Posts Tagged: ADD

ADD Books — 1 Comment
23
May 09

ADD / ADHD Not A Disorder, Not A Problem, But Not To Be Ignored Either

Got some interesting email recently from the ADD/ADHD is not a disorder and is not something to be “fixed” crowd.

I have read many ADD/ADHD books including Thom Hartmann’s Attention Deficit Disorder : A Different Perception which as far as I know sort of started the whole, the problem is with the schools / world, not with me movement.  I have also read many other resources that subscribe to the same worldview and view of ADD, so I am not unaware of this paradigm.  If you read through the various postings here, you will notice that I am careful to not suggest that ADHD is a disease nor something that needs to be “fixed.”  Rather, I simply not the challenges that it can and does present and potential solutions to those challenges.

I have ADD myself.  I take enough Adderall (generic) each day to make a small rhino nervous, and frankly, I’d like to try a bit more, but no doctor I’ve encountered is willing to go higher, so I may have topped out.  I do not believe that there is anything wrong with me.  And, from this perspective, I am very supportive of the train of thought that suggests that people with ADD/ADHD are not defective.  However, this is where my concurrence ends.

Welcome to Real Life

It may be that the schools are properly designed.  It may be that our society and its workplaces may not be properly constructed.  If you believe that, then by all means work for the changes you want to see in the world.  I applaud such efforts.  But, never forget, that in the meantime, you are living your life in the reality of today, and so are your children.

Harman contents that it is offensive to suggest that people, like his son, with ADD/ADHD be treated with medication, or try and find ways to handle the high frequency that their minds run on.  Instead, he says that schools should change and that people with ADD should choose better careers that their minds are better suited for.

Frankly, I find that offensive.  Replace the phrase, “people with ADD” with “women” or “Jews” or “Hispanics” and you’ll see just how offensive it is.  I content that this is the “wrong” approach to ADD/ADHD and the one that is limiting to its adherents.  Instead, I say that anyone, whether they have ADD or not, can do anything they want to if they are willing to do what it takes.  So, if you have ADD and want to do a “non-ADD” suited job, then figure out what, if anything, you need to accomplish your goal, and go do it.  Don’t let your brain hold you back.

Whether you have ADD or not, you can do anything you choose in this life if you have the right tools.

As I read Hartman’s book, I couldn’t help but thing it came off as a little naive.

For example, the suggestion that a person with ADD should choose different careers better suited to their “hunter” mentality like being a policeman was particularly uninformed.  Ask any cop how much time he spends running through the streets chasing down criminals versus how much time he spends doing paperwork and you’ll find that this may not be the fast paced stimulating job it looks like on TV.  In fact, virtually every job that Harman cites as good for ADDers comes with a very large non-hunter element.  There just are no pure hunters anymore.  (Even soldiers spend hours doing non-stimulating tasks every single day.)

Like Being Left-Handed – Different But Not Wrong

I find the best analogy for looking at ADHD and ADD is being left-handed.  There is nothing wrong with being left-handed.  It is not a defect.  It is not a flaw.  It is not a  problem.  But, you don’t just pretend that you are not left handed.  You find and use the tools and accessories that work better for lefties.  You don’t sit back and complain that the world has to be more left hand friendly.

Consider a child in school, we’ll call him Lucas.

Let’s say that Lucas is left-handed.  Let’s say that his handwriting is not up to par.  Let’s say that Lucas’ parents realize that the metal spirals on the left side of the standard notebook is to blame?  Should they insist that the notebook industry change? Perhaps.  Should they let Lucas fail subjects, lose self esteem, and be considered poor student while they wait for the notebook industry to change?  NO!

There are numerous tools that Lucas can use that will help alleviate the various issues that he faces from being left-handed.  Using these tools does not make Lucas untrue to who he is, rather they enable him to BE who he truly is, a smart, confident, student, who can write just fine when there isn’t a piece of metal in his way.  All it takes is a notebook with the spiral on the top instead of on the side.

What if Lucas has ADD instead?

Everyone, ADD or not, can benefit from learning, knowledge, and having the right tools.

The same things apply.  Lucas is not defective; there is nothing wrong with him.  But, to sit back and ignore the fact that he might need something that other students don’t need it stupid and cruel, and will do nothing but injure Lucas.

