Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, is a condition that can make it difficult for people to meet expectations of parents, teachers, or employers. Challenges with attention, forgetfulness, distractibility, impulse control, controlling emotions and behaviours, and completing schoolwork are not uncommon for those with ADHD.
Issues commonly occurring alongside ADHD are anxiety, low self-esteem, and social problems. Receiving more corrective feedback than their peers, people with ADHD can often start to believe that there is something wrong with them, that they cannot do things other kids can do. Teasing and bullying at school, commonly experienced by children with ADHD, can further a sense of being different or isolated from peers.
Sometimes needed in addition to the medication that many receive to manage symptoms of ADHD, is (1) support in challenging low self-worth, (2) learning and using behavioural strategies to bolster a young person's ability to complete tasks or chores independently, and (3) providing parents and close others with tools to support their young person.
