from the 1980’s that still require hyperactivity. Perhaps the most significant deficiency of our current definition of ADHD is that it has never led to a therapy that has been able to demonstrate “detectable, lasting benefits for the core symptoms of ADHD. To many people this means that we have been missing something both huge and fundamental about the very nature of ADHD. This presentation explains why everything that we expected to work has not and what might work instead.
TB02/Females with ADHD Across the Lifespan
Presenter: Ellen Littman, PhD
This presentation will begin with an overview of ADHD neurobiology, emphasizing our current understanding of gender-based differences in brain structure and function. Then, we’ll explore the unique developmental trajectory of females with ADHD, and how it differs from that of males with ADHD. For a holistic view, we’ll examine how the manifestations of symptoms are influenced by a complex interplay of neurology, genetics, hormones, sociocultural expectations, environmental conditions, and comorbidities. This longitudinal perspective will highlight the risk factors for potentially dire outcomes, and underscore the necessity for earlier identification, more accurate diagnoses, and treatment alliances providing ongoing support.
CREDITS:
Presenter: Dan Shapiro, MD
On one end of a self-control and attention dysregulation spectrum, ADHD can be thought of as a disorder of under-inhibition and distractibility. On the other end of this spectrum, autism and anxiety can be viewed as disorders of over-inhibition and perseveration. When these conditions coexist, effective treatment depends upon finding the right balance between opposing tendencies. Dr. Shapiro will present very specific strategies, using medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy, to find this golden mean for children with coexisting ADHD, autism, and anxiety.
TB04/ ADHD in Older Adults: How Can You Tell and What Can You Do?
Presenter: David Goodman, MD
This presentation will review the developing concept of ADHD in older adults. I will discuss the identification and diagnosis highlighted by brief patient cases. These cases will illuminate consideration of other causes for cognitive complaints in older adults, including medical illnesses, medications, and age-related decline. Effective treatment options such as medication and psychotherapies will be discussed.
Presenter: Margaret Sibley, PhD
The session is designed to introduce professionals to Supporting Teens' Autonomy Daily (STAND), an empirically supported intervention for executive functioning and motivation deficits in teens with ADHD. This treatment engages parents and teens in treatment and utilizes a skills-based approach blended with motivational interviewing to help family members set realistic expectations and long-term goals, practice new skills at home, and figure out their best-case scenario for navigating the challenges of adolescence.
Presenter: Mary Ann Lowry, Med
Individuals diagnosed with ADHD often have experienced a lifetime of shame messages after dealing with undiagnosed ADHD. Even when the ADHD is diagnosed earlier in life, it is misunderstood. Many individuals, family members, teachers, supervisors, etc., see ADHD as a character disorder rather than a neurological disorder. By the time clients seek help from mental health professionals or coaches, they've absorbed unintended, hurtful messages and are often shackled by shame and the desire to override it by perfectionism. This presentation will introduce participants to the relationship between executive function deficits and shame messages. Participants will be introduced to user-friendly methods to coach clients to develop shame resilience and embrace their vulnerability, as they offer strategies that are part of traditional ADHD coaching. Participants will be offered tools that lead clients to practice mindful self-compassion and understand when shame is leading to suffering, as well as specific coaching techniques and powerful questions to inspire clients to develop shame resilience. The presentation is based on the research of Dr. Brene Brown and Dr. Kristin Neff.
KN01 Paving the Path for Children with ADHD - CDC Focus for the future(Keynote Presentation is 7-9 PM on Thursday 11/9/17)
Presenter: Dr. Georgina Peacock
General Conference - Friday, November 10
FA01/ It's Exhausting Pretending to Be Normal: Secrets to Coming Out of the (ADHD) Closet
Presenter: Linda Roggli, PCC
Are you an ADHD double agent? Do you let your ADHD out to play when you’re at home, but slap on a mask of “normal” when you appear in public? You’re not alone. Most ADHD adults have learned to hide behind a variety of masks that allow them to “pass” in a linear world. It’s exhausting pretending to be normal, day after day, but it’s also embarrassing to show up in all your ADHD glory. What’s the solution? This session takes a look at the reasons behind the ADHD Masquerade and its impact on relationships, job performance, and health and wellbeing. We’ll discuss the wide variety of masks chosen by ADHD folks such as The Perfectionist, The Space Cadet, The Intellect, The Rebel, and others. Then we’ll set out some practical steps so you can shed some or all of those protective masks. Step out of the ADHD closet and into your Authentic Self in this lively, humorous session with a serious message: It’s okay to be yourself!
FA02/ Memory Magic: Learning How to Remember
Presenter: Joan Teach, PhD
Making your mind a marvelous memory machine takes patience, concentration, focus, and willful effort. Shifting short-term memory into long-term memory requires learning strategies. Come explore the facts around memory’s unique properties, and through experiential learning exercises enable yourself to develop a set of skills to enhance your own memory.
Presenters: Christopher Willard, PsyD snd Mark Bertin, MD
Boundaries around digital media bedevil parents and professionals, requiring a balancing act between education and entertainment, against the fact that children require firm, common-sense limits to thrive. Hundreds of studies have now established clear concerns about the misuse of media as a negative influence on child development. Excess time and inappropriate content have been linked to everything from academic problems to obesity, to early drinking and poor body image, to disturbances in executive function. Media use isn’t inherently bad, but research demonstrates clearly that it does need to be monitored well for the safety of our children. This session will provide an overview of media research, as well as offering engaging and practical ways to use mindfulness and common sense to return technology to its rightful place as a useful tool that we use, rather than being used by.
FA04/From Shame to Compassion: Internal Family Systems and ADHD
Presenter: Michel Fitos
Internal Family Systems and its focus on bringing balance and harmony to clients' inner system of parts through the development of self-leadership opens up enormous possibilities in working with people with ADHD. Our clients are often burdened with enormous amounts of shame and helplessness around their ADHD symptoms, and enormous amounts of energy are tied up in struggles between different motivations. Giving clients the tools to identify these parts of themselves and learn to work with them frees up enormous amounts of inner space and energy, and transforms clients' relationships to their selves from shame to compassion. This workshop will include an opportunity to make parts maps, and there will be a short demo session with an audience member.
