Episode 098 | Understanding Your ADHD Child

Understand the brain of an ADHD child, and how the family can work together to support their heart, mind, and spirit.

Meet the Author

Dr. Sharon Saline is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than 30 years’ experience, is a top expert on ADHD, anxiety, learning differences and mental health challenges and their impact on school and family dynamics.

Her unique perspective, a sibling of a child who wrestled with untreated ADHD, combined with decades of academic excellence and clinical experience, assists her in guiding families as they navigate from the confusing maze of diagnoses and conflict to successful interventions and connections.

Dr. Saline funnels this expertise into her new book, What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life. Heralded as an invaluable resource, her book is the recipient of two highly-acclaimed awards: Best Book Awards winner by American Book Fest and the Gold Medal from Moms’ Choice Awards. Dr. Saline is a member of ADDitude Magazine’s ADHD Specialist Panel.

Busting the Myths of the “Bad Kid”

“When a child lives with ADHD, the whole family lives with ADHD.”

It’s all too common for kids who are misbehaving to be labeled as a “bad kid,” and then to have well-meaning people assign a solution to their behavior problems:

He just needs more discipline.

She need to focus better in class.

The truth is, some children struggle with ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit [Hyperactivity] Disorder. This is a very real and chronic condition that causes a lot of mental and emotional strain on a family if not diagnosed early.

“We all have strengths and challenges. Kids with ADHD have challenges that outnumber their strengths… significantly.”

Dr. Saline describes this as a disregulation of control over behavior, meaning, children with this disorder cannot regulate their emotions, responses, or actions as a neuro-typical child would.

Executive Functioning Skills

Our decision-making process is regulated by our 11 Executive Function Skills:

1. Response Inhibition
2. Working Memory
3. Emotional Control
4. Sustained Attention
5. Task Initiation
6. Planning and Prioritizing
7. Organization
8. Time Management
9. Goal-Directed Persistence
10. Flexibility / Shifting Focus
11. Metacognition

For ADHD children, many of these abilities are difficult to manage, not necessarily because they are stubborn and disobedient, but because their brain cannot process them as quickly as a child with a neuro-typical brain.

Empathic Parenting

“Fear is not what we want to inject into our relationships. We want kids to cooperate because they love us.”

Dr. Saline will describe how our responses as parents can make a drastic difference. Some parenting styles that we were raised with are not always effective with an ADHD child. Learn what empathic parenting sounds like, and how using these skills can help your child develop the skills they need to thrive.