My inspiration:

When my son was in elementary school, I set aside one day a week to volunteer in his classroom.

In the third and fourth grades, children are told that they need to learn to pay attention, stay in their seats, behave appropriately, and follow instructions. It is considered grade appropriate and age appropriate to do so. Well, anyone who understands ADHD in children knows that this is not easily accomplished and that grade and age don’t equate to capability.

Many times, when I arrived at my son’s school to help out, certain students were identified for me to work with one-on-one outside the confines of the classroom. In effect, I was coaching the students with ADHD, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and the like, while supporting their learning. I found myself making a connection with those students who did not get the attention needed in the classroom to achieve at the level of their peers.

JST Coaching beginnings:

When I opened my coaching business in 1996, ADHD coaching for adults was still a new concept. In conversations with adult clients with ADHD, I repeatedly heard “I wish I had a coach in high school,” or “Where were you when I was in college?” That’s why I decided to focus my coaching on children, adolescents, and young adults with ADHD to help young people reach their potential with fewer struggles than the previous generations.

Within a few years, business was booming and I was receiving coaching requests from around the globe (no kidding)!  A few local coaches and educators asked me to train them in my coaching methodology for youth with ADHD; and JST Coaching coach training programs were born.

Creating the flagship course, Coaching Teens & College Students with ADHD, was a labor of love. I had learned so much about ADHD and related difficulties from my young clients and their families and had the privilege of watching my clients learn, grow and succeed after protestations of “I can’t do that!”

When it came time to create an official course manual (followed by my first book, Empowering Youth with ADHD) I had a huge amount of information at my fingertips:  ADHD, executive dysfunction, family dynamics, teen angst, college transition, life coaching, ADHD specific coaching skills, organizational tools, student and parent feedback and more.

Unique approach:

Coaching Teens & College Students with ADHD is a one-of-a-kind training program focusing on the intricacies of ADHD youth coaching. What makes it unique is that the coaching model is designed to coach the young person in all life areas, not just around academic issues. This is a critical distinction in this coach training program, in addition to the in-depth training around ADHD, EF and LD to help coaches understand how their clients learn most effectively and tailor the coaching to meet the needs of each client.

How it works:

JST trained youth coaches, including all Edge Foundation coaches, look to the young person to provide insight on what is and is not working for them in all life areas, including academics. In addition, they gather information from the parents and from the client’s professional team (with permission), before guiding the young person to set goals and create an individualized coaching plan, called a PCA (Personal Coaching Agreement).  By taking this global approach to youth coaching, we are able to help our clients see how their day-to-day life choices impact their ability to succeed in life.

One student may need to create a routine for taking his medication on a regular basis, while another may want to block out time for sports, friends and schoolwork each week.  Coaches trained in the JST coaching model have the tools and knowledge to effect positive change in the lives of young people with ADHD.  When you hire an Edge Foundation coach, you can rest assured that you are getting a well-trained coach for youth with ADHD.

• James Oliver, Star Chef
• Karina Smirnoff, Pro Ball-room  and Latin dancer
• Will Smith, Actor
• Michael Phelps, Olympic Gold Swimmer
• Jim Carrey, Funny Man and Comedian
• Ty Pennington,  Extreme Makeover Actor
• Richard Branson, Funder of Virgin Airlines
• Paris Hilton, Heiress/Socialite
• Christopher Knight, Actor
• Howie Mandel,  Comedian
• Terry Bradshaw, Former NFL Quarterback
• James Carville , Political Commentator
• Paul Orfalea, Kinko’s Founder
• Pete Rose, Baseball Star
• Michelle Rodriquez, LOST Star, Actor
• David Neeleman, Founder, Jet Blue Airways
• Bruce Jenner, Olympic Decathlon Athlete & Kim Kardashian’s dad
• Solange Knowles, Singer, Sister to Beyonce’

You know there’ve got to be countless other successful people out there besides them – so why not you include yourself on that list?  You might not be famous (yet) but you’ll never reach your dreams by telling yourself you can’t make it.

If you are discouraged, however, an ADHD coach can help you get back on track.  Today is a good day to start putting your application together for Shire’s ADHD coaching scholarship that includes a $2000 academic grant.

There may be reasons you aren’t on the ADHD A-List, but your ADHD isn’t one of them.  What are you waiting for?

Jesse told us he figured out he had ADHD when a friend was diagnosed.  “So I went to get screened. After what ended up being a three-month-long process of tests and doctor visits, I was diagnosed.”

