ADHD in children and teenagers: the strategies that work at home

This resource supports professional care, it does not replace it. You will find here the description of symptoms clinicians use, but reading a description does not allow anyone to make a diagnosis: only a child psychiatrist, a paediatrician or a trained psychologist can do that, after an interview, questionnaires completed by several adults, and the exclusion of other possible explanations. No decision about medication is ever made by reading a text, including this one: it is made with the doctor who follows your child. If you are worried about your child's mood, sleep or safety, make an appointment without waiting until the end of this reading.

1. Before you start

You repeat the same instruction four times. The school bag is ready, but the water bottle is still on the table. Homework that should take twenty minutes takes an hour and a half, with two meltdowns along the way. Mornings are a race, evenings a negotiation. And the most baffling part: your child knows perfectly well what needs to be done. They can explain it to you. They do not do it.

This resource is written for that situation. It concerns children of roughly 6 to 18 years old in whom attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder — ADHD — is diagnosed or suspected. It is written for parents, not for professionals: what it describes is put in place in a kitchen, a hallway, a bedroom, on a Sunday evening.