Edge Foundation Blog

Editor’s note:  This week Rob Tudisco shares some highlights from the 2011 CHADD annual conference.  Highlights include a summary of Ned Hallowell and Dr. Russel Barkley’s talk, Is ADHD a gift or a disability, and Dr. Tim Wilens’s perspective on ADHD coaching as an effective strategy for college students. Enjoy!

I recently returned from CHADD’s National Conference in Orlando and as always it was an inspiring experience.  Attending a large conference is a reminder of the extraordinary community I work within.  Organizations like CHADD and Edge are not websites or status updates, but people whose lives have been touched by ADHD.  Meeting with parents, educators, coaches and clinicians encourages the comfort of knowing that none of us are alone with living with the challenges that ADHD presents. 

 2011 CHADD National Conference Highlights

Dr. Timothy Willens, MD discussed his work with adolescents and college students.  He identified treatment options, behavioral support and exercise as a part of a multi-modal approach to addressing ADHD symptoms.  Dr. Willens also directly advocated for the importance of ADHD coaching for college age students, citing a body of growing research about its efficacy and capacity of  ADHD coaching to provide structure, support and accountability.  His report was a significant indicator that ADHD coaching is growing in popularity, understanding and legitimacy in the ADHD community.

Is ADHD a gift or a disability?

The closing plenary session was a co-presentation by Dr. Russell Barkley and Dr. Edward Hallowell. The two have long been rumored to have polarized views on the nature of ADHD and whether or not it is a gift of creativity or a completely debilitating disorder.  Barkley and Hallowell outlined their common understanding backed up by solid statistical evidence.

Barkley and Hallowell agree on the following points:

•  ADHD is a potentially disabling disorder that has very serious consequences if not treated.
• The mind of someone with ADHD is like having a “Ferrari for a brain, with bicycle brakes.”
• With proper treatment, individuals with ADHD are capable of amazing feats and accomplishments.
• With effective treatment includes therapy and (notably) coaching, individuals with ADHD can achieve their potential.
• Once the challenges of ADHD are addressed through treatment, the resilience that people have developed over years of dealing with their ADHD can help them accomplish great things.

Two final thoughts from Hallowell I found inspiring:

• ADHD is not necessarily a gift, but through treatment his patients unwrap the gifts of their own unique talents, while clearing away the distraction of their ADHD, so that their individual talents can shine through.
• The unique creative perspective of ADHD is “impulsivity gone right!”

The conference was a phenomenal experience that left me reenergized.  I strongly encourage all of you to look into attending conferences such as this in the future.

~Robert Tudisco, Edge Foundation Executive Director

I’ve got it all, all right.  Impulsiveness. Fidgeting. Procrastination. Lateness. Can’t sit still. I even have an ADHD coach!

I can sugar coat it all I want but the truth is having ADHD sucks!

I hate it when I say things that are inappropriate or I interrupt people when I don’t mean to. That’s part of my ADHD. I can feel people looking at me thinking I’m rude or obnoxious. I try hard to regulate myself, but sometimes it doesn’t work.

I wish I had long beautiful nails, yet I pick at them. I am always moving, never still. If I have to sit for even a second I start fidgeting. Pick, pick. Even when I type.  If I stop to think, I pick pick some more until I start typing again. It’s uncontrollable.

Oprah said that everyone should sit still and meditate for at least five minutes every day. I tried.  Then I thought to myself (as I found myself picking at my nails, again), “Oprah definitely does not have ADHD.”

I hate that I procrastinate. I look at the clock and think, “OK I will get out of bed at 7:45 a.m.” 7:45 roles around and I think “Well, I could still have time to get ready if I get out of bed at 8:15 a.m.” Every morning I push it to the last possible minute. I end up running around frantic.  Late again! I know there is no reason for this.  I was awake in plenty of time to get ready and be on time. It’s so frustrating (!) because I wait to the last minute and rush — all the time.

