“Knowing What You Want Can Save You a Lot of Heartache.”

Here’s another posting from Dr. Nowell’s own web site, www.drnowell.com:

“Knowing What You Want Can Save You a Lot of Heartache.”

…And I am convinced that each of us is here to do and have and be something unique, something particular. And I am convinced that if we are doing that, those around us will benefit as well. What better gift to offer our partners, our students, our children, than the gift of our truly centered, and deeply happy, presence?

Click here to view the entire posting.

While everyone should strive to align their work and personal goals with their passions (since that’s where we all do our best), this notion is especially important for those of us with ADHD, as we do our best at focusing on tasks and goals that we’re genuinely passionate about.

• To what extent have you been able to align your goals with your passions?
• Has it helped you to be more successful? Happier? More productive? More in control of your ADHD?
• What barriers to aligning your goals and passions have you encountered? How have you dealt with them?

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Is the ADHD Brain More Creative?

Dr. David Nowell has several blogs he maintains that frequently address topics of interest to persons with ADHD, their families and the professionals who are helping them to more effectively manage their ADHD:

• http://www.drnowell.com/blog.html
• Intrinsic Motivation and Magical Unicorns (The Art and Science of Time Management) (worth checking out if only for its title)
• The Neuropsychology of Happiness (discontinued but still available with a variety of older blog postings worth reading)

If you’re not following his blogs, or at least following him on Twitter (@davidnowell), you’re missing out on a steady flow of great information. I try to capture most of it here through reposts, but you’re only getting the high points…there’s much more for you if you go directly to the source.

Here are two more interesting articles that Dr. Nowell tweeted about in the past few days.

---

The first article comes to us via Psychology Today:

Is the ADHD Brain More Creative?

Is it possible that the impulsivity and quick-thinking that accompanies ADHD may also boost creativity? And what role does medication have in that creative process? Does stimulant medication hamper creativity, or boost it?

Click here for the full article.

While I have neither the impressive educational backround and extensive professional experience of Dr. Nowell or the article’s author, Dr. Stephanie Sarkis, I do bring one thing to the table that they don’t: I write and edit this blog. Based on that sole qualification, I’d like to weigh in on the question of whether or not we people with ADHD are more creative than the common, non-ADHD rabble all around us.

Short answer: yes. Fully 98% of people with ADHD are at least twice as creative as people without ADHD.

I can back that claim up! It was my creative, ADHD brain that just completely made up that statistic. Case closed!

What do you think? Do you feel that ADHD makes you more creative than most people? Do you feel that stimulant medications impact your creativity one way or the other?

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Next FOCUS+ Meeting Tues, March 8, 6:30PM

March Topic:

Strategies for Paying Attention Consistently (and other seemingly impossible things)

We’ll be highlighting some suggestions from Dr. Ed Hallowell.

Feburary 8, 2011: Exercise & ADHD Notes

This month’s topic was Exercise and ADHD, starting with a quick Powerpoint presentation by Ruth Evenhouse providing and overview of how ADHD directly impacts a person’s brain chemistry in ways that directly, and positively, impact many of the symptoms of ADHD and related issues such as anxiety or depression. (Click here to see the presentation)

Much of the material was borrowed from two highly recommended books:

The ADHD Handbook (Available in most bookstores and at Amazon.com), specifically Chapter 3, which is dedicated to incorporating exercise into your lifestyle as an ADHD management tool, and
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Also available at Amazon.com. But first, a quick motivational video from two of the world’s all-time leading experts on the merits of exercise:

Our group was also joined by our guest presenter, Claudina Brinks from Snap Fitness of Holland, MI, who discussed many of the issues that impact

how anyone (definitely including those of us with ADHD) fares with getting started on an exercise program, staying with the program, and getting the best results from their program.

So where to begin? Breathing. Just the simple act of efficiently breathing in fresh oxygen and breathing out carbon

dioxide has an immediate calming effect on your mind and body, improving focus, sensory perception and thinking.

We practiced the “five second rule, inhaling through our noses for a count of five, then exhaling through our mouths for a similar five-count. Most members noticed that doing this allowed them to inhale more deeply with practice, enhancing the effects of deep breathing.