If a timer or special notebook or watch or whatever will help Lucas, then for the love of all that is good, get it for him and let him thrive.  Don’t sulk about what other people think, or about how our society is constructed.  Instead, give him the tools he needs to succeed at whatever he wants to do, and if at the same time, you or he wish to work for a better world, do it.  Just don’t throw away the opportunities he has today in the current world.

I won’t discuss medication here.  That is a very personal issue. 

I will say that many of us with ADD don’t give a flying leap about whether or not society is not optimally setup for us.  We like it here just fine.  All we want is a fair shake to do what we know we can do.

The above criticisms aside, Harman’s book does offer some food for thought, especially if you or your child has been recently diagnosed with ADD-ADHD.  And, I always feel that people should make their own decisions. You can use the link below to get the book from Amazon, or it is in most book stores under “Psychology”.  Also, many library systems carry the book as well, since it was fairly popular during its time.

 

 

ADDessories = Empowerment Through Tools and Knowledge

The goal of ADDessories is not to change the world, nor the place of those with ADD in it, nor does it seek to change those with ADD/ADHD into different people.  Everyone, ADD or not, can benefit from learning and knowledge and tools.

The goal is to empower people with those tools and knowledge that allows them to achieve what they want with a little bit less friction and resistance.  If we are successful, they might even help you change the world.

ADHD Traits — 2 Comments
11
May 09

What It Is Like to Have ADD/ADHD – Adventure 2

coke-can In our continuing series on what it’s like to have ADD comes this little gem, not second hand, not from reading, or talking to people with ADD but from me, this afternoon. E

For the last 2 hours I’ve been dying of thirst.  I keep saying, “Ok, get up and get some water,” but with each mouse click and keyboard stroke there appears one more thing.  Just one more little thing, and then I’ll go.

Of course, my most pressing project has been behind all of the other Windows on my computer screen since I booted up this morning.  I’ve gotten plenty of interesting (read new, and not due today) projects done since lunch time.  I’ve re-ordered the Netflix queue, ordered decorations for the baby’s room, bought a new pre-paid plan on Shutterfly, and emailed a dozen people about maybe refinancing our mortgage or second mortgage just to see if we can save some money.

Oh, and I’ve updated Facebook about 20 times.

Back to the drink.

So, I finally stood up, mostly because the urge to drink something had been joined by an overwhelming urge to also visit the bathroom.  I have no idea how long my leg has been bouncing autonomously like that.

And what should my eyes notice, just 12 inches away from my main desk surface sitting atop the “L” on the way to the door (next to my day planner by the way)?  An unopened Coke that I had retrieved the last time I was thirsty (and the phone rang).

ADD/ADHD – It’s not just distraction, it’s not noticing.  (That’s my new slogan.  I’m working on the jingle…instead of going to the restroom….)

***************  Not bad. Just 4 minutes to find clip-art instead of my ADHD distracted by clip art!

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Technorati Tags: ,,ADD/ADHD,,Distractability,ADD Traits

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ADD Medication — 4 Comments
9
May 09

Non-Prescription ADD Treatment Options – St. John's Wart

My recent post on avoiding medical scams in the name of non-prescription ADD / ADHD treatment options, drew a heavy response, including a lot of people who were interested in what the non-prescription vitamin and supplement choices were that I referenced.

There are literally hundreds of vitamins or supplements that various people purport to have a positive affect on ADD behavior.  However, none of these treatments have received the kind of scientific study required to actually say that they do or do not work.  That isn’t surprising since there is no money in finding out that Vitamin X treats ADD symptoms better than Ritalin in children, getting funding for such research can be difficult.

(Incidentally, if you are a non-profit organization or scientific researcher or group that does ADD/ADHD research, and you would like some grant writing help, please feel free to contact me.  I’m a professional writer and I would love to help out by doing SOME pro bono work if it would bring some funding to your research. — Note: I’ve had one bad experience with a group in the past who thought that my offer to help gave them a free full-time grant writer.  I am willing to help, but I also have a family and a business to run, so please contact me with the right expectations in mind.  I will work hard to help get grants to fund this important research, but I can only do so with the flexibility my schedule allows.)

Some treatments only seem to have ADD benefits in children, while others only seem to work in adults.  And, most concerning of all, is the lack of data on side affects or other drug interactions.  So, make sure you do your own research and investigate all of the details.

I have done my best to list sources when I can remember them or re-find them.

