Your ADD / ADHD News

Help Parents of Students with ADHD Recover Expert Witness Fees!

PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES ON Tuesday, MAY 6, AND ASK THEM TO CO-SPONSOR THE IDEA FAIRNESS RESTORATION ACT, H.R. 4188. 

Find your Representative's Phone Number HERE.

The CHADD Public Policy Team alerted you in February about H.R. 4188, a forthcoming bill that would reimburse expert witness legal fees to parents of children with AD/HD who prevail in a hearing under IDEA.

If there is a dispute between the family and the school system which results in a hearing, the family may want to bring in an expert witness.

Few parents can afford the thousands of dollars needed to pay for expert testimony.  H.R. 4188, introduced by Congressman Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) and Pete Sessions (Texas), will restore Congress' original intent, and enable parents to recover these fees. 

Congress intended for parents to recover their expert witness fees in the Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986.  But the Supreme Court in Arlington Central School District v. Murphy (2006) held that the law was not explicit enough and parents could not recover their expert fees.  The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act is necessary to restore Congress' original intent and allow parents to recover fees.   

Congress needs to hear from as many parents and child advocates as possible.
If you cannot call on May 6, it is fine to call afterwards. 

H.R. 4188 is sponsored by 20 representatives, but more cosponsors are needed to help build support for the bill.  The following are already sponsors: Neil Abercrombie (HI), Richard Baker (LA), Earl Blumenauer (OR), Ginny Brown-Waite (FL), Dan Burton (IN), Steve Cohen (TN), Danny Davis (IL), Peter DeFazio (OR), Charles Gonzalez (TX), Michael Honda (CA), Ray LaHood (IL), Zoe Lofgren (CA), James Moran (VA), Grace Napolitano (CA), Donald Payne (NJ), Janice Schakowsky (IL), Pete Sessions (TX), Pete Stark (CA), Chris Van Hollen (MD), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL).  We thank them for their support!  Let's add more!

Want more information?

Click here for Reimbursement for Expert Legal Fees Web Posting

The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents

  The Living with ADD Book for the month for April 2008 is The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents. Nancy Ratey provides just the right combination of her own personal experiences along with helpful tips and strategies. The book has a very ADHD-Friendly setup and is very easy to read. The Tips and strategies are also very useful and easy to implement. This book is a must have for adults with ADHD!

On Tuesday April 22, 2008 at 8:00 pm Eastern Nancy Ratey author of The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents will be leading the special free TeleSeminar  The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents through ADDClasses.com

Free ADHD TeleSeminars

Parenting Children with ADHD
Tuesday March 18, 2008
Time: 9:00 pm Eastern
Instructor: Rory Stern, PsyD

ADD and the Spirit
Wednesday March 19, 2008
Time: 3:00 pm Eastern
Instructor: Kate Kelly (Author of You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!)

Registered participants can call into the Teleseminars over the telephone or listen live over the Internet. The live classes are free but space is limited!

Sign up now at : http://www.addclasses.com/course/category.php?id=13

House Mental Health Partity Vote Coming Up!

Our friends at the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry have shared with us a planned vote on The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 (HR 1424), tentatively scheduled for March 5.

This much-needed legislation addresses discrimination in group health insurance plans against people dealing with mental health or substance abuse issues. It will close loopholes that allow discrimination in co-payment, co-insurance, deductibles, maximum out-of-pocket limit and day and visit limitations. It would apply to group health plans already providing mental health benefits and excludes health plans sponsored by employers of fewer than 50 people.

The Senate has already passed a version of this bill. The House must now pass this bill in order for a conference committee on legislation to be convened. Once convened, the committee will work out the differences between the two bills so a strong parity bill can be signed this year!

How you can help:
Call your U.S. Representative on March 4 and encourage him or her to vote "YES" on HR 1424 The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 and "NO" to any amendments that would weaken the bill.

When you contact your representative's office, ask for the Health Legislative Assistant. If leaving a voicemail, include your name and phone number where you can be reached.

Check out CHADD's "Where We Stand: Mental Health Parity" statement here for more information on mental health parity.

Sample message:
"I am calling to ask that Representative ________________  not allow another year to go by without passing mental health parity legislation. A lack of parity in health insurance is one of the key barriers in treat for children and adults with AD/HD. I urge Representative ___________ to vote in support of The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007. If I can be of further assistance, please let me know. Thank you."

