Recent Posts
Dr. June Kaufman's Attention Defecit Disorder Blog Diary
Return To Blog Listing
I am a practicing clinical psychologist who works with AD(H)D children, adolescents, and adults helping them develop strategies for optimum functioning with their brain style. I have lived my whole life with AD(H)D, and despite all the challenges, I
Recent Posts Tagged With 'adhd blog'
Is it Adult ADHD or Just Impulsivity?
The diagnosis of AD(H)D in children includes short attention span, impulsivity, and often, hyperactivity. In adults, the hyperactivity often takes the form of restlessness or fidgeting. AD(H)D adults also have issues of time management, remembering i...
ADHDer: Overfocusing and Stimulant Medication
br>I’ve talked about overfocusing when an ADDer tried stimulant medication. I’m finding this problem more and more with my ADD coaching clients. One recently reported about creating E-mails for his staff, a task usually done in a few minutes. On ...
Coaching Challenges For The ADHD Coach
ADD coaching presents a number of problems simply because the same issues occur in the coaching process that occur in the every day life of the ADDer. They include the failure to initiate or complete goals, forgetfulness, poor task management and org...
Is Julie in 'Julie/Julia' Movie an ADHDer?
In this movie, Julie announces that she has ADD because when she started to do a task in a variety of career areas, she never reached any meaningful goal, and left tasks in the middle. She finds a true passion (to complete all five hundred+ recipes i...
A Successful ADHD Entrepreneur Without Medication
It’s amazing but true that ADDers can become entrepreneurs without stimulant medication. I’ve learned that from my coaching and from my ADHD son who is in his 30’s and had a passion for a certain enterprise, followed it up and loves what he has...
An ADHD Wedding - Part 2
In the last blog, I described how my ADHD son and his ADHD fiancé became engaged and “planned” a wedding and wedding date. They finally settled on January 30,2010. It is to be a very small wedding with close family members. My older son in Washi...
An ADHD Wedding
In April of this year, my ADHD son became engaged to a lovely ADHD young woman. At first they decided to avoid stress and elope. I said,”No way, I want to see you two married”, So next they picked a wedding date in October 2010. The date had to...
Self-Absorption(Narcissism) in the ADHDer
A non-ADD partner of an ADD client I coach, asked me why the client often complained about her problems , while at the same time not showing any empathy for my issues, even during times when I had more stress than she did?I told her that regardless...
ADD and Addiction
There is evidence pointing to a “novelty” gene which is thought to be present in both ADD and addiction. Both addicts and ADDers seek high levels of novelty and stimulation. Although addicts seek drugs, ADDers can find other avenues to high arou...
Attention Deficit Disorder and Addiction
There is evidence pointing to a “novelty” gene which is thought to be present in both ADD and addiction. Both addicts and ADDers seek high levels of novelty and stimulation. Although addicts seek drugs, ADDers can find other avenues to high arou...
ADDers Thrive in Stimulating Situations
ADDers do well in stimulating and novel situations. As an ADDer who coaches, I love to travel to new and exciting places. Just returned from a 2 week trip to Turkey, and strongly recommend traveling to the ADDer. Of course I’m back now to a fairly...
Treating Couples with an ADHD Member
Many couples come in to therapy because they are frequently in conflict due to their different “brain styles”. As a clinical psychologist, one characteristic brain style I see is the AD(H)D type. The member who has this brain style may actually h...
Excessive Worrying: Distraction or Stimulation for the ADDer
I am a clinical psychologist who coaches ADDers. But I have to admit that as an ADDer myself, I am constantly learning new things that go along with ADD. For example, I've always been a worrier, I even can worry excessively about happenings I can't ...
WHY DO ADDERS SEEK COACHING?
These days, many ADDers take stimulant medication but find it is not sufficient to accomplish their challenging tasks. I see ADDers who are seeking out coaching for ADD in my office for the first time. A few, who have been diagnosed ADD, are found to...