St. John’s Wort For ADD / ADHD

St. John’s Wort is actually most commonly indicated for the treatment of low-grade depression. As such, it seems to help with certain ADD symptoms in some individuals, most likely because it treats some of the depression-like symptoms that occasionally manifest with certain types of ADHD. That being said, it does have a widespread following of ADDers who insist that it provides some relief for their symptoms.

St. John’s Wort has been shown to inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.  This allows these neurotransmitters to build up to greater levels in the brain.  Depression is thought to be caused by low levels of these chemicals and that is why St. John’s Wort is effective in helping treat certain kinds of depression, according to research.

Theoretically, the same kind of mechanism may have something to do with ADD.  However, the research on that is still out.

What is known is that a large number of people with ADD/ADHD also show certain symptoms of depression.  Whether there is a correlation at a physical, biological, level, or if this there is just a correlation due to the lifelong burdens carried by some ADDers isn’t known.  However, if children, teens, and adults with ADHD do have some sort of depression in association with their ADD, then St. John’s Wort would help with the depression, which would provide an improved mental state overall, which could be misinterpreted as helping the ADD part of the issue.

Indeed, recent research from the National Institute of Health showed no improvement in ADD symptoms over a placebo in children and adolescents.

However, this was a very small study over a very small period of time.  Ironically, this is exactly the kind of research that gets dismissed by the medical establishment as non-conclusive when the study makes conclusions the other way around.  That is, if this study had found vast improvement, you could be sure that the researchers would conclude by saying that this was only a small sample and that further research was needed.  The fact that they don’t say that here, is disturbing to those of us who want to think that medical research gets a level playing field regardless of the outcome and whose profits might be hurt.

The study in question was 54 children aged 6 to 17 who were otherwise healthy and taking no other medications.  In standard scientific methodology half were giving St. Johns Wort and the other half were giving a placebo.  The two groups were generated randomly from the participants.  Then monitored for changes to inattentiveness and hyperactivity at 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks.

In other words, 27 children were tested to see how they responded to St. Johns Wort. The good news is that the study lasted 8 weeks, because the research on St. Johns Wort suggests that it takes several weeks to become effective.  But, the bad news is that at weeks 1 and 2, and maybe even week 4, there should not be any expected benefit.

The other bad news is that this study used the older weaker form of St. Johns Wort commonly sold in grocery stores and health food stores.  The newer form, called High Hyperforin contains 3% – 5% of hyperforin, versus the 0.14% used in the study.  However, since that form is relatively new and people have been claiming benefits since before it became available, this is still good research.

The really weird part of the study is that symptom improvement was noted to IMPROVE in BOTH groups!  While that lets the scientists conclude that there is no benefit of the supplement over the placebo, it raises an interesting question for those of us who actually care about those with ADD, namely, why did the symptoms improve for everyone?

Was it just that actually having some attention paid to their condition provided some help?  Was it that a new an interesting environment (where the observation took place) was enough to stimulate the minds of these children to help with symptoms?

Is The Criteria Too High?

Another interesting factor is that the researchers actively expected this outcome. They anticipated a 5-point reduction on the ADHD RS-IV total score in the placebo group!

Further, it was determined that in order to count as a “meaningful” improvement, the St. John’s Wort group would require a 13-point improvement on the same scale.

The ADHD RS-IV scale has 18 items. Each item is ranked from 0 to 3 with 0 being never or seldom, 1 being sometimes, 2 being often, and 3 being very often. In other words, the lowest possible score is 0 and the highest possible score is 54. So, for a meaningful result to be obtained, subjects needed to show a minimum of a 24% improvement! Considering that most people with ADD/ADHD aren’t necessarily looking for a result that would give a zero, and would be very happy to move down to a one on their major symptoms, this seems to be a very large requirement.

Obviously, more study is needed and there are interesting facts that should be looked at.

Should You Try St. Johns Wort for Your ADD?

Obviously, everyone has to make their own health decisions, and I am not a doctor, nor do I have any other certification or qualification, so take this a general knowledge only.

St. John’s Wort has been subjected to extensive study around the world, mostly in Europe.  During those studies no major immediate side effects have been reported. Indicating that St. John’s Wort can’t hurt, even if it doesn’t help.  This makes it a perfect treatment to try out and see if it can help you, even if it doesn’t meet the scientific criteria set out for clinical trials.

There is one area that is a concern and that is that St. John’s Wort does interact extensively with a wide array of medications.  In other words, St. John’s Worth is NOT the treatment for you to try if you currently take any prescription medication!

Talk to your doctor first to fully understand what affect St. John’s Wort might have on your medications BEFORE you try anything out.

