By Guest Author: Christine McGogy

How would you like to have a closer relationship with your teen again? Your ability to communicate effectively with your teen is one of the most precious skills you can develop to achieve this goal.

When we think of communication, we tend to think only of the way we can express ourselves. This is certainly important, but listening is the single most crucial of all communication skills.

As a mother of two teenage boys I know that it isn't always easy to communicate well with your teen. It's particularly frustrating when they aren't talking to you. However, when I started applying these techniques to our lives, I found that we started getting along better almost immediately. There was less arguing between us, and our relationship became stronger.

1. Focus, and Give your teen your full attention.

I know that this is a toughie, because we tend to be so busy. It seems like we are always multi-tasking. However, it is important in clear communicating that you make a point of stopping what you are doing and really listen to your teen (rather than just hearing them). When you give your teen your undivided attention they will know that you care, because you took the time to listen, and it will increase the chances that they will listen to you.

On behalf of my family, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays all!

We have added a new section to the ADHD Library for parents wondering if their child may have a problem with ADHD or not. It is a screening tool that is based on (1) our understanding of the different "types" or "profiles" of ADHD, and (2) screening or assessment tools that we have used in the past that have been very helpful.

We want to make it clear that screening tools, however helpful they may be, are not "do it yourself" home assessment tools. Assessments for ADHD should be thorough, and need to consider other issues that may be causing the problem behaviors. Hours, not minutes, need to be invested in making an accurate diagnosis.

But the screening tool that we've put on the ADHD Library site is a good beginning point to see if what's going on is a big deal or not.

You will find the screening tool at: http://newideas.net/adhd-test-screening

Is there anyone who knows how to use JAVA or PHP programming to turn the new screening tool from a paper and pencil assessment into an interactive webpage that can be scored by my server, and parents can just "fill in the numbers" and "get the results."

I have no idea how to do this. But someone reading this does.

Please let me know if you have the solution.

Sincerely,

Dr. Doug Cowan

ADHD Information Library