Learning Differences Conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

When worrying takes over: Helping kids with ADHD overcome anxiety and build resiliency

Living in a world that’s increasingly unpredictable, today’s kids are more anxious than ever before. For kids with ADHD, worry and fear can increase their agitation, distractedness and impulsivity and make things seem worse than they are. Dr. Saline, author of What your ADHD child wishes you knew: Working together to empower kids in school and life, discusses how anxiety works and what parents, coaches and clinicians can do to help kids reduce their worries. After reviewing the physiology and psychology of anxiety, she will show you how to help kids with ADHD change their relationship to worry and avoid the pitfalls of negative thinking. Instead of reassurance and rationalization, you will learn techniques for separating the person from the anxiety, talking to the worry itself and creating effective responses to ‘what ifs’. Dr. Saline shares excerpts from interviews with kids with ADHD about issues such as insomnia, social concerns and avoidance to give you unusual insight into their perspectives. She offers tools for teaching them how to realistically evaluate situations, tolerate uncertainty and calm down. When young people with ADHD gain these skills, they bounce back confidently with more independence and much less worry.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe how anxiety works in the brain and body and its relationship to executive functioning skills

2. Identify and reduce patterns of negative thinking

3. Develop the ability to externalize anxiety and reduce its influence

4. Learn practical tools for dealing with kids’ specific worries

5. Identify and develop areas of resiliency

Dates: Dr. Saline’s talk is on March 20, 2020.

For more information and tickets, please go to https://www.researchild.org/events/35th-annual-learning-differences-conference or contact me at sharon@drsharonsaline.com or (413) 586-8688.

Copies of Dr. Saline’s will be available for purchase.

Enrollment is limited.

Building better brains: How improving executive
functioning skills fosters social, emotional and academic success

at the Bridge Training Institute

Would you like practical tools to help kids harness their natural potential, reduce stress and get things done with less arguing and more cooperation? Whether it’s academics, social challenges, mental health issues or technology, many children and teens struggle with feeling overwhelmed and can’t seem to keep up, especially those young people with ADHD, high-functioning ASD or learning disabilities. In this dynamic and interactive workshop, you’ll learn how to navigate their complex mix of biology, behavior and emotion and strengthen essential executive functioning skills to improve both home and school experiences.
With current research on the developing brain and real-life case examples, Dr.
Saline shows you why executive functioning skills are critical to learning and
development and how stress and anxiety negatively impact them. Innovative tools to improve focus, organization, planning and motivation will also be covered. Throughout the workshop, exercises are designed to improve participants’ understanding of living with learning differences, how to assist kids and their families with these challenges and opportunities to brainstorm about your specific clinical and/or classroom issues.
By focusing on a strength-based, positive psychology approach and including
kids’ voices in problem-solving, participants will learn how to create effective
interventions that go beyond medication and crisis management. You will leave this workshop with tangible strategies for identifying and nurturing cognitive strengths in young people to help them overcome daily challenges and improve their home and school experiences.

Dates: March 5, 2021

For more information, please contact me at sharon@drsharonsaline.com or (413) 586-8688.

Copies of Dr. Saline’s will be available for purchase.

Enrollment is limited.