One newsletter reader recently submitted this question regarding their young adult child with ADHD, and programs available to help with his/her driving. Here was the question:

My (young adult child) has ADD (on medication) and has had several speeding citations and a car accident. Are there techniques to prevent these events? Any articles on tips to avoid driving incidents? Any researchers in this field with ideas? You noted facts but we could use solutions.

My answer to her focused on the issue of character, which I wrote a long article about in the last newsletter. My answer to this reader is printed in this article below. Read more of the article...

Pills used in the treatment of ADHD can be helpful, and we have seen hundreds of lives changed by using stimulant medications such as Ritalin, or alternative treatments such as Attend.

But pills cannot teach the important skills that are needed to be successful in life. These skills have to be taught by us, the parents. One of these skills is the development of our character.

What is more valuable that our character? Is there anything more valuable than good character? Is there anything more worthy for us to focus effort in developing? No. The most valuable lessons that you can teach your children are the lessons necessary to form a good character.

The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
– Thomas McCauley Read more of the article...

B is for Breathing and Relaxation: ADHD Skills

Children with ADHD at school, and adults with ADHD in the workplace, both need to be relaxed in order to be most effective, alert, or productive. Tension is the enemy of productivity or performance. Relaxation is one of the skills that those with ADHD need for success.

But this is not relaxation that is associated with laziness or long vacations. Rather this is a state of muscle relaxation combined with appropriate arousal levels. Focused and aware, but relaxed.

Deep breathing can help to relax and relieve tension. It can also help those with ADHD to focus better, and to think more clearly. Read more of the article...

ADHD Skills Series: Attitude and Approach

Here is article one from our new series on the ABC’s of “Things that Pills for ADHD Cannot Do for You.” Pills used in the treatment of ADHD can be helpful, and we have seen hundreds of lives changed by using stimulant medications such as Ritalin, or alternative treatments such as Attend. But in these articles we will be discussing skills that need to be learned “on purpose” in addition to pills, in order to be successful at school, at home, or in life.

For example:
A – Attitude and Approach
B – Breathing and relaxation
C – Character and Confidence Read more of the article...

Results mirror findings in boys, potential protective effect needs further investigation.

October 06, 2008: Massachusetts General Hospital Press Release

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have found that treatment with stimulant drugs does not increase and appears to significantly decrease the risk that girls with ADHD will begin smoking cigarettes or using alcohol or drugs. Their report in the October Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine parallels the findings of several earlier studies in boys, which needed to be confirmed in girls. Read more of the article...

It is important to remember that many, or most, children with ADHD will never really “out-grow” the problems that ADHD brings. We have discussed this in detail in our reporting on ADHD and Depression in females, and in other articles through the years.

This week another reminder of this was published in a national survey of 1,007 adults with ADHD. The survey looked at how adults with ADHD cope at home, at work, and in relationships with others. The survey was published just in time for the 2008 Chadd Conference, and the 2008 ADHD National Awareness Day.

What the survey found was that, of those adults with ADHD: Read more of the article...