FA05/The Impact of ADHD in Cultural Diversity
Presenters: Cheryl Hamilton, LPC
This presentation offers an overview into understanding, assessing, and treating African-American and Hispanic/Latino children diagnosed with ADHD. It will provide a basic review of the multimodal plan of intervention strategies, tailored to the needs of the individual child and family. This will include a combination of medical, behavioral/psychosocial, and educational interventions, implemented as needed at different times in the child’s lifespan. Children with ADHD often do best with a combination of structuring of their environment, medication, behavior modification and specific behavior management strategies, educational support, counseling, and parent training.
FA06/What Are the Symptoms that Might Change the Diagnosis from ADHD to Asperger Syndrome
Presenter: Edward Aull, MD
Edward Aull, MD, will discuss the symptoms that help a clinician determine whether a patient simply has ADHD, or if they might have mild autism. Some symptoms attributed to ADHD are really more often related to autism issues. Patients with significant autism are usually readily diagnosed, but when the number and severity of symptoms are less prominent, the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome is often missed, especially in females. It is not uncommon for mild social deficits not to show up until the patient reaches high school and tries to maintain a “steady dating” relationship. Other issues, such as making and keeping friends, anxiety, eye contact, sensory issues, language-based learning disability, and incorrect reading of nonverbal cues will be discussed. There will also be some discussion on how certain symptoms will alter medication usage in the mild autism spectrum patients. Dr. Aull has long felt that some of the patients who are thought to have “just” ADHD, whose treatment has not been consistent or fraught with side effects of medication treatment, may have an autism spectrum disorder. He will try to show how one or two mild symptoms may actually lead to an amended diagnosis and treatment. Patients with Asperger syndrome do indeed typically have ADHD also, but the medication management is often a little more difficult to achieve optimal outcomes.
FA07/Impulsivity: Understanding the Causes and Reducing the Consequences:
Presenter: Sandy Maynard, MS
In this presentation, adults with ADHD and the coaches who support them will learn factors that contribute to impulsivity and how to reduce or eliminate impulsive behaviors. Strategies for restraint of pen and tongue, curbing impulse shopping, and alleviating stressful triggers that incite impulsive reactions will be given. Utilizing a three-phase process consisting of exploration, insight, and action, participants will gain a greater understanding of impulsivity versus spontaneity and learn healthier, more appropriate ADHD coping skills.
Presenter: Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D.,
Since 1798, the medical literature on attention disorders has distinguished between at least two kinds, one a disorder of distractibility, lack of sustained attention, and poor inhibition and the other a disorder of low power, arousal, or focus. This second disorder has been largely ignored for nearly two centuries until the mid-1980s when studies of children having ADD without Hyperactivity suggested that an important subset had a relatively distinct pattern of symptoms not central to ADHD. These symptoms included daydreaming, mental fogginess and confusion, staring, slow processing of information, hypoactivity, slow movement, and lethargy, among others. The new pattern was called sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT). Controversy has continued over the past 25 years on the nature of SCT and whether it is a subtype of ADHD or a distinct disorder from it. In this presentation, Dr. Barkley reviews the history of SCT and what is known about it from past research. He also describes the results of his own recent investigations into SCT in children and the only study of SCT in adults that he recently published, all of which suggest that SCT is a distinct disorder from ADHD but one that may overlap with it in nearly half of all cases. Dr. Barkley discusses the differences between SCT in symptoms, executive functioning, comorbidity for other disorders, and psychosocial impairment and what little is known about differential treatment response. He also discusses several different possibilities for explaining the underlying nature of SCT.
FA09/Fostering Response-Ability: Encouraging Positive Goals, Actions, and Behavior
Presenter: John Willson, MS
Imagine a world where both you and your child make choices about how to engage rather than react. Finding ways to encourage Response-Ability in children with ADHD can be uniquely challenging. This workshop will review thoughtful strategies that will help you put a plan together to nurture a child’s ability to make appropriate goals, and take responsibility for their actions and behavior. Willson will outline strategies to help parents and professionals work with children to produce better results in decisionmaking, follow-through, and taking responsibility by learning to practice Response-Ability.
FB01/ Exercise and ADHD: Enhancing Performance Through Physical Activity
Presenters: Zara Harris, MS, OT and Ruth Mulvary
Two experienced therapists (physical and occupational) provide an overview of the science behind improving focus, learning, and quality of life for individuals with ADHD through physical activity. They will explain the importance of recognizing the (clumsy) child with delayed gross motor skills and ADHD. They will emphasize the importance of the family and community in these days of decreased school funding for physical exercise and suggest ways to match the individual with the right sport or activity for him or her.
FB02/ How Do I Get My Kid to Talk TO Me Instead of AT Me or NOT At All?
Presenter: Jill Linkoff
One of the greatest challenges parents of children with ADHD face is that they have a difficult time helping their children manage their frustration and anger. Before very long, children become upset and struggle to communicate why they are troubled. Additionally, they often have a difficult time understanding how their behavior and position may be impacting another person or situation. This workshop will address Effective Communication on three levels: why communication is more challenging for children with ADHD, why actively teaching communication skills can vastly improve relationships and self-regulation, and how to help parents teach the art of a productive conversation. Games and techniques will be introduced to demonstrate methods of teaching children the steps involved in being heard, communicating that they truly understood what is being said, and expressing empathy for another person’s perspective.
FB03/Assessment of ADHD in Children with Comorbid Disorders
Presenter: Sam Goldstein
This general conference session, designed for diagnosticians will focus on method to evaluate ADHD in the presence of comorbid disorders. This will include assessment strategies and diagnostic process.
