Although most adults with ADD/ADHD are not overly over-active, they continue to struggle with six specific challenges on a daily basis. In his book Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults, Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D. describes six functional aspects of attention .
1. ACTIVATION
¨ Organizing activities
¨ Prioritizing tasks
¨ Getting started on activities
¨ Avoiding procrastination
2. FOCUS
¨ Tuning in to the right thing at the right time
¨ Staying focused on the right thing at the right time
¨ Avoiding superficial processing
¨ Identifying what is most important
¨ Shifting attention when needed
¨ Making smooth transitions
3. EFFORT
¨ Maintaining alertness
¨ Regulating consistent mental effort
¨ Changing processing speed to meet needs of the specific task
¨ Time, Timing, Timeliness
4. EMOTIONS
¨ Modulating frustration
¨ Managing emotions
¨ Impatience
¨ Delaying gratification
5. MEMORY
¨ Holding on to and working with information
¨ Retrieving information for multiple step tasks
¨ Learning from experience
6. ACTION
¨ Monitoring progress
¨ Sustaining momentum
¨ Modulating one’s actions to fit the situation
¨ Anticipating consequences
Check this blog on Monday for “Six Solutions for Adults with ADHD”
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