Your ADD / ADHD News

ADHD can cost adults 20 or more workdays a year

When "Fidgety Philip" grows up, the problems of attention deficit disorder can multiply into loss of nearly a month's work per year.

Long seen as a problem for children, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was first described in 1845 by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman, who wrote "The Story of Fidgety Philip."

More recently, it has been recognized as continuing into adulthood for some people, and new research seeks to estimate the effect of ADHD on workers.

This lack of ability to concentrate costs the average adult sufferer 22.1 days of "role performance," per year, including 8.7 extra days absent, according to researchers led by Dr. Ron de Graaf of the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction.

Read More>>>

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>>

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.

New Information Published About Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Supports Previous Research Regarding Potentially Significant Impacts on Social, Financial and Personal Aspects of Life

Nationally recognized Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) authority Russell Barkley, Ph.D., has embarked on a national speaking tour to discuss the symptoms of ADHD in adults and the potentially serious consequences these symptoms may have on the life of an adult living with this disorder. ADHD is believed to affect an estimated 8.1 percent of adults, or 9.2 million adults across the U.S. based on a retrospective survey of adults aged 18 to 44, projected to the full U.S. adult population. The purpose of this tour is to help raise awareness about the importance of identifying, diagnosing and treating adult ADHD.

In children, ADHD may interfere with paying attention in school, completing homework or making friends. Difficulties experienced in childhood may continue into adulthood. The symptoms of ADHD in adults may lead to potentially serious consequences. Surveys have shown that when compared with their non-ADHD peers, adults with ADHD may be:

    --  Three times more likely to be currently unemployed
    --  Two times more likely to have problems keeping friends
    --  Forty-seven percent more likely to have trouble saving money to pay bills
    --  Four times more likely to have contracted a sexually transmitted disease

"This educational initiative is meant to provide information about ADHD in adults including the results of recent studies of adults with ADHD concerning their symptoms, impairments and functionality in many domains of life that support the results of previous research in this area," said Dr. Barkley author of a recently published book, ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says.

Fidget to Focus Teleclass

On Tuesday November 27, 2007 at 9:00 pm EST ADHD Coach Sarah Wright along with Roland Rotz will be leading the free teleclass Fidget to Focus through ADDClasses.com. Sarah Wright and Roland Rotz are co-authors of the book Fidget to Focus. This teleclass is free and registered participants can either call in using a telephone or listen live over the Internet. Sign up now at www.addclasses.com

How ADHD has given me the drive to become a top filmmaker

Criminologist and broadcaster Roger Graef has an extraordinary work rate. Last year alone he produced 13 films. The secret of his success? He attributes it to a mild case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Here, he argues that we should make more of ADHD's positive aspects. . .

Now well past pensionable age, it's very late in the day for me to be coming out.

But I have had a revelation recently that made sense of a great many unexplained things in my life.

Read More>>>

Pay attention! Adult ADHD makes job difficult

Doctors increasingly seeing patients who were not diagnosed as children

Taking his son to the doctor turned out to be very revealing for Larry McElyea. As he watched Dr. Joel Sussman test the boy for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, commonly known as ADHD, McElyea’s jaw dropped.

“That’s me, that’s how I was in school,” McElyea thought.

As it turns out, McElyea’s son was fine — but he, at age 49, was a perfect case.

Adults with ADHD face difficulties in many areas of their lives, notably, in the workplace. Untreated, many continually face frustration and dissatisfaction, and end up going from job to job without success.

Read More>>>

ADHD in Adults Can Hurt Job Performance, Relationships

According to the April issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter, more than half of children with ADHD can expect to contend with the condition as adults. ADHD in adults often is more subtle than in children, but still can be troublesome. It usually presents itself in one of two ways or a combination:

Inattention: Prioritizing and focusing on tasks can be enormous challenges. Organizing work or following instructions may be more difficult than it is for others.

Excessive levels of activity or difficult-to-control impulses: Adults with ADHD aren’t likely to be as physically active as hyperactive children with ADHD. Instead, adults may experience ongoing feelings of restlessness or have trouble relaxing. An adult may always feel the need to be on the go. Impulsivity may show up as impatience, mood swings, intense anger outbursts or trouble with relationships.

Read More>>>

Organized at Work

Dates: March 21, 28 & April 4, 11

Time: 9:00 pm ET

Fee: $127 $97 if you register by 3/16/07

What you will learn:

• How to get control of your paperwork and your projects a work
• How to create a super efficient office and work space
• How to get control of your schedule and stop feeling rushed
• How to organize your professional finances
• How to create quick routines to stay organized
• How to use your personal strengths as a benefit at work

Sign up now at http://www.beorganizedatwork.com