Nathaniel Sloan's List: AD/HD

• The first step to improved social interactions is to become aware of what you are doing that is harmful.
• Are you truly listening or are you only waiting until you can put in your two cents worth?
• What about changing the topic, going off on an unrelated tangent? Again, become aware if you have a tendency to do this and stop yourself. People don't appreciate it and will not view you kindly.
• • Be wary of this one.. Although, yes, "normal" people have problems following the tangents you can go on, there's a good reason why you're able to go from "A" to "B" to "T" so easily.. Everything is connected. Inadvertantly, I built up a group of close friends who I eventually found out either are, or probably are AD/HD.. and tangents are a great way to discuss a topic. Without them your range of consideration is minimized; not taking the opportunity to realize why seamingly unrelated topics, aren't.
    
    I'd say just try to do it purposly, and get others to stop you if they're not following. -O)
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• Being aware of these thoughts is the first step to getting better control of them.
• When you repeatedly engage in negative self talk, you begin to limit yourself and your abilities. To change this pattern, an individual must actively practice positive self talk.
• Try to become that neutral observer of yourself.
• Do you tend to minimize or ignore your accomplishments and magnify the negatives?
• If you have a negative thought, try to reframe it in a more positive way.
• “Always” or “never” implies that you aren’t capable of doing things differently and such absolutes can carry negative connotations.
• Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to another person.

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• When we have ADHD, “we tend to overlook what our bodies and minds need due to distraction and hyperfocusing,”
• “Flight attendants instruct you that in the event of an emergency, you need to put on your oxygen mask before you put on your child's mask -- therefore, you need to take care of yourself before you can effectively take care of anyone else.”
• Eat at Regular Intervals, and Always Carry Snacks with You.
• Get at Least 7 to 8 hours of Quality Sleep Every Night
• Exercise for at Least 30 Minutes Every Morning.
• Practice Optimism

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• One form of ADHD with cognitive anxiety becomes stuck on the details, and presents as overwhelmed and indecisive. They think so much, about so many details, they simply can't decide. They need a life partner to decide the next moves. These folks start falling apart in the 5th, 6th, or 7th grades, most often the 6th because the work load changes.
• A - The Stuck Form: One form of ADHD with cognitive anxiety becomes stuck on the details, and presents as overwhelmed and indecisive.
• C- The Combo Form; Some individuals with pervasive cognitive anxiety wax and wane between these latter two subtypes. At work they can be strong and decisive as they understand the context and have mastered that game. At home they may have trouble with family, with errands and lack of structure. The spouse often wonders why they are so effective over there, but so ineffective here

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• Exercise almost immediately elevates dopamine and norepinephrine and keeps them up for a period of time so that it acts like a little bit of Ritalin or Adderall.
• senses are heightened, their focus and mood are improved,
• Exercise creates the environment for our brain cells to wire together, which is the basic building block of learning.
• Exercise is also perhaps the best way to increase neurogenesis, which is the making of new neurons that happens on its own daily.

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• 1. Focus on your priorities
• 2. Organise your space
• 3. Plan and prepare
• 4. Minimise time traps
• 5. Create quiet time

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• Slow down.
• Wait your turn.
• Talk about what you hear
• See what you hear.
• Listen for the me-me-me words
• Ask questions

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• people with ADHD may have difficulty interpreting what their body is trying to tell them

• Either define, accept, and develop your gifts, or deny your gifts by fulfilling the wishes of others.
• Either honor your need for independence and find some true peers, or tolerate isolation, misunderstanding, or loneliness.
• Either take reasonable risks and avoid those that endanger your mission, or play it safe on the sidelines, risking a life full of regrets.
• Either manage the boundaries in interpersonal relationships to be wisely discriminating, or pass up intimacy altogether.
• Either listen to inner guidance and activate your soul's intention, or refuse to hear and bury your creative spirit in a one-dimensional reality.
• Either use your exceptional gifts to benefit humankind, or indulge yourself in spirit-devouring self-gratification.
• Either value the different traits and abilities of others, or remain immaturely intolerant of others, chronically impatient and perennially disappointed.
• Either turn frustration and rejection into creative energy, or cling to resentment and surrender your dreams.
• Either initiate a balanced plan of Self-maintenance strategies, or wait for external sources to dictate and control your life.

