I (Lori) grew up in a family of 7… with 4 brothers… and some of them had ADHD. Chaos was constant in our home. All I can say is, my mom was a saint. The seemingly endless daily reminders, meetings with the principal or teachers, school suspensions, yelling, and constant wrestling matches in the living room…it was a lot! And though my brothers were some amazing athletes who were so fun to hang with, they required a lot of my parent’s attention. When you have 5 kids, it can be a real challenge to find the time to give all of that attention.

If you are a parent of more than one child with ADHD, we know how exhausting (and fun!) your life can be at times. Here are a few things to keep in mind when parenting multiple children with ADHD:

1) Help Yourself Before You Help Your Kids

The research is very clear that ADHD is often passed down from parent to child. In fact, nearly half of parents who have a child with ADHD, have a diagnosis of ADHD themselves (Starck, Grunwald, & Schlarb, 201...

Last week things were getting pretty rough in my (Lori's) house. We were dealing with frequent hitting, kicking, throwing, pinching, yelling, and slamming doors. Despite having a reward system at home, I really wasn’t using it often. I found myself resorting to punishment. When the kids broke a rule and became physical, I took away television for the rest of the day. The thing was though, I had not made clear expectations or rules with my kids. And of course, when I provided a punishment, that resulted in an increase in behaviors, frustration, and overall sadness. It seemed like we weren’t getting out of the negative cycle!

I know this is a pattern that many of us face as parents. Fortunately, I was able to pull us all out of this negative cycle pretty quickly. I’m happy to say that the hitting and tantrums have decreased while the kindness and sharing have increased. Today, I want to talk about the very simple and highly effective strategy I used—Praise.

Now, many of you might be th...

If I had a nickel for every time parents told me that they had already (without much lasting impact!) tried a reward system at home with their child—well, I would be a rich woman. Many of you who have a child with ADHD, an autism spectrum disorder, or executive functioning challenges have struggled with your child not listening or following directions at home, having frequent meltdowns, hitting peers or siblings, using disrespectful language, etc. So, you probably decided to try a rewards system to work on these skills. And--let me guess--your child’s behavior improved initially, but then a week later you were right back where you started.

Believe me, I know. I have been there, too, with my own kids. We start a cotton ball jar for following directions and showing kindness. A week into it, my kids are sharing well and following their morning and nighttime routines with ease. Another week later and I’m forgetting to give the cotton balls, my kids are taking 30 minutes to get dressed ...