I am bad at doing anything that requires filling out paperwork, following steps or taking direction. If it’s complicated and not fun, I don’t want to do it. I leave it to the last possible minute or sometimes do not do it at all. Even with simple things that I have done a hundred times, if it’s more than one step I lose interest.

It’s not fair that I have to have a coach when my friends don’t. Sure I’m grateful to have my coach — without her I wouldn’t accomplish much. But my friends don’t need extra help to get their homework done or get organized. So what the hell?!

Having ADHD is a hell of a lot of work. It’s exhausting. My mind runs crazy all the time. There’s no off and on switch for this stuff. I like that I have a lot of ideas, but sometimes I just want to be able to chill out.

My best friend does not have ADHD. She sits and listens to music for like hours. That is totally impossible for me to do. I have to be listening to music, playing Angry Bird and texting to be able to sit still. We complement each other but I do get jealous of her slow past sometimes.

You can see my ADHD when we meet guys too. She let’s men take control of the conversations. Me, I can kinda dominate. Guys ask her for her number because she so easy going. Guys ask me for me number because I’m fun. I wish I could be more of a combination.

I met a really cute (tall) guy on St. Patrick’s Day. I was with a bunch of friends, dancing, drinking and wearing a very short Irish kilt. He liked me and I gave him my number.

I told my girlfriend the next day that I was going to be very classy next time I saw him. I would only have one glass of wine (not four green beers) and wear a conservative black outfit.

While my game plan was a good idea, my girlfriend reminded me, THAT’S NOT ME! She wisely asked me why I wanted to pretend to be this shy, conservative, calm girl. Eventually this guy is going to see I’m always the girl he met on St. Patty’s day. So I ditched the plan and had a great second date being my outrageous self.

At the end of the day, having ADHD sucks a lot of the time. Sure everyone has some cool personality traits and some that really blow. Some people even say ADHD is a gift.  Others say it isn’t real. I say, you’re crazy!  What do you think?

Editor’s note:  This month our guest blogger, Kelsey Peterson, started out writing a column about procrastination, but ended with a column about being superwoman.  Our guess is that the two things are connected.  Do you find yourself procrastinating when you are really overwhelmed with too much to do?  Here’s one approach that may help you get on top of your responsibilities without curbing your enthusiasm.

The quick read:

If you are feeling like you have too much on your plate but you don’t want to let anything go try:

• Talking to your coach
• Breaking down your goals into manageable check points
• Reminding yourself why you love what you do

I want to do everything!

I want to be the best at my job, the best friend to everyone I know, the best girlfriend, never miss a party, never forget to respond to an email or send a thank you card. I take on new projects without hesitation.  I RSVP to dinners and events without a moment’s thought.

But lately, I have been exhausted trying to keep up with myself. Last week I hit a wall.  I was feeling totally overwhelmed trying to balance work, exercise, creative projects, and my social life. It seemed I was getting nowhere but stressed!

I contacted my coach for an urgent session to discuss how to help me accomplish all my goals and not feel depleted and overwhelmed. She immediately responded with her availability and asked me to describe what I was struggling with.

I told her that my workload was full and I had just agreed, happily, to design wedding invitations for a friend.  I wasn’t getting to the gym because I was so tired and pressed for time. I was however, attending most of my social obligations and doing great at work. The issue I wanted my coach’s help with was balancing so that I was doing great at everything.

How my ADHD coach helped

My coach asked me to break down each of the areas that I was concerned about. We talked about each separately and set deadlines and progress points for each. I automatically felt relieved and more calm. Having progress points on my calendar and designated times to work on certain tasks really helps me feel in control.

She reminded me how much I like to exercise and how it increases my energy levels and productiveness. So even though I feel tired in the morning, I know that if I go to the gym I won’t feel sluggish or tired the rest of the day.

The last thing my coach asked me about was the realistic nature of all the things on my plate. Was I taking on too much? Can I be superwoman? My answer is yes! I want to be superwoman, but I need to be superwoman in moderation.

