In today’s episode, we’re talking to Irene Ilachinski about ADHD in Mothers. Irene is a licensed clinical social worker in the Northern Virginia area. She specializes in treating adults with PTSD and High-functioning women with ADHD. Her practice is called Open Bridges Counseling and it’s located in Fairfax, VA. Today we will answer these questions:

• What signs do mothers see that lead them to believe they have ADHD?
• How do mothers get diagnosed with ADHD?
• What age do adult women often get diagnosed with ADHD?
• How can this new diagnosis affect the family?
• What strategies can mothers use to manage their ADHD?
• What is it like for someone to find out later in life that they have been masking for ADHD all along? Is it hard for them to get out of habits that they picked up to help them compensate?
• What’s your biggest piece of advice for a mother who is just finding out she has ADHD?
• You work also with Acute and Chronic PTSD in adults. How does ADHD affect Trauma?
• Conversely, how does Trauma impact ADHD?

Links and Resources:

• Irene’s website: www.openbridgescounseling.com
• Driven to Distraction, by Ned Hallowell and John Ratey (book): https://a.co/d/0aZML8YF
• CHADD - https://chadd.org/understanding-adhd/ - organization for children and adults with ADHD.
• ADDitude - https://www.additudemag.com/ - online journal with articles, resources by and for people with ADHD
• ADHD-friendly Ways to Organize Your Life, by Judith Kohlberg and Kathleen Nadeau (book): https://a.co/d/0056etrz
• The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare (book): https://a.co/d/045sIKML

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In today’s episode, we’re talking to Dr. James Siddall about How Schools Identify And Support Students With Dyslexia. Dr. Siddall is a licensed school psychologist in Northern Virginia. He owns his own practice where he offers psychoeducational services to students of all ages. Today we will answer these questions:

• Can you tell us what happens before a student begins the identification process? I know there are acronyms like RTI & MTSS, what exactly does that mean?
• Identification
  • How does the identification process work and who is the catalyst, the parents or the school?
  • Does the school do testing and if so what does that look like? Will they provide a diagnosis if warranted?
  • Do you recommend that parents get outside testing?
  • How does a student qualify for support services?
• Support
  • What kind of support is available for my child?
  • What’s the difference between special education, Section 504 & IEPs? How do I know which one is best for my child?

Links and Resources:

• Dr. Siddall’s website: http://jdspsychoed.com/
• Dr. Siddall’s email: jsiddall@jdspsychoed.com

More about Dr. Siddall:

Dr. James Siddall is a Licensed School Psychologist and the owner of JDS Psychoeducational Services. Dr. Siddall obtained his doctorate in School Psychology from the University of South Carolina and completed his internship at Loudoun County Public Schools in Northern Virginia. Dr. Siddall then worked as a practicing School Psychologist in Arlington Public Schools for seven years, working at both the high school and elementary school levels. He is currently a practicing Psychologist at The Child and Family Practice of Washington, DC in addition to his work at JDS Educational Services.

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In today’s episode, we’re talking to Joan Green about The Benefits Of Tech To Support Attention, Organization, Literacy, and Communication. Joan is an SLP and Inclusive Assistive Technology Specialist in the DMV area. Through her practice, Innovative Speech Therapy, she specializes in assistive tech for individuals of all ages. Today we will answer these questions:

• What is assistive technology?
• What kinds of technology is out there? Are there low-cost vs. high-cost options?
• Which piece of technology is best suited to the different areas we’re focusing on today?
  • Attention
  • Organization
  • Literacy
  • Communication
• Should parents and teachers use their child/student’s technology when working with them, and if so how should they practice with this technology?
• How has technology improved a child’s life? Academically, socially, home life etc.

More about Joan

Joan is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist, technology consultant, eldertech advocate, mother of four wonderful young adults, and the founder of Innovative Speech Therapy. Her passion is to do all that she can to help families, educators, caregivers, and therapists address a wide variety of communication, cognitive, literacy, and learning challenges. Over her years as a speech therapist, she’s worked to fine-tune her uniquely effective approach to therapy and professional development. Joan believes in empowering individuals, families, and professionals through affordable, cutting-edge technologies that many of us already have in our homes, schools, and workplaces.

Over the past 35+ years, Joan developed systems, techniques, and strategies to help others speed toward their communication, cognitive, and learning goals. To do this, Joan combines the use of the latest assistive technology features, online tools, engaging speech and language therapy apps, evidence-based speech therapy techniques, inclusive family-centered communication training, and multiple means of support. In addition to providing customized individual sessions, Joan enjoys speaking at conferences and creating webinars, courses, and online tutorials about using engaging and motivating resources to enhance communication and learning.

Joan believes that education should never end, and so she is constantly on the lookout for new, innovative ways to help her clients. Joan received the “Most Outstanding Contribution to the Field” award from the Maryland Speech-Language-Hearing Association, as well as the “Technovator Award” from MATN (Maryland Assistive Technology Network) sponsored by The Johns Hopkins University School of Education for Technology in Education and the Maryland State Department of Education.

Joan knows how important it is that you trust and feel comfortable with the person helping you move forward toward your goals so Joan offers a free initial phone consultation. Joan is based in the Washington, DC area but offers the majority of tech advising and coaching sessions online, everywhere. Along with her one-on-one sessions, Joan also provides video-based courses and often shares her techniques through blog posts, online courses, books, and speaking engagements.

Links and Resources:

• Joan’s practice: www.innovativespeech.com
• Task breakdown: https://goblin.tools/
• Read & Write for Google Chrome: https://www.texthelp.com/products/read-and-write-education/for-google-chrome/

Make sure to subscribe and follow us on social media so you never miss an episode!

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