Written by Ryan Greenwood Homework is the hardest possible task for an ADHD brain, handed over at the hardest possible time of day. It is boring, slow to pay off, and has no real deadline until bedtime turns it into a crisis. And it lands after your child has spent every drop of self-control just…
Written by Ryan Greenwood Teens with ADHD struggle with self-esteem because they have spent years collecting evidence that something is wrong with them. Redo it. Sit down. Pay attention. You lost it again. Research shows that children and teens with ADHD consistently see themselves more negatively than their peers do. By the teen years, many…
Written by Ryan Greenwood No, and that is by design. If you are picturing your eight-year-old on a couch answering questions for an hour, you can let that image go. Child therapy is built around play, because play is the language kids already speak. A session usually looks like games, toys, art, and stories, guided…
Written by Ryan Greenwood Look at three things: how long it has lasted, how big it is, and how much it gets in the way. Most phases fade on their own within a few weeks. A struggle that needs more support sticks around, follows your child into more than one part of life, and starts…
Written by Ryan Greenwood Yes, and it happens more often than most parents expect. In kids, anxiety rarely announces itself as worry. It often comes out sideways as anger, irritability, and meltdowns that seem to come from nowhere. Research published by the National Institutes of Health shows irritability is one of the most common companions…
Written by Ryan Greenwood Therapy helps, and for young children it is what experts recommend first. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parent training in behavior management as the first treatment for children under six, before any medication is tried. For kids six and older, the recommendation is medication and behavior therapy together. This was…
Written by Ryan Greenwood Big emotional reactions are part of ADHD itself. The same wiring that makes it hard for your child to pause before acting makes it hard to pause before feeling. Researchers now treat trouble managing emotions as a core piece of ADHD, not a separate problem and not a parenting failure. So…
Written by Ryan Greenwood An energetic kid can settle down when the moment calls for it. A child with ADHD cannot, even when they are trying their hardest. The real difference is not how much energy your child has. It is whether the behavior causes real problems, in more than one place, over a long…
Keep it simple, honest, and calm. Tell your child a few days before the first visit, explain what a therapist is in words they already know, and make it clear that therapy is not a punishment. Then leave room for questions. Kids…
Start by making it about you, not them. The fastest way to get resistance is to say “I think we all need therapy.” That frames it as a problem with the family, and most people hear that as a problem with them.…