FB04/ADHD and Eating Disorders
Presenter: James Greenblatt, MD
As researchers continue to explore the relationship between ADHD and eating disorders, the available research suggests that the same patterns of neurochemical imbalances in the reward-related regions of the brain are present in clients in both populations. Research has found that girls who were diagnosed with ADHD in childhood are at risk for self-reported disordered eating behaviors and body image dissatisfaction, and were 3.6 times more likely to meet criteria for an eating disorder at the five-year follow-up when compared to their non-ADHD counterparts. Early identification of maladaptive eating behaviors and prevention strategies are necessary for this vulnerable population, as eating disorders have the highest mortality rate among all psychiatric disorders. Due to the potentially fatal complications of untreated ADHD, healthcare providers and caregivers must be well-informed to effectively intervene. This presentation will enable clinicians to successfully distinguish ADHD and eating disorder symptomology as part of a targeted prevention effort.
FB05/ Bridge Over Troubled Water: Navigating the AD/HD-Affected Relationship
Presenter: Susan Tschudi, LMFT
The ADHD-affected relationship (one partner has ADHD and the other does not) can be harmonious and satisfying despite some of the problems created by the symptoms of adult ADHD, such as impulsivity, distractibility, and restlessness. This session will help to identify some of the common roadblocks that ADHD-affected couples experience and will offer key strategies to overcome and avoid these roadblocks in order to achieve a higher level of relational success.
FB06/ Helping Parents of Dependent Adults with ADHD Regain Their Lost Happiness
Presenter: Sharyn Rhodes, PhD
The parents of financially dependent adult children with ADHD are often depleted of their own happiness as a result of continually supporting, "coaching," and intervening in issues created by their adult, while ignoring their own pain and resentment. This session documents the changes that were made to CHADD of Greater Baltimore's support group for parents of adults with ADHD, to support them through a program called The Keys to Happiness (Rhodes, 2016), a customized modification
FB07/ Building Self-Motivation in Teens with ADHD: What Parents and Teachers Can Do to Help.
Presenter: Margaret Sibley
Designed to introduce parents and teachers to the nature of motivation problems in teens with ADHD, this session will discuss what adults can do to promote the development of self-motivation in these youth. It will include educational content on adolescent brain development and ADHD, as well as practical strategies to help teens become self-motivated and self-directed. We will also discuss common dilemmas faced by parents and teachers, such as what to do when the teen has unrealistic goals for their future (i.e., becoming a YouTube personality), whether or not to rely on external rewards and consequences to motivate struggling teens, and how to strike a balance between supporting teen independence and providing needed structure and assistance to a teen with ADHD.
FB08/Pause-Abilities: The Art and Science of the Neuro-Interrupt
Presenters: Jay Perry, MCAC, David Giwerc, MCAC
The session begins with a reading of the following poem composed by Jay Perry. - A PAUSE / A pause is a possibility /It can inspire / It can open a window to the present moment/ It can interrupt an old habit/ It can prevent a violent word or a violent action/It can create anticipation/It allows thoughts to come and to go/ It can remind us of who we are and who that person is right in front of us /It can stop the action/ It can allow everyone else to catch up/ It can change the direction of a day and of a lifetime/ It can restore sanity/ A pause is a possibility Participants will then read the poem to each other and share their experiences related to the pause with their partners. Participants will then be encouraged to share their experiences with the whole group. This will open a conversation about how studies and coaching experience provide supporting scientific evidence of how and why the pause is a critical coaching tool that encourages our clients' best-brain performance. We will then provide a brief, live coaching example of how the pause can be artfully employed. Then participants will be given the opportunity to try these techniques in brief sessions with each other. Finally, participants will be given an opportunity to share their experience of the session and the most important things they will be taking away. Our hope is that the combination of personal experience in the exercises and the supporting science that backs up the critical importance of the pause will inspire participants to pay more attention to the benefits of employing this strategy with their clients with ADHD and in their own lives.
FB09/ Misdiagnosis of Girls & Women with ADHD: Why it Continues to Happen & What to do About it.
Presenters: Kathleen Duryea, DO, Jeremy Didier, PPC
Awareness, recognition, and diagnosis of kids and adults with ADHD is on the rise, yet women and girls continue to be overlooked. In this very personal session, Dr. Kathleen Duryea, along with her daughters Carly and Kendall Duryea, join CHADD coordinator and parent coach Jeremy Didier, along with her daughter Sophie Didier. The two mothers will share their experiences as they struggled to find an accurate diagnosis for themselves and their children and the reasons they believe it was missed.
Presenter: Roberto Olivardia, Ph.D
People with ADHD report difficulty maintaining healthy eating and proper weight management. Studies demonstrate a strong association between ADHD and obesity, as well as patients with binge eating disorder. The cognitive, regulating, emotional, and neurobiological factors that predispose children and adults with ADHD to be overweight will be reviewed. In addition, much of the presentation will be devoted to ADHD-friendly strategies for promoting healthy eating and weight. Brief discussion will also be paid to research on additives, preservatives, OMEGA-3 fatty acids, sugar, and protein.
FC02/ADHDers, Profit from Your Entrepreneurial Superpowers, No Matter Who You Work For!
Presenter: Linda Walker
ADHD symptom or entrepreneurial trait? The answer is, yes! Recent studies show successful entrepreneurs often have ADHD. Many ADHDers struggle at work. Why do these entrepreneurs say their ADHD contributes to their success? Join us as we explore the ADHD symptoms most people struggle with. We’ll explore why they are success factors for entrepreneurs, and they can help you, too. Discover how you can use those traits to help you succeed at work as an employee, as a self-employed professional , or, of course, as an entrepreneur.
FC03/What We Learned From 20,000 Daily Routines: Tips, Tricks and Tech
Presenter: Pierre Seguin
Parenting is tough. It's even more challenging when ADHD affects a child, a parent—or both! Using data generated by thousands of routines on the Brili platform, CEO Pierre Séguin presents unprecedented insights into the activity patterns that lead to the most successful outcomes.
FC04/Familias Sanas: A Culturally Adapted ADHD Treatment for Latino Families
Presenters Theresa Kapke, Margaret Grace, Alyson Gerdes
This session will focus on the results from an NIH-funded pilot study comparing a culturally adapted ADHD treatment for Latino families to standard treatment. Engagement and acceptability outcomes, as well as symptomatology and child and parental/family functioning outcomes, will be presented. Information regarding the adaptation process and the adaptations also will be discussed.
