Adults need fidgets too. Fidgets can be used to keep you stimulated by using multiple sensory channels. Fidgets have real world benefit and can help adults get through board meetings or their children’s piano recitals. Sure, we all have our cell phones, but using phones conveys a distinct message that “you are not as important as what’s on my phone.” In contrast, fidgets can be disguised and even in obvious cases doesn’t make the person feel less important.

1. Better Listening Through Fidgeting. The number one idea I got from Paul Orfalea, the founders of Kinkos. While I was interviewing him for my book The Gift of Adult ADD, he hopped out of his seat and walked away from the table in the middle of the conversation. I was afraid he would not return. He returned moments later with a handful of coffee stirrers, one of which he was chewing on. Chewing on a coffee stirrer is a way to channel hyperactivity and is not nearly as insulting as pulling out your...

What are some of the biggest misconceptions of ADHD that cause the biggest problems in creating invalid or negative thoughts about ADHD?

The biggest misconception is that because it creates a problem in the school systems, it creates problems everywhere. In the real world the same "symptoms" of ADHD can create success. In many ways the intense fear of mistakes created in education systems cripples students for the real world - what is creativity and innovation other than a willingness to make mistakes? My book The Gift of Adult ADD profiles many successful adults who achieved their success not in spite of ADHD but because of the very same qualities that lead to a diagnosis of ADHD.

ADHD is a gift, I have no doubt about it. Those gifts include emotional sensitivity, intuition, creativity, exuberance and a felt connection to nature and many more. We live in a world where being able to get the right answer at the back of the book becomes less and less relevant whereas the gifts of ADHD...

What is executive functioning?

Executive Functioning is the ability to plan, to take action rather than procrastinate, to consider multiple possibilities to help you solve problems, and to stay focused. Executive functioning involves your “will,” defined as determination, insistence, persistence, or willfulness. Synonyms for “will” include power, resolve, intention, decisiveness, and self-restraint.

The term “executive function” is an umbrella term that includes many interrelated functions that allow you to control your thoughts, feelings, and behavior. The five core components of executive functioning:
• attention
• planning
• flexible thinking
• emotional regulation
• impulse control