1/12/2010 Meeting Summary

We didn't have a guest presenter for the January 12 meeting, but instead had a "round table" discussion that covered a variety of topics.

The first topic was a review of the "Reclaim Your Brain" presentation that many group members had attended the previous evening; the previous blog entry regarding that presentation pretty well summarizes the discussion. One FOCUS+ member indicated that the cost of the "brain retraining" therapy was a $500/month rental of the machine that a participat uses to monitor his/her brain activity and learn to control it.

The group also discussed a few specific situations concerning its members; I won't go into that in this forum for obvious reasons, but from the standpoint of ADHD, a few things came forward:

Career planning, problem solving and recognizing alternatives to a preferred option are all issues that require a degree of motivation, planning and organization that can be very challenging to a person with ADHD.

• Having a peer support person or support group can help with keeping on task and spotting/addressing "roadblocks", as can working with a counselor who has some experience with ADHD issues.
• Writing down specific action steps to be taken, and recording progress, is also critical to success.
• We tend to do better when we can impose some level of structure to our days, or find situations where that structure is already present.
• From a career standpoint, it's helpful not to think of ADHD as a limitation we might have, but just as a trait (like being good with numbers or having good people skills). Some jobs that require sustained focus, attention to detail and that offer limited variety are particularly tough for us. Other jobs that call for frequent changes, fast thinking, lots of activity and creativity, on the other hand, may actually favor people with ADHD brains as we tend to handle those things very well.

Lastly, the group checked out the new FOCUS+ web site and blog. If you're reading this, then there's really not much need to review that discussion other than to remind you to participate! Please post your questions, comments, experiences and ideas in response to the blog entries. Also please pass along any ideas for improving the web site or blog to either our fearless facilitator, Ruth Evenhouse, or me, our wiley webmaster, Ed Keeter. Lastly, if any of you would like to get involved in maintaining our web site or blog, let us know!

How have you addressed the impact of ADHD on you from a job/career standpoint?

How do you tackle problem-solving? Does ADHD affect how you do it?

Do you have any initial feedback regarding the new web site or blog?