Next we talked about developing an exercise program that will work best for each of us. This process starts with understanding ourselves at a deeper level: motivations, preferences, available resources (time, money, ability), goals, etc. Claudina shared a quick questionaire (click here to download a copy of it) she uses with most of her fitness customers to help with this process; we’ll post this in the next blog entry if you’d like to fill it out for your own use.

Finding Something You Love: We all tend to work harder and more consistently with an exercise program, and stick with it longer, if it’s an activity that we genuinely enjoy. How to Find Your Activity:	OVERHEARD “I love Swimming.” Tom (swimmer)
If you’re new to exercise, seek out other people; test drive new activities. Maybe volleyball turns out not to be your thing, but the next week when you try step aerobics, you find a winner! Newbie at a health club? Tag along with a friend to feel more comfortable.	“I love Not Swimming.” Ed (runner)

Can’t afford a health club? Improvise at home. Soup cans or milk jugs (partially) filled with water work fine for strength training. Walking, dancing to music with soup cans, jogging in place while watching your favorite TV show are all free, easy solutions to get you started.

Here are some great leads for popular athletic sports and activities to get you started in your exploration:

Walking/Jogging/Running/Biking Courses & Events

• Calendar of upcoming running races (from 1 mile walks and 5K Turkey Trots to full marathons): http://www.runmichigan.com/
• Calendar of upcoming mountain bike races: http://mmba.org/

Like walking or running but want something a little different?

• List of national Volksmarch (“People’s Walk”) events throughout the U.S.: http://ava.org/
• Find out about Geocaching (scavenger hunts using GPS systems) at http://www.geocaching.com/

• Or if you want something truly, deeply offbeat, check out the Grand Rapids Hash House Harriers, a local chapter of an international club that describes itself as “a drinking club with a slight running problem”: http://www.grh3.com/

Looking or something in the winter?

• Listing of Michigan Cross-Country Ski Trails and Events: http://www.michigan.org/Things-to-Do/Snow-Sports/Cross-Country-Skiing/Default.aspx

Overcoming Excuses & Sticking With It:

Get a partner or join a group. Peers help to keep you honest and motivated and can provide valuable tips on how to improve your performance. Be SMART:

Keep goals Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic & Timed.

• Specific:
  • Not “I’m trying to lose weight”, but
  • I’m trying to lose 10 pounds”
• Measurable:
  • You can’t manage what you can’t measure.
  • Are you interested in tracking your weight?
  • The duration of your workout?
  • The distance of your run/bike ride/etc.?
  • Your range of motion?
  • How much you can lift?
  • How far you can hit the ball?
  • How often you work out?
• Action-Oriented:
  • “I’ll do this by exercising at least 20 minutes per day, at least 3 days per week.”
• Realistic:
  • If you’re 100 pounds overweight and you have a bad back and messed up knees, getting the body of Chris Evans in The First Avenger: Captain America is not realistic, I’m sorry to say.

• Timed:
  • Set a time frame for achieving your goal.
  • Break big goals (running a marathon, for instance) down into smaller, more manageable sub-goals.

In the end it’s really not about ADHD, is it? Regardless of whether or not any of us has any sort of physical, mental, cognitive, sensory or emotional impairments, we all know that incorporating a reasonable level of physical activity and a healthy diet into our lives helps us to think, feel and perform better and have an improved quality of life. And if you have to go through life with ADHD, wouldn’t it be a more fun experience if you could do it fitting into your skinny jeans or being able to knock off 20 push-ups if the mood ever struck you?

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ADHD & Humor: Some ADHD-themed comics

Click here to see a few comics shared by one of our FOCUS+ group members that remind us that it's okay to laugh at ourselves once in a while....

Yes, I know the comic artist in the picture above doesn't look like he's laughing, but at least I managed to manipulate the clip art image enough that he's wearing the ever-popular (and very funny) , AC/DC inspired, AD/HD t-shirt, so you know he has a sense of humor. Still not convinced? You're going to just have to trust me on this one, faithful blog reader...he's laughing on the inside, just hyperfocused on his work at this particular moment.