College is a particularly difficult time for students with ADHD.  Academic demands, increased independence, more free time, and a distracting environment, creates an environment where many untreated ADHD students are likely to fail.

“If I hadn’t got treatment,” Jesse said, “I can basically guarantee that I would have flunked out.” Fortunately Jesse found a medication that helped with focus, accommodations that allowed him to take exams in less distracting environments, and, perhaps most importantly, he found an ADHD coach.

ADHD coaches are commonly used in ADHD treatment, and students who received ADHD coaching have been shown to show substantial gains in their overall approach to learning. Neil Peterson, founder of Edge Foundation explains, “Medications do not work for everybody. They are not ‘the’ answer because medications do not teach skills — but coaches do.”

Edge ADHD Coaches work by helping a person with ADHD to organize their life on their own, rather than telling them what to do. The coach meets with a student once or twice per week, and helps him or her with goal setting, prioritizing, focusing, confidence, etc. The students set weekly goals and action plans to meet those goals and have e-mail and phone support from their coaches to help keep them on track.

Now Edge is teaming up with the Shire foundation to offer 50 more scholarships for students with ADHD.  Students Shire Expands Scholarship Program for Individuals with ADHD.  The Shire ADHD Scholarship includes a $2,000 monetary award and offers a prepaid year of ADHD coaching services provided by the Edge Foundation. Fifty one-time scholarships will be awarded on June 12, 2012. The deadline to apply is March 30, 2012.

For information, including eligibility requirements and scholarship application, visit www.ShireADHDScholarship.com .

Don't get caught short without ADHD medication

It’s been nearly a year since we first started hearing about ADHD medication shortages and it looks like the end is not coming soon enough.

When the shortages were first reported, all parties thought it would be a short-term problem.  But now apparently the problem is getting bigger, not smaller.

Last week CHADD published an editorial outlining the reasons for the shortages (essentially the DEA makes a “guess” each year about how much production to allow of the controlled ingredients used in ADHD drugs.  Hint: they guessed wrong.)  Short acting ritalin prescriptions seem to be most at risk for shortages at this time.

Plan ahead!  The Short Term Outlook is not good:

The medication production cycle is 8 to 12 weeks long and on top of that the DEA application process is long and cumbersome.  Thus there is a significant time lag between the identification of a shortage and its correction.  This year it looks like the shortages will not be resolved until next spring.

According to CHADD, which has following this issue closely, “Many of the companies that manufacture the short acting stimulant medications report they have no inventory left or limited inventory… it is unlikely that the 2012 DEA approved medications will get to market until March at the earliest.”

What can you do to protect yourself?

1. Be sure to order your medication early. Don’t wait until you take your last pill to take your prescription to the pharmacy.
2. Schedule a reminder for yourself to bring your prescription in for a renewal 1 week before it runs out.
3. Make friends with your pharmacist.  If you do they’ll give you tips about what works best for their particular pharmacy.
4. Need other ideas?  Check this article for more tips.
5. Take the CHADD medication survey.  CHADD has been organizing an advocacy group to address this issue with the FDA, DEA and Congress.  At this time the group includes  the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and patient advocacy, clinician and pharmacy related associations.  The information you provide on the survey will be helpful to this group as they work to help create a solution that avoids shortages in the future.

Protecting Disabled Students’ Rights to Accomodations

The Government Accountability Office has studied this issue and issued a report earlier this week recommending that the Department of Justice become involved in ensuring the testing industry provides accommodations to all eligible individuals.

AHEAD (Association on Higher Education And Disability) is in the process of revising its guidance on best practice for testing accommodations to place less emphasis on diagnostic tests to determine eligibility and more focus on educational and accommodation histories of individuals.  They are a great resource if you need more information on this subject.

A complete copy of their press release on the subject follows:

GAO calls on the Department of Justice to protect students’ rights

Each year, millions of people take standardized tests in pursuit of a college education, graduate studies, and professional certification or licensure.  The Americans with Disabilities Act requires companies that administer these tests to provide test modifications to best ensure equal access for individuals with disabilities.  The high stakes testing industry has generated considerable controversy, a significant number of law suits and voluminous complaints to federal agencies and concerning who has a disability and how to determine what accommodations are necessary to provide equivalent access.

At the request of Representatives George Miller, Pete Stark and Cathy McMorris Rodgers the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined the process including the types of accommodations requested, factors companies consider when making decisions about requests, and how federal agencies enforce ADA compliance within the industry.