I decided to start building in time for myself in my calendar. I am happy to say that I now have every Monday to myself to do catch up on emails, laundry, whatever I want. I also decided to take Wednesday and Saturday mornings to work on special projects. I want to be superwoman, but I am pretty sure superwoman took some days off too!

You can find other tips and ideas about how to be successful in college with ADHD with our Free Guide:  College Success and ADHD.

Editor’s note:  This week we asked Kelsey Peterson to tell us about what it’s like to work with a coach over the phone. Kelsey was the student that inspired the creation of the Edge Foundation. You can find other tips and ideas about how to be successful in college with ADHD with our Free Guide:  College Success and ADHD.

Key ideas:

1. You can reach your ADHD coach by phone, text or email –- making them much more accessible to you
2. Driving takes time that a phone call doesn’t
3. ADHD coaching isn’t therapy or tutoring
4. When you work with a ADHD coach by phone, you don’t have to get organized to get started – that’s what the coach helps you do!

Why I like talking to my ADHD coach on the phone verses in person, by Kelsey Peterson

I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had to travel to see my ADHD coach once a week instead of talking on the phone like we do now. I do not think that our work together would be as successful.

One of the best things about my coach is that she is always available. I can call her to chat, I can email her if I have a question, I can even text her to confirm our scheduled talking time. If I had to get in my car, which I don’t even have, and drive out to see my coach in an office, it would be a total waste of time! I am so busy as it is. Why would I want to waste an hour travelling when I can accomplish everything I need to over the phone?

When I think of what it would be like sitting in an office with my coach talking I think of therapy or SAT tutors. My ADHD coach is not my therapist or my tutor. She helps me organize and plan so I can accomplish things.

I do not need to lay down on a coach and have her tell me everything is going to be okay. I need to tell her about my long disorganized list of to-do’s and talk with her about how to make it manageable.

When I am getting ready to talk to my coach, I sit down at my desk, I have my computer open, my calendar up, my to-do list in front of me and then I call her.

I like to get all set up with everything around me to reference. It looks like an overwhelming mess at first when I dig everything out. As my coach and I talk for thirty minutes I begin to consolidate all the sticky notes, homework assignments, and emails onto one calendar where I can rest assured everything is documented and has a time and place to get completed.

If I had to organize all my stuff then bring it with me to a meeting with her it would be too much, I would end up forgetting sticky notes that were stuffed in my other purse. When I’m on the phone, I can remember and dig them out.

My coach and I have an amazing relationship that has developed between our voices over the phone. Our thirty minute chats that happen once a week are productive and useful, no time is wasted and it is easy for me to not miss a session or forget. I set a reminder on my calendar to call at our designated time, just like a set a reminder to go to class.

Edge coaching client, Rory Manson, talks about how ADHD coaching has helped her succeed in school.

Editor’s note:  We just got this testimonial from Edge Coach Jason about his work with Tony.  We like how it not only shares a story of one student’s success, but it also illustrates how a coach helps you make your own discoveries – “While I would love to say that it was coaching that made the difference… Tony has done the work.”

An introduction by Coach Jason:

“Tony is a student at Simon Fraser University in BC. Prior to coaching, he had been in college, trying his best to make up his grades to re-attend a science program at University.  Since we have been working together, Tony has made great strides, back at University with his marks steadily improving. Most of all, his academic confidence is at an all time high.

“While I would love to say that it was coaching that made the difference, I take nothing away from Tony, as he has done the work, put in a solid effort and has been willing to work closely with me through our coaching together.

“While only a year ago, he was apprehensive about going back to University, his goal is now to achieve a Nobel Prize in his field of expertise!”

In Tony’s words:

“With Jason’s help, I am now able to better manage my ADD. We have worked together to develop new strategies, techniques and methods that all cater to my strengths. The results of this have led to significant improvements in my academic performance.

“Jason’s success as a coach comes from both his experience and his style. The style in which he coaches has led me to come up with my own discoveries. The discoveries that I have made are my own, and because of that, it has a much greater effect on my life.