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• • Am I a good listener? 
  • Do I have difficulty interpreting what others are saying? 
  • Do I communicate clearly, or am I often misunderstood by others? 
  • Am I able to receive criticism without attacking or surrendering to the criticism? 
  • Am I able to give criticism appropriately, so it is valued by the person receiving it and not offensive or hurtful? 
  • Am I able to be assertive without provoking anger or causing the other person to respond defensively? 
  • Can I give and receive compliments well? 
  • Can I manage my anger and be proactive with problem solving? 
  • Do I have stress management skills to remain calm in tense situations? 
  • Do I often feel awkward or out of place in social situations? 
• Search out available courses in your community

• 1. Broken Record Response:
• 2. Emphatic Escalation:
• 3. Sensitive Listening:

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• Acknowledge and paraphrase.
• Learn from it.
• Acknowledge and paraphrase
• Learn from it

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• An alarm is set to go off one hour before the person actually plans to rise. When the alarm rings, the patient rouses himself enough to take the medication and goes back to sleep.
• many people report that they sharpen their sense of time and time management once their internal clock is set properly.

• • Organizing and activating to begin work activities. 
  • Sustaining alertness, energy, and effort. 
• People with DSPS report that they can experience a normal sleep phase — for example, get into bed, fall asleep quickly, sleep undisturbed for eight hours, and awake refreshed — but that their brains and bodies want that cycle from 4 a.m. until noon. This is a pattern reported by more than half of adults with ADHD
• the signal which sets the internal circadian clock (the gradual changes in light caused by the sun's setting and rising) is weak in people with ADHD. As a result, their circadian clock is never truly set,
• may also account for the difficulty that many with ADHD have in judging the passage of time.
• Consequently, they experience only two times: "now" and "not now."
• Many people with ADHD are at their best at night. They are most energetic, thinking clearest, and most stable after the sun goes down

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• Sufferers often call it "perverse sleep"—when they want to be asleep, they are awake; when they want to be awake, they are asleep.
• 1. Initiation Insomnia
• 2. Restless Sleep
• 3. Difficulty Waking
• 4. Intrusive Sleep

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• chronic stress and discouragement that come from living with ADHD.

• some ADHD experts believe that taking a stimulant 45 minutes before bedtime can shut off buzzing brains

• The treatment of adult ADHD begins with hope.
• The emotional experience of ADHD is filled with embarrassment, humiliation, and self-castigation.
• adults with ADHD have visionary imaginations.
• their capacity to hope and to dream is immense
• thrive on dreams
• The adult would rather keep his mouth shut than risk flubbing things up once more.
• • Diagnosis
   
  • Education
   
  • Structure, support, and coaching
   
  • Various forms of psychotherapy
   
  • Medication
• Be sure of the diagnosis
• most powerful treatment for ADHD is understanding
• Coaching
• Encouragement.
• They will often work for another person in a way they won't work for themselves.
• Educate and involve others
• Give up guilt over high-stimulus-seeking behavior.
• Listen to feedback from trusted others.
• Consider joining or starting a support group
• get rid of the negativity
• Give yourself permission to be yourself.
• Remember that what you have is a neuropsychiatric condition.
• Try to help others with ADHD.
• External structure.
• Make frequent use of: 
   
