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Rather than ignore the comments page, I request everyone get in there and comment and provide some solid information and first hand experience.
If you see something that is dismissive or wrong or misinformed about ADHD, please, step up and throw in your two cents.
4,000 Scientific papers and studies have been done on this disorder/syndrome/mindset.
It is real.
REPORT ABUSEA number of you have mentioned being ‘Risk Takers’.
I think that’s one of the reasons people with ADHD are willing to share their stories and put their stories on these Forums. It’s risky.
Or, well, until you’ve done it and seen the positive responses, it seems risky!
REPORT ABUSEWhen we were making the documentary ADD & LOVING IT?!, we spoke with Thom Hartmann who has his own talk show on Air America and he was saying that his ADHD really was an asset in starting a business, and a deterement once it was up and running. Lemme see if I can find the transcript of it from his interview.
FOUND IT!
That took way less time that I thought
Here’s what he said:
HARTMANN: “And in the early days when I was in my teens and early 20s, I built two very successful businesses and then managed to kill them. And looking back on it and I’ve seen this in so many entrepreneurs. In fact, I wrote a book just for adults with ADD on how to be a successful entrepreneur based on this kind of retrospective. What happens is that in the early stages of an entrepreneurial company, a brand new company, it’s entirely hunter driven, you know.
You know, you’re the salesman, you’re the leader, you’re pulling people together, you’re making things happen, you’re developing the product, you’re testing the market, you’re figuring out the competition, you’re doing a little bit of everything. And it’s just you know, and you’re spinning 16 plates at the same time and just loving it. And then after two or three years and 10 or 20 employees, the company no longer needs leadership, it needs management.
And I would try to be that manager and I would try to do the spreadsheets and the budgets and the books and the 12 hour or the 3 hour evening meetings, you know, with the staff and what not. I couldn’t do it. And I really harmed or diminished the potential of a couple of businesses by not being able do that and thinking that I had to. And so when I got this well, actually, the business before the two businesses before this, what had happened was I had reached that point and at that point I handed the business off to somebody who, you know, basically hired somebody to be the president of the business.
In one case it was my wife, who is a very good manager, and in another case it was an external person we brought in that we ended up selling the business too. And, you know, I just said I can’t do everything, I can’t do this, you can do that. Now I know why. And that was, you know, kind of a relief and an empowerment actually.”
REPORT ABUSEHurrying!
But not rushing! That leads to mistakes.
The DVD’s are going to be terrific. We’re doing up five of them. Since we did the documentary, ADD & LOVING IT?!, we have interviewed over 20 more experts. Some amazing stuff.
REPORT ABUSEChunking things is a great practice. Another thing I do is use the commercial time to get up and do one small thing. Since most TV shows include anywhere from 6 to 8 minutes of commercials, I find I can usually get the dinner dishes done during Jeopardy and a whole room tidied during a one hour program.
A benefit of doing this is that I’m way more aware of time and what is involved doing something. In my mind I would have guess doing the dishes would take 20 minutes. When I’ve done it, it often takes less than five. If Ava and I do it together, one washing, one drying, we actually get to yack and have time together. Bonus!
I often feel reluctant to start something because I am convinced it will take much longer than it does. By breaking it into tiny chunks, as tiny as it takes to get me off my butt and moving, I almost always stick with it longer than I thought I would and accomplish more done that I thought I would. And if I don’t, hey, I did what I said I would.
And all self esteem and confidence comes from success and accomplishment.
You can build some very impressive muscles just by starting with a two-pound weight.
REPORT ABUSEPeople with ADHD do have much higher rates of tics, twitches and so on. The most common is the short Ahem clearing of the throat. Sniffing is another. Blinking is big. Hair twirling too. I suspect it’s part of the Hyperactivity from childhood that becomes internalized in the adult. I have one kid who twirls hair, and another how bounces his leg, up and down, very fast, when he’s excited in a conversation.
But some of the stuff you’re sharing here may indicate a comorbidity of OCD, which is also quite common with ADHD. (OCD is the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.)
Maybe ask Dr. J about it in the Ask An Expert forum.
REPORT ABUSEThat’s a really neat practice, LVRINIEL.
One of the ways to avoid a thousand questions from kids is to get very specific in the instructions. The experts have told us that ADHD kids, and adults as well, seem to have a problem with what they call ‘Generalizing.’
In our workshop we do a demonstration where I play an ADHD Child with the Predominantly Combined Suptype (The Hyperactivity & Impulsivity.) And Dr. Jain plays my parent. I’m at the dinner table. I begin tapping my spoon on the table, drumming away. Dr. J says, “Stop doing that!” So I stop and instead start tapping it lightly. He says, “Stop doing that! It’s bothering me.” So I begin flipping the spoon in the air and catching it and dropping it, and he shouts, “I told you to stop doing that.” And I reply, “No you didn’t.” Because he didn’t tell me to stop flipping it. So he tells me to stop and now I start rocking in my chair, leaning way back… And he tells me…. well you get the idea.
It becomes clear to the neutral observer (the audience) that all this kid is getting is negative feedback.
Instead Dr. J tells me what he wants me to do. Quite specifically. “Eat your soup and when you are finished you can go out and play.” Or whatever.