Also, St. Jons Wort can be very stimulating to the brain.  That means that it can make it difficult for some people to sleep.  If you are taking St. Johns Wort, do it first thing in the morning. If you develop trouble sleeping, or it feels like your brain is “buzzing” then, cut back the dose or stop altogether.  You’ll be way better off with your usual ADD symptoms than you will be with long-term sleep deprivation.

Otherwise, if you are going to try alternative therapies, you could do a lot worse than St. John’s Wort.  Be careful, and listen to your body.  If it doesn’t feel right or you seem to have problems flare up, stop.

Also, remember that St. Johns Wort is not an instant-on treatment.  Depression patients report that it takes WEEKS for the herbal supplement to provide any noticeable improvement.  This is because inhibiting the re-uptake of neurotransmitters doesn’t mean you get the full smash right away, so if you are going to try it, don’t just take it for a week and decide it doesn’t work.

Pay attention to what you are buying.  Shifty supplement manufacturers and retailers want to capture your dollars no matter what, and they know that some people won’t pay certain prices.  That means that the lower concentration St. Johns will sell right next to the higher concentration supplements and no one will make that clear on the front facing label.  Turn the bottle around and make sure that you are getting the right amount that you have decided to start taking.  You’ll need a lot more of the 0.14% kind than you will of the 3% or 5% kind (and vice versa).

Good luck, and let me know how it goes for you by posting a comment or shooting me an email.

, , ADD/ADHD, Non-Prescription Treatment, ADD Mediction,

P.S.  If you noticed a couple of mispellings of key words like “Wort”, that is to allow those who search for information with mispelled words can still find this page.  That is also why I actively alternate between ADD, ADHD, and ADD/ADHD.

ADD Organization Tips — 6 Comments
10
Mar 09

ADD Planner 2X

For many people with ADD / ADHD a planner, organizer, calendar, or day timer is the first recommendation they receive.  Ironically, it is probably also one of the things they have already tried a million times before.

You see, people with ADD are not dumb.  Far from it.  Most ADDers are actually quite intelligent, and even more are very self-aware.  It doesn’t take long after you notice that you are different from everyone else before you start trying to figure out how you are different, and eventually why you are different.

For students to professionals with ADD one of the first things they’ll notice is that they are disorganized.  ADHD can be manifested in many different ways, but one of the most common traits is a lack of organization, whether it is losing important papers, or just your car keys, or whether its forgetting important meetings, or forgetting to eat lunch.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to come up with the notion that if you could just get organized and keep track of all those important things better, that might change how things go down for you.

The irony is that for most ADD / ADHD adults, just remembering to actually pull out the planner and look at it is half the challenge.  That is if you’ve already mastered the part about actually remembering to do the mundane easily forgotten task of writing down those important things in your planner in the first place.

Twice the Planners or Planner 2X

The frustration of having, starting, and using so many calendars or planners only to fall into the same old pattern of forgetting not just the meeting, but also to write the meeting down in the planner in the first place is one that drives some ADD / ADHD people to periodically throw their hand up in the air and just give up on the whole planner thing.  Interestingly, the answer might be to take the opposite course.

Of course, everyone is different, but for ADD businesspeople who spend a majority of their workday at a desk, the solution to the organization dilemma may lie in a simple ADD trick for organization.

The first part is the same one that every ADD coach, every ADD book, and every ADD group suggests: Get a good planner that you like and is small enough that you will actually carry it around with you.

The second part is where the magic happens.

Get a big monthly calendar to put on top of your desk.   This is your 2X calendar.

The desk blotter style works great if you can handle it covering that much of your desk, but if not, a smaller calendar works just as well.  The key is that it must sit on your desk in the main work area, whether that is under / in front of your keyboard, or under your mouse, or where you fill in forms.  Something like this work just fine.

desktop-calendar-2XDo not use a calendar on the wall, a calendar across the room, or put a calendar on a table or section of desk that you don’t always use every day.  This is supposed to be in your face on your main workspace.

The best calendars are plain without any pictures to take up extra room.  You want a calendar that is as big as you can stand having on your desk all day every day.  For me, I threw away my mouse pad and use my 2X calendar for my mouse.

The point is that you now have a paper calendar that is virtually begging to be written on, front and center on your primary work area.  This will distract you.

That is right, the calendar will distract you.  You have just turned your ADD traits into a strength to help you.