FC05/ F.O.S.T.E.R.—Proactively Parent Your ADHD Child
Presenter: Cathi Cohen
There are no perfect parents. Parenting is an ongoing process, and parenting competencies are learned, practiced, and improved upon like any other set of skills. Parenting the ADHD child has its own unique set of challenges. F.O.S.T.E.R. is a simple tool for the parent of the ADHD child that harnesses your empathy and understanding while bolstering your child's interpersonal and emotional resilience.
FC06/ Is My High School Student Ready for College? (And Is My College Student Ready to Go Back?)
Presenter: Ari Tuckman, Ph.D
Many parents worry about their graduating high school student’s readiness for independent living in college. This is especially true for students with ADHD, who may be more than smart enough for college level work, but may not have the executive functioning skills to manage the lack of oversight and structure. We will talk about the necessary skills for success in college and how these students can work on preparing themselves for that greater level of independence. We will also discuss options if the student is not yet ready, so they can use that additional time at home productively to help them get ready. Finally, we will discuss how to help college students who need to take time off to then get ready to go back to school.
Presneter: Susan Bauerfeld, PhD
DHD and anxiety often go hand in hand in ways that can adversely impact learning and relationships. In this presentation, the neurobiological mechanisms of anxiety and their effect on the brain’s availability for learning and interpersonal connection will be reviewed. The session will also include description of a practical, skill-based model for managing worry that can reduce the impact of stress and increase the brain’s readiness for learning, regulation, and relationships.
FC08/Finding Your ADHD Tribe: A Blueprint for Professional Women
Presenters: Amber Hawley, Maelisa Hall
Women with ADHD often feel overwhelmed and misunderstood. Professional competition, entrepreneurial isolation, and lack of support for female business owners can also create a sense of loneliness. This presentation will help you identify how to create your professional support network (your tribe) and share your ADHD in a professional context. Attendees will have the opportunity to evaluate their personality and ADHD traits, needs for support, and then connect with other attendees to create their tribe./ This presentation is sponsor by SHIRE
FC09/ Use of Accountability Systems in the Management of Adult ADHD
Presenters: Timother Neary and Daniel Lennen, PsyD
Individuals with ADHD may be able to successfully work with a family member, friend, or coach to develop an initial plan for change, yet may struggle with implementing the plan without adequate accountability-based supports. We will discuss the elements of empirically supported behavioral interventions for individuals with adult ADHD, as well as areas of these behavioral plans that stand a greater chance for success through the development of firm accountability systems. Different types of interpersonal accountability and how they can contribute to varying degrees of increased motivation will be explored, and personality factors in choosing a successful accountability partner will be discussed. We will review strategies to help an individual with ADHD successfully initiate an accountability plan and integrate that plan as part of a larger behavioral intervention plan. Other techniques of external motivational enhancement, such as reminder systems and currently available apps, may also be discussed.
FD01/ Add and Digital Disorganization
Presenter: Judith Kolberg
We live in a digital society, rich in technology, with advances in communication, collaboration and productivity. And it’s great, except when it isn’t. The features of digital society including endless information, information turn-on, and an increase in distractions and interruptions impacts adult with ADD right where it hurts – in your weakened executive function. The result: digital disorganization. Digital disorganization is characterized by an attack on your working memory, the extraordinary challenge of getting things done (with an emphasis on ‘done’) and more difficulty planning than ever before. There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle. Digital society is here to stay, but digital disorganization is not inevitable. You’ll learn great ways to handle endless information; get to that elusive ‘done’, and plan no matter how your executive function functions or fails to.
FD02/Sensory Strategies to Improve Attention at Home, Work and in the Classroom.
Presenter: Zara Haris
An experienced occupational therapist will describe the scientific evidence behind optimal alertness and self-regulation as key components for learning and focus. Participants will learn the mechanisms of how the body takes in and reacts to specific sensory information. During an interactive workshop, participants will identify, select, and explore a variety of sensory materials.
FD03/Strategies for Twice Exceptional Children who are Gifted and ADHD
Presenter: Lori Henderson
All too often the gifted child with ADHD is misdiagnosed, overlooked, or misunderstood. Learn how characteristics can be similar to yet different from the typical ADHD or gifted child. Walk away with strategies, program ideas, and tools to use in elementary and middle school classrooms to help gifted children with ADHD blossom.
Presenter: Dan Shapiro, MD
The Parent Child Journey program represents a unique approach to providing support for parents of children with developmental differences and behavioral challenges. The Parent Child Journey program, developed over decades and recently published, represents a systematic, evidence-based and individualized method for parent behavior management training and support. By using a large parent group format and “pay-what-you-can” model, Parent Child Journey is always available and affordable.
FD05/Cracking the Code: Converting Assessment Data into Results
Presenter: Rebecca Resnik, PsyD
Psychological test data can have a profound impact both on how we understand students with ADHD and intervene to make their lives better—in theory. The reality is that psychologists, educators, parents, and related service providers often speak a different language, which sometimes leads to communication breakdowns instead of sparking collaboration. As both a former consumer of psychological assessment reports, and now a producer of assessment reports, Dr. Resnik addresses practical strategies for how to use test data to foster productive collaboration from both professionals and parents. This presentation is designed to present a novel strategy for presenting and interpreting psychological test data to inform evidence-based interventions for students.
FD06/ADHD for One: Thriving When Single and/or Living Alone.
Presenter: Kim Kensington, PSyD
When you can't divide the labor or share some expenses, handling ADHD on your own provides challenges. However, it can also make sense and come with a plethora of benefits. Both will be discussed. Benefits can include the freedom to work from 2-5am, the ability to tidy on your own time, and the space to honor your energy cycles.Some challenges may include increased cost of living and not having someone present to help you sort through a decision, care that you close cupboard doors, eat non-processed food or remember your yearly physical. We’ll also talk about how society views not being in a relationship and how easy it may be to shame ourselves. Ideally we’ll get a chance to share some ways to interact with the “smug marrieds,” as Bridget Jones calls them, and talk with others who may be troubled by the single status of their friend or relative. Perhaps your nest just emptied out or you have a parent, adult child, client or friend who is going it alone with ADHD. Perhaps you want to end a relationship but feel daunted by the idea of having to manage everything on your own. This presentation will address some of the ways ADHD may contribute to the choice/result of flying solo, some unique challenges and strategies to manage them, and some of the ADHD specific ways it might be advantageous
FD07/Setting Yourself Up for Success: Navigating Accommodations in College
Presenter: Romaney Berson, J.D.