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Information Regarding the Tues, Feb. 11 FOCUS+ meeting

At our February 11 meeting, we'll be joined by Claudia Brink, a personal trainer and exercise enthusiast, who will be discussing all of the ways that exercise can help to better manage ADHD symptoms. Wear something you can move comfortably in -- this will be an active meeting!






In preparation for Claudia's visit, FOCUS+ members are encouraged to complete a quick confidential survey regarding exercise that will be handed out at the January and February meetings and can also be downloaded here.



Also of interest to many FOCUS+ members and followers of this blog is a new handout regarding how to better assess whether you or a loved one is dealing with ADHD, Depression or both. Contrary to appearances (depression = low energy, ADHD = high energy), very often people are misdiagnosed (depression creates problems with sustaining attention, distractability, etc.) or under-diagnosed (ADHD masking depression or visa-versa). You can download the handout here.

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FOCUS+ 11/8/10 Meeting Summary

For the November FOCUS+ meeting we led off by introducing ourselves to a few new attendees and briefly discussing our personal experiences either as people with ADHD or as parents of children with ADHD (or frequently, as both). One of the common themes that emerged from our discussion was how ADHD rarely exists as a single diagnosis; most people with ADHD have additional diagnoses ranging from anxiety or depression to learning disabilities, personality disorders, etc.

We also discussed the reasons we participate in groups like FOCUS+:

1. The opportunity to discuss our experiences with other people who understand them. People without personal experience with ADHD often make the mistake of wanting to either offer us pity or to try to "fix" our situations. We certainly don't want pity and the reality is that our situations aren't "fixable" ones, but instead are situations that must be managed over time.


2. The chance to hear some success stories; one group member mentioned a daughter with ADHD who is currently attending Purdue University (not exactly an easy college to get into) while another mentioned a child with ADHD who has become a successful attorney. Other successes mentioned that were equally important, if a tad less dramatic, were stories of picking up more substitute teaching work in recent weeks following a job loss earlier in the year and having tremendous success with a "personal coach" and a very positive experience at an artist training "retreat."


3. The chance to remove some of the shame or stigma that is too often associated with ADHD.


4. The chance to use one's own experience to help someone else.


5. The chance to learn yet one more piece of information to help with finding better ways to manage ADHD.

We discussed some of the terminology surrounding ADHD:

1. ADD vs. ADHD: ADD refers to Attention Deficit Disorder, where an individual has difficulty with sustaining focus, paying attention to detail, etc.; while ADHD refers to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, where an individual has difficulty with hyperactivity -- constant fidgeting, impulsivity, etc. The DSM IV (the official book listing recognized mental diagnoses) currently recognizes three types of ADHD: ADD (difficulty with focus but not with hyperactivity), ADHD (difficulty with hyperactivity but not with focus) and Combined (difficulty with both).


2. We talked about how ADHD could be characterized in different ways:


3. A challenge or deficit -- not unlike challenges/deficits faced by people with visual impairments, mobility impairments, etc.. As with a person with impaired vision, a person with ADHD needs to find alternative ways to accomplish tasks that work around his or her impairment. A blind person might use Braille or a text-to-speech program on a computer to read; a person with ADHD might use special organizing strategies and low-distraction environments to study new material and work effectively.


4. Could ADHD be considered a "gift", like the gift of exceptional musical or artistic abilities? ADHD definitely alters how a person perceives and processes information, and in some situations that unusual perspective can be beneficial -- think of how the comedian Robin Williams does "stream-of-consciousness" ad-lib comedy on stage. But a "gift" generally implies additional abilities in one area without sacrificing abilities in other areas...ADHD definitely brings those sacrifices with it as well. So is ADHD a gift? Yes.....if you keep in mind that the God-awful, super-ugly sweater that your great aunt gave you for Christmas that you're now forced to wear to school on Monday is also a "gift".

Finally, we had two "comics" make the rounds: the first was an inspirational message about letting your inner light shine:



The second, aimed more at the sarcastic members of the group (like yours truly) was a graph representing how the urge to procrastinate ought to be vs. how it actually is:



Finally, we discussed our extra-special, super-guest-presenter for our next meeting on 12/14/10: Me. I'll be sharing some highlights from a seminar I attended in October called "The Very Best Treatment for ADHD and the Processing Disorders" that was presented by David Nowell, Ph.D.. Is this a case of me just parroting what some smart guy said? Absolutely. Is it blatant, shameless plagiarism? You betcha. But it's also really good material and I am sharing it with the author's knowledge and approval. I think you'll enjoy it. Hey, it's got a picture of a pretty girl in it as well as a drawing of Elmer Fudd. Seriously, you gonna pass on a free meeting with snacks and a PowerPoint presentation with that kind of zazz in it? See you on the 14th.



