Danny Profile picture
4 Jan, 4 tweets, 1 min read
Parents with ADHD kids:

Please understand that there's a difference between knowing and KNOWING (ie, understanding).

ADHDers struggle grasping consequences.

So your kids might know why they shouldn't do something but it doesn't mean they understand the reasoning behind it.
I often get questions from parents who say that their kids 'know' that something is bad but they still do it.

I always ask them how they are certain that their kids 'know'.

So your kids might 'know' that they shouldn't leave their toys out but they struggle understanding why.
Even if it's something super obvious that you feel anyone should grasp.

Like why they shouldn't play with sharp objects.

It feels like everyone should 'know' but your ADHDer child mightn't understand why.

Sitting down and explaining 'the obvious' might genuinely help them.
An analogy:

Someone could have memorized a recipe and can recreate it perfectly.

While they might know the steps, it doesn't mean they understand how the ingredients come together.

Or how to change it up.

Knowing is not the same as understanding.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Danny

Danny Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ABCsofADHD

12 Dec 20
We ADHDers struggle to realize things.

As in, some things don't easily occur to us.

I wanna say 'we don't notice things' but I feel thats misleading. Its not that simple.

Eg, you say hello to me and I would say hello back.

But it might not occur to me to say hello first.
I forgot to eat lunch today.

But see, its not that I actually forgot.

I felt hungry.

It just didnt occur to me to eat to sate my hunger.

Its not that I didn't notice ny hunger. Nor did I forget about food. Nor was I distracted.
I remember when I was younger, this would happen a lot and my mam would ask me, 'why didn't you eat any thing?'.

I would reply, 'I don't know'.

And I still don't.

Why didn't I eat lunch today?

It just didnt occur to me.
Read 5 tweets
19 Oct 20
One of the first steps in managing your mental health is to learning to recognize your automatic, irrational thought patterns and spirals.

Instead of being dragged along by the emotional wave, learning to keep your head above water, breathe and slowly swim towards the shore. /1
So for me, one of my common spirals was when I faced failure.

I would AUTOMATICALLY (stressed because they start off completely subconscious and automatic) start thinking:

'Of course I failed. I'm a failure after all. This is why I should never try.' /2
These automatic spirals would drag me along and make me feel worse.

At first, I had to sit down and consciously work on them. Learn to recognize and stop the thoughts.

After a few years, it became automatic. When I start feeling bad, I habitually stop the spiraling. /3
Read 5 tweets
17 Oct 20
ADHDers are incredibly likely to have other diagnoses separate to ADHD. These comorbid conditions, can masks issues, complicating treatment.

When I started managing my depression, my ADHD symptoms 'got worse'. Depression was 'suppressing' my ADHD issues.

butthethingis.com/adhd-and-comor…
Hell, I didn't even realize I had ADHD cause of the depression.

It really masked all of my more hyperactive symptoms. No interrupting, no rapid thoughts, no excitability, none of the ADHD chaotic-ness.

Inattentive symptoms were iffy cause depression can cause similar issues.
Looking back, ADHD with depression can really look like 'just' depression.

If I met the 'past me' now, I don't think I'd be able to tell that 'past me' had ADHD.

You can see how this would complicate diagnosis and treatment.
Read 5 tweets
1 Aug 20
I had a though.

I've always perceived/ described my meds as helping me focus. But that's not technically true.

It actually makes me much less likely to be distracted.

While the outcome is the same (increases attention), I think the framing is different and more accurate.
How we percieve and think about something is massively important as it changes our expectations.

Meds don't fix all of our problems. Saying it helps focus might cause a newly diagnosed ADHDer to think it could.
When I started taking meds, they weren't super effective.

Why? Cause meds just help you do what you want to do in the first place.

When I first started taking meds, I didn't know how to want to do things.

Self motivation coping mechanisms are needed to make best use of meds.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!