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November 1, 2015    

Attention Talk News

In This Issue . . .
   
How do we handle our ADHD kids who just can't seem to process their emotions? In our feature article, "PAUSE Saves the Day!," Caroline Maguire opens up about her own family situation. She reveals how teaching her child the PAUSE can stop irregular behavior in response to emotional situations. As Caroline says, this method shows your child how to virtually push the pause button and analyze the emotions before reacting. Would this technique work for you?

Here's what's been happening on Attention Talk Radio recently:

Where is one of the only places you don't have to say your ADHD child is fine? The annual CHADD conference, according to Marie Paxson. Isn't that a relief to hear? Listen to our interview with Dr. Ari Tuckman, CHADD 2015 Conference Co-Chair, titled "A Pow Wow for the ADHD Tribe in New Orleans" and learn more.

What is hard about exercising mindfulness, according to ADHD coaches Jeff Copper and Caroline Maguire? It is boring, like physical exercise. Their advice? If you are going to do it, find others to do it with. Do you agree or disagree? Learn more in our episode, titled "ADHD: Do All Roads Lead to Mindfulness?"

When you are amped up, struggling to down-regulate your emotions, do you have a strategy? Stacey does. Listen to our emotional interview with her to find out what happens. The show is titled "ADHD Emotional Self-Regulation: Live, Unplugged, and Real."

ADHD coach Jeff Copper and Autumn Zitani of Sesame Street Workshop agree that learning to witness physical cues, like being hot or tired, having a tummy ache or a feeling of flooding when emotions run wild, can help in the area of self-regulation to enable us to pause and distance ourselves from a trigger. What do you think? Learn more in our show, titled "ADHD: Me Want It, But Me Wait -- Lesson Learned from Sesame Street."

Got ADHD? Feel like you are pacing the cage? ADHD entrepreneur Slade set himself free by focusing on self-awareness. Are you self-aware? Listen to our interview with Slade and find out how you can become self-aware. The show is titled "An Unplugged Interview with an ADHD Entrepreneur."

Have you had an opportunity to catch up on our latest videos? Here's a glimpse of the latest on Attention Talk Video:

Why are routines so important for those with ADHD? ADHD coach Jeff Copper explains it saves the executive functioning brain energy to use on more important issues. What do you think Dr. Russell Barkley's position is on this? Agree or disagree? Check out our video, titled "ADHD Tips: Using Your Executive Functioning Brain to Override Impulse."

ADHD expert Dr. Russell Barkley and ADHD coach Jeff Copper come together to explain ADHD in a context that brings simplicity to what others have made overly complicated. Catch their video, titled "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Simplified."

How would it impact your life by pausing and asking yourself, "How is what I'm doing serving me?" Learn more in our video interview, titled "A Powerful ADHD Question: How Does This Serve You?"

Is just thinking about something action or forward progress? Jeff Copper has some answers in the video, titled "ADHD: Intellectualizing vs. Doing."

Are you attending to the right thing? If you haven't done it yet, download our a-Book (the "a" is for attention), "Identify YOUR Top Five Hurdles to Managing ADD/ADHD." It has tips Jeff has learned from doing over 300 interviews with ADHD experts. Let your friends know about it, too! They can download it here: www.attentiontalknetwork.com.
Featured Article    

Brought to you by Time Timer 
   
by Caroline Maguire

On the day of my daughter Lucy's dance recital, my whole family was a wreck. Lucy woke up at 4 am and graciously woke up the rest of the household with her. Her anxiety had reached peak levels, and she bounced into our bedroom at full speed, shaking us awake with her high energy.

I tried
everything I could think of to calm her and help her back to sleep, but nothing was working. By 9 am, I was begging her to nap. I knew we were in trouble. I could foresee the day ahead: There'd be lots of tantrums. Every little unfulfilled request would end in tears. The dance recital was going to be a disaster.

Lucy is the kind of child who loves dancing, but she finds her weekly class "boring." She is consistently inconsistent in the way she treats practicing routines, and she struggles with focus. My husband and I tried an experiment this year; we kept Lucy in a class with younger children instead of moving her up a level with the rest of her classmates. The next level up was attended by mostly eight-year-olds, and I knew a six-year-old with ADHD couldn't pretend to be eight. We wanted to see if this decision would create a more even playing field. So far, it had seemed to work.

But now, it was recital day -- the big test of this experiment. Usually, Lucy loved recital day. She would come alive, ignited by the anticipation of having an audience. However, this morning, an unmistakable sense of doom permeated the house. Would Lucy have the confidence she needed to perform? Or would she cave in to her anxiety?

I continued to try to create peace for her as the day progressed. We snuggled and listened to a book on tape, ate her favorite healthy snacks, and talked about what she loved about dancing. She seemed to be doing better, but as we were preparing to leave for the performance, Lucy became absolutely frantic.


Then, I remembered a simple tool that I use with some of my ADHD clients. I retrieved a laminated copy of the simple PAUSE button pictured [at right], a concept developed by my good friend and colleague, David Giwerc (founder of the ADD Coach Academy).

I handed the PAUSE button to Lucy. I explained how she needed to pause, calm her breathing, and reconnect to her prefrontal cortex, the part of her brain that regulates behavior and utilizes logical thought analyses to help her make good decisions. I told her that, if she felt like she was forgetting her steps, she could hit that pause button, and she would be able to calm down and remember her routine. We practiced pausing and breathing several times before we left.