If your student is honing in on where they want to go to college, now is the time to figure out the process for requesting ADHD accommodations. This presentation will help parents, students, and those who work with them, navigate the world of college accommodations. It will offer practical information regarding the process of applying for and getting accommodations in college, which begins in high school, as well as bring to light the available resources, including the “less publicized” services offered.
Presenter: Sharon Saline,Psy.D
Dr. Saline will discuss how listening to and working with the voices of kids diagnosed with ADHD can improve cooperation and success. Based on her interviews with over 40 kids and their parents and 25 years of clinical experience, she provides parents, educators and clinicians with extremely helpful insights into how kids honestly think and feel about having ADHD and how to better assist them. She has created a unique, strength-based approach called "the 5 C's of ADHD parenting" that helps families improve self-Control, Compassion, Collaboration, Consistency and Celebration. Her collaborative approach integrates mindfulness, cognitive therapy and positive psychology while teaching effective skills to reduce the stress in families’ lives. This presentation will be both didactic and experiential in nature.
FD09/ Navigating the Emotional Storms of ADHD
Presenter: James Ochoa, LPC
Participants will witness firsthand how the emotional distress syndrome of ADHD develops and the best ways to learn to navigate EDS throughout life. Participants will understand the science and vital nature of learning mindful meditation. Participants will explore mindfulness exercises and learn how to create new neural nets to manage the EDS of ADHD. Ochoa will discuss the intersections of neuroscience, psychology, spirituality, and imagination in successfully treating ADHD.
General Conference - Saturday, November 11
SA01/Advocacy Issues for Children and Adults with ADHD- New Developments Under 504 and the IDEA
Presenters; Matthew Cohen, JD Paul Grossman, JD
Session will address the 2016 OCR Policy Letter clarifying the rights of children with ADHD, rights of adults under Title II and III of the ADA, and impact of the new Supreme Court standard for FAPE and strategies for advocating for people with ADHD.
SA02/Diminishing Anger in Relationships Impacted by ADHD
Presenter: Melissa Orlov
Couples impacted by ADHD often struggle greatly, with difficulty in both marital satisfaction and functioning. Over time, chronic anger can develop, impacting all areas of a couple’s life together. This presentation focuses upon effective therapeutic strategies couples can use to (a) understand the different types of anger in their relationship; (b) understand the extent to which their interactions reinforce that anger and how to “step out of the cycle of anger” and (c) choose appropriate strategies for specific anger situations. The goal is to provide couples with new insights about their anger and tools they can use immediately to calm their relationship.
SA03/How to Get Your Child Off Technology Without Threatening, Yelling, or Pulling Your Hair Out
Presenters: Diane Dempster, Elaine Taylor-Klaus
With homework and school assignments online, and a computer in every pocket, managing technology—for kids (and spouses) of all ages—is potentially the biggest challenge facing parents today. Developing a healthy relationship with technology isn't easy, especially when we spend so much time there, ourselves. This interactive workshop will help you understand what's going on for you and your kids, and how executive function and motivation are contributing to the struggle. And it will offer practical, hands-on strategies that you can use right away to begin to shift the control technology have in your home.
SA04/Assistive Technology 101: Begin With the End in Mind
Presenters: Samantha Peters and Maria Kelley
Welcome to the assistive technology revolution! Assistive technology developments have been a catalyst for producing life-changing results for individuals with ADHD. In this session, presenters will share helpful advocacy tips, AT solutions/strategies, and information on AT trends to watch.
SA05/"Guy Stuff"-A Puberty Education Program For Boys Diagnosed with ADHD and Their Parents.
Presenter: Ryan Wexelblatt
Many boys diagnosed with ADHD also struggle with navigating the social world around them. Given that social expectations increase with age, many boys struggle with understanding the increased social expectations during puberty. Guy Stuff is a hygiene and puberty education program taught from a social learning perspective and designed for boys and their parents. Designed for the YouTube generation, Guy Stuff provides boys with the education they need, and their parents with the information they need, to communicate about these topics effectively.
Presenter: Vera Joffe, PhD, ABPP
.This session will present fictitious clinical vignettes of preschool children presenting symptoms of various mental health disorders, such as disruptive pediatric, bipolar disorder, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, and anxiety disorder, in order to illustrate the empirically based protocols for diagnosis and treatment of such conditions for preschoolers. Dr. Joffe will illustrate how such conditions would be treated in children who are diagnosed later in life (such as later elementary school to high school), and the severity and complications of clinical presentations of such cases. She will discuss the advantages of diagnosing and treating children earlier in life, such as during preschool years, presenting modalities of treatment for preschoolers such as PCIT and behavior therapy.
SA07/The Fundamental Power of Anticipation
Presenter Bill Flynn
The purpose of this session is to demonstrate the effective use of applying emotional purpose within task management planning. Students with ADHD have a strong emotional connection to time and motivation. This session will discuss not only the important relationship between time and emotion, but also the value of helping students process and practice this connection. Using examples, this session will also highlight the effectiveness of creating short term and long term academic plans than fuse task management with the emotional rush of anticipation into the space between beginning a task and completing a task. This connection acts as a means of helping students with ADHD stay focused, motivated, and present in their academic work.
SA08/Ready for Take-off: Preparing Teens with ADHD/LD for College
Presenter: Theresa Laurie Maitland
The numbers of college students with ADHD/LD have mushroomed in the past decades on campuses across the nation. Yet, despite efforts for early identification, more services at the K-12 level, and mandated accommodation in colleges many do not succeed in college. Unfortunately, few graduate in four years, many take a year or two longer and some do not graduate at all. This workshop will shed light on why youth diagnosed with ADHD/LD are at greater risk for college transition difficulties. The presenter will share the literature on the common challenges teens with ADHD/LD tend to encounter during their transition, as well as strategies that can increase their chances of success. The session will also include a discussion of typical non-productive parenting patterns that can inadvertently lead to a lack of college readiness and how these can be modified to better prepare teens for being independent in college and life. The workshop will touch upon the differences in laws governing accommodations and services at the college level and ways to better prepare college bound teens to adjust to these differences. Participants will be given opportunities to discuss and apply the information presented in the workshop to teens in their own lives.