“Although my decision to take up coaching started off as a means to improve my academic performance, it has since evolved to something much greater. Our conversations, often rooted in the analysis of the social norm, has led me to reach a level of awareness and understanding that I would have failed to achieve otherwise. It is only from this that I have begun to start becoming the person I want to be.”

If you liked this story, here’s some other places to check out:

• For more testimonials visit ADHD Coaching Testimonials or listen to students speak about coaching in their own words by clicking the yellow audioacrobat button at the top of the page.
• Want to learn more about how coaching can help you succeed in college?  Get our free ADHD College Survival Guide.
• For more stories about what it’s like to live with ADHD, read Stories from the Edge

Have you used an ADHD coach?  Tell us your own story in the comments.

Success stories are inspirational to all of us.  Sometimes just hearing that another person succeeded when facing adversity can give us the boost we need to keep going with our own journey. This week in our “Stories from the Edge” series of living real with ADHD, we share an interview with a Edge coaching client, Kristina C. We hope Kristina’s experience with ADHD coaching will inspire you to give ADHD coaching a try.

Edge:  Can you begin by telling our readers a little bit about yourself?

Kristina:  I am a 43 year old single mother of four. I realized, after having a brain aneurysm during the pregnancy of my fourth child, that life is too short and unpredictable to not follow your dreams.

I had always wanted to be an art professor and had been taking college classes on and off since graduating from high school.  I had been diagnosed with learning  disabilities in elementary school but it was never a clear diagnosis. I always had accommodations such as note takers and extra time on tests, but without the time management skills and organization it takes to get through college it was starting to seem like an unattainable goal.

I looked into getting retested through my university psychology school in order to pin point my disabilities. The test revealed that I have ADHD. I first started working with a coach as part of the groundbreaking ADHD coaching study and will be graduating from Wayne State University in 2011 with my BFA.

I plan to continue on for my MFA and hopes that by sharing my experience I will inspire others to give coaching a try. Remember, follow your dreams and NEVER give up.

Edge:   How did you hear about coaching and why you thought you’d give it a try?

Kristina:  I first heard about coaching while I was in high school but after looking into it, my mother decided she couldn’t afford it. She was a teacher and thought she could do the things a coach would do. I don’t think she realized until I was involved in this study how beneficial a coach can be.

So, the reason I felt I would give it a try. Well one strong pull for me was that I had been in school for several years and I was doing “OK” but it was a real struggle to organize my time and I was beginning to feel like I might not get through it without help. I was given the opportunity to be a part of the study by my accommodations counselor and I was eager to see if it would help. It did!

Edge:  What was most surprising thing you discovered about yourself when working with a coach?

Kristina:  I was surprised that I didn’t hate the routine as much as I thought I did. I have always felt that the minutia of day to day routine was suffocating. What I didn’t realize was that the stress created by not being organized is the thing that is truly paralyzing Before a coach, I’d keep having things creep up on me – like 10 page research papers that are due the next day or interview questions that I look at and put aside because I got distracted during the holidays.

While working with my coach I realized how important it is to “Just do it.” When I get an assignment or an email (etc.),  I need to either respond to it immediately or put it on a priority list to attend to during my next focus time. I also found that it is necessary to set a time on a weekly basis to organize and prioritize important events, projects, bills etc. (Mine is Monday mornings at 9.)  Otherwise things slip only to creep back in and stress you out later.

Procrastination is a killer! No matter how much you think you’re on top of your game, if you don’t take time to focus on the big picture, you will inevitably forget something. For too long in my life I have just floated along allowing life to just “come as it may.”   Having a coach has enabled me to take back my power and have a much clearer path to my goals.

Edge:  Do you think that you could have read a book and been able to learn the same things you learned with a coach?

