Taking a Risk – ADHD Post-lockdown Diaries

This ADHD Awareness month, Author and Teacher Emma Mahony and Broadcaster and Podcaster Clare Catford encourage ADHD-ers to follow their gut and take a risk, after years of feeling “wrong” in a neuro-typical world. How risk-taking can be a strength of an ADHD diagnosis, not a curse. As Clare demonstrates while protesting on behalf of the Posties…

Clare Catford protesting on behalf of the post-office workers, remind us that taking a risk can be as simple as putting yourself out there on behalf of others

New year, new intentions -ADHD style

How great that the internet offers a chance to review your 2020 intentions to see how you are doing, while setting a course for a new year. Aiming for calm, creating chaos. Broadcaster Clare Catford and journalist Emma Mahony do just that, while reminding ADHDers everywhere that they are not alone with this struggle.

Dr Ned Hallowell – says it Oh So Simply

UnknownEvery now and then, someone comes along and sums up this complicated condition in such a neat way. Dr Ned Hallowell, author of many books on ADHD, talking more in Additude online magazine this week about Girls and why they often go undiagnosed. In his short video here , he ends by saying something so simple – basically, if your child is underachieving then go and get them tested.

I am sure it may be woefully obvious to an outsider, but to a parent – it is a Very Big Thing, getting your child or teenager tested for a neurobiological disability. Nobody wants to think there is something wrong with their kid, and you don’t want your kid to think  there is something wrong with them either. Especially if – in my case – they are now a teenager and fast growing up. But just as they grow up, so the stakes get higher, with grades and exams counting for more and more, and with their threat of slipping further and further behind.

So Dr Ned has a point – don’t complicate it. If your child presents – as so many ADHDers do (who can seem to effortlessly excel in professions like acting and stand up comedy, where their bundle of traits become a positive rather than a negative) as an articulate, engaged, and entertaining person- and yet woefully underachieves at school – get them tested.

It’s not complicated. It’s just about UnderAchievement. It’s something only a parent or a caring teacher can tell. That’s the only starting point you need for the journey. And if they don’t test positive for ADHD, then back to the drawing board.