Kathleen Nadeau, PhD
This presentation will highlight information drawn from the personal interviews of numerous men and women with ADHD over the age of 60. They have chosen to share their stories in order to further our understanding of ADHD in later years. Adult ADHD burst forth upon the scene in the mid-1990s. Those with ADHD that were in their mid-40s at the time are now in their mid-60s. The boomer generation is heading toward retirement and many are already in retirement, yet so little research has been done on their issues and needs. What little research has been done so far will be discussed, but the bulk of this presentation will focus on the information that is being gathered in an ongoing project to document the process of aging with ADHD.
SB02/ADHD Coaching: Using an Appreciative Approach and Process
Presenters: Nora Mislolek, Alan Graham, Naomi Zemont
Appreciative inquiry is an organizational development process that can be readily adapted to ADHD coaching. Appreciative inquiry coaching focuses on exploring and amplifying a client’s strengths to help motivate behavior change. In this presentation, the AI model will be explained along with its adaptation to ADHD coaching. Participants will then have an opportunity to learn appreciative coaching techniques and practice them.
SB03/Reduce the Battle of Homework Time: Strategies for Parents and Teachers
Presenter: Jill Linkoff
Homework time is often full of stress and conflict for parents and students. While most parents and educators want students to be organized, efficient, and independent learners, students with ADHD/executive function challenges often struggle to stay engaged, motivated, and effective when approaching their homework. Sometimes it’s due to the academic demands, but often it’s due to their ability to manage the demands placed upon them. Parents are often ill-equipped to know how to best intervene, and some end up unintentionally exacerbating the problem as a result. This presentation will explore how to reduce the challenges of homework time by tackling three factors: setting the stage for learning, managing the expectations on the student, and the role the parent should play in the process.
Presenter: Elizabeth Hamblet, M.S.
Myths about college disability services and accommodations can leave students without the critical knowledge they need. Thinking that colleges don’t offer anything may discourage students from attending college, and believing that they provide every service that students had in high school might not properly prepare students for the transition. Laws and expectations at the college level are different, but with the proper preparation and understanding, students can be successful. Learn what really happens at college and what skills students need to do well in this exciting new environment.
SB05/ What Works in Assistive Technology: Student Perspectives
Presenter: Carolyn P. Phillips
Come learn from our Students what Assistive technology solutions and strategies are working (and not working) for them. In this session, we will explore the collective role each of us play in promoting student success within and beyond the educational environment and the powerful role of AT in this process. We will examine positive outcomes that can occur when self-advocacy and AT are integrated into the learning environment and how these successes transfer into other areas of life. We will provide participants with helpful tips, opportunities to explore emerging trends in technology and identity specific AT strategies and resources that can ultimately assist with smoother transitions in the workplace and community.
SB06/“Takes One to Know…” How to Teach One!
Presenter: Billie Abney
As a student who struggled terribly in elementary school, the speaker, now a veteran teacher and retired chiropractor, will share tips that make her a highly effective teacher.
SB07/Contemporary Adult Treatment of ADHD: The New ADHD Lifestyle
Presenter: Jodi Klugman-Rabb
This course examines creating a sustainable lifestyle for ADHD by using research derived from multimodal treatment combining psychoeducation, medication, psychotherapy, behavioral/self-management skills, technological tools, coaching, self-advocacy, and appropriate workplace accommodations. The result is an improvement in self-esteem and productivity through concrete, practical interventions increasing organization and follow through, learning to work with symptom manifestation, and recognizing mindful application of their strengths. It also creates the channels for communication of the eventual resistance and regression that so often defines living with ADHD. Paramount to creating a successful ADHD lifestyle is the ability to communicate when you are symptomatic, overfocused, or coaching loved ones on the best ways to interpret behaviors and miscommunications.
SB08/ More Than Just Medication: Proven Non-Medication Treatments for ADHD
Presenter: Stephanie Sarkis, PhD
In your practice, you will find clients/patients with an ADHD diagnosis who prefer not to take medication. There are various reasons for this, and in this seminar, you will learn these reasons and discover what other treatment options are available. The more you know the “whys” of your client’s choice of treatment, the better quality of care you can provide them. Medications available for treating ADHD, including the benefits and side effects, will be discussed. You will learn the myths surrounding medication and how to help your client or patient make the most informed choice about their treatment. Not only will you walk away with knowledge of the most common non-medication treatments for ADHD, you will also know the safety and efficacy of each treatment. You will learn how much these treatments cost and whether the possible benefits outweigh the financial impact. The use of nutraceuticals and supplements will be discussed, both how they can impact the central nervous system and why it is important to find a producer with good quality assurance. Diet can make a difference in treating ADHD—but not in the way you might think. You will leave with more knowledge about the research purporting a link between pesticides and ADHD. With more than 15 years of experience in treating ADHD, Dr. Sarkis will show you the path to determining the best treatment.
SC01/ Distracted and Disorganized: Sure-Fire Strategies to Empower Women with ADHD
Presenter: Terry Matlen, MSW, AC
Women with ADHD have specific and often debilitating challenges. Society expects them to juggle it all: home responsibilities, parenting, work, and social connections, all while keeping everyone in the family (including themselves) in balance. Problems with executive functioning and working memory, which play out in procrastination, disorganization, memory issues, hyper-reactivity and more, make it a huge challenge to stay “on top of their game.” Such frustrations often lead to anxiety, depression, failures in relationships and tremendous stress. This combined lecture and interactive session will discuss the challenges women with ADHD face, but will also offer specific strategies on organizing/clutter control, time management, meal planning, parenting, self-care and more. - Presentation Sponsors by Shire
SC02/Self Determination Pathway for Young Adults with Learning and Social Differences
Presenter: Michele Joseph
Each step provides the student and family a framework of support and guidance through the challenges of establishing independence in young adulthood. Attention to training for skill acquisition, expectations for frequent social course corrections, and close connection to a supportive adult are common accountability components with vocational coaches. Learning to “recover well” from challenges, increasing vocational opportunities prior to graduation, and expanding social programming significantly foster early adult productivity and reduce opportunities for isolation.
