August 20, 2010
It’s Back to School Time!
Over the years I have been lucky enough to work with hundreds of Middle School, High School, College, University and Post Graduate Students. With almost no exceptions my clients have been very bright people who over-studied and under-performed in school. People with ADHD tend to get lost in a school system that was not designed for the ADHD Mind.
The way to take the disorganization out of school is to have a system. A number of years ago I developed a system called “The Study Method That Always Works For Everyone All The Time”. It is simple, easy to use and has literally helped thousands of students at all levels to raise thier grades and lower their stress levels significantly. I’m going to give you a copy for free if you’d like.
The “Method” virtually eliminates the need to cram for exams and makes your life much easier. You do however still have to do your homework and write your papers. Sorry 
Here’s how it works: Each weekday evening you review everything you covered in your classes that day (an hour is usually enough). On Saturday you will review everything you covered in class that week and on Sunday you review everything you have covered so far that semester (trimester, quarter, etc.). You don’t have to cram for tests and exams because you have been doing that every day.
You can get a free, easy to print (in pdf format) copy of “The Study Method That Always Works For Everyone All The Time” on my website at www.adhdcoach.com or by clicking on the link below.
CLICK HERE to get The Study Method That Always Works For Everyone All The Time
If you have any questions about it or if I can help you with it, please feel free to e-mail me or give me a call at 847.947.1343 .
Have a great school year!
August 5, 2010
I found an old Gem
I happened apon an MP3 of an interview that Dr. Robert Kohn did with me a few years back. Please feel free to give it a listen.
CLICK HERE to hear it.
I think you’ll enjoy it. Rob is a great Psychiatrist, Neurologist and interviewer
July 15, 2010
Musicians with ADHD
Some people may know that I have been a drummer for over 45 years and that I still play out. I was at a jam the other day and I couldn’t help but notice that every musician there obviously had ADHD (I notice things like that, it’s my business.).
Not just musicians, but most creative types. It seems to be almost a prerequisite.
It has long been documented that there appears to be a link between brilliance, creativity and ADHD. Not just by me, but by many others over the years. What I’m curious about is why?
While I’d love to see a study done on why it is good to have ADHD I think it’s unlikely that there will ever be a grant given for that research. If it isn’t an “illness” or “disorder” then there shouldn’t be drugs for it.
Thom Hartmann has written several sensational books about the topic. Since a study is unlikely, why don’t we start a discussion here on why this link between ADHD and creativity/brilliance appears to exist?
What can you do that people without ADHD can’t seem to do? Why is it good that you have ADHD?
July 14, 2010
Radio Show about ADHD and Bipolar Disorder
Over the years I have coached a large number of people who have both ADHD and Bipolar disorder. I was recently a guest on Jeff Copper’s radio show where we discussed this topic. I have added a link to a recording of the show for anyone who would like to listen to it. Please CLICK HERE. I think you’ll find the show informative. Please let me know what you think.
I’m excited!
As most people know I am on the board of directors of the Professional Association of ADHD Coaches (PAAC).
This organization is very exciting to me since it will very shortly begin credentialing ADHD Coaches.
The Core Competencies have been written and will very shortly be posted on PAAC’s website. I have agreed to spearhead an effort to have sound bytes made of some master ADHD coaches using the core competencies.
Please look at PAAC’s website in the next few weeks for some exciting news!
June 23, 2005
It’s Just a Tool
There is a man stuck in a tiny clearing in the middle of an impassible jungle. If he stays in the clearing there is no doubt that he will either die a horrible death as a result of starvation or of being eaten by a tiger or other wild animal. There is no way he can escape because the jungle is so thick that he can’t even walk through it.
Suddenly he finds a machete in the ground near the edge of the vegetation. Is this good or bad?
Many people would say that it is good because he can use the machete to chop his way to safety.
On the other hand, what if he believes that he will either die a horrible death as a result of starvation or of being eaten by a tiger or other wild animal and uses the machete to slit his own throat?
