Hard to believe that in some places (like Arizona), summer vacation is coming to an end! Whether that brings up excitement, relief, and/or a little sadness, we always say that all feelings are allowed :) 

If your family is anything like ours, the summer has much less structure than the school year. That is totally ok! But it means that the first few weeks of school can be a tough transition. Waking up earlier, packing lunches, getting everyone dressed and out the door... it's a lot to keep track of! Today, we are sharing three tips to help you with this transition. 

1) Start working toward a functional sleep schedule.

Summers are all about late nights! Again, no judgement over here. If your child has been going to bed later than their "school bedtime," you will want to start slowly working their sleep time up. 

There are different ways to do this, depending on how much time you have. If you have a few weeks, you can slowly move their sleep time by small increments, like 10-15 minut...

Children with ADHD are amazing at living in the moment, which makes them a lot of fun! It also means that they can struggle to plan for the future, even if the future is a few minutes away. The result? Forgotten lunchboxes, messy bedrooms, last-minute panic over a late assignment, and chaotic mornings!

Children with ADHD can struggle with time blindness, staying on task, and avoiding distractions. To help them be more successful, our goal as parents is to externalize these concepts, making them clear and predictable, creating structure in your child’s world.  

One of the easiest (and hardest) ways to do this is to set up routines. While routines can be incredibly overwhelming at the beginning, they ultimately help children with ADHD be more successful because they know what to expect. To help YOU start off on the right foot, here are some of our favorite tools for building routines: 

1. Consider what your child is (and isn’t) capable of right now – and then grow from there.

Think a...

Do you find yourself laying next to your child for what seems like hours every night because that is the ONLY way you can get them to sleep? And once they finally fall asleep, are they are back in your room a few hours later trying to crawl into your bed?

Getting your child to fall asleep and stay asleep in their own bed can be an epic challenge.  

Today, I’m going to let you in on a simple, science-backed intervention that we love to use to tackle some of these bedtime struggles…

The Bedtime Pass

The Bedtime Pass is a science-backed strategy that we use with families. It helps kids fall asleep alone, while feeling safe and secure in their own bed. It’s basically a get out of bed free card that you give to your child at night before bed.

The Bedtime Pass gives children the security they need, but provides them with boundaries to put a limit on those seemingly constant trips out of bed. Most importantly, it is a tool to teach your child to fall asleep without you having to lay next...

Some days it can feel like your child with ADHD has a vendetta against you. You tell them to go out…they go in. You say stop…they go. You tell them to start their homework, and they look at you and turn on the television. When our kids show defiance and go against our warnings or directions, it can feel downright infuriating. And it can make you question whether you are even a good parent.

First, let’s normalize this: you are not alone! Defiance is one of the most common challenges faced by parents and teachers of children with ADHD. As a psychologist, whenever a parent tells me that their child is defiant, I always try to dig a little deeper to find out why?

The truth is that defiance is often a symptom of a larger problem for the child or with their environment.

Today, I am sharing four possible reasons for defiance in children with ADHD.

1) Executive functioning differences

I remember testing a young girl and asking her to complete some math facts quickly for 1 minute. Af...

“Our kids love each other, right? I mean, they definitely don’t seem to like each other lately, but do they love each other?” The other day, I (Katie) was listening to my children arguing in the backyard and I looked at my husband and literally asked this question. It seems like my kids (who are 2.5 years apart) operate in two different modes: best friends or mortal enemies. And some days, it is exhausting for me as a parent!

On our social media, we consistently hear from you about arguments between siblings. When you are raising a child (or more than one child) with ADHD, this can be even more complicated! We definitely haven’t figured out the secret sauce to help our kids get along all the time. But we wanted to share a few tips to help support you in your journey.

1) Prioritize 1:1 time for each child.

Maybe we should make t-shirts that say this… or coffee mugs… hmm… but we say it ALL OF THE TIME because it’s parenting gold! The truth is, this is easier said than done. If you are...

