“I wish more people understood how it felt to be neurodivergent”: What to Know About Neurodiversity
Time for a societal change? Awareness of neurodiversity is one step, acceptance and valuing these differences are the goals. This would mean a shift from ‘corrective’ behaviour therapy offered by Early Intervention centres. Here’s what to know about the Neurodiversity movement.
‘There is nothing wrong with being neurodiverse. It is simply a different way of thinking. Some of the greatest minds in history are suspected of being neurodiverse and their discoveries have changed the world. If as a society, we could find a way to embrace neurodiversity and support individuals rather than treating it as a problem to be solved, we might be a lot further in finding solutions for some of the major problems we are currently facing’ says Donna who is neurodivergent herself and has two neurodivergent children. As Autism Acceptance Week (previously referred to as Autism Awareness Week) nears, two mamas and Speech and Language Therapists Fátima Ionescu and Melanie Muttit advocate for a societal change to move from awareness of autistic individuals and neurodiversity to acceptance, support and inclusivity instead. The autistic community would like us to move away from Autism Awareness and instead to Autism Acceptance due to the ableist views and perceptions created by Autism Awareness Day. This would also mean not aiming to “fix” or “correct” neurodivergent attributes and characteristics as some Early Intervention centres aim to do and instead looking for neurodiverse-affirming approaches
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YourTango: How To Talk To Kids About School Shootings & Process The Grief We're All Experiencing
"Ten days after the racially-motivated shooting in Buffalo, New York at a grocery store and ten years after the unspeakable tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, Americans are once again dealing with a horrific mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. This small community west of San Antonio will be forever marked by this unspeakable event: parents, siblings, friends, extended family members, coworkers, and neighbors whose lives will never be the same. My thoughts, my heart, and my grief are with the people of Uvalde. This tragedy has also undoubtedly reminded thousands of people who lost loved ones to similar atrocities: Parkland High School, Sandy Hook, Columbine High School, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Charleston, the list goes on and on. It’s nearly impossible not to be affected by this devastating school shooting news. In fact, it may be related to a biological response based on vicarious trauma."
Read the article featured on YourTango!
"How To Talk To Kids About School Shootings & Process The Grief We're All Experiencing"
YourTango: The 4-Step Process That Helps People With ADHD (And Everyone Else!) Break Free Of Bad Habits
"While some habits like engaging in daily exercise, wiping down the kitchen counters before going to bed, or laying out your clothes for the next day can be useful and even good for you, others can hold you back and fuel unwanted clutter, chaos, or unhealthy lifestyles. Habits like these can be even more of a challenge for people with ADHD. But, as the saying goes, "Old habits die hard" and, as much as you may want to change what you know doesn’t serve you, it can seem impossible to make a much-needed shift." Read the full YourTango article for tips on breaking ADHD bad habits and creating new, lasting ones!
Read the full article on YourTango!
"The 4-Step Process That Helps People With ADHD (And Everyone Else!) Break Free Of Bad Habits" by Dr. Sharon Saline
Learn More with Dr. Sharon Saline
Read Related Blog Posts:
- The 4 Steps to New Habits with ADHD: Taking control of your routines to better meet your goals
- Creating an ADHD-Friendly Morning Routine with Your Family: Wake up to a smoother start and a better day
- New Year, New Habits, Same ADHD: How to plan for and maintain new habits together, as a family
Watch Related Videos on Dr. Saline's YouTube Channel:
Lynn C. Davison Q&A with Dr. Sharon Saline: How to Help Our Autistic Young Adults Get Things Done
Video Recording of the Live Q&A on May 13, 2022 with Dr. Sharon Saline and Lynn C. Davison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLXTz2IsLjQ
- Access the transcript here.
- Receive a PDF download of Dr. Saline's 12 GREAT Ideas About Getting Stuff Done: How to improve executive functioning skills through collaboration and harnessing GRIT.
Dr. Sharon Saline Answers Questions About How to Help Our Autistic Young Adults Get Things Done
"We want to meet our kids where they are. And then I think one of the 12 things that may not be but we want to meet our kids where they are rather than where they think they should be. You know, and I think that this is really a challenge for all of us. Whether we are parenting neurotypical or neurodivergent kids. We want to be able to, we have to be able to put aside the things that we think should be this way or the advice that we have and let kids figure it out." – Dr. Sharon Saline
ADDitude Mag - "Why Is Accepting Compliments So Difficult for My Child?"
"Your compliments are intended to convey your pride and enthusiasm about your son’s effort. He dismisses them because of shame, low self-esteem, and his overactive inner critic. If we can address these issues, it will be easier for him to accept your praise."
