Thursday - Focus on Child ADHD

Lecture #1: An Update on the Executive Functioning-Self-Regulation Theory of ADHD:  Implications for Management

Dr. Barkley has developed one of the leading theories of executive functioning and its role in the nature of ADHD.  This theory is based on understanding the nature of the executive neuropsychological functions as a multi-level meta-construct and its contribution to self-regulation across time to support the individual’s long-term goals and general welfare.  This model views EF not just as a suite of purely cognitive capacities but as an extended phenotype from brain functioning into ever widening spheres of daily adaptive, self-reliant, and cooperative social functioning across the major domains of daily life activities in which humans must function effectively to survive and prosper.  From this theory, he has developed numerous clinical implications concerning the diagnosis, assessment, and management of ADHD.  Specific management principles will be developed from the theory that extends across multiple domains of major life activities. 

Lecture #2: Counseling Parents: The 14 Best Principles for Managing Executive Functioning Deficits in Children and Teens with ADHD

This presentation is a follow-up to lecture #1 in providing a detailed review of the 14 most effective principles for parents to adopt in understanding and raising a child or teen with ADHD.  These principles are largely based on Dr. Barkley’s theory of ADHD as a disorder of self-regulation and executive functioning. 

Lecture #3:  Health Outcomes of Childhood ADHD by Adulthood: Implications for Life Expectancy and Clinical Management

That childhood ADHD predisposes to increased risks for impairment in educational, family, peer, and eventual occupational functioning by young adulthood, among many other major domains of life activities is well established in research.  Less appreciated is that the disorder also predisposes to increased health, medical, and dental risks, such as an increased risk for accidental injuries as well as suicide across the lifespan.  But ADHD also predisposes to certain personality traits and lifestyle choices that have a significant impact on these health-related factors.  Such risks and impairments are known to influence estimated life expectancy.  This lecture describes the various health and lifestyle domains of major life activities that have been found to be significantly impaired in children growing up with ADHD by their young adult years. It will show that ADHD adversely affects health outcomes and that such outcomes may have a substantial detrimental impact on estimated life expectancy by young adulthood. The implications of these findings for alterations in ADHD management will also be discussed.

Friday: Focus on Adult ADHD

ADHD is now recognized as a relatively common mental disorder of adults, affecting 4-5 percent of the adult population and accounting for an increasing number of referrals to mental health and family practices in this country.  The disorder has a pervasive impact on most major domains of daily life activities, including occupational, educational, and social functioning and health-related behavior.  It is therefore imperative that mental health, medical, and adult educational professionals have as much up-to-date knowledge of this adult disorder and its treatment as possible.

This 4-hour program will provide current information on the nature of ADHD in adults and diagnostic issues, the most likely comorbid disorders associated with it, and the adaptive impairments likely to occur in adults with ADHD.   Dr. Barkley will provide guidance on the issues involved in the assessment of ADHD in adults.  He will also describe the most effective treatment strategies for managing adult ADHD, highlighting counseling, medications, cognitive-behavioral therapy for executive function deficits, and educational and workplace accommodations.