After finding my seat in the audience, I prayed. Like every parent, I wanted my child to do her best, show off her hard work, and be happy with herself. I didn't want her to be embarrassed in front of her other classmates, the ones who had moved on to the next level. Right before she went on stage, I saw her in the wings. There she stood in her tutu, her cheeks rosy with makeup. She closed her eyes and breathed. She paused. And then she came out and danced her little heart out. She nailed the routine, down to the last pli�!

The PAUSE button has worked for many ADHD children, including Lucy. It is such a powerful tool that I couldn't help sharing it with you on my blog today. PAUSE encourages children to STOP irregular behavior and access the prefrontal cortex, allowing them to utilize their logical thought processes before acting. The power of the PAUSE is that it connects children with their prefrontal cortex and allows them to rationally observe highly charged emotional situations. By pausing, children can accomplish the following tasks:
  1. Breathe and connect to their prefrontal cortexes, allowing them to use their logical thought processes.
  2. Calm down and get ahold of their emotions.
  3. Boss their bodies and stop any physical movement that may be causing problems.
  4. Think of solutions to their upsetting problems or situations.

If you plan on using PAUSE with your child, I'd suggest creating a visual cue or code word. The PAUSE button symbol seems to be very popular with kids, and I often print them out and laminate them for younger children, who like the physicality of "pushing" the PAUSE button. Older kids may prefer a code word or phrase, such as "Please take a moment to pause." PAUSE allowed my daughter to process what was going on, analyze her emotions, and pinpoint her best response options before jumping on stage. Like Lucy, I know your children could benefit from PAUSE!  

  

Published with permission.
Copyright 2015 Caroline Maguire, www.neccoaching.com 
Audio News
 
Brought to you by CHADD

  

Recent Radio Shows in Our Archives

(Just click the title link)

ADHD: Do All Roads Lead to Mindfulness?
In our interviews with experts on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), we've noticed more often than not that the conversation directly or indirectly touches on the notion of mindfulness. In this episode, host Jeff Copper and guest host Caroline Maguire (www.necounseling.com) focus on the concept and share responses of over 20 previous ATR guests around the question of whether all roads lead to mindfulness as an important part of managing the ADHD condition. Not only do they share their responses but they also talk about the nature of mindfulness, what it is and how it can be practiced. If mindfulness, awareness, meditation, and contemplation are topics you gravitate to or are curious about, or even if you are skeptical, this is a show you don't want to miss.
 
ADHD Emotional Self-Regulation: Live, Unplugged, and Real 
Emotions are as much a part of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as attention is, according to Dr. Russell Barkley. In this episode we interview Stacey, play a prerecorded clip of her revealing her emotions, live and in the moment, and having difficulty regulating them. What we learn actually helps her to self-regulate her emotions. If you have ADHD, struggle with self-regulation, or are just an emotional being, you won't want to miss this show. It is real, unplugged, and live... so real we couldn't just make it up.

An Unplugged Interview with an ADHD Entrepreneur
Are you an attention deficit disorder entrepreneur? In this episode of Attention Talk Radio, we have an unplugged interview with a ball of energy who is an ADHD entrepreneur. Our conversation centers around how he thinks, some not-so-obvious solutions, what he has learned from coaching, how he remembers things, how he learns, and how he discovered the power of the word "HOW." If any of this resonates with you, DON'T miss this interview.

ADHD: Me Want It But Me Wait: Lesson Learned from Sesame Street
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder... deficit of attention? Not! ADHD is about self-regulation. In this episode of Attention Talk Radio, we interview Autumn Zitani (www.sesame.org), the director of content in the Sesame Workshop Curriculum and Content Department around self-regulation and what parents and children can learn from this timeless show. If you are impacted by ADHD, you don't want to miss this episode.

Be sure to visit the Attention Talk News website  
 
Attention Talk Network... Your ADHD information Source!
Video News



ADHD Tips: Using Your Executive Functioning Brain to Override Impulse
Dr. Russell Barkley (www.russellbarkley.com) likes to think of the ADHD brain as a two-level system. The automatic brain and the executive functioning brain where the executive functioning brain is effortful as it must exert effort to step in and override the automatic brain. In this video we interview Dr. Barkley on the construct and discuss practical implications and solutions to this construct.
(Click the image below to view the video)


A Powerful ADHD Question: How Does This Serve You?
Many with ADHD are human doings, not human beings. Often those with ADHD can benefit by just pausing and asking one simple question. In this video Jeff Copper (www.digcoaching.com) looks at that simple question and its impact.
(Click the image below to view the video)
 

 
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Simplified

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can be confusing and hard to understand. In this video Dr. Russell Barkley (www.russellbarkley.org) and ADHD coach Jeff Copper (www.digcoaching.com) collaborate and articulate the ADHD brain wiring in a way that explains how the wiring impacts behavior so that it makes sense in ways that make things so simple you'll wonder why others make it so complex.
(Click the image below to view the video)
 
 
ADHD: Intellectualizing vs. Doing

Many with ADHD love to learn. They read books, more books, watch videos, but never move forward. Why? Often they are just intellectualizing, but moving forward is about doing. In this video, Jeff Copper (www.digcoaching.com) explores how intellectualizing gets in the way of those with ADHD in terms of forward progress.
(Click the image below to view the video)


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Attention Talk News is a part of the Attention Talk Network, which includes sister channels Attention Talk Radio and Attention Talk Video. To learn more, go to www.attentiontalkradio.com and www.attentiontalkvideo.com

 

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Copyright 2015 Attention Talk News, Tampa, FL, USA.  All rights reserved. 

Editor's Note

Jeff Copper, Editor



Our intention is to share audio, video, and printed content to capture your interest and perhaps inspire you to pay attention to something differently. Enjoy.


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