Years ago, I talked with a friend about her daughter with ADHD. She was very concerned because her daughter was lying frequently at school. The teacher had now come to her mother wanting to address the problem, but they were both overwhelmed and unsure of how to address lying.

After talking with many families over the years, the concern about lying is a common one for our kids with ADHD. When children lie, we as parents (understandably!) tend to overreact and assume this type of behavior will only lead to other concerns, such as stealing or total lack of concern for others. The truth is, lying can be a reflection of a child’s ADHD brain and differences in executive functioning skills. 

Why Kids with ADHD Lie

First, it’s important to note that lying is a normal part of cognitive development as young children (around 4-6 years of age) learn that others can’t read their mind and that their thoughts are private. It’s an exciting development for kids, albeit a frustrating one for pare...

This week, we were interviewed by Special Education and Civil Rights attorneys, Amanda and Vickie, over at the  Inclusive Education Project. We had a great conversation and shared more about our mission as well as tips and tricks to help parents raising kids with ADHD and anxiety. 

In the podcast, we covered a lot of different topics, including: 

1) A little bit about Lori, Katie, and Mallory and why we started the Childhood Collective.

2) School refusal and anxiety.

3) The not so common symptoms of anxiety.

4) What questions you can ask your kids if you suspect anxiety.

5) Kids do well if they can.

6) What kids really need. Hint: It isn't more punishment!

7) Why parenting children with ADHD is not at all intuitive.

8) Our online ADHD parenting course, Creating Calm, and why it is so unique.

And much more!

Check out the podcast: Empowering Parentings a Conversation with The Childhood Collective

Have an amazing week!

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Hard to believe we are almost to the end of 2020... and what a year it has been! I (Katie) am really excited for the next few weeks to unplug from everything (literally... thanks a lot 2020!) so I can relax and spend time with my family.

Before I can really be "on break" this season, I have a few things left on my to-do list. It's hard to finish out the year strong! This is true for all of us, but ESPECIALLY our kids with ADHD, learning and language differences, autism, or anxiety. Some days, the hardest part is just getting started! 

A few weeks ago, we shared some of our favorite tools and strategies for getting started. Today, I'm going to be talking about a few more tricks you can use to help your child (or yourself, no judgement here!) get started on a task. 

1. Externalize Time 

Many children (especially those with ADHD) have difficulty conceptualizing time and understanding how long a task will actually take to complete. They may also have difficulty with the passage of time...

All it takes is one quick google search and you can find a wealth of information (and misinformation) on ADHD. We hear many common myths about ADHD from parents and people in the community. So today, we want to set the record straight by sharing some statistics and research. Let's go ahead and dive into our top 5 myths and facts of ADHD.

1) Myth: ADHD isn't a real disorder; it is the result of poor parenting.

This is a common myth. And if you are a parent of a child with ADHD, more than likely you have heard a lot of advice and criticism about your parenting. Let us set the record straight - there is no research to support that ADHD is caused by bad parenting. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental or brain-based disorder. It is strongly heritable, meaning it is often passed down from parents to their children. Approximately 65-75% of children with ADHD will have the diagnosis because of genes (aka a family member probably had that diagnosis as well). Approximately 25%-35% of cases of AD...

How's your week going? Is everybody in your family getting back into the swing of things after the Thanksgiving holiday?! I know that in my (Katie's) family, it has been hard to find motivation for these last few weeks leading up to the end of 2020! 

If you have been following us for any amount of time, you know that we love to talk with families of children with ADHD, learning differences, language disorders, anxiety... but the truth is, this is actually the topic that almost all of us struggle with from time to time. Some days, the hardest part is just getting started! 

If this is you (or your child), we are here to help. In our coming blog posts, we are going to share a few of our favorite tools and strategies for getting started. Our goal is to break down the science behind ditching procrastination and getting things done. 

1. Lead with movement

It has definitely been said before, but it's worth repeating: Exercise is an incredibly powerful tool that helps increase mental clari...