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October 12 Meeting Summary

Hi everyone, here's my summary of our 10/12 meeting. You can download the handouts from the meeting by clicking here.

Our meeting started off with a brief review of Dr. Mason's presentation on ADHD & Executive Brain Function. We noted that in addition to the "hardware" issues with our brains caused by ADHD that negatively impact things like planning, time management, etc., there is a second "learned behavior" challenge as well, especially regarding the "activation" (starting an activity) executive function:

Since many people with ADHD often fail to complete a given task, or they fail to complete it with a level of quality and timeliness that justifies the effort they put into it, there is a tendency to think "Why bother starting this in the first place if I'm either not going to finish it or I'm not going to do it acceptably well?"

This led us into a discussion of what it means to do something "acceptably well," especially when many of us strive to be perfectionists much of the time.

Definitions varied a bit, but the point we agreed on was the old addage, "Don't let 'perfect' get in the way of 'good enough.'" Better to start and complete a task with a merely adequate result than to (a) not start it in the first place or (b) not finish it because one got hung up on a perfectionist detail. Similarly, we discussed the importance of allowing ourselves some satisfaction for the "good enough" result even if we may have hoped for more.

We also talked about the balance that must be maintained between being ambitious ("Let one's reach exceed one's grasp") and pragmatic (a B average in night college courses is actually pretty respectable for a person who's juggling school, a family and a full-time job all at once).

We discussed the importance of recognizing changes in our circumstances -- a job we may have done very well when younger, healthier and with fewer competing responsibilities (kids, mortgage, ailing parents, etc.) may be overwhelming when we face it with those additional factors at play.

This brought up some ideas for how to managed that "carrying capacity" challenge:

• When possible, approach these challenges with full awareness of your circumstances. It might be wiser to postpone pursuing a goal, or pursuing it in a less aggressive manner, until you have fewer competing demands affecting you, e.g. after your kids are older and more independent.
• Recognize the total cost of reaching for the very ambitious goal: is getting straight A's in that night class worth it if it means being constantly stressed and seeing your relationship with your family become strained? Might straight B's but a healthier personal/family life be a more satisfying situation?
• Ask for help.

We also talked about maintaining self-esteem when facing difficult - and sometimes overwhelming - challenges. Two quotes pretty well summarized this discussion:

Finally, we talked about the idea of taking "smart risks." We defined a smart risk as:

• A risk where the reward is worthwhile
• Arisk where the cost of failure is acceptable
• A risk where you've researched it as well as possible to make sure you're comfortable about the potential rewards and costs and also the nature and amount of effort it will require.

Next month: Exercise & ADHD

(Spoiler alert: exercise helps to manage ADHD symptoms. Also, at the end of the movie "The Sixth Sense" you find out that Bruce Willis was really a ghost. But the odds are you figured both of these things out already...)

See you on Tuesday, November 9!

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Future FOCUS+ Topics: October 12....and beyond...

Hi all,

Our next FOCUS+ meeting will be on Tuesday, October 12. While the agenda is still being tweaked, here are the ideas/activities we're trying to pull together:

• A follow-up review and discussion about Dr. Mason's presentation on ADHD & Executive Function (see the 9/21 blog entry for a summary if you missed it). Both Ruth and I (Ed, your humble webmaster) were particularly intrigued by Dr. Mason's remarks about the challenges of "emotional engagement" in a task to help get and sustain focus on an activity. Maybe you were particularly interested in one of the other aspects of his presentation??
• Our usual open, all-ADHD-related-things-considered group discussion of whatever issues, questions or concerns you might want to share with the group regarding your personal experiences.

We're also looking at the following ideas for subsequent meetings. As always, your input regarding these ideas, and any other ideas you may have, is strongly encouraged.

