Developing Habits

by Christine Robinson

Did you know that it takes at least 7 weeks to effectively form a habit in an adult?  When an activity becomes habitual it usually requires less of our memory and effort.  Habits must work with your lifestyle and your personal body clock.  If you are mentally exhausted after a long day at work, it probably would not be best to pay your monthly bills at 9 pm.  However, if you are a "morning person" it may be better to work tasks into your schedule like this at 7 am.  We can work together to make a daily, weekly and monthly schedule that makes sense for you.

ADD stress can often be self-induced i.e. misplacing keys or cellphone, forgetting to pay "that bill," or missing an important meeting.  Forming habits can stop the chaos!

Forming Habits = Less Stress + Being More Effective

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Christine Robinson, M.Ed. is a certified ADHD Coach and Educational Consultant at the Hallowell Center NYC.  Christine received her Bachelor's Degree from Clark University in both Psychology and English and her Master's Degree in Education from Fitchburg State University. She is a certified teacher who also has over 20 years of sales and management experience and is a certified Educational Consultant. Christine focuses on coaching teens and adults with organizational and time management challenges along with those making business or personal transitions who are seeking optimal performance in their lives. She has helped many families navigate the IEP process through Special Education to seek appropriate services and school placement and also performs classroom observations.

 

Parenting Wheel of Life

by Cindy Goldrich, M.Ed

As parent, there are many different roles you play in your children’s lives.  The Parenting Wheel of Life is a straightforward and easy to use tool to help you explore the concept of “balance” in your life.  How satisfied are you with your success with each role you play?

Below are two samples of Wheels that represent some of the different aspects of parenting.  Complete the wheel to discover what areas of your parenting you feel successful in and what areas you want to enhance for your whole family’s balance.

You can look at either one and rank your level of satisfaction with each life area by drawing a line from the center, which represents NOT SATISFIED, to the outer edge, which represents VERY SATISFIED.  Feel free to change or add to these to reflect your life’s concerns

The new perimeter represents your Wheel of Life.

How Bumpy is Your Ride?

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Cindy Goldrich is a Certified ADHD Coach specializing in parenting children and teens with ADHD.  She received her Master’s in Education in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University, Teachers College.  She received her ADHD Coach Certification from the Institute for the Advancement of AD/HD Coaching.  Additionally she is a Certified Mentor for Think:Kids, formally The Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) Institute dedicated to understanding and helping challenging children and adolescents.  

Prodigy or Pathology?

by Steven Geanopulos, DC

The traits many of us have that may be interpreted as ADHD can be the very same traits that give us some of the most successful and creative people in society. There is no shortage of examples of those with ADHD who have succeeded at the highest levels, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Michael Jordan, Mozart, Einstein, Bill Gates to name a few. These are examples where the traits of ADHD found in a healthy body and mind can give us a prodigy.

All too often however, when those very same traits are found in a not so healthy body and mind or when there is a specific health problem, we may see where ADHD traits can lead to pathology. This is happening at an alarming rate for many reasons. We can safely say that the world has, over the last 30 years, dramatically changed and continues to do so in a way that makes having ADHD traits more and more difficult to deal with and the likelihood of expressing pathology greater and greater. 

There are many health problems that can give us the negative signs and symptoms of ADHD. They include conditions that can be traced to genetics, health problems with mom while in utero (ie. Thyroid disorders), undiagnosed birth trauma, concussion, repeated mild concussions experienced in many of our most common sports, dysglycemia (metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, diabetes), PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), chemical exposure, undiagnosed food sensitivities and autoimmunity, psychiatric disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, to name just a few.

If it is discovered that one of the above mentioned health conditions are present it could dramatically impact symptoms you may be feeling related to ADHD and may certainly impact your response to treatment. If you are treating ADHD only and not addressing conditions that may be causing the problems then you are only treating the symptoms.

Only a comprehensive wellness assessment and exam that looks at your physical chemical and mental health and history can reveal many of the above mentioned concerns. Fortunately many of them listed can be addressed with a natural approach so that we may reduce our dependence on medication or eliminate it altogether. 

The next several posts will address these concerns. The next post will focus on Thyroid health and ADHD.