AHEAD (Association on Higher Education And Disability) and a number of its members participated in the GAO study’s interviews that helped provide a context for the GAO’s reviews of relevant laws and regulations, testing company policies, data provided by the testing industry, and federal complaint data.

The report recommends that the Department of Justice develop a strategic approach to enforcing the ADA in the high stakes testing industry to ensure the timely provision of accommodations to all eligible individuals. Justice has reviewed the report and agrees with its approach and conclusions.

This report, the amendments to the ADA, the regulations recently issued under Title I, II and III (particularly Section 309) along with a string of recent court cases clearly confirms an emerging approach to reviewing accommodations requests that is anchored to individual disability histories rather than the snap shots provided by diagnostic testing; more often asking “Why not” in response to a request for accommodation rather than “Why?”.  This approach will require a more thoughtful and commonsense approach to determining accommodations relying more heavily on unique experience of the individual and the  recommendations of clinicians and health care providers in order to achieve the broad goals of the ADA in connection with high stakes tests.

AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disability http://www.ahead.org) has been revising its guidance on best practices in documentation and expects a Spring release.  The revisions will place less emphasis on diagnostic tests to determine eligibility; focusing instead on the educational and accommodation histories (formal and informal) of individuals, their supporting narratives and the surrounding context including the development of new technologies.  AHEAD encourages other organizations to review their practice and is happy to offer technical assistance; contact AHEAD via e-mail or call (704) 947-7779.

The full report Higher Education and Disability: Improved Federal Enforcement Needed to Better Protect Students’ Rights to Testing Accommodations (Report to Congressional Requesters AO-12-40 United States Government Accountability Office) can be found at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-40.

Last week we talked with Dr. Michele Borba about the basics of bullying.  This week we explore how ADHD plays into bullying and what to do about it.

Edge:  Can you tell us more about how ADHD and bullying are related?

Borba:  ADHD contributes to both ends of the bullying cycle. First, students are OFTEN bullied because they are different AND LET’S FACE IT – ADHD children are sometimes quirky. And children who are different – AND STAND OUT – are the most likely to be bullied. On the other side of things, ADHD children (and adults) often have to work harder at emotional skills and self control leading to them act or be perceived as bullies.

Off the top of my head, here are a few of the issues that students with ADHD face:

• Poor impulse control:  The person with ADHD often gets set off too fast.  They aren’t able to put on their emotional brake system on and have an opportunity to think before reacting.
• Slower to develop emotional intelligence:  Kids with ADHD often can’t pick up on or read another child’s cues. This means they can’t see the other person is upset by their actions.
• Voice tone: I’ve observed that children with ADHD often speak too loudly or too quickly and more difficulty conversing in a give-and-take fashion. These qualities can intimidate others and set up a power imbalance that leads to bullying.
• Lack of tact: Back to impulse control. People with ADHD have a more difficult time stopping and thinking before they speak. They just blurt things out.
• Anger management:  Part of the challenges of ADHD is it is harder to regulate one’s emotions and identify you are getting out of control.  An important quality of healthy relationships needs to stop and slow down when you are upset.  People with ADHD often speak before they think when they are angry. This leads to saying hurtful things that can set up a bullying cycle.
• Lacking social skills: Have you noticed interrupting is a symptom of many people with ADHD?  Well-liked children are good listeners; they smile and encourage others. Some ADHD kids also have autism spectrum or depression because of this they may appear to be angry or unfriendly.
• Poor problem solving abilities:  Research is emerging that reveals people with ADHD have delayed development in their executive functions – including problem solving skills. There is a high correlation between poor problem solving skills and a child being a bully or being bullied.

Edge: How do you teach kids how to stop being a bully?

Borba: You can train kids with strategies to compensate for their ADHD deficits, but parents and teachers often make the mistake of trying to tell kids with ADHD what they need to do.  This approach won’t work.

