“Closing the Loop” With Our Kids and Teens With ADHD
written by Dr. Liz Nissim, posted on Psychology Today
How many times have you walked into a room and noticed that your child, teen, young adult, or partner with ADHD has left a trail of things around the kitchen where the sandwich was made, the ice cream was scooped, or the coffee was made? The drawers and cabinet doors are open and none of the things or drawers or cabinets have been returned to their original placement.
If I had to guess, my guess is, often. ADHD is a disorder of attention, physical and mental hyperactivity as well as impulsivity. The person with ADHD has many ideas, and feels the need to act on most of them, even if they’re not well timed.
How many times have you watched your teen, in the middle of a homework assignment, stop and move forward on an idea that is not related to the homework assignment or anything else to their daily routine? For example, your teen leaves his assignment because he needs to check if his package was delivered or needs to find a t-shirt that he hasn’t seen in a while. Once again, my guess is, often.
ADHD is also a disorder of executive dysfunction. That does not mean that a person with ADHD is lazy or forgetful.
What does that translate into on a daily basis?
- Difficulty starting a task that is perceived as taking too long (e.g., homework, cleaning her room, etc)
- Working through a task until it’s done
- Difficulty planning ahead
- Difficulty with estimating how long something is going to take
- Difficulty prioritizing what needs to get done based on deadlines
- Stopping one task, when it’s not yet completed, to start another one
- Forgetting to return to the original, unfinished task
- Forgetting belongings and items needed for school or sports