Families

Responsibility for the outcome of an ADHD student’s education is a collaborative effort, and should involve a teacher, parent, student and most importantly an ADHD Coach. But how much responsibility does each one contribute? How and when do we give ownership of ADHD and its cognitive, behavioral, and emotional outcomes to the student?

While the solutions are not difficult, they take time for the ADHD student to adjust and implement. It all begins with a solid education on what it truly means to live with AD/HD, not to have AD/HD. There are many outcomes expressed by this population that are very misunderstood. If they are misunderstood, then your approach to helping the student cannot produce a lasting effect. This is the most frustrating part of working with the AD/HD population. If the right strategies are taught with greater patience, success will follow. And that success is felt by the teacher, the parent and the student.

I am an adult with AD/HD who has raised children with ADD, ADHD, anxiety and depression. I work to help students and their families understand just how AD/HD affects so many aspects of their life. Until they understand that their thought process is different – and not just through conversation, it will be difficult for them to consistently implement the skills that you – the parent – are teaching them. When the results are not effective, then everyone is frustrated and aggravated.

Coaching

AD/HD affects the whole family. That is not to say that the person with AD/HD is the cause of family disagreements or troubles; nor does it say that you are a bad parent or that your child is willful and chooses to make his life difficult. AD/HD is a complex disability and until the person with AD/HD can understand how they think differently, it will always be difficult for them to understand what it means to be off task.

Coaching begins with a unique way of describing and understanding how AD/HD affects the individual and the family over a lifetime. The first two sessions are with the family and from there I work with the student (and a parent if they wish) on specific issues and concerns. Each session requires the student or family to practice a skill or to observe a behavior before returning for the next appointment. After going through the first 2-3 sessions, you can continue coaching to address some of the topics listed below. Some coaching is done over the telephone.

Coaching for the family is setup by appointment only.

Three sessions include:

1st session: 1.5 hours

  • Understand how the mind processes thoughts and ideas so rapidly using visuals that children and adults can relate to without all the medical terms.
  • Observe how our interactive skills may cause difficulties and misunderstandings between family members

2nd session: 1 hour

  • Manage the challenge of effective communication skills
  • Learn skills to help with reading and recall
  • Develop skills to manage long-term assignments (This may be customized to your child’s needs.)

3rd session: 1 hour

  • Planning and organizational skills for homework
  • Learn to manage time to do homework
  • Strategies and structures: It’s more than just writing down the assignment

After these 3 initial sessions, you can schedule appointments as needed to continue developing the skills you learned. You can also utilize coaching to keep your student on track as often as you feel necessary.

Outcomes:

  • Better understanding of how family/school interactions affect your child’s school outcome and what to do to maintain changes.
  • A system that brings consistency into your child’s live and future endeavors.

Other Topics Discussed in Coaching

  • Working together as a family to respect the time of others
  • Communication/Interactive Skills
  • Managing angry outbursts
  • Responsible planning skills
  • Help students to manage homework
  • Using Behavior Response strategies
  • Creating workable lists
  • The study environment

Workshops Available For Your School Or Organization

These are 2 hour workshops – Please contact me for further information

  • The Successful ADHD Student
  • When the Parent and Child have AD/HD
  • Parenting Skills for ADHD
  • Communicating with your Physician

2-Day family workshop

Please use my contact form here to learn how to bring this hands-on workshop to your area.

Support Groups

  • Get information about the support group Joyce runs in West Lake, OH here.
  • Visit CHADD at www.chadd.org to find a group nearest you

Success Stories

Just wanted to thank you for giving us some hope in working with our AD/HD. It is great to see someone with your enthusiasm and positive reinforcement in dealing with these issues. Thanks for taking the time to teach these classes. . .

(8/99)

You provide a very strong role model for ADD students. The fact that you have ADD and so obviously have it under control was a real eye-opener for him. He [our son] looks forward to the meetings every week.

(3/99)

When I saw [our 14 yr old son] last night just after your class, he was so excited! He showed me his notebook and the notes that he took. He told me all about the famous people with ADD. He showed me the picture of the head and what you talked about. Thank you so much. He can’t wait until next week!

(2/00)

. . . . I just want to thank you for the very valuable lessons on life you shared with [our family]. You are providing a very real and helpful service. We have shared our experiences with the Laurelwood Group . . . and we were able to re-evaluate the direction we were taking regarding medications.

(5/00)

I recently made a vow to myself that this is the year I get help for my son and wondered where to start—then I saw your articles in the Press! He is 13—entering 8th grade. Each year he starts the school year out very optimistically, telling me—‘I know how to act now and I’m going to get all A’s and B’s and not get in trouble.’—followed by the same old reports from most teachers —‘He’s a good kid BUT—he’s disruptive, he doesn’t pay attention, his grades are very inconsistent, he doesn’t do his homework.’ I see him do his homework—but he forgets to hand in or truly believes he has when in fact he hasn’t!. I did the train story with him [from the article you wrote] and he just lit up—like WOW she gets how I think!

(8/02)

I would just like to share with you how excited we are about these workshops. With just the few basics you touched on at the meeting in LaGrange, we have already seen some changes in our 12 year old. My wife and I came home that night with a renewed hope.

(5/00)

I sincerely want to thank you for getting me on the right path to helping Jenny. I’m starting to feel a little more relaxed.

(8/99)

I have worked closely with doctors and teachers to co-ordinate [son’s] progress. Your initial public seminar opened my eyes. . . . , the major benefit to me of the series was to realize that we need to begin to transfer the responsibility for management of [his] ADD to him over the next few years. For [him], the chance to get to know other kids his age who are struggling with ADD was a real plus.

(3/99)


Education Plan: Comments on the 3rd quarter of the school year, from a 14-year old who attended the workshops. Educators were not aware that he had attended the Parent-Student Workshops at Bridge To Success.

Through the first half of the year, it did not seem as if . . . grades mattered to him much at all. After the third quarter one would be hard pressed to believe he was even the same person. [He] raised his grade point average roughly two whole points from the 2nd to 3rd quarters. [His] English teacher said ‘he has begun to work on areas of weakness, if he can continue this his grades and self-esteem should continue to go up.” [He], who was very disorganized and inconsistent throughout the first two quarters, was very self-reliant and responsible for studying and turning in almost every assignment issued to him. No excuses and no lost papers such as in the past.

(5/00)

Dear Mrs. Kubik, thank you for teaching me about my ADD. You were a good teacher

(2/01)