1. You need to SHOW, not tell, any new skill: just like in sports.  A football coach demonstrates a good throw before asking the player to try it.  Then the coach gives feedback and suggestions on how to improve that skill. And the player rehearses the throw over and over before they have mastered it.
2. Identify the skills your child needs. Your child will need a “replacer skill “to take the place of the behavior that you want to replace. Figure out where to being by watching your child in a social situation to observe what type of behavior is getting child in trouble, causing him to rebuff the other kid, or act as if he isn’t coping.
3. Don’t teach too many skills at once.  Start with one small skill.  Work with the child until she has mastered it before layering on a more complex one. Don’t try to do too much at once. Each skill takes a long time to learn and internalize it. Don’t have you child try too many different strategies at once. Instead figure out what skill the child needs, teach it, and have him get a ton of time to practice it, build confidence and integrate it into her second nature.
4. Give kids an opportunity to practice, practice, practice any new behavior you want them to learn. You don’t teach someone how to calm down in the middle of the meltdown.  They need to rehearse the new skill in a calm moment to rewire their brains to react in the heat of the moment.
5. Start now! The earlier you start teaching the better. Habits start early and become entrenched; entrenched habits are harder to break.
6. Don’t try to do it alone. Get the help of at the other adults in the child’s life – be it a teacher, Big Brother, grandparent, school counselor or ADHD coach. Therapy only occurs once a week for an hour.  A child needs regularly, hourly feedback.  This can happen when all adults share the same behavior plan for the child.
7. Make sure your child is surrounded by caring supportive people. Bullying is a relational problem– who you hang out with makes a huge difference on whether you are involved with bullying. Become friends with your child’s friends, visit the school occasionally, and keep your eyes open.

Edge: What are the steps to take if your child is being bullied?

Borba:  Talk to your child first.  Don’t try to figure out what caused it, but instead where and when it is happening. Here are some questions to ask your child:

1. Where is it happening?
2. Who are you with? Are they giving support?
3. Did you tell?
4. Work with staff to work in what can we do to change the situation.

Keep in mind, your child may not be able to give you these answers, so don’t press. He honestly may not know. You’ll need to find an adult who sees your child in a different setting – such as a school where the bullying may be happening – and give you the perspective you need.

Edge: What are some of the social skills that kids with ADHD need to learn to help prevent bullying?

Borba: There are tons of discrete social skills we all use.  Here are a few places to start to learn more:

• Alan E. Kazdin, The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child
• Arnold P. Goldstein and Ellen McGinnis, Skillstreaming the Adolescent: New Strategies and Perspectives for Teaching Prosocial 
• Michele Borba Ed.D., Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me: The Top 25 Friendship Problems and How to Solve Them [includes 25 charts of the steps can be used by parents and kids to build important social skills.]

Dr. Michele Borba is a former classroom teacher who has worked in regular education as well as with children with learning, physical, behavioral and emotional disabilities, and in a private practice for troubled youth. She earned her Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Counseling from the University of San Francisco, an M.A. in Learning Disabilities and B.A. from the University of Santa Clara, and a Life Teaching Credential from San Jose State University. Michele is the “go-to” expert on parenting, bullying prevention, education and child/teen issues for numerous news organizations including the NBC Today Show and Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers. We are all fortunate that she has devoted more than 30 years of her life to developing a framework to strengthen children’s character and build moral school climates. Read more about here.

Have you been bullied?  Do you feel having ADHD has affected your school yard social life positively or negatively? Let us know in the comments.

Bullying is in the news all the time lately, but how often do you see it linked to ADHD? Dr. Michele Borba knows a lot about the connection between ADHD and bullying. We spoke with her recently and are thrilled to pass along this important information to you.

Edge:  Seems like most parents of ADHD kids hear their child called a bully at one time or another. From the child’s perspective it can seem like every time they make a mistake, someone cries “bully.”  What is bullying?

Borba:   Everything isn’t bullying. The biggest problem we have right now with all of the awareness and discussion about bullying (which is good) is that no one is on the same page on the definition of bullying (which is a problem).

Edge:  Do you have a good definition of bullying to share with our readers?

Borba:  I like the definition of bullying offered by Olweus Bullying Prevention Program:

1. Bullying is intentional, negative behavior.  It is not an accident.
2. Bullying is usually repeated. It becomes a pattern of behavior repeated over time.
3. Bullying involves a power imbalance in play. The bully is picking on a person who has less power than him or herself.  This can mean bigger in status, power in self, or size that pre

Edge: So where does teasing fit in?

Borba:  Bullying is different from teasing. Every kid in the world gets teased, but the teaser usually can speak up and stop the teasing.  Teasing can be friendly or unfriendly and generally is amongst two kids on an equal level.

Furthermore, there are 5 types of bullying and different types of bullying happen at different ages:

1. Physical bullying – slamming, kicking, punishing, pinching behaviors,
2. Emotional cruelty – girls do this best but boys are also guilty.  This is also considered relational aggression. It’s the gossip and ridicule behind the scenes.  Isolation, lies, rumors are some other examples of this type of bullying.
3. Verbal – including name calling.  Interestingly enough, most bullying starts verbally and grows if not nipped in the bud.
4. Sexual harassment – starting at younger and younger ages.  It’s not unheard of for elementary-aged girls to report behavior that is sexual harassment.
5. Electronic or cyber bullying – any electronic means be it text, email on a website. Obviously this is the newest type of bullying that gets the most attention.