• November: Activity & Movement for ADHD (Spoiler Alert: Exercise really helps with managing ADHD symptoms! But there's a lot more to this topic as well.)
• December: ADHD and the Processing Disorders

Two other quick notes:

• The Parent to Parent (P2P) classes originally scheduled for this fall have been cancelled due to the low # of people who signed up this time. P2P will be offered again in the spring (March/April 2011).
• Please note the survey that I just added to the upper right portion of the Blog page. Are you a Facebook Fanatic? A Twitter, um, Twanatic? Would you be more likely to track and participate in the FOCUS+ blog if it was based in Facebook? Would you be more likely to track and participate in the FOCUS+ blog if new blog postings were announced via Twitter and/or Facebook?

What are the topics you're most interested in discussing or learning more about? What was your reaction to Dr. Mason's presentation? Do you have any questions you'd like us to pass along to the scheduled November and December presenters you'd like to pass along prior to the meetings?

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FOCUS+ 9/14/10 Meeting Notes

The FOCUS+ Group celebrated its 5th anniversary and National ADHD Awareness Week at our 9/14/10 meeting.

In addition to door prizes, a review of past FOCUS+ presenters and a terrific spread of food *and* custom coffee drinks, the group listened to Dr. Oren Mason discuss ADHD and Executive Brain Function.

• There are a broad range of "executive functions" of the human brain, but eight of them are the ones most frequently and profoundly impacted by ADHD:
o Activation
o Timeliness
o Planning
o Attention
o Effort
o Emotional Control
o Memory and
o Action.

• When describing impairments to executive functions of the brain, there are six terms that are frequently use:
o Absent - When the executive function is simply missing; this does not occur with ADHD
o Diminished - Happens in people with ADHD, but not consistently, e.g. difficulty with Attention in some situations but not others.
o Crescendo - Where the effect on an executive function increases as the day goes on
o Decrescendo - Executive function actually improves with sustained use (rare)
o Erratic - Shows no logic or pattern; with ADHD a pattern can usually be identified
o Infuriating but Predictable? -- That's ADHD!

The following is a *very* abridged summary of Dr. Mason's remarks...he was able to get into far greater detail than we can relate here. Hopefully this will generate some questions and new thinking within our group, however.

Dr. Mason made the following analogy to describe the impact of altered executive function in people with ADHD in comparison to people without ADHD:

A "normal" person who needs to run errands has a brain that works like a Vespa scooter...he/she can easily stop, start again, regulate their speed and change directions at will.

A person with ADHD is trying to run those same errands on a rocket-sled; it's extremely fast from Point A to Point B, but it's very difficult to stop/turn/restart/speed up/slow down.

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Step Four: Keep Some Perspective.

In order to help encourage more online discussion about the four basic steps for managing ADHD that we discussed at our 8/10/10 meeting, I'm creating separate blog entries for each of them, focusing on each specific topic and elaborating a little bit. Hopefully this is helpful for the group.

ADHD is not like the chicken pox. You don't "get" ADHD somewhere along the road of life; you're born with it. And if you're reading this now, you've obviously survived the impact of it thus far; it's nothing new...though it may be a new area of emphasis as you work on improving your overall performance or quality of life.

Like dozens of other web sites, we could list dozens of highly successful famous people who either achieved their success despite ADHD or who attribute part of their success to their ADHD. That's fun, and maybe a bit inspiring on some level, but to me that's like saying "Lance Armstrong is a middle-aged white guy just like you, Ed!" -- as if to imply that just because Lance and I share a couple of characteristics, I should aspire to be a 7-time Tour De France champion. Ain't. Gonna. Happen.

When I try to keep perspective on the impact of ADHD in my life, I try to personalize it more than that. Forget about the comedians, CEOs and movie stars with ADHD. Looking back over my own life, what obstacles have I overcome even when ADHD was a barrier? What accomplishments have I achieved where the impact of ADHD probably benefitted me? Well...I earned a Master's Degree; not an exactly ADHD-friendly pursuit. and I've had some success with creative writing and public speaking, where I think the energy and stream-of-consciousness thought process that accompany ADHD were assets.