Free ADHD TeleSeminars

Overcoming Anger and Frustration
in Relationships Affected by ADHD
Tues Feb 26 - 9:00 pm EST
Instructor: Melissa Orlov

The Perfectionism Battle
Wed Feb 27 - 3:00 pm EST
Instructor: Sheri Hall

Sign up now for these free Teleseminars at: http://www.addclasses.com/course/category.php?id=13

Distance Learning Helps Chronically Disorganized Adults

ADDClasses.com is a distance learning source helping to educate and support people affected by Attention Deficit Disorder. Each month www.ADDClasses.com offers free ADHD related Teleseminars. In addition to the free Teleseminars ADDClasses.com also offers a Library of ADHD related Audio courses and more in depth ADD Coaching Programs.

The most popular ADD Coaching Program offered by www.ADDClasses.com is Adult ADD BootCamp - Organized and in Control. Adult ADD BootCamp is a 6 week intensive distance education program teaching chronically disorganized adults skills and strategies to support them in getting their lives organized and back in control. Adult ADD BootCamp participants don't just learn the skills they also practice and apply them during this 6 week program. Adult ADD Bootcamp uses the ADD Audio Coach by Linda Hillger and Richard Carlson as the text for the program.

 
Adult ADD BootCamp is led by Linda Hillger who is an ADHD Coach, Professional Organizer and Author. "Over the past three years Linda Hillger and the Adult ADD BootCamp have helped hundreds of chronically disorganized adults get their lives back in control", says Tara McGillicuddy director of www.ADDClasses.com. The next session of Adult ADD Bootcamp begins on Wednesday March 5, 2008 at 9:00 pm EST.

Read More>>

ADHD Brain Power Teleseminar

On Tuesday February 19, 2008 at 9:00 pm EST ADHD Coach Lyn Purpura is offering the free TeleSeminar ADHD and Boosting Brain Power through ADDClasses.com. In this TeleSeminar participants will learn how Multi-modal interventions including Mindfulness, Exercise, Diet and Sleep help children and Adults with ADHD boost brain power. Registered participants can listen to this live Teleseminar for free over the Internet or over the telephone.

Sign up now for this Free ADHD Teleseminar>>>

Restore Employment and Education Rights for Adults and Children with ADHD

Are you a working adult who has ADHD? Are you a student concerned about receiving appropriate accommodations at your college or university? Does your child attend a private school that does not receive federal financial assistance? 

If the answer is yes, then the Americans with Disabilities Restoration Act is crucial legislation for you to know about. The original Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990 and is the major civil rights law for people with disabilities. Since then the courts have significantly narrowed the reach of the law and made it very difficult for a person with any cognitive or mental disability to be protected. 

The ADA Restoration Act, now before Congress, will restore the original intent of the law and protect all people with disabilities. This is particularly important in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in employment and students in private schools, colleges and universities.

Learn more and find out how you can make a difference>>>

ADD Forums 2.0

In December ADD Forums made the long awaited upgrade to the latest incarnation of its forum software. This new generation of software offers expanded functionality and features such as expanded profiles with "friend’s lists", personal photo galleries, etc.

Today ADD Forums added a new Blogging system where each ADD Forums member can have his or her own blog, respond to other member’s blogs and more.

In the coming weeks ADD Forums will be adding a completely new chat system and many other new features that have been requested and are becoming available.

ADHD and Romantic Relationships

Maintaining a romantic relationship is difficult. Maintaining a relationship where one or both partners have ADD is next to impossible ... or is it?

Beginning tonight, the ADD Book Club will be reading A.D.D. & Romance: Finding Fulfillment in Love, Sex, and Relationships, by Jonathan Halverstadt. Invite your spouse/partner to join , as well.

Sign up now for the ADD Book Club at www.addbookclub.com

In ADD and Romance, licensed therapist Jonathan Scott Halverstadt looks at how ADD can damage romantic relationships when partners do not take time, or do not know how, to address this unique problem. The book aims to give people with ADD and their partners the tools they need to build and sustain a more satisfying and fulfilling relationship.

Halverstadt advises on how to foster empathy and respect between partners in an ADD relationship, focusing on issues such as how ADD factors into the selection of romantic partners; the problems ADD creates in relationships; the strengths ADD brings to relationships; the challenges of good communication in an ADD relationship; sexual intimacy and ADD; long-term challenges for ADD relationships; and coping when a relationship fails.

Sign up now for the ADD Book Club at www.addbookclub.com