Presenter: Chris Zeigler Dendy
What does the future hold? Join Chris Zeigler Dendy, veteran parent, CHADD advocate, and prolific author, for this reassuring session regarding long-term ADHD outcomes she has personally observed over a 50-year time span. Additionally, an overview of research on outcomes plus common challenges and intervention strategies will be reviewed.
SC04/Couples with ADHD: Creating Caring Connection amid the Chaos
Presenter: Carol Robbins, PhD
This session will review the common pitfalls couples with ADHD experience and present solutions and strategies to overcome them. Learn the three golden rules to repair and retain connection in relationship and manage reactivity. Experience the benefits of using the Couple's Dialogue to deepen communication and create safety. Useful apps will be recommended to coordinate tasks, lists, and routines
Presenters: Stephen Tonti, and Aaron Smith
As the title suggests, Aaron Smith and Stephen Tonti are ADHD and proud. They understand that folks with ADHD did not choose to be ADHD, however, ADHDers CAN choose how they internalize the condition. Tonti and Smith argue for the importance of adopting a more life-affirming and uplifting approach to the way ADHD is diagnosed, treated, and ultimately understood by the individual living with the condition. In this talk, they will explore the controversial concepts of Radical Acceptance, Positively Reframing ADHD, and Leveraging Advantageous Mirror Traits for Success.
SC06/Harnessing the Power of the Emotional Brain: "Game Changers" from Affective Neuroscience
Presenter: Rebecca Resnik, PsyD
New research from affective neuroscience teaches us that everyday tasks, from solving a math problem to striving for college acceptance, are all governed by emotional responses in our brains. Individuals with ADHD are often impacted just as much, if not more so, by their emotional responses to day-to-day challenges. Thus, for interventions to be effective, we need to address not just the cognitive symptoms of ADHD, but to understand the emotional foundations beneath the surface. This presentation integrates exciting new brain research with practical, real-world strategies for promoting motivation, resilience, and perseverance.
Presenter: Doris Bowman
Your FBA is a Fantasy: Why Conventional FBAs, BSPs and School Discipline Systems Aren't Getting Results for the Kids Who Need Them Most, and How to Create Ones That Will Traditional approaches to making behavioral change through the use of functional behavioral assessments and behavior support plans have long fallen short, and school discipline systems continue to fail those children to whom their “consequence systems” are applied most. With our conclusions about the “why” of behavior being based in something kids want to “get” or “avoid,” we are left with little to do but attempt to externally motivate through rewards and consequences. Come learn how the Collaborative Problem Solving Model and the pediatric neuroscience research of Dr. Bruce Perry of the Child Trauma Academy, can inform the creation and use of FBAs, BSPs and overall discipline systems that are brain-based and skill-focused. Learn what these two evidence-based approaches tell us about how you can stop chasing “temporary compliance” and start building skills.
Presenter: James Li
This session will introduce a novel assessment approach, using patients’ smartphones, to assess daily interactions between parents and children and its implications for psychosocial treatments for ADHD. Developing (and validating) a standardized, smartphone-based approach for measuring progress and outcomes in ADHD is crucial. First, smartphones are widely owned, thus offering impressive and easy access to patients. Regarding interventions, smartphone technology may pave the way for drastically improving the assessment of the patient’s individual context, such that information gathered from a daily assessment can be used to tailor the treatment characteristics more precisely. Furthermore, once in treatment, smartphones can be used to monitor the family’s progress during the treatment, and enhance the family’s engagement in the intervention. Considering that most psychosocial treatments for childhood ADHD focus on child behavior modification through parent training, having improved methods to assess and monitor progress may help to more precisely identify what’s working, and what’s not. In this session, we will discuss the limitations of traditional assessments approaches in ADHD (i.e., interviews, questionnaires, observations), and present brand new research from our laboratory to show that next generation assessment approaches (i.e., mobile data collection) may yield important information about our patients that have might otherwise been undetected using traditional assessment approaches.
SD01/ "Why are You Yelling at Me?" Tame the Triggers & Turn the Family Volume Way Down
Presenters: Diane Dempster, and Elaine Taylor-Klaus
Yelling is one of the side effects of ADHD that the textbooks may not mention, but which can be positively crazymaking. As parents, no matter how hard we try, sometimes we end up yelling—because we don’t know what else to do, or because it works (and we hate that), or because we can’t help ourselves. Our kids end up yelling for similar reasons. Based on a coach-approach to parent management, this interactive workshop will help you understand the nuances behind the “yelling” in your home, and offer strategies for calming everyone down. If you came to this conference because you want to shift the tone of your home from a hot mess to a calm, peaceful family life, then this is the workshop for you.
Presenter: Kim Kensington, PhD
What does the latest science on procrastination teach us, and how can we use it to help folks with ADHD get more done? While much delay starting, continuing, and finishing tasks results from executive function issues, not all of it does. Generally procrastination researchers don’t mention ADHD, and they think about delay differently. Dr. Kim Kensington will bring the latest research from that world and add it to the information and strategies we currently have so that attendees can get be more effective at starting and finishing projects.
SD03/ Collaboration Between Parents and Schools… Be Confident, Firm, AND Nice!
Presenter: Sandra Mislow, M. Ed.
This session focuses on strategies to overcome and avoid the breakdown of communication and lack of collaboration which often occurs between parents of children with ADHD and school staff. During the session, we will examine the roots of this conflict and discuss the detrimental impact it has on children. Various strategies for facilitating collaboration and positive communication will be presented, including the concept of principled negotiation, which combines psychological principles and therapeutic communication within conflict resolution.
Presenter: Cris Sgrott-Wheedleton
Are you tired of setting goals to be more productive and feeling like that never happens? This session will leave you with strategies that you can implement right away to change how you plan your time, manage your tasks, and remind yourself on how to get it all done.