Read the full ADDitude article!
Q: “Why Is Accepting Compliments So Difficult for My Child?”
Article by Dr. Sharon Saline on ADDitude.com
Psychology Today: How Stress and Self-Sabotage Interfere With ADHD Happiness
"Do you notice that when you feel stressed from work, school, or relationships, some of your ADHD symptoms get more intense? When we are stressed, our weakest executive functioning skills are hit first. This means that you may feel flooded by anxiety or anger, or you may panic about estimating and managing time. Perhaps you distract yourself with everything but the task that is actually stressing you out.” Read the full article by Dr. Saline!
"How Stress and Self-Sabotage Interfere With ADHD Happiness"
By Dr. Sharon Saline on Psychology Today
MSN: An ADHD Specialist Explains Why Female Symptoms Are Often Ignored By Professionals Until Later In Life
"Historically, ADHD was been considered a condition for rambunctious little boys who don't listen to their teachers. However, that stereotype is based mostly upon myth. Plenty of boys with ADHD don't disrupt class, and little girls can also have ADHD — as can adults. This stereotype isn't the only reason little girls often grow into adult women without being diagnosed with ADHD, even when their clinical symptoms should have been clear."
Read the full article on MSN!
"An ADHD Specialist Explains Why Female Symptoms Are Often Ignored By Professionals Until Later In Life" by Dr. Sharon Saline
YourTango: An ADHD Specialist Explains Why Female Symptoms Are Often Ignored By Professionals Until Later In Life
"Historically, ADHD was been considered a condition for rambunctious little boys who don't listen to their teachers. However, that stereotype is based mostly upon myth. Plenty of boys with ADHD don't disrupt class, and little girls can also have ADHD — as can adults. This stereotype isn't the only reason little girls often grow into adult women without being diagnosed with ADHD, even when their clinical symptoms should have been clear."
Read the full article on YourTango!
"An ADHD Specialist Explains Why Female Symptoms Are Often Ignored By Professionals Until Later In Life" by Dr. Sharon Saline
ADHD Online: Understanding Hyperfocus and How to Make It Work For You
"Usually, hyperfocus happens when you’re doing an activity that you find fun or interesting, explains Sharon Saline, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist, author and speaker. But it can also happen when you’re trying to meet a deadline or work through a task you find boring, according to Susan Ciardiello, Ph.D., LCSW, an ADHD coach and psychotherapist. This is what Saline calls “productive hyperfocus,” and it’s the opposite of scrolling for hours. “In a way, hyperfocus is like sustained attention on steroids,” she says."
Read the full article on ADHD Online!
"Understanding Hyperfocus and How to Make It Work For You" by Sarah Ludwig Rausch, featuring Dr. Sharon Saline
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Intrepid Ed News - Dealing with 'Back To School' Anxiety: 5 Tips To Assist Your Child or Teen Make A Smooth Transition
5 Tips to Assist Your Child/Teen With ADHD Make A Smooth Transition: Kids have an incredible radar. They easily pick up when their parents are stressed or anxious, and it increases their own distress, conscious or unconscious. The first step in decreasing the anxiety your child or teen is feeling is to lower your own.
Take a few minutes and discuss your concerns with your partner, a friend, an extended family member, or counselor. Write these down and then strategize responses or to-do action items to each one by creating an "Anxiety Decelerator Plan." This ADP will help you feel like you have some control.
Read the full article!
"Dealing with 'Back to School" Anxiety: 5 Tips To Assist Your Child or Teen With ADHD Make A Smooth Transition" by Dr. Sharon Saline
MSN: The One Word You Must Remove From Your Vocabulary When Parenting Kids With ADHD
"What would it be like to remove the word "failure" from any description of your parenting and replace it with "efforting"? Failure is generally defined as a lack of success. There is a finality associated with the word that doesn’t really apply to the long-haul process of parenting. Parenting is a journey marked by highs and lows, joy and frustration, closeness and disconnection. Parenting a child or teen with ADHD, learning differences, anxiety, depression, addiction or other issues means redefining success. What you see on social media, television, or films may not make sense for your family and your particular situation." "The One Word You Must Remove From Your Vocabulary When Parenting Kids With ADHD" by Dr. Sharon Saline
YourTango: The One Word You Must Remove From Your Vocabulary When Parenting Kids With ADHD
"What would it be like to remove the word "failure" from any description of your parenting and replace it with "efforting"? Failure is generally defined as a lack of success. There is a finality associated with the word that doesn’t really apply to the long-haul process of parenting. Parenting is a journey marked by highs and lows, joy and frustration, closeness and disconnection. Parenting a child or teen with ADHD, learning differences, anxiety, depression, addiction or other issues means redefining success. What you see on social media, television, or films may not make sense for your family and your particular situation."