REPORT ABUSEActually, the statistics show that 50% of Gifted Children have ADHD. In a DVD we are working on right now Dr. Jain tells the story of a patient who was diagnosed as retarded as a child. He held down menial jobs, married a ‘low functioning woman’ and had kids. The kids had ADHD. Dr. J met the parents and told the father, “I don’t think you are retarded.” The guy got tested. He had a genius I.Q.. But his ADHD had interfered with him learning anything. He started treatment, and within five years had finished university and gone on to Law School.
As for Dyslexia and Dyscalcula and other disorders, noted ADDer, Sir Richard Branson (Of Virgin Mobile, Virgin Airlines, Virgin Radio, Virgin everything else with the possible exception of Virgin Mary) cannot read and cannot add up a column of figures. He hired people who can.
REPORT ABUSEI so admire the patience and commitment of the people in this Forum.
Parenting a child with ADHD can be murder. No wonder these parents have a much higher divorce rate. This week I’ve been putting together a video on parenting kids with ADHD, which we will have for sale soon. (Once we get our E store working!)
One of the key messages is that you have to be really direct with your communication. You have to make sure you’re not just vague, “Time to get ready for bed.” Several of the experts talk about focusing on positives, looking for positives to focus on and praise, and ideally making requests that can be done in the next 5 to 10 seconds. So rather than, “Clean up the rec-room” you would say, “Can you put away all the red blocks?” They do that very quickly. “Great. Good work. Now how about the blue blocks?” And so on. The child gets a dozen positive comments for cleaning up the room. (We ADDers love positive feedback and acknowledgement)
Break it down into short actions, and praise each one that’s accomplished. Since we actually do clean up an entire room one bit at a time, it makes sense to break it down for an ADHD kid into quick things. (Heck, I’m 57 and I break everything down into short chunks)
REPORT ABUSEApril 8, 2010 at 4:29 pm in reply to: Except for work my new ADHD enhanced life would be perfect…. #91836HEY, THE BISHOP72!
My first job was a demonstrator at the Ontario Science Centre. I ran everything from the Giant Laser that burned through bricks to the 18th century, hand-cranked printing press. It was great. In between I roamed the hallways interacting with visitors at the exhibits and gadgets that were everywhere, “Try pushing the blue and red buttons at the same time and watch what happens.”
Another great job for people who love to talk–auctioneer! (I was told this by an Auctioneer who has ADHD.) He actually went and took some courses to learn to be an auctioneer.
And when we have been doing publicity for our upcoming workshops pretty much every radio announcer or disc jockey has admitted, on the air or after the interview, that they have ADHD.
And while you’re waiting for a paid gig, consider reading to people in hospitals, senior citizen homes, and so on.
I’m also wondering if learning sign language and becoming a ‘simultaneous translator’ would be a good career for someone with ADHD. It’s high stimulation, you’re using your hands, and you’re making a difference for people with a challenge. Last year I did a talk for the Canadian actors union and they had a woman translating everything I said into sign language. It was amazing.
REPORT ABUSEOne of the ways to tracking mood swings is a journal. I know it’s a pain, unless it’s right beside your bed, or actually blocking you from getting into your underwear drawer in the morning, but I’ve found that some of my mood swings, headaches or things I am concerned may be side effects of the medication were also spiking when I was under a lot of stress, frustration, etc..
REPORT ABUSEI’ll let Doctor J. answer this, but I have heard several reports in the past month about Vitamin D. The last one, done by researchers in England, said we are incredibly short of Vitamin D (normally you need to be in sunlight for your body to make Vitamin D, and since we’re indoors most of the time, and covered in clothing when we are outdoors, we get a fraction of the Vitamin D we need. The researchers claimed increasing Vitamin D reduces the risks of cancer, heart disease, etc..
REPORT ABUSEMy son is at university and is in one of the hardest courses they have going: “Physics-Engineering”. It leads into Aeropace and things like that. He got some great coaching on how the brain works and the best way to learn and take notes from Dr. John Fleming who specialized in this area for his PhD. Dr. Fleming taught my son a completely different way to take in the lessons in a way that made it ‘stick’. Dr. Fleming is going to be hosting our webinar this month, on Wednesday April 28th, at 1 pm Eastern. He’s going to be talking about the Emotional Journey, but it would be worth asking him some questions about improving your learning skills. My son said the methods he learned really transformed how much information he was able to retain.
REPORT ABUSEIt’s amazing how we think we are free and rebels and we dread being like everyone else or fitting in and simply becoming another mindless consumer in the vast multinational corporate consumer culture…
But at the same time panic if our lives don’t look like they are supposed to in the movies and TV shows and magazines.
Maybe this is what’s behind a study (done at the University of Michigan in 1998 by P. Wu “Goal Structures of Materialists vs. Non-Materialists) which showed that watching too much TV triples our hunger for more possessions and can reduce your personal contentment by 5% for every hour a day you watch.
Are you old enough to remember the headline: “Parents Go Berserk Trying To Find Tickle-Me-Elmo For Xmas.”
Do you remember what you got for Christmas when you were five years old? Nope.
Do I remember what I bought my kids when they were wife years old? Nope.
But boy, did it seem important to spend all that money.
REPORT ABUSEWe’re working on the videos as fast as we can. We’re putting up one every Tuesday and Friday. The problem is, as with many things in life, getting the funding to be able to dedicate the time to shoot, edit and have them up here.
Anyone know a Millionaire who wants to help out a revolutionary website about ADHD?
Or should it be… ;-(
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