Helping Children & Teens with ADHD

Author of more than 20 books, rating scales, and clinical manuals, Russell Barkley is an internationally recognized authority on ADHD. His work is considered to be the cornerstone for best practices in the assessment and management of ADHD.

Dr. Barkley will provide a “deep dive” into the advances in understanding ADHD and the implications of these theoretical and research-based developments on diagnosis and management.

In these unprecedented times, there is no research on the nature of things such as the impact of sheltering entirely at home on people with ADHD for entire days. Nevertheless, Dr. Barkley can discuss recommendations and insights extrapolated from existing treatment research. He will touch on topics such as:

• Aspects of COVID-19 emergency measures such as social distancing, homeschooling, and quarantine and what it means through the lens of an ADHD diagnosis
• How the current environment interacts with the common characteristics of ADHD in young people
• Ways for both therapists and parents to help manage common challenges.

Part #1: ADHD, Self-Regulation, and Executive Functioning:  Implications for Management

Dr. Barkley’s understanding and theory about the nature of executive functioning and its role in the manifestations of ADHD unpacks practical and effective interventions that will help your clients gain more mastery over self-regulation and personal efficacy in their daily lives. You will learn about the neuropsychology of executive functions and how they contribute to a person’s long-term goals and general welfare. Dr. Barkley will share the clinical implications of this understanding and specific management principles that will extend across the main domains of major life activities.

You will learn—

1. Each of the five major executive functions and their deficits in people with ADHD, including working memory, self-management to time, emotional self-regulation, self-motivation, and other aspects of executive functioning and self-control.
2. How the instrumental level of executive functioning relates to higher levels of EF in daily life activities, such as the ability to set short-term vs. long-term goals
3. How ADHD impacts all levels of executive function and the consequences of this impact on self-regulation across the lifespan
4. About the implications of this model of ADHD on diagnosis and assessment
5. How this theory leads to more effective interventions to manage ADHD

Part #2: Counseling Parents: The 14 Best Principles for Managing Executive Functioning Deficits in Children and Teens with ADHD

Part 2 of this webinar will provide a detailed review of the 14 most effective principles for parents to adopt in understanding and raising a child or teen with ADHD.  These principles are largely based on Dr. Barkley’s theory of ADHD as a disorder of self-regulation and executive functioning.

You will learn—

• About best management principles to teach parents in more effectively managing their child or teen’s ADHD and its related deficits in self-regulation and executive functioning.
• Additional suggestions for how to address challenges that arise specifically from emergency measures in place due to the COVID-19 crisis

Part #3 The Impact of Childhood ADHD on Health Outcomes and Life Expectancy During Adulthood: Implications for Clinical Management

Research has established a link between childhood ADHD and increased risks for impairment in educational, family, peer, and eventual occupational functioning in young adulthood. Research also shows that ADHD predisposes towards increased health, medical, and dental risks, such as an increased risk for accidental injuries as well as suicide across the lifespan.

In the final part of the webinar, Dr. Barkley will discuss how to adjust ADHD management to address these research findings. You will learn how various health outcomes and daily life activities in young adulthood are shaped by ADHD during developmental years along with ways to offset these influences pre-emptively.

You will learn—

1. About how ADHD in childhood contributes to impaired function across major life domains in adulthood
2. How childhood ADHD influences various health and medical problems
3. How to alert clinicians to the evidence that such adverse health effects adversely impact estimated life expectancy
4. About the implications of these findings on revising approaches to clinical management of ADHD