Margaret Dawson – Smart but Scattered Adults: Manage ADHD by Targeting Executive Skills

Outline

The Executive in the Brain

• How the brain’s “control center” governs executive skills
• The impact of ADHD on frontal lobe functioning
• How effective behavior change revolves around executive skills

Assessment tools

• Executive Skills Questionnaire—a rating scale to help clients determine their executive skill strengths and weaknesses
• Workplace assessment tools to help clients better use their executive skill strengths and minimize the impact of their weaknesses
• Home management tools to help clients understand why they avoid some chores like the plague—and what to do about it!
• A rating scale to help partners understand each other’s profile and the impact of profile differences on relationships

The Impact of Executive Skills in the Daily Life of Adults with ADHD

• Executive skills in the workplace
  • Goodness of fit between executive skills profile and the job
  • Maximizing executive skill strengths
  • Managing weaknesses
  • Creating an action plan
• Executive skills in the home
  • The concept of “effortful work”
  • Matching executive skills profiles to appropriate tasks
  • Effective roles for family members living with adults with ADHD
• Executive skills in relationships
  • How the executive skills profiles of adults with ADHD affect those they live with
  • The impact of mismatches and different executive skills profiles on relationships
  • Tips for working with couples where one partner has ADHD

Key Strategies to Help ADHD Clients Cope with Weak Executive Skills

• Environmental modifications to reduce the impact of executive skill challenges
  • Change the physical or social environment
  • Modify tasks to make them more do-able
  • Enlist the help of others

Strategies for Improving Executive Skills

• In the workplace
  • 12 executive skills that impact productivity and behavior change
  • Make a SMART goal
  • Using a deadline
  • Make a plan
  • The importance of clear start dates
  • Using technology to support behavior change
• In the home
  • Find logical ways to share the work load
  • Understand the start point
  • Start small, build incrementally
  • Practice, practice, practice
  • Using visible reminders
  • Motivators
• In relationships
  • How different profiles signal tension points in relationships
  • Keys to resolving conflicts arising from executive skill differences
  • The liberal use of humor, patience, forgiveness, negotiation
  • Using self-talk to motivate, problem solve and persist
  • The power of positivity