Joan Brennan's Page

This was a very recent and real request from a 7 year-old boy who was struggling with reading and ADD. I received word of this request (or rather, this “plea”) from the child’s mother in an email earlier this week. She was asking for strategies and tips to help her son.

Here are just a couple of recommendations I made to hopefully help her and her son. First of all, it is important to understand that for some children and adults challenged with ADD, the white background on a page of text… Continue

It might be helpful to learn that there are some, NON-INVASIVE strategies that you can use to help with the challenges of ADD or ADHD. Here are just a few.

Politely request (as a parent) or allow for (as a classroom teacher) the following for a student:

1. Being seated in close proximity to the teacher or other presenter

2. Using graph paper while doing any math work to help promote placeholder accuracy

3. Having a course or any book content available via audiotape or CD

4. Underlining or h… Continue

It can be more than challenging to overcome the symptoms of ADHD, especially when trying to complete a project or assignment at school or in the workplace. There are some techniques that can bring immediate results. Discovering what works, however, may take a bit of trial and error on your part.

Sometimes, it takes some "soothing" techniques to tame the ADHD "monster" inside an individual. Some of these techniques may involve connections with some of the five senses. Try these approaches the ne… Continue