I'll never be a millionaire. Having ADHD probably hurts my chances of achieving a goal like that but, let's be real, I can hardly lay the full blame of my non-millionaire-ness at the feet of my ADHD. There are also variables like general intelligence, level of ambition and tolerance for risk that play much larger roles in my having a more modest lifestyle.

So: Perspective. How do you keep yours?

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FOCUS+ August 10, 2010 Meeting Notes

The FOCUS+ support group had its first post-summer-break meeting on 8/10/2010 at Christ Memorial Church. The following is a summary of the meeting discussion:

This is the beginning of the 6th year of FOCUS+!
Where do we go from here? Sub groups? Different locations? Status quo? More speakers? More sharing? Leverage Blog more?

The group concensus was that speakers were helpful and we should continue to invite them, but that the core value of the FOCUS+ group is in the group exchanges with one another.

September is National ADHD Week. Ideas to acknowledge this?
1. Email Ruth (revenhouse@hotmail.com) with ideas.
2. Panel discussion on neurofeedback pros and cons?

Quote of the meeting:

“Self Awareness is the core component of managing ADHD.”

Ruth Evenhouse facilitated a discussion about the four “big picture” strategies from the FOCUS+ web site for managing and living with ADHD; the group offered their own experiences and ideas on each strategy:


Relax. It’s a well-established fact that when we’re physically calm, we’re mentally the most creative, perceptive and flexible. What methods do you use to help yourself relax/calm down?

1. Relaxation techniques
   A. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
   B. Deep Breathing
2. Meditiation techniques
   A. Meditation
   B. Visualization
   C. Prayer
3. “Hobby” techniques
   A. Listen to/play music
   B. Yoga
   C. Exercise
   D. “Zen” types of sports activities like archery and golf
4. Behavioral techniues
   A. Take a break from stressful situation; go for a walk
   B. Journal. Writing down things that you’re ruminating about and are generating anxiety can help to “let go” of them mentally
   C. Support Groups. Meeting and interacting with other people who face similar challenges to your own can help to feel less isolated.
   
   Learn. Learning more about ADHD, treatment options – and just as importantly, learning more about yourself – can be empowering and help identify new options to explore.
   
   1. Reading
   
   2. Conferences/Presenters
   
   3. Internet
   
   4. Learn from your mistakes.
   
   5. Learn that it’s okay to make mistakes…everyone does.
   
   Experiment. Find out which solutions, or more realistically, which combinations of solutions, work best for you.
   
   1. “Cognitive Kinestetics” activities…activities that involve repetition, focus ad muscle memory, are beneficial for relaxation and for developing improved focus and concentration. Examples include physically challenging (and often with an element of danger) activities like figure skating, downhills skiing, mountain biking and martial arts are enjoyable and require your full attention. The risk element motivates you to “live in the moment” and perform the activity to avoid potentially getting inured.
   
   2. Organizational/planning techiques
   A. Scheduling “concentration” activities around the times of day when you’re most focused
   B. Maintaining journals,calendars and to do lists
   C. Keep goals realistic and achievable
   D. Focus on the priority tasks first; don’t use low-priority tasks as an excuse for procrastination.
   E. Learn starting with the last step and working backward to the beginning
   F. Plan starting with the last step and working backward to the beginning
   G. Develop mutual accountability / mutual support arrangements for things like exercise, relaxation practice, etc. with another person
   H. Sample different activities, e.g. trying Wii Games, Wii Active Fit, Wii Sports,
   I. Revisit on communication
   1. Compassionate Communication; Refocus on empathy, "seek first to understand" to help with communication.
   2. Are you picking the best time and place to communicate with the other person?
   3. When working for someone or as part of a team, get clarification on what the priorities are.
   J. Neurofeedback, e.g. the NeuroCore program
   K. Change or control your environment (eliminate distraction, create ‘always visible” reminders, set up a plan where important things (like car keys) are “pre staged” in the same places every time, etc.
   L. We all have “to do” lists, but do we have “don’t do” lists? Half of improving things is adding new behaviors; the other half is ceasing current, counterproductive behaviors.
   
   Keep some perspective. ADHD is a situational disorder. There are times when it's an impairment and times when it's an asset.
   
