Mentoring Young Adults with ADD, ADHD and AuDHD:
Understanding and
Mastering the 3 Forms
By Ken Rabow
I’ve been encountering issues with ADD and all its variations since I was a middle school teacher in the early 2000s.
My mentees found great success through my work with the three types of ADD that I see on a regular basis. We help capable but scattered minds become successful at every level.
The three forms of ADD that I encounter on a regular basis are:
1) Organic-based ADD: young adults who truly need some variation of ADD medication to do well at organized tasks. This is, in fact, only about 15% of my ADD clients. The rest fall into the other two categories. Our goal here is to learn to be consistent with the meds when needed, be proactive in getting the meds every month and then finding the types of careers best suited for your child based on his strengths.
2) Ferrari brains: many of my young adults who have been diagnosed with, or considered to have, ADD by professionals and by teachers are in fact people with a very powerful brain they have not yet learned to master. We show them how to gain focus in 5 minute, then 8 minute and then longer periods of time, mastering their own mind.
3) AuDHD: I have worked successfully with people on the autistic spectrum, and now those with AuDHD. Autism combined with ADHD. For these young adults, getting anything done and have it keep going is the biggest challenge and yet very simple to manifest. We need sometimes three or four fallback plans for each situation. Once they learn to use these, their creativity flourishes and we find the right careers for them and make them happen.
It takes a mentor who understands the differences, who has worked on a day-to-day basis on real-life achievements and used those to help these young adults succeed. And a great parent partner like yourself. How do I know you will be a great parent partner? You are still reading 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to understand how I can help your child.