There are many many resources about ADHD and not all are good or helpful. This list focuses on resources written by recognized experts that are also practical and readable.
Websites
UCLA – Mindful Awareness Research Center
Free, downloadable meditations from UCLA for a wide variety of topics – also available as podcasts
Totally ADD
A site of information( and fun!) for adults with attention issues.
An online magazine with strengths and strategies for kids and adults living with ADHD and learning challenges.
Reading
The Power of Neurodiversity: Unleashing the Advantages of Your Differently Wired Brain
by Thomas Armstrong (Author)
ADHD. dyslexia. autism. the number of illness categories listed by the American Psychiatric Association has tripled in the last fifty years. With so many people affected, it is time to revisit our perceptions on this “culture of disabilities.” Bestselling author, psychologist, and educator Thomas Armstrong illuminates a new understanding of neuropsychological disorders. He argues that if they are a part of the natural diversity of the human brain, they cannot simply be defined as illnesses. Armstrong explores the evolutionary advantages, special skills, and other positive dimensions of these conditions. A manifesto as well as a keenly intelligent look at “disability,” ‘The Power of Neurodiversity’ is a must for parents, teachers, and anyone who is “differently brained.”
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Driven to Distraction (Revised): Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder
by Edward M. Hallowell (Author), John J. Ratey (Author)
Groundbreaking and comprehensive, Driven to Distraction has been a lifeline to the approximately eighteen million Americans who are thought to have ADHD. Now the bestselling book is revised and updated with current medical information for a new generation searching for answers. Through vivid stories and case histories of patients—both adults and children—Hallowell and Ratey explore the varied forms ADHD takes, from hyperactivity to daydreaming. They dispel common myths, offer helpful coping tools, and give a thorough accounting of all treatment options as well as tips for dealing with a diagnosed child, partner, or family member. But most importantly, they focus on the positives that can come with this “disorder”—including high energy, intuitiveness, creativity, and enthusiasm
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Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder
by Edward M. Hallowell (Author), John J. Ratey (Author)
In 1994, Driven to Distraction sparked a revolution in our understanding of attention deficit disorder. Widely recognized as the classic in the field, the book has sold more than a million copies. Now a second revolution is under way in the approach to ADD, and the news is great. Drug therapies, our understanding of the role of diet and exercise, even the way we define the disorder–all are changing radically. And doctors are realizing that millions of adults suffer from this condition, though the vast majority of them remain undiagnosed and untreated. In this new book, Drs. Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey build on the breakthroughs of Driven to Distraction to offer a comprehensive and entirely up-to-date guide to living a successful life with ADD.
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A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults: Executive Function Impairments
by Thomas E. Brown (Author)
For over 100 years, ADHD has been seen as essentially a behavior disorder. Recent scientific research has developed a new paradigm which recognizes ADHD as a developmental disorder of the cognitive management system of the brain, its executive functions. This cutting-edge book pulls together key ideas of this new understanding of ADHD, explaining them and describing in understandable language scientific research that supports this new model.
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Smart But Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD
by Thomas E. Brown (Author)
Smart but Stuck offers 15 true and compelling stories about intelligent, capable teens and adults who have gotten “stuck” at school, work, and/or in social relationships because of their ADHD. Dr. Brown highlights the often unrecognized role that emotions play in this complex disorder. He explains why even very bright people with ADHD get stuck because they can focus well on some tasks that interest them, but often can’t focus adequately on other important tasks and relationships.
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The ADHD Effect on Marriage: Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship in Six Steps
by Melissa Orlov (Author)
Very few resources address ADHD and relationships– Orlov’s approach is very practical. An invaluable resource for couples in which one or both partners have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), this authoritative book guides troubled partners towards an understanding and appreciation for the struggles and triumphs of a relationship affected by it, and to integrate ADHD into their relationship in a more positive and less disruptive way. Going beyond traditional marriage counseling which can often discount the influence of ADHD, this discussion offers advice from the author’s personal experience and years of research and identifies patterns of behavior that can hurt marriages—such as nagging, intimacy problems, sudden anger, and memory issues—through the use of descriptions of actual couples and their ADHD struggles and solutions.
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Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
by Stuart Brown M.D. and Christopher Vaugha
Not a book about ADHD directly; it illustrates why strategies for ADHD should consider the importance of play. – We’ve all seen the happiness on the face of a child while playing in the school yard. Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless, all-consuming, and fun. But as Dr. Stuart Brown illustrates, play is anything but trivial. It is a biological drive as integral to our health as sleep or nutrition. We are designed by nature to flourish through play.
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See Stuart Brown Ted Talk – Play Is More Than Fun
Fidget to Focus: Outwit Your Boredom: Sensory Strategies for Living with Add
by Roland Rotz PH. D. (Author), Sarah Wright M. S. A. C. T. (Author)
Vindication for those of us who were told as kids to stop fidgeting or doodling and pay attention – as it turns out, we fidget and doodle because it helps us be attentive! – Until now, the only way you could learn about the Fidget to Focus approach to successfully living with and managing Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) was to attend a national conference. The groundbreaking ideas in this book, based on the personal experiences of hundreds of people and recent breakthroughs in neuroscience, will change the way you live with this disorder. Fidget to Focusis a guide to keeping your brain engaged and focused with tools and techniques available to you at any time (workbook included!).
| find it on Amazon |