   1. ADHD is also an “interest-based” disorder; we focus best on the things we’re most interested in.
   
   2. Keep in mind the positive attributes shared by most people with ADHD: empathy/compassion, creativity/problem-solving, humor, rapid “big picture” analysis
   
   3. As part of the Keep Some Perspective discussion, three new basic strategies were suggested…and rejected  (In other words, keep a sense of humor!)
   A. Find a Scapegoat - How do you transfer the blame for your mistakes to other people in a convincing way?
   B. Deny - What methods do you use to ignore the negative impact of ADHD on your life?
   C. Retaliate - How do you exact revenge against people who have angered you because of your ADHD?
   
   The conversation raised several other common challenges and considerations for addressing them:
   
   Many of us continue to put off projects until the last minute. Some like the excitement and challenge of the time pressure, others find that scrambling at the last minute “absolves” them of making incorrect choices or mistakes that they’d feel accountable for if they had more time to think through the project more thoroughly (but still made mistakes).
   
   Many of us are terrible at estimating time and anxious when assigned an arbitrary time frame to do something.
   
   “What” (am I doing) is a more helpful question than “Why” (am I doing it)
   
   Questions about the discussion? Anything we missed in our notes? Anything you'd like to add to the discussion? Jump in! We're anxious to hear from you.
   
   Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 14, 6:30PM, Christ Memorial Church, Holland. Details to follow.
   
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Molly Raaymakers, MA, LLP from Neurotherapy Associates of West Michigan has agreed to present at our April 13 meeting to address the relationship between neurofeedback and the strategies for controlling or coping with ADHD symptoms. Watch this blog for more information regarding this meeting.

Video Podcast: ADHD & Self-Employment

ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is a condition that many people live with that can pose serious challenges to performing well in the world of work. Most employers place high value on a worker's ability to focus, pay attention to detail and handle complex tasks in a consistent manner, most people with ADHD tend to struggle with those kinds of activities more than the rest of the world. Meanwhile, a lot of the special attributes that people with ADHD tend to possess in greater levels than the rest of the world - energy, creativity and a love of novelty and variety - can often go unnoticed or at least under-appreciated by many employers. Not surprisingly, I've encountered a lot of people with ADHD who want to know how feasible and/or desirable it might be for them to become their own boss, choosing self-employment over traditional employment. Everyone's situation is unique, of course, but the video podcast included in this blog entry covers a lot of the considerations that are shared almost universally by people with ADHD who would like to run their own business.



What has your experience been with self-employment? Is/was it better suited to how you operate as a person with ADHD? Did it introduce new challenges? How did you handle them? What other advice or considerations do you have for other aspiring entrepreneurs with ADHD?

Rick Diamond Update

We have new details regarding the guest presentation at our March 9 FOCUS+ meeting!

Rick Diamond will be discussing: "Job Coaching or How to Work WITH Your AD/HD"

Rick is the Director of Employment Services for Disability Network of the Lakeshore, a position he's held for 14 years. He is the former Co-Chair of Michigan’s Freedom to Work Initiative Implementation and is a member of Michigan’s Job Coalition.

In representing Community-Based non-profit organizations, Rick has served for the last nine years as a member of Ottawa County’s Workforce Development Board, a board which oversees all workforce development as well as training activities funded or administered by the Ottawa County Michigan Works!

March 9 Presenter: Rick Diamond, Michigan Rehabilitation Services (Holland Office)

Do any of these questions relate to you or your family?

• As a K-12 student with ADHD, is there anything special I should be considering as I plan for continuing my education or entering the workforce after graduation?


• Are there any resources available to help me with that transition?


• How can I identify the best career options for me, considering my interests and abilities, the current and future job markets, and - of course - the impact that ADHD has on me?


• Does ADHD qualify as a "disability" under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?


• What types of reasonable accommodations have employers and employees used in the past to effectively address the impact of ADHD on a person's job performance?


• How can I most effectively discuss my ADHD with my current employer, or a prospective employer?


• What the heck is Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS)?


• What the heck is the Disability Network of the Lakeshore (DNL)?

Rick Diamond from Disability Network of the Lakeshore and the MRS Holland office will be on hand at our March 9 meeting to address these questions and more with our group.

Do you have a specific question that would be appropriate for Rick? Post it here and we'll make sure he has the chance to review it prior to our meeting.

