Colleen Alexander-Roberts - The ADHD Parenting Handbook: Practical Advice for Parents from Parents

THE
AD/HD
PARENTING
HANDBOOK

Practical Advice
for Parents from Parents

Second Edition

COLLEEN ALEXANDER-ROBERTS

Copyright 2006 by Colleen Alexander-Roberts
First Taylor Trade Publishing edition 2006

This Taylor Trade Publishing paperback edition of The AD/HD Parenting Handbook is an original publication. It is published by arrangement with the author.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

Published by Taylor Trade Publishing
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alexander-Roberts, Colleen.

The AD/HD parenting handbook : practical advice for parents from parents / Colleen Alexander-Roberts. 2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-10: 1-58979-283-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-13: 978-1-58979-283-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorderPopular works. 2. Child rearingPopular works. I. Title.

RJ506.H9A58 2006

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.481992.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

, by Louis B. Cady, MD

, by Mary D. Squire, PhD

,

by Louis B. Cady

NO MATTER what I read, whether it is some longhair academic paper from ivory-tower land or a book directed to the general public, I always have a few standards by which I judge the content: Does this material make sense? Does it have real-world application?

In The AD/HD Parenting Handbook: Practical Advice for Parents from Parents by my friend Colleen Alexander-Roberts, the answer to both questions is a resounding Yes!

The first thing that leaps out at me, as a trained physician and psychiatrist, is that this book is accurate in its descriptions of AD/HD and related psychological and psychiatric conditions. (I am particularly pleased to have been invited to write the chapter on medications, so I am certain that the material on medications is as accurate and up-to-date as possible!) The second, and probably the most important, thing is that for all its technical accuracy, this book has practical, everyday techniques for application and changing both child and parent behavior. It clues the reader in to what the life journey with a child with AD/HD might be like, what it could be like, and how to advocate for your child, and yes, even how to enjoy some of the journey together. In that sense, it is a very positive, proactive, and hopeful book.

I have a somewhat unusual and privileged position to write this foreword and endorse this book. I have known your author for more than a decade. We first met on the CompuServe ADD forum at the dawn of the Internet age, even before web browsers were available. All communication was handled by text windows on CompuServe. Talk about the old days!

As Colleen and I got better acquainted, I invited her to speak at three community-wide seminars on AD/HD, which I hosted, several years apart. She graciously accepted each time, and my patients families talked about her straight from the heart style of presentation long after she departed from the scene. Just like everyone else, I heard her stories about how she was in the process of raising two children with AD/HD, one of whom was so wild and out of control that he ran from bathroom to bathroom in the house, stuffing the toilets with toilet paper and then flushing them to make them run over because it seemed like such a wonderfully creative idea! And as Colleen was cleaning up one bathroom, he was on to the next to continue his creative scientific experimentation. She has subsequently raised both of these children successfully. Her book includes over a decade of experiences and insights that were learned in the University of Hard Knocks.

Having Colleen review her real-life experiences, as well as those of so many other parents, brings some common sense and a balanced perspective to what otherwise would have been the all-too-typical book recounting psychiatric symptoms and cookbook-style approaches. With the real-life examples and anecdotes, this book sparkles with warmth, personal investment, and an immense caring for this challenging and frequently brilliant and gifted population.

My patients families and I have all benefited from the wisdom contained in this book. I know that you will too.

Colleen and I both wish you the best of success on your life journey with your child with AD/HD. Although challenging, it can be a grand adventure with a happy and thrilling outcome.

Louis B. Cady, MD

I AM EXTREMELY grateful to Louis B. Cady, MD, a psychiatrist in Evansville, Indiana, for writing the foreword for this book and the chapter on medications, enabling me to provide my readers with the most current information on medication therapy for AD/HD. Louis, you have been a friend for over a decade and you have always been there when I needed your expertise. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the help you have given me over the years.

I am also grateful for the assistance of Bruce A. Pasch, MD, FAAP, who reviewed and edited the manuscript and offered numerous suggestions and tips. He also shared his expertise, spent countless hours working on the manuscript, and supported this project. Not only was Dr. Pasch a great pediatrician to my children when they were younger, but his work with children who have AD/HD and their families is to be commended. Thanks to Mary D. Squire, PhD, for her assistance in reviewing the manuscript, offering suggestions, and sharing the joys and frustrations of parenting children with AD/HD.

I want to thank my dear friend Judith Gilbert for the numerous pages of tips she provided, for the parts of her family life she shared in this book, and for her encouragement and belief in this project. I am grateful for the insight Janet Robinson, RN, PhD, provided on parenting adolescents with AD/HD and for the advice she shared on working with educators. I also wish to thank Kathy Galbreth, a former teacher at Maumee Valley Country Day School in Toledo, Ohio, for reviewing parts of the manuscript and Donna Waghorn, information specialist at the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, for clarifying the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

In writing this book, I relied heavily on the experiences of more than two hundred parents who offered their insight, suggestions, tips, and words of advice. My thanks to all these parents who took the time to fill out questionnaires. I would especially like to thank all my friends who have children with AD/HD who shared their stories, especially Debra Graf, Gary and Joanie Hoffer, and Dianne Gladieux (now deceased) and the many members of Adoptive Families of America and CHADD who graciously shared their thoughts and suggestions, frustrations and fears, and joys so that this book could be written.