Kristina:  I have four children and one grandchild. I have an extremely supportive mother and I have had many opportunities to learn the things that make  life run smoothly. I have also been involved with therapists and I consider myself very insightful, but for some reason I could never embraced the whole conforming thing until I worked with my coach. I’m not sure if it was the non-judgmental approach that she took or what it was –  but it worked!

Earlier I mentioned that my mother was a teacher and thought she could teach me the things that a coach could.  If anyone is reading this thinking that they can do that for their child, I implore you to reconsider. Something about the dynamic of the parent/child relationship is not good for coaching.

My coach became almost a facet of my own personality. When I would start to fall back into old patterns and I would hear her voice in my head. My coach was a weekly phone appointment and I feel like she helped me more than the past 20+ years of therapy. She really helped keep me on track. It’s different when you have to be accountable to another human voice (that’s not your parent!). It makes rationalizing procrastination more difficult.

Edge:  Tell me a little about how long you worked with a coach. Do you think people can benefit from using a coach for just a short amount of time  – like one school year –   or do you think you’ll always need a coach?

Kristina:  I worked with my coach for two semesters – about 30 weeks  I think maybe some people could work with a coach for a short amount of time but in my case I have some deep set bad habits so I needed more time to break bad habits. I believe that if I had had this opportunity when I was younger it would have changed my life. As I said, I am a mother of four, three of which are diagnosed with learning disabilities. All of them are extremely creative and bright and with the proper direction “from a coach” they could do great things.

So to answer the question “do I think I will always need a coach?” I think that if good habits are created early on it is much easier to learn them than trying to fix the damage that is done after the fact. I will not say I would need a coach forever but I sure would like to have the option to come back to her if I found myself slipping back into old habits.

Download our Free College Survival Guide or get monthly news you can use from Edge’s newsletter.

Ready to find out more about coaching, give us a call (1-888-718-8886) or complete our “Get More Information Form.”

To read more Stories from the Edge visit this page.  More about the groundbreaking ADHD study here.

Note:  this week’s post is by guest blogger, Kelsey Peterson.  Kelsey was the student that inspired the creation of the Edge Foundation.  You can find other tips and ideas about how to be successful in college with ADHD with our Free Guide:  College Success and ADHD.

Key Ideas Summary for the ADHD Quick Read:

• Break each goal down so they aren’t large and scary
• Get a game plan
• Use a training schedule
• Set weekly and halfway checkpoints
• Be disciplined
• Develop new habits
• No excuses – just do it!
• Get help from your coach

Starting 2011 I was thinking about the things I want to accomplish this year. I don’t want to call them resolutions because, to me that has to connotation of failing.

Every year I feel like me and my friends say our “New Year resolutions” and then a couple days, weeks, months later its forgotten and over until next New Year when you can set up other unreasonable expectations for yourself to ultimately fail at.

This year I’m calling them “2011 Goals.”

I want to accomplish certain things this year so I made a list of my large goals then I broke it down to smaller weekly goals so the large goals seem less daunting. My 2011 Goals:

• Run the New York City Marathon and raise $5,000 to do so for charity
• Hike Mount Kilimanjaro
• Run the Seattle Rock ‘n Role half marathon
• Don’t procrastinate

In order to reach these large goals I am breaking each one of them down so they don’t seem to large and scary. Starting with running a half marathon. I am doing this at the end of June and hiking Mount Kilimanjaro a week after. So I developed a training schedule for the half marathon, which consists of weekly runs and cross training to work me up to the 13.1 miles at the end of June. I am assuming that with this training I will be in adequate shape to hike Mount Kilimanjaro a week after. By the end of June should be my half waypoint in training for the New York City marathon. I will develop a new training schedule to prepare me for the full marathon after the half at the end of June.