Tuesday, Feb 9, 2010 Meeting

Our regularly monthly meeting for Tuesday, February 9, was cancelled due to weather, but fear not! We've still got several interesting & useful handouts to share with you *and* we'd still love to hear your questions, comments and experiences regarding this month's planned topics.

February's discussion topic: How to Ask for Help! (It's easier to do than it sounds)

• Click here to download a handout on asking for help from Ruth Evenhouse
  

Additionally, Ruth shared handouts related to disability rights as they relate to ADHD, filing insurance claims related to ADHD and tax filing; click on any of those hyperlinks to pull up the related documents.

We'd also planned on sharing information and tips on how to start, and stick with, a regular exercise routine. While we all know how important exercise is to our physical health, most people greatly underestimate how important it is to our mental health and our brain's ability to function efficiently as well. You'll be amazed at the positive impact that regular exercise, even if it's only at a moderate level, can have on your ability to manage your ADHD symptoms. Stand by for more information on this topic at our March meeting instead.

Do you know how to ask for help when you need it? If so, what has been an effective approach to asking for help for you?

What has your experience been with submitting claims to your insurance company related to your treatment and management of ADHD and related concerns?

Have you noticed a difference in your attitude or mental functioning between times that you're exercising regularly and times that you aren't able to do so? What impact have you observed that diet has on you, cognitively speaking?

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?

Summary of "Reclaim Your Brain" Presentation

On Monday, 1/11, several FOCUS+ members attended the "Reclaim Your Brain" lecture at the Hope College Maas Center. The presentation was made by Dr. Timothy Royer of The Neuro Core (formerly Hope 139).

This summary of the presentation is for those who weren't able to attend and it's also intended as a starting point for group members to share and react to what they heard. Please flag anything you see that I didn't capture accurately.

Presentation Notes:

Web Site: http://www.theneurocore.com

• The Neuro Core (formerly Hope 139) offers a live webcast with Q&A every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m and 7:00 p.m. EST.
• They also offer "podcastforyourbrain"
• The Neuro Core provides an assessment of a person's brainwaves and other variables (see below). They maintain that many people being treated for ADHD may be misdiagnosed and/or taking medication that is less than optimal for their needs. They offer a recommendation for a plan to help the person retrain their brain and body to keep their variables within the range where they are most mentally effective. They maintain that this can be helpful with ADHD, anxiety, migraine and insomnia problems.
• The presentation included several anecdotal accounts of people including professional athletes who found this retraining process very beneficial.

What They Measure/Notes

• EEG (electroencephalogram) - a measure of electrical activity in the brain. EEGs are unique for every individual. Brains operate between 1 and 32 hertz.
• Breathing (respiration around 6 breaths per minute when relaxed is ideal)
• Pulse
• Skin temparture at extremities (lower when a person is stressed and in "fight or flight" mode)
• Brainwaves

Brainwaves:

• Alpha: active when using creativity/imagination; repressed when Theta or Delta waves are too high
• Beta: Related to fight/flight response; resting Beta of 1.4 or higher is regarded as too high. Closer to 0.9 is preferred.
• Theta: Occurs when awake every 3 seconds or so; rests/resets brain for just an instant, but during that time person is unaware. If Theta waves are too high, they're followed by a deeper, longer lasting "crash" resulting in a person becoming disoriented or "zoning out." A 3.0 for Theta is considered high; 2.0 or lower is ideal.
• Delta: Occurs during sleep; critical to memory consolidation.

What was your reaction to the presentation?

Tell Us What You'd Like To Learn or Discuss!

Are there specific topics related to ADHD that you'd like to see covered at a future FOCUS+ meeting? We take a broad view on this - presentations from experts on general issues that impact people with ADHD such as finances, career planning, psychology and technology are every bit as useful as presentations specifically regarding ADHD.

Do you know of any presenters or subject matter experts that you feel would be of interest to the FOCUS+ members? Better still, is there a topic that you'd be willing to facilitate a group discussion regarding, or that you'd like to present to the group?

Is there an upcoming event related to ADHD that FOCUS+ members may want to attend?

Do you have any feedback regarding how we might improve our meetings (or our web site)?

We'd love to hear your input and ideas! Please post them here as comments.