It’s been a while since I’ve done a show focused primarily on ADD/ADHD and this is a really powerful one. My guest is Dr. Sharon Saline, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in working with children, adolescents, and families who are dealing with ADHD and other learning disabilities. In addition to being a regular contributor to ADDitude Magazine, Sharon is the author of the new book, What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life.
In today’s episode, we cover a lot of ground—everything from what a child’s emotional journey is like as he or she comes to understand and accept the way their brain is wired and the correlation between anxiety and ADHD, to how parents can help ADHD kids reduce outbursts and more successfully collaborate with their kids. Sharon also shares with us what she calls her “5 C’s of ADHD Parenting”—her key to successfully supporting these creative kids—as well as gives us her thoughts on medication and ADHD. Get ready for a multitude of takeaways and insights for parents of all differently wired kids, not just those with kids who have attention issues. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
About Sharon: Sharon Saline, Psy.D., clinical psychologist and author of the award-winning book, What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life, specializes in how ADHD, learning disabilities and mental health issues affect children, teens, young adults and families. Her unique perspective, namely growing up in a household with a sibling who wrestled with untreated ADHD, combined with decades of clinical experience, assists her in guiding families as they navigate the confusing maze of information, emotions, stress and conflict related to ADHD. She helps them appreciate the positive aspect of living with ADHD and create successful dialogues, interventions and connections.
Dr. Saline has also worked extensively with schools on mental health issues in the classroom, interpreting psychological evaluations and improving teacher/parent communication. As an internationally sought-after lecturer and workshop facilitator known for combining her expertise in psychology with a background in theater, she addresses a variety of topics such as understanding ADHD and executive functioning, making sense of the teen brain and working with different kinds of learners. Dr. Saline is a regular columnist for ADDitudemag.com and Psychologytoday.com. She is a part-time lecturer in the Continuing Education Program at the Smith School for Social Work. A magna cum laude graduate of Brown University, she received her master’s degree in psychology from New College of California and her doctorate in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant University.
THINGS YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Sharon’s “5 C’s of ADHD Parenting” — self-control, compassion, collaboration, consistency, and celebration
- What a child’s emotional journey typically looks like as they come to understand what it means to have an ADHD brain
- Why reward systems and praise can work well for kids with ADHD as most are not wired to be intrinsically motivated
- Ways we can support our child through their negative thinking or negative self-talk
- The most common emotional challenges faced by kids with ADHD
- The relationship between ADHD and anxiety
- Sharon’s thoughts on medication as a tool for supporting kids with ADHD
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life by Dr. Sharon Saline
- Dr. Ross Greene Talks About How Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Benefits Atypical Kids (podcast episode)
THANKS SO MUCH FOR LISTENING!
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I absolutely loved reading this – so incredibly informative, and with plenty of constructive reminders on positive parenting. I have two questions:
I was wondering if a similar interview could be envisioned with a view to addressing ADHD teenagers rather than parents. The fact is that despite our best efforts as parents, our children are exposed to a great deal of negativity in the wider context (especially education, which is a contradictory environment with all of their hard work being invalidated most of the time). Moreover, as a parent, I realise that at the end of the day, there is a big elephant in the room: I don’t really know how to define the condition to my child in a positive way without sounding insincere. Moreover, with mainly us parents being involved in emotional support, there comes a point where children stop trusting us because everthing else tells them the contrary. They are also often confused and embarrassed by ADHD; they don’t know where to look for answers discreetly (and more often than not, they don’t want to find out more because they are afraid). Is there anthing of quality out there that can help inform and empower them rather than us parents, and corroborate our positive parenting?
I would also relish material dedicated to teachers, who have a huge impact on our childrens’ self esteem. From experience I would say that school has been the single most damaging factor so far. No matter how well-intentioned, sympathetic or encouraging a teacher may be, they are part of a system that ultimately measures by grading. This is very confusing and my teenager questions their sincerity too. How can a teacher praise for effort, perseverance, resilience, and cater for such a contradiction?
I do realise that these questions may be outside the scope of TILT as it is provides support for parents, but any feedback on where to find this sort of information would be hugely appreciated. Thank you for everything you do – you are a mine of information! xx
So glad you enjoyed this! re: teens, I know a lot of ADHD teens like Peter Shankman’s podcast, Faster Than Normal. He sometimes features ADHD teens as well, and as someone with ADHD himself, his whole focus is on embracing your ADHD brain and making it work for you.
Re: teachers, I wanted to let you know that UNDERSTOOD has just launched a resource called Understood for Educators. You’ll find it here: https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/for-educators.
I hope that helps!