YES! YOU WILL UNDERSTAND YOUR TEEN WITH ADHD

Donovan counsels caregivers on approaching an adolescent’s ADHD in this nonfiction guide.

The author, a teacher, began noticing changes in her daughter’s behavior while the girl was in the sixth grade—she became terribly restless and had difficulties focusing, problems that contributed to her increasing anxiety. As her challenges grew more severe (including a seething anger), she turned to drugs, alcohol, and self-harm as means to cope. Donovan’s daughter wasn’t officially diagnosed with ADHD until she was 13 years old—it can be exceedingly hard to distinguish symptoms of the condition from the ordinary tumult of teenage life. Her daughter’s predicament compelled the author to radically rethink her approach to parenting: “My daughter’s diagnosis caught me off guard because everything I knew about raising children would not work for her situation. Once her diagnosis had its hooks in our family, I knew I had to throw away my expectations. I had to do something different if I was ever going to be able to understand who she was.” In addition to Donovan’s movingly candid remembrance of her child’s ordeal, she also furnishes a deep wellspring of practical advice and information for others who may be in a similar circumstance. With accessible clarity and painstaking thoroughness, she discusses the diagnosis itself, the formulation of a treatment plan (which includes finding the right doctors), and vetting pharmaceutical options. The author also outlines customizing the educational experience of a child with ADHD by working with a school psychologist. She broadens her scope to address the emotional trials as well and articulates sensible strategies for managing the stress. For the caregiver who has or might have a child with this disorder, Donovan’s book is a deeply helpful resource, as astute as it is comprehensive.

A well-organized and edifying introduction to late-onset ADHD.