Imagine, you are talking on the phone.  It is a long boring conversation.  You look down at your blank calendar.  You might as well write something on it.  How about the Tuesday Morning staff meeting.  It doesn’t really need to be written down since you have it every week (and are late to 1/3 of the time anyway because your forget what day of the week it is), but you will write it down because you have been distracted by the calendar.

Later, you might get distracted by the fact that you don’t have any blue on the calendar and you’ll write something else down.

When your boss calls in the middle of a detailed project and tells you about the client meeting on the 13th, you would normally go back to your task after hanging up the phone because you were in the middle of something and didn’t want to lose your thoughts by finding your new day timer (is it still in your bag that your brought from home?).

Of course, by the time you get to a stopping place, you have forgotten to write it down, and your organizer sits unused in the bottom of your drawer.  But, with your 2X calendar sitting right there on top of your desk, you can just grab your pen and scribble something down really fast without having to find and pull out your planner while you are still on the phone.  Then, when you finish what you were doing your wandering eyes will scan across the date, see what you scribbled and that is when you will grab your little Filofax calendar that you bought especially to get more organized and jot it down.

The 2X calendar won’t help you remember to check your little Franklin Covey planner each morning, but since it is sitting on top of your desk, IT might be what reminds you of all those important little events instead.  And, if in doing so, it gets you used to checking and adding things to your real day planner more often, then so much the better.

ADHD — No Comments
12
Jan 09

ADD and Planners

Thinking about buying a new planner, calendar, or datebook?

Consistently using a planner or time keeper of some sort is a great way for someone with ADD-ADHD to help keep track of appointments and to-do lists as well as a central location to store important things like addresses and phone numbers.  But, the wrong planner can cause just as much difficulty as it can help.

Get The Right Planner

To get the right planner is an exercise of matching up your lifestyle and specific ADD/ADHD  traits with an available planner.  How do you do that?

First, match your planner or date book to your lifestyle.

Before you decide about daily, weekly, or monthly planners, look at how your days typically work.  Do you have several meetings scheduled each day at specific times?  Or, do you have a list of to-dos each day, but no specific times?  Or, is your life one where you have many different projects with deadlines and milesotnes, but where the exact date that things happen isn’t important?

Most planners have a list of times for each day.  That is fine if you are a salesperson with meetings at 9:00am, 10:30, 1:15 and so on.  But, if you are a computer programmer with just two meetings scheduled per week (maybe a team meeting on Tuesday and another meeting on Friday afternoons) then all of those times running down the side might just be distracting.

Since we aren’t looking for MORE distractions, you might want to look for a planner without the times, or at least where the times are easily ignored (small non-stand out font).

Next, it is time to decide what time-frame you need for you planner.  Daily planners have lots of room for each day, but tend to be bigger and heavier which means you might be less likely to use it consistently.  Monthly planners don’t have much room for each day, but might be very useful for tracking deadlines.  Weekly planners often offer a nice middle ground between the two.

Lastly, get a planner without a lot of “noise”.  Some planner makers seem to think that the more stuff they print on each page, the better the planner.  That is NOT true for those of us with ADD / ADHD.

Avoid planners that insist on printing the name of the month, days, and who knows what else in multiple languages.  All of that extra text is nothing but a distraction waiting to happen.  (Hey, I didn’t know the French word for Wednesday.  It sounds like the Latin word.  Well, at least I think it does.  Maybe I should look it up…)

Also, avoid planners that put a bunch of useless information in the planner to make it thicker.  You don’ t need to know what time it is in Turkistan, nor do you need to know how to convert hectares to acres (or at least you won’t need to know it when you are doing your planning.)

Calendar makers cram all of this in to make their planners seem more impressive, but it is just wasted space and extra weight.  If you can’t find one that you like without a load of extra junk, grab an exacto-knife or razor and cut those pages out.  Your planner will be lighter and smaller, and you’ll be more likely to use it.

ADHD — 2 Comments
20
May 08

Having ADD / ADHD – What is it like?

There is a lot of confusion out there regarding Attention Deficit Disorder. In particular, there is a lot of confusion about what it is like to have ADD. The truth is, that it is a little bit different for everyone. This can be especially true for the differences between Adult ADD and Child ADD. Just like there are different kinds of OCD (hand washing, repeating words, etc…) there are different kinds of ADD/ADHD. The whole ADD vs. ADHD thing illustrates this point. ADD is the older term and it stands, of course, for Attention Deficit Disorder. ADHD stands for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, and is the technically correct term according to the DSM V which is the official diagnostic manual.