In order to raise $5,000 for the charity that I am running the New York City Marathon I have to be very disciplined. I have a game plan of sending out emails to friends and family asking for support.  It is very important that I keep on this and keep track of how much I have raised and how much I need as I go. I will ask my coach to help me with keep track of weekly checkpoints. I plan on sending out an initial email blast and seeing the response I get to it. Also I am going to ask my family to reach out to their friends who might want to donate money to the cause. I feel hesitant about asking people for money but the reason I am doing it is because all the money goes to a very good charity that will use it very wisely so if I inform my friends and family of this I think that people will be on board. Also I can’t wait to represent NYC by running through the boroughs knowing that this is a once in a life time experience and by doing this I am helping people in need.

Don’t procrastinate is one of my 2011 goals because I feel like a lot of the time I put off doing things that are not fun. There will always be things in life that are not fun but as an adult you have a responsibility to do them (see my last month’s blog post on Mastering Your Self Control (http://www.edgefoundation.org/blog/2010/12/15/mastering-your-self-control/). For example I hate opening my mail. I don’t know why I don’t like opening mail, I know there are cards in there and bills and things that need to be looked at, but its work and its not fun so I let me mail sit on my table for sometimes weeks until finally someone else, a friend visitin,g helps me get through it. So in 2011 I want to open my mail every day so that it doesn’t stack up and I get over this procrastinating habit I have. I talked to my coach about this and we set up a new habit to get over procrastinating.

My 2011 plan is to wake up every morning and go to the gym, in order to train for my physical 2011 goals, and then an hour every morning to check my email, open my mail and do the things that are not as fun.  Between my two-hour routine every morning of working out and non-procrastinating I should be on track to complete my 2011 goals.

Unfortunately I have not gotten the year off to a very productive start. I have not started training yet or my two-hour morning routine. I can make a lot of excuses why this hasn’t gone into effect yet, the weather, jet leg from the holidays, etc but in reality it comes down to self control which I wrote about last month. So like I said in my last blog about self-control is JUST DO IT!

On that note, I am starting my two-hour morning routine tomorrow since it is too late to do it tonight. But I am putting this in writing that I will start training tomorrow, start doing my mail tomorrow and if I don’t I have to live with the disappointment of all you readers knowing that.

If you have any words of encouragement for me I would love to hear them, I have set pretty large goals for myself this year and need help every step of the way! Also please let me know if you set 2011 goals or New Year’s resolutions for yourself. Maybe we can be helpful to each other while we face this New Year with high expectations for ourselves!

Dear Friend of the Edge Foundation:

We are taking this opportunity to thank you for the interest and support you have provided to the Edge Foundation in past years.  At this time of year when many of us are deciding about making end of year contributions, we hope you will choose to support the academic success of high school and college students with ADHD, many of whom are struggling to stay in school and complete their education.  Edge supports these young adults through our research-proven intervention of personal coaching.  Your continued support will help us provide that critical support to every student who needs it.

Edge’s year in 2010 was highlighted by the completion and release of the results of a two year, groundbreaking scientific study on the efficacy of coaching for college students with ADHD.  The study, which involved students on 10 college campuses across the U.S., showed conclusively that Edge Foundation coaching has a very significant impact on the ability of college students with ADHD to regulate their own behavior and meet the challenges of living with the disorder.  As a result of the excitement already generated by these results in the ADHD support community, CNN is taping a segment featuring our study, which will air in January 2011.

As powerful as the study results are, they alone cannot help us make this intervention accessible to all students without the necessary funding. Your tax deductible gift will help the Edge Foundation educate the public about this highly effective intervention and will enable us to help students, who would not otherwise be able to afford coaching on their own, to develop the structure, support and accountability that is crucial to students with ADHD.  With your continuing support, we will succeed at our mission of helping students with ADHD achieve their full academic, professional and social potential.

To make your donation to Edge, please click on this link which will bring you to the support page on our website.  http://www.edgefoundation.org/store/donations/

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Happy Holiday!

Neil Peterson                                                                          Robert Tudisco
Founder & CEO                                                                       Executive Director

P.S.  As a thank you for your contribution of $100 or more, we would like to send you a copy of Embracing the Edge, written by Edge Foundation founder and CEO Neil Peterson.