Adult ADHD and Parenting

Do you ever read news stories that raise giant red flags of ADHD yet never mention it by name? I  just read two such stories, and my mind was flooded with the thousands of posts I’ve read over the years from partners of adults with ADHD that touched directly on the topics.

The first story reported a study indicating that children in day care are more impulsive and bigger risk takers than children who did not go to day care or who spent less time in day care. The second story explored the effect of  electronic  devices on the human brain, including addiction.

But first, I’d like to point out a common error with  psychological (and sometimes even medical) research: confusing association with causation.  That is,  researchers claim research shows cause-and-effect (“causation”) when really all it shows is a  relationship between two variables (“association”).  More often, researchers do not make this claim; they merely suggest “risk factors” (a risk factor for Alzheimer’s is advanced age).  But reporters overstate the connection between cause and effect. Read the rest of this entry »

My husband walked into my office, took one look at the explosion of papers surrounding me, and asked, “What the **** happened in here?” There I was, sitting on the floor poring over every study and article I could find on how Adult ADHD affects parenting (all in preparation for presenting on the topic at the CADDAC conference on ADHD in Toronto May 30-31). With all the various angles and possibilities to cover — ADHD is no one-size-fits-all condition, after all — it felt very overwhelming.

A few days later, with the presentation finally Powerpointed, I met a 40-something mother who also felt overwhelmed — by living the topic I’d only been writing about. Definitely more challenging!. This top-of-her-class attorney had adjusted fairly well to her first child’s arrival some seven years ago. Four years later came her second daughter, the sweet-faced little spitfire whose photo she proudly shared with me from her iPhone. That’s when this stay-at-home mom’s organizing skills — tenuous, even at times humorous, since childhood — hit the skids. Read the rest of this entry »