Presenter: Cathi Zillman
You’ve heard of stimulants versus nonstimulants, methylphenidate versus amphetamine, and immediate release versus time release; but these are just the beginning of the differences among the various medications used to treat ADHD. The delivery system is the material in which the medication is prepared. It controls the speed and timing of the delivery of the medication into your system. We will discuss the various delivery systems that are available and the benefits of each.
Presenter: Nathalie Pedicelli
Roughly 50% of marriages today end up in divorce. Add a powder keg of ADHD to the mix and 85% of couples split up. It’s almost impossible to stay married when you have ADHD. This session will expose the significant negative impacts that ADHD has on marriage when it is not decoded for the neuro-typical spouse. Despite their best intentions to organize their ADHD spouse, neuro-typical partners end up making their ADHD partner feel like they are the problem in the relationship. Accused of being careless or lazy, the ADHD spouse often shuts down or avoids confrontation. On the flip side, the frustrated neuro-typical partner increasingly feels like s/he is the only adult in the relationship. This session is geared for organizers, coaches and therapists who want to improve the lives of their clients through proven yet simple to implement organizing strategies. These techniques will significantly reduce the nagging and blaming by the neuro-typical spouse while increasing the reliability and productivity of the ADHD partner. Communication differences and organizing styles that move the relationship from conflict to comprehension will be discussed. Techniques to overcome ADHD indecision, procrastination, perfectionism, forgetfulness and clutter will be introduced. An overview of ADHD thought and sensory processing styles will explain why traditional space organization methods don’t work. In addition to using her client experiences as examples, Ms. Pedicelli will share her own experience in having ADHD and being in a relationship with the same spouse for over 20 years
Presenter: Caroline Maguire, PCC
Let’s face it—it’s frustrating when you witness your child doing and saying things that can make them seem rude or insensitive. This workshop will present techniques proven to help ADHD children learn how to recognize other people’s point of view (perspective taking), gain greater social self-awareness, change the messages they telegraph to other people, self-evaluate their behavior, and adapt their behavior depending on the unspoken rules, context, people, and situation, in order to develop and improve their perspective-taking skills. Participants will leave with step-by-step techniques to address tone, unexpected social behavior, misguided humor, continual monologue, and other common ADHD social challenges that make children seem insensitive or rude.
SD08/ Finding Quiet in a Noisy Place: Going In and Out of Your Mind
Presenter: Jane Massengill
Do you ever feel like there’s so much chatter in your head that you can’t hear yourself think? Overwhelm, cloudy thinking, fear and self-doubt all take over and before you know it, you are headed to anywhere other than where you need to be to pay your bills, do your homework, or write a proposal. The self-sabotaging voice in your head works to define who you are, what you are capable of and even what career path to take. This lively, experiential session will teach you specific steps to help you identify and quiet that internal noise, so that you can get on with the business of not only being yourself, but your best self. Whether you are a coach, therapist, parent or adult with ADHD, you will leave this session with tools you can use immediately to help yourself, your clients or your kids face struggle, tap resourcefulness, and find the inner beauty under all that chatter.
General Conference - Sunday, November 12
SU01/ Coaching Adults with ADHD from Pathology to Possibility
Presenter: David Giwerc, MCAC,
With an adult volunteer client with ADHD, David Giwerc will demonstrate how the coaching process integrated with an individual’s VIA Character Strengths can naturally shift the brain’s negative bias tendency and refocus on positive emotions to provide immediate access to one’s best qualities, attributes, and capacities. After a debriefing of the client session, and if time permits, there will be a final discussion of the strategies and rationale for the use of specific coaching competencies and strategies. To get the most out of this life-changing session every attendee needs to go to www.viacharacter.org and take the free fifteen-minute character strength survey. Upon completion, you will receive an email with your own personalized profile which you can bring to the session. Prior to the live demonstration, Giwerc will describe what your profile means and how you can use it in productive ways.
SU03/ Later Life Diagnosis: Clearing the Confusion for Midlife and Senior ADHD Adults
Presenter: Linda Roggli
Most adults diagnosed with ADHD in later life are stunned, then relieved: at least it’s not the dreaded, early-onset dementia. But is there a correlation between dementia and ADHD? Does ADHD “get worse” with age? There is a sense of urgency among ADHD seniors: their life clock is ticking and they need to make up for the decades without ADHD treatment. This session turns its bifocals on the special challenges of ADHD adults diagnosed at age 45, 55, 65, and beyond. It explores the connection between menopause and ADHD for midlife women and examines peer-reviewed studies on the intersection of aging, ADHD, and memory. This lively session offers research-based education plus practical strategies specifically designed for older ADHD adults.
SU04/- Successful Job Accommodations for ADHD
Presenter: Melanie Whetzel
Job accommodations can be vital for the successful employment of individuals with ADHD. Knowing how, when, and why it might be necessary to disclose a disability is the first and often most difficult part of the accommodation process. This session will provide useful and practical information on the disclosure of ADHD in the workplace, the limitations associated with this impairment, and accommodations on the job that might be needed. Real-life accommodation situations and solutions will be interspersed throughout the session. A question-and-answer session will be included at the end. The information presented here will be helpful to working individuals, those looking for employment, parents, service providers, and employers.
SU05/- Why Does No One Like Me? Learn how to Read the Room to Create a More Positive Social Approach
Presenter: Caroline Maguire, PCC
Is walking into a business party stressful? Is it an effort to start a conversation and fit in with the group? Stop struggling with social interactions. Learn how to interpret the hidden rules and social cues in any situation or environment. Many adults with ADHD struggle with social skills but do not know what to do. This presentation will focus on how adults with ADHD can learn to self-evaluate and improve their self-awareness to create an appealing social approach for any situation. Attendees will learn how to improve their ability to read the room and interpret social cues to create socially expected and appealing behaviors.
SU06/- ADHD Meds - Use Your Brain All Day!
Presenter: John Bailey, MD
This session is an up-to-date review of the available ADHD treatment medications, presented in practical terms by a physician with ADHD himself, experienced in treating nearly 4,000 ADHD patients.