Read the full article on YourTango!
"The One Word You Must Remove From Your Vocabulary When Parenting Kids With ADHD" by Dr. Sharon Saline
Intrepid Ed News - Knowing what to do next: Tips for better planning and prioritizing
"Does it ever seem like you and your kids have way too much to do, and every task looks equally important and daunting? Many people, especially those with ADHD, struggle to make realistic plans, figure out what the order of doing things should look like, and wrestle with how to get started. Sometimes folks can make a plan but there’s so much packed in that the only way to do it all is to multitask or give up. At other moments, there needs to be a crisis or the possibility that something unpleasant will occur if you don’t do the task right now."
"Knowing what to do next: Tips for better planning and prioritizing" by Dr. Sharon Saline Click here to read the article!
YourTango: 5 Things To Try When Your Kid Says 'No!' To Everything
What can you do when your kid says "No" repeatedly? What is your child really trying to communicate? "Recently, I was in my office with Kieran, an eighth-grade boy who was complaining about being bored after school to his mom, Tara, and me. 'There’s nothing to do except gaming and you only let me do that for an hour. What else am I supposed to do?' His mom gently suggested going back to some activities that had previously interested him — guitar lessons, indoor soccer, swim team, or improvisational theater classes. 'No, no, no.' His mom turned to me and said, 'I used to do this to my mom. She called it ‘Shoot ‘em up, and knock ‘em down.’ There’s never a right answer.'"
Psychology Today – Hyperfocus and ADHD: Productivity Superpower or Kryptonite?
New Psychology Today Article by Dr. Sharon Saline
Four strategies for understanding and managing hyperfocus successfully.
"Are you ever so engrossed in an activity that time seems to stop and nothing can tear you away? Does it ever seem like you lose a sense of where you are and what’s happening around you? This can be the experience of hyperfocus for many people with ADHD. Hyperfocus is defined as “a phenomenon that reflects one’s complete absorption in a task, to a point where a person appears to completely ignore or ‘tune out’ everything else.” Read the full article by Dr. Saline!
Women & ADHD Podcast: How do we know if it’s ADHD?
The ADHD & Women Podcast features Dr. Sharon Saline
"Dr. Saline and I talk about how her interest in ADHD as a psychologist was sparked by her own neurodivergent family. We also talk about inattentive type ADHD in childhood and why so many kids — both boys and girls — with inattentive ADHD end up overlooked and ultimately diagnosed with depression and anxiety instead of ADHD. We also talk about the adult diagnosis experience and the best ways for you and your doctor to determine whether you have ADHD as opposed to possibly another situational struggle."
PsychCentral: How Does ADHD Affect Your Time Perception?
"If you live with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you likely know how challenging it is to be on time. Deadlines can also plague people with ADHD. These challenges aren’t a personal failing, and they’re not solely related to inattention, a classic ADHD symptom. A symptom of ADHD called altered time perception or “time blindness” plays a large role. Folks with typical neurology often have an inner sense of how long minutes, hours, and days are, and how much they can do within each time increment. For those with ADHD, time tends to be amorphous, meaning it’s not well defined. It may feel as if time is passing you by."
ADDitude Mag - "Working Memory vs. Short-Term Memory: What’s the Difference?"
"While there’s some debate in the field about this, it’s generally held that short-term memory is super quick: It stores information briefly. Working memory is related to short-term memory, but it lasts slightly longer and is involved in the manipulation of information."
YourTango: Daydreamers Are Basically Creative Geniuses — How To Harness A Wandering Mind
"It's time to start letting go of the shame of daydreaming and be proud of being scatterbrained. Many parents and teachers are concerned when they see children or teens daydreaming or spacing out. They wrongfully assume that daydreaming is not "productive" and is, therefore, a waste of time. However, periodically letting your mind drift is actually good for you. It allows for creativity, exploration, and rest that the brain doesn’t otherwise engage in."
Intrepid Ed News: Let’s get started! 5 tips for helping kids get things done
"Do you wonder why some kids struggle with starting things, sticking with them, and finishing up? Whether it’s working on a school project or preparing for their birthday party, many children and teens struggle with getting started on tasks that seem important but can be tedious, boring, unachievable, or overwhelming. Sometimes it takes the urgency and pressure of deadlines to get anything done, and it’s often at the last minute..."