  • lists
   
  • color-coding
   
  • reminders
   
  • notes to self
   
  • rituals
   
  • files
• Use pizzazz
• Set up your environment to reward rather than deflate.
• Acknowledge and anticipate the inevitable collapse of X% of projects undertaken, relationships entered into, obligations incurred.
• Embrace challenges.
• Make deadlines.
• Break down large tasks into small ones.
• Prioritize.
• Accept fear of things going well.
• Notice how and where you work best:
• Know that it is O.K. to do two things at once:
• Do what you're good at.
• Leave time between engagements to gather your thoughts.
• Keep a notepad
• Read with a pen in hand
• Have structured "blow-out" time.
• Recharge your batteries.
• Choose "good", helpful addictions such as exercise
• Understand mood changes and ways to manage these.
• recognize the following cycle which is very common among adults with ADHD: Something "startles" your psychological system, a change or transition, a disappointment or even a success.
• Plan scenarios to deal with the inevitable blahs.
• Expect depression after success.
• Learn symbols, slogans, sayings as shorthand ways of labelling and quickly putting into perspectives slip-ups, mistakes, or mood swings.
• These are not excuses. You still have to take responsibility for your actions.
• Use "time-outs" as with children.
• Learn how to advocate for yourself.
• Avoid premature closure of a project, a conflict, a deal, or a conversation.
• Try to let the successful moment last and be remembered
• Remember that ADHD usually includes a tendency to overfocus or hyperfocus at times.
• Exercise vigorously and regularly.
• Make a good choice in a significant other
• Learn to joke with yourself and others about your various symptoms
• Schedule activities with friends.
• Find and join groups where you are liked, appreciated, understood, enjoyed
• Pay compliments.
• Set social deadlines.

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• A blink occurs as the ADDers attention involuntarily shifts focus from what is relevant to something irrelevant. This shift from a 'local" situation (such as talking, reading, or working) to some other internal mental content (e.g., a thought, picture memory, or plan) blocks the local information.
• These gaps in the intake of local information are often erroneously mistaken as memory problems.
• After leaping back to the current event, the ADDer may have a moment of disorientation.
• It does not get lost, it gets missed or absorbed.
• The shy and somewhat "battered" ADDer will withdraw until class participation is minimal.
• A skillful and confident ADDer with tact and fast talk will go on like nothing was wrong.
• This all-encompassing aspect is significant because, when an ADDer's attention switches into deep concentration on a tangent track, all other information that could be received is missed.
• ADDer's attention MAY go whenever and wherever it is taken
• Most people mistakenly assume that with effort, dedication, or diligence, those with ADD could be attentive
• Blinks chop the ADDer's attention into ever-changing, inter linked segments.
• Thoughts spring from one to another other and then wander on.
• 
          Blinks are a constant hindrance to fluid thinking or leaning
• The missing "local" information during the distraction is the root of many educational, social, and emotional problems.
• ADDers miss more relevant input in large rooms and in one-on-one conversations they may seem uninterested because of their shifting eye or head movements.
• This is where the creativity, attributed to ADDers, is processed.
• This is a case where the thoughts processed while in a blink become consciously recorded as the main conversation.
• exaggerated by the need to constantly start over
• Children with ADD have had so many miscues that their experience regularly proves the "wrong" answer is often a possible solution.
• I have developed systems of dealing with things based on incomplete information.
• This strikes at the very heart of learning. In the ADDer's case, hard knocks are more frequent and more painful.
• 
          The intelligent ADDer will compare many experiences and, over a period of time make a preset choice based on a previous set of actions that has proved most frequently to produce favorable results.
• Most ADDers with average or superior intelligence get by well enough to complete high school.
• Many do not hit the "wall" until college
• The observable body language that shows as one blinks away may look rude or even antisocial.
• It may not be a matter of being able to act but rather not being available to respond properly.
• The medicine enables or corrects an imbalance in the brain chemistry
• Medication can remove up to 90% of distractibility for persons with ADD.
• "You cannot behaviorally modify a physical condition."
• my energy level is increased while sometimes I'm downright calm
• Problems are reduced because I can voluntarily attend and when a sound, movement, or thought flashes by, I can hold my thoughts on what I am doing
• The medication allows me to work things through to the end, thereby reducing the number of things left undone.
• A person's perspective comes from the knowledge they build as a matter of interpretation from many situations. What one brings to a situation as a result of growing up affects their interpretation. ADDers cannot avoid being creatures of their past, we all see what our eyes have been shown.

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• By virtue of their giftedness, the range of tasks that are perceived as "effortless" is broader for gifted children,
• positive aspect of task commitment and a sign of motivation
• problem when the child is asked to shift from one task to another.
• This difficulty occurs when a student's over-reliance on strengths inadvertently obscures the disability.
• lead to a worse predicament in which the student distrusts his or her abilities because of the struggle to maintain them.
• the condition can not only inhibit, but enhance the realization of gifts and talents. 

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