Can I Motivate You to Dig Deeper?

By now, you have read my philosophy about my parenting experience and the various phases that I went through.  Before I get into some of my great flaws and weaknesses as a parent, I just want to ask you this question, "Can I somehow motivate you to dig deeper?  My first priority when working with clients is to ask, "Where does your greatest frustration lie in your day?"  and secondly, "What have you tried that has seemingly not worked to help with this?"

When my children were young, I did not read much, but since, I have become an avid reader and researcher about ADHD, executive function, emotional intelligence, adolescent development, child development and all kinds of issues with families.  My experiences in my family led me to a career in school counseling and private counseling and consulting.  Doing my graduate work taught me to do my homework on being informed.  The internet made it easier with one caveat - check your sources.  People line up all around the issue of ADHD with so many ideas of what it actually is and how it impacts families.  I prefer the view that "having ADHD" is a "way of being.""  Yes I know it is impacted by the structures in the brain, the size of the frontal lobe, etc.  I know that it is different in every person although there are common traits.  I also believe it is strongly impacted by personality, temperament, environment, and heredity.  I believe that ADHD is a continuum from mild to extreme and that 10-13% of people are on that continuum but that much of the rest of the 80+ percent exhibits some of the same traits to a certain degree in their life.  The deciding factor for me on whether treatment is needed or not is the severity of the impact on self and family.  The greater the impact, the greater the need for intervention.

That being said, you may be a great identifier of difficulties in your child, you may literally hate complications that come into the family as a result of those difficulties, but my question is:  "Are you willing to seek help?"  "Will you re-evaluate the way you parent or the strategies you use to find something that may be significantly better?"  For specific concerns or trouble spots, book a session.  I can give a shorter session at a lower rate...or ask me for a sliding scale!!

Have a great week with great successes with your child!!