Was finding the machete a good thing or a bad thing? The answer to that question is yes. It was a good thing or a bad thing based on what perspective he chose to take. The machete was just a tool. He chose how to use it.
I see Attention Deficit Disorder in a very similar light. It’s a tool. If you choose to you can cause it to debilitate you OR you can choose to use it to do wonderful things. To become like Ben Franklin or like John Lennon or like Thomas Edison…
There are whole corporations who give their employees “thinking outside the box” awards. Trying to get them to see solutions or different than “standard” ways to do things. Then there are people like us who hear about that and say “what box?”. Outside the box is where we live, we’ve never been in it, we don’t even know what it is…
Having ADD is just like the machete…It’s good or bad, depending on what perspective you elect to see it from.
May 28, 2005
So why IS it good to have ADD anyway?
What special gifts has having ADD given you?
For starters, I can stay up working late at night like I am now. How many ADDers out there tend to do their best work late at night? I think lots do.
When my youngest daughter was a baby, my family and I were at some family function and I was mentioning that she had just started sleeping through the night and my father said “Well, you and your brother NEVER slept through the night” I still haven’t!
But I sure can be productive late in the evening. I can also speak in public pretty well. I enjoy doing that! I’ve experienced that many ADDers have a lot of charisma and tend to speak well in public. In general I think people with ADD are funnier. I can be pretty funny. But all the funniest people I know have ADD. It seems to go along with having ADHD for a lot of people.
I can also do two or four or three-hundred-six things at once. I like that I can do that. But I can hyperfocus too. I am very focused with my clients. Also an ADD gift I think.
I also seem to be able to get to the meat of the matter quite easily. I can generally see the core of complicated issues and make them simple.
I’m talking about me but I believe that everyone who has ADD also has a bunch of special abilities that go along with it. I want to try to get people out of their comfort zone. I want you to look for and find the reasons why you’re glad you have ADD.
I hope people will comment a lot on this. I’ve heard ADD (Sorry, I can’t get used to the term “ADHD”) described as “an island of disability in a sea of abilities”. I think that is a great metaphor!
So think hard……What special gifts has having ADD given you?
May 26, 2005
New Online ADD Test
I just launched a new Online ADD Test. It isn’t meant to be a diagnostic test but rather a screening. Of course people should be diagnosed by a physician or other mental health profesional. This test is based on the DSM-IV criteria and will give the taker the likelihood of whether or not they may have ADD/ADHD and suggests that they contact someone qualified to make the diagnosis.
What sets this specific test aside from the very few others on the internet are two things:
1. It isn’t a list or guidelines. The test is actually scored by computer online and gives results right away.
2. It isn’t based on what came out of somebody’s mind. It is quite faithful to the DSM-IV criteria (To the letter) so someone can go to thier physician or mental health professional and be pretty certain that they will be using the same diagnostic criteria.
The test is located at
May 22, 2005
Why are we STILL discussing if it’s real?…
I was watching the Cal Thomas show for a bit last night and the discussion turned to whether or not ADD was a real thing or something made up so therapists can make a few dollars on it.
I was in shock! Of course ADD is real. How else do you explain me? Not just me, but zillions of other people.
Of course some therapists make money treating ADD. I make money on ADD too. So what? Who makes money on it isn’t the issue. Whether it is a real thing or not isn’t even discussable by intelligent people or at least it shouldn’t be. Of course ADD is real. These TV guys just don’t get what it is. They are thinking of it in the same terms as major depression or other forms of mental illness. I don’t think it falls in that catagory at all.
A guest on the show said “If Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were alive today they’d be diagnosed with ADD”. You know, I agree with that since the two of them did (especially Tom) did appear to have some qualities that people with ADD also have. I’d have no problem with that forensic diagnosis except for the fact that Tom and Huck never existed at all. They wouldn’t be alive today because they never were alive. They are fictional characters who came out of the brilliant, creative and wildly imaginative mind of Samuel Clemens who became Mark Twain when he signed his name that way on some travel papers. The guy faked his name as a joke! Jeeze, I’ve done that!