A BAD DAY IN AN ADDER'S LIFE
Unless you are an ADDer, you can't imagine how differently one can function in a structured versus an unstructured environment. At work, where I coach ADDers and treat a variety of clients, I am so focused and not easily distracted, that no one wou...
CAFFEINE AS A STIMULANT FOR THE ADDER
In working with a family with an ADHD child, the family was totally against the use of common stimulants. They were afraid of their child becoming a 'zombie'. Even though I told them that while that was possible, the effect was not probable.I remembe...
10 Ways an ADDer Can Distract From Accomplishing a Task
1. Do a household chore that can be done at another time.2. Before beginning the task check all e-mails.3. Call a friend you just spoke to yesterday and waste some time.4. Convince yourself that you can wait until later because you have plenty of fre...
INCONSISTENCY IN THE ADDER
When I worked with children who had AD(HD) their parents did not understand that inconsistent behavior was one of the hallmarks of this disorder. Rather, parents reported that their ADD child did not try hard enough and was lazy and irresponsible. Ac...
THE ADDER SEEKS STIMULATION
Most ADDers fluctuate in their levels of arousal and have a high need of stimulation in jobs, home life, school and social situations. Nowadays a large proportion take stimulant medications to keep their attention focused and maintain a high enough s...
ADULT ADD: MEDICAL ISSUES WITH STIMULANT MEDICATION
There have been documented severe medical problems with a small percentage of children taking stimulant medication. One stud reported five deaths in children taking Adderal. The deaths were attributed to known cardiac impairments prior to taking the ...
Stimulant Medication and the ADDer
Many adult AD(H)Ders come to my office to learn strategies to help them with poor time management, social impulsivity, lack of organizational skills and other behaviors associated with ADD. Some are taking stimulant medication, some are not, but are ...
ADDers GOING TO COLLEGE: TIME TO WORRY?
Yes, of course. Your ADD teenager has often been challenging enough. It is well known, that compared to non-ADDers . they have a much higher frequency of substance abuse and drinking and driving problems. In general, the non-ADDers have not yet devel...
ATTENDING TO DETAILS: A PERPETUAL PROBLEM FOR ADDERS
There are many facets to attention: coming to attention, focusing on a task, attending to details, and sustaining attention. Many ADDers have difficulty with one or more of these attentional components. I continue to have difficulty paying attention ...
WHAT TYPE OF JOB FITS AN ADDER?
I am ADDer, and struggled with finding the right job for years until I finally settled in to what I do now- a general clinical psychologist with an ADD coaching practice. It’s always been said that an ADDer needs a structured job But if the job is ...
AROUSAL LEVEL AND ADD
ADDers have to struggle to maintain an optimal arousal level. Although I’m not a psychopharmacologist ( although I have a Masters in Biochemsitry), I have learned that the stimulant medications for ADD probably increase arousal and alertness by inc...
PLANNING A TASK: DO’S AND DON’T’S
For ADDers, initiating and finishing tasks are great challenges. For the non-ADDers, simple tasks, even if they are tedious, they can be accomplished with less effort. They can make lists, check items off daily, and use organizers. These typical proc...
How Do You Stop The URGE to interrupt?
How do you stop the “urge” to interrupt an ongoing situation. I just shared a house on Cape Cod with three other people. They were all absorbed in reading for an hour or so. I became restless and inadvertently kept interrupting the three with qu...
Takes One to Know One!
I am a practicing clinical psychologist who works with AD(H)D children, adolescents, and adults helping them develop strategies for optimum functioning with their brain style. I have lived my whole life with AD(H)D, and despite all the challenges, I...
Living with an AD(H)D Brainstyle
I have lived my whole life with an AD(H)D brain, and it hasn’t been easy, but I’ve learned quite a lot personally and professionally about this brain style. To tell you what it’s like now, it was extremely hard to start writing this blog with...
Living with an AD(H)D Brainstyle
I have lived my whole life with an AD(H)D brain, and it hasn’t been easy, but I’ve learned quite a lot personally and professionally about this brain style. To tell you what it’s like now, it was extremely hard to start writing this blog withou...
