Comment on: The House We Build for ADHD, A Blueprint for Long Term, Successful ADHD Care

A post published by Mark Bertin M.D recently caught my eye for several reasons – one being the fact that Dr. Bertin will be one of our featured 2015 conference speakers, and another being his well-balanced multimodal approach to addressing ADHD, and his realization that the high levels of stress this disorder causes often drives the way families deal with ADHD.

Dr. Bertin begins with a genius analogy describing the fundamentals; the need for a strong foundation consisting of three pillars that has been proven to have significant impact on ADHD symptoms; school accommodations that recognize executive functioning impairments and; family supports and medical interventions.

Next steps would involve looking for ways to better things such as sleep, nutrition, exercise, communication, time management, safe driving and the excess time spent with electronic technology and media. Dr. Bertin concludes his analogy by talking the focus of his upcoming book, the use of mindfulness as a tool to help in “holding it all together”. If you have a child with ADHD who is struggling, or you are having difficulty functioning as a family with ADHD, this article may assist you in assessing where to start and how to build upon the successful management of ADHD as a family. Unfortunately while reading this article what came to my mind is the fact that in many parts of Canada it still remains difficult to access two of the supports that Dr. Bertin identifies as crucial: school accommodations and family support.

To view the Dr. Bertin’s entire post: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/child-development-central/201501/the-house-we-build-adhd