He was also so imaginative that he invented a couple of guys who some people believe actually existed. So I looked into Sam a bit. This is the very first thing I found:
“Growing up in the unusual rivertown of 2000 inhabitants, Twain was a mischievous boy, the prototype of his own character, Tom Sawyer. Though he was plagued by poor health at an early age, by the age of nine he learned to smoke and headed a small band of pranksters, and most of all, he detested school…..
But over the next few years, Twain was unable to save wages and became restless, deciding to leave Hannibal in June of 1853 to take a job in St. Louis. But instead of settling in St. Louis, Twain proceeded to travel back and forth between New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Iowa as a journalist. But after his wanderings, Twain ultimately switched professions after realizing an old boyhood dream of becoming a river pilot….
Under the apprenticeship of Horace Bixby, pilot of the Paul Jones, Mark Twain became a licensed river pilot at the age of 24. Earning a high salary navigating the river waters, Twain was entertained by his own position, travelling from city to city and never settling. But in 1861, Twain’s piloting days ended with the onset of the Civil War….
On his way to Nevada twelve years after the Gold Rush, Twain’s primary intentions were to travel and strike it rich mining for silver and gold. But after being unsuccessful and with resources diminishing, Twain once again picked up his pen and began to write….”
The guy wrote at least 14 books, did at least 20 different things for a living, got bored easily. It seems to me like it is quite likely Mark Twain had ADD. He sounds like a hunter to me!
Thom Hartmann’s theory is that people with ADD are the prehistoric hunters who evolved over millions of years to do something good and useful which helped assure the survival of the human race. The other people are farmers. They do good and useful things too. I have believed Thom’s theory since I first heard it. I still do!
I just wish these idiots on TV would start thinking about how the bizarre statements they make effect people. Now there will be people with ADD who will have to defend themselves again
because some idiot made authoritative statements about something they knew nothing about while portraying characters who never existed as real people.
Aren’t these the same guys who just got 16 people murdered by making up a story about the US military throwing copies of the Koran in the toilet at Guantanamo? I believe in a free press as much, if not more than the next guy. I’ve fought for it and was once part of it. My baby brother has been a newspaper reporter with the New Haven Register for 25 years. By the same token I also believe that the press has an obligation to be responsible. Cal Thomas and his guest were quite cavalier in the way they made these statements of “fact” . Thats my “opinion” anyway.
But it is still amazing that they gave us yet another example of what an especially brilliant ADD mind can do. I’m not saying that we are all that brilliant but some of us are. Mark Twain has people believing that Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were real people and that Samuel Clemens never existed (he did), but that Mark Twain (Just a made up name) did exist. Not bad for a guy who’s been dead for 95 years.
source of quotation: http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/About_Mark_Twain.html
May 18, 2005
To medicate or not to medicate…
What do you think? Should people with ADD take medication or should they not?
I have heard, and could make a pretty good case for either side.
I’d like to see what sort of opinions on medication and ADD people have.
So I’m Back from ADDA…..
The ADDA conference was fantastic! Great people, great time, great food (I like food), great resort.
I got to spend some time with Mike Charest, David Giwerc, Sandy Maynard as well as a bunch of other new and old friends of mine.
I wish I could come up with a general theme or idea which was running through the conference in Tucson. But there wasn’t.
One thing that I found that was interesting to me was that there appear to be several groups interested in a seperate certification for ADD coaches.
I am generally quite in favor of this as long as it isn’t a “trick” for someone who wants to “control” ADD coaching to thier own end.
I believe that the ICF credentials (ACC, PCC and MCC) are certainly very meaningful and I think I would generally oppose ANY movement to credential ADD Coaches which didn’t first require the coach to be ICF Credentialed before being able to be ADD Coach credentialed.
What I’m saying is that even though a Life Coach and an ADD Coach are different things an ADD Coach is a coach first and THEN becomes an ADD Coach. For that reason I think that credentialing ADD Coaches prior to, or independent of ICF credentialling would be counter productive and in general bad for the profession.
May 7, 2005
This is the place!
This section is where people can ask questions about ADD (and get them answered )