Edge:  Why do some children get bullied more than others?

Borba:  There is no one reason why a child is a bully or a victim.  Yet we know that certain dynamics know makes a child more vulnerable. Children tend to be picked on for their differences. If fact, when I do focus groups with kids and ask who is someone usually bullied, they say, “someone who is different.” Being too quiet or a good student (gifted kids) or having acne or being a different race, having a speech impediment or having ADHD are a few of the differences that get picked up on and targeted. After all, everyone is different in some way or another.  Even the most popular student leaders can be bullied.

Also, victims can also become bullies. Research indicates that 13% of the time, victims will become bullies when the social scene changes.

Next Week:  ADHD, bullying and what to do about it.

Dr. Michele Borba is a former classroom teacher who has worked in regular education as well as with children with learning, physical, behavioral and emotional disabilities, and in a private practice for troubled youth. She earned her Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Counseling from the University of San Francisco, an M.A. in Learning Disabilities and B.A. from the University of Santa Clara, and a Life Teaching Credential from San Jose State University. Michele is the “go-to” expert on parenting, bullying prevention, education and child/teen issues for numerous news organizations including the NBC Today Show and Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers. We are all fortunate that she has devoted more than 30 years of her life to developing a framework to strengthen children’s character and build moral school climates. Read more about here.

 Have you been bullied?  Do you feel having ADHD has affected your school yard social life positively or negatively? Let us know in the comments.

Organizational and ADHD coaches do have a lot in common.  The best answer to this question comes in the form of a Tweet from professional organizer, Jeri Dansky:

Coaching is coaching, but not all organizing challenges come from ADHD, and not all ADHD challenges are organizing.

Yes, organizational issues are a hallmark of ADHD, however, there are many other executive functions that an ADHD coach also can help a person address including:

• Scheduling
• Goal Setting
• Focusing
• Prioritizing
• Sticking with it when it gets tough (a.k.a. persistence)
• Impulsiveness

An ADHD coach helps people with ADHD build strategies to work with their strengths to counter their weaknesses. You can’t organize yourself into focusing or being less impulsive. But most people with ADHD do need help getting organized.

Have you used an organizational coach for your ADHD?  Did it work for you? Let us know in the comments.

Hector’s teacher was more than a little frustrated “Hector, I see you all around campus. I see you in classrooms, I see you out in the quad, and I see you playing basketball in the gym.  Where I never see you is at your desk, doing your work.  Can you help me understand this?”

“I just need to try harder to do my work,” Hector replied.

Better strategies for ADHD students

It was the “try harder” part that caught my attention.  Students with ADHD often think that their problem is they aren’t trying hard enough.  They think everyone around them has vastly superior levels of self-control, and if they just had more self discipline, they’d be able to get the work done.

They don’t realize is their ADHD brain is wired differently.  While effort is always necessary for every student, students with ADHD need better strategies — smart ways of dealing with difficulties.

That’s why I was glad Hector decided to join the Edge ADHD Coaching Program at Highline Big Picture High School in Burien, WA.  In our first meeting we talked about how Hector is plenty smart and has plenty of energy.  We also focused on a plan for what he needed to get done:

• I had him list three specific goals he wanted to get done by the end of the week.  I made sure they were specific goals -- chapters read, people  to talked to.
• We looked at his schedule for the week and found 3 different blocks of time in which he could get those things done.
• I texted him a few times during the week- “How is the reading coming along, Hector?”  He would tell me about his progress.

By the time I saw him the next week, he had two of his goals completed and the third he had a good start on.  He didn’t get everything done, but he got a lot more done than we would have without coaching.  With progress like this, week by week, I’m confident Hector can make significant gains in his schoolwork.

Smart, energetic AND focused with ADHD

The thing is, Hector is still very social and energetic.  He still talks to everyone on campus and still participates in multiple athletic activities.  But with a clear idea of specific steps to get his work done, he can also focus his attention on making progress towards his goals.

Just about everyone wants to hear “good job!” and “you did it!”  With an ADHD coach by his side to help him learn the strategies he needs to stay on top of his work, Hector is hearing those words more and more these days.

Tim Kniffin is an Edge ADHD site coordinator at Highline Big Picture High School in Burien, WA  The Highline program provides ADHD coaching to previously underserved students within a school-based setting.