Types of Attention Deficit Disorder

The catch is that some people have hyperactivity and some people do not. In fact, the DSM-V lists 3 types of ADD. One is the most commonly known which is with Hyperactivity. Another type is called Passive and is the opposite of hyperactivity (paying so little attention as to not bother moving around). The third type is a combo of the two or hybrid type. Inside each of these “types” is a real person, and since people are individuals it can be a little different for everybody.

Think about it this way: Two people both have Type-II Diabetes. Does this mean that they will both have the same dose of insulin? Does this mean that they will both have to take it at the same time each day? Does this mean that the exact same amount of the wrong food will cause the same reaction? Of course not.

Both Adult ADD and Child ADD are the same way. For some it can be overwhelming. For others, it can be less.

What Is It Like to Have ADD?

So, what is it like? The easiest way to explain adult ADD is like this:

Think back to a morning where things just were a little bit crazy and your brain was a little big foggy. You woke up, hit the snooze button too many times, got into the shower, and by the time you got out, you were already running so late that it was almost impossible to get to work on time. So, you ran through your morning as fast as you could and cut out the things that weren’t important like making coffee or getting the paper. But, since you didn’t make coffee, you forgot to start the dishwasher because you didn’t go out into the kitchen and be reminded by the pile in the sink. You forgot to put out the recycling because you didn’t go out front and get the paper and see the neighbor’s bins beside the street like you usually do.

The crazy morning probably threw off even more of your day. You got in a little late so you didn’t get a reminder about the staff meeting. You felt “off” because you didn’t have your coffee and you were still a little bit “buzzy” from the frantic rushing around.

By the end of the day, you were just glad to get home, kick off your shoes and watch some T.V. to relax. By the time you went to bed, everything was back to normal, and you thought to yourself, “Whew! I’m glad that day is over.”

Want to know what having ADD is like? It’s like having that day, all day, everyday. Only, when you have ADD sometimes stuff doesn’t go as planned for you either. So if your day already is that scattered, frantic, run-around, day and then things start to go wrong, imagine what your day becomes.

That’s what it is like to have ADD/ADHD.

ADHD — No Comments
13
May 08

ADD ADHD and ADDessories

ADD or ADHD affects millions of Americans. There are several books out there and many web sites as well full of useful information on ADD and ADHD. Some of the more famous books include the Dr. Hallowell books, Driven to Distraction and Delivered From Distraction, and the Kate Kelly book, You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder. These books can help you navigate through what ADD/ADHD is and how it affects people like you. For the most part, these books make excellent references for what is ADD and also for what is not ADD. They are also very helpful for showing you that you are not alone and that there are many successful people who have ADD and cope with many of the same things you do. What they seem to be missing are specific practical advice or techniques that a person with ADD can use in their daily lives.

If you read many finance books eventually you’ll notice that virtually all of them have some version of the idea that if you give up your daily latte and saved the money instead that you would make millions of dollars after 30 years or whatever. That’s great, but what else is there?

As you read books about ADD and ADHD, you’ll find that the common “solution” is something called a launch pad. A launch pad is basically a place where you put necessary items so that you don’t forget them, or spend time looking for them. Things like keys, watches, wallet, that report for work and so on all should go on your launch pad. That’s great, but what else is there?

ADHD and Focus

The truth is that everyone whether they have ADD/ADHD or not has a finite amount of things they can focus on. For people with ADD this may be more noticeable than for others. However, ADD/ADHD is not some crippling disease. It can’t stop you from achieving what you want to achieve, but it can make things a little more burdensome. Imagine a child who is left handed. Always an overachiever, this child goes through school earning nothing but praise and high marks until one day, he gets a disappointing grade in handwriting. The problem? Using the same spiral notebooks as everyone else causes him discomfort when he tries to write because his arm lays across the metal spirals. This isn’t a problem and needed be the cause of any troubles for the child as long as someone notices and provides a solution. A notebook that has a top spiral for example, or maybe a notebook specially made for left-handed people with the spirals on the the opposite side.

ADD Tips Tricks and Stuff

That is what ADDessories is all about. As a person goes through their life with ADD there are literally hundreds or thousands of tricks and tips and tools than can make those little burdens a little less difficult. These tools are the accessories, or more specifically ADDessories, that provide practical real world solutions for people with ADD.

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