Understand your ADHD Diagnosis

Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood
by Ned Hallowell and John Ratey.

Find the book on our Reading and Resources page.

Session 2

Invisible Women: exposing data bias in a world designed for men, book or audiobook by Caroline Criado Perez

Dr Jen Gunter resources:

https://drjengunter.com/

Leading gynaecologist and author of the Vagina Bible and The Menopause Manifesto.

Maisie Hill resources:

Maisie is an expert in female hormones/health but is also autistic and her content often also covers sensory issues and is very neurodivergent-friendly https://www.maisiehill.com/ Author of Period Power and Perimenopause Power.

Attitude article on recognising ADHD in women:

https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-in-women/

ADHD in women book/resources (Sari Solden):

https://www.sarisolden.com/publications

Book: Understanding ADHD in Girls and Women, by Joanne Steer

Caroline Hirons’ interview regarding her adult ADHD diagnosis:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/caroline-hirons-the-joys-of-adhd/id1612236855?i=1000554322886

Session 3

Inhibiting

A couple of strategies to try when developing your inhibiting skill:

Put up post-its around that say “pause” or “stop and think” to prompt yourself to reflect and slow down throughout your day.
Save emails or messages as drafts and go back to them after a few hours and check that you are happy with how they are coming across before sending.
Ask others to give you a minute if they interrupt you so you can pause and make a mental note of where you were at before you attend to them.

Working Memory

A couple of strategies to try when developing working memory:

Alert yourself when something is important and try to stay in the moment fully (e.g., long enough to register where you just threw your door keys).
Speak out loud when you are doing a task to help hold the steps in your mind and stay on track.
Try to think of a key word to help cue what you wanted to say for when it is your turn to speak next in a conversation.
Peak pro app.

Emotional regulation

Strategies to try:

Think about emotions being transient intense waves that pass, you don’t have to get caught up in them and you can do things to calm your body and mind when you experience something intense or distressing.
Start to be curious about what your self-talk is like when you feel emotional, is there something more helpful or empowering you can say to yourself? (the Dr B podcasts linked below are very helpful here).

Initiating

Initial strategies to try to build this skill:

Separate preparing for a task and doing a task. This way the steps are clear, and everything needed will already be in place so the task itself feels much easier to approach.
Break down a long task into 15-minute chunks, make it fun if you can, and reward yourself after each 15 minutes completed.

Connections in Mind:
Adult & child EF skill 1-1 coaching and Connected Club membership
https://connectionsinmind.com/

The Dr B Living Beyond ADHD podcasts:
Excellent podcasts, courses (group based), and other resources/social media content for adults with ADHD to help with executive function skills and self-esteem:
https://www.drbarbaracohen.com/Podcast

Peak pro app:
A useful app to help train in executive function cognitive skills: https://www.peak.net/ the paid version is a good tool to practice for only

10-15 mins per day to help improve different EF skills (NB practicing little and often is the best way to train your brain to develop these skills, hyperfocusing for hours to improve your score is not going to be helpful!!!)

A slob comes clean:
household/cleaning advice geared towards the neurodivergent brain (podcast, blog, and excellent books):
https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/

Somebody I Used to Know. Book by Dr Wendy Mitchell
This book is written by a lady with the early stages of dementia. It is fascinating and shows how someone with extremely well developed EF skills can manage to rely on these even when their brain is under strain from the beginnings of this illness.

You can find this book in our websites Reading and resources page.

Peg Dawson book/audiobook:
Smart but scattered guide to success. Book about EF skills in adults. Also has authored books about EF skills in children/teens. You can find this book in our websites Reading and resources page.

ADHD Dude resources:
https://adhddude.com/
For parents to help support positive EF skill development in their children/teens.

Access to work funding link:
https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work

Disabled students’ allowance funding link:
https://www.gov.uk/disabled-students-allowance-dsa

Session 4

NICE guidance for the diagnosis and management of ADHD:

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management | Guidance | NICE

Elvanse information:

Lisdexamfetamine (say: lis-decks-am-feta-mean)

Methylphenidate information:

Methylphenidate: a medicine used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – NHS

Atomoxetine information:

Atomoxetine for ADHD (Strattera). Information and side effects | Patient

Clonidine information:

Clonidine for ADHD: ADD Medication Overview.

General guides to ADHD medication:

NB although geared towards children, this is well written and informative, however some of the medications named may not be available in the UK

Complete Guide to ADHD Medications – Child Mind Institute

This guide is also good but includes some USA medications not used in the UK:

The Ultimate ADHD Medication List

ADHD treatment free tracking log:

Free Resource: ADHD Medication Tracking Log

Session 5

Why we sleep, by Matthew Walker

Bestselling book and audiobook on the importance of sleep, very engaging and well written. It will convince you that your sleep should be your top priority!!! Find the book on our Reading and Resources page.

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Understand your ADHD Diagnosis