Unlocking Potential: College and Other Choices for People With LD and ADHD

Some of us learn things in a different way from those around us — do you too? One frog might need a bit of help with counting; another might not know how to behave around other frogs. Other young frogs in this book are easily distracted and get themselves into trouble. But help is at hand: if we think differently about things that we find difficult, we can find our own ways to get better at doing them.

Groundbreaking and comprehensive, Driven to Distraction has been a lifeline to the approximately eighteen million Americans who are thought to have ADHD. Now the bestselling book is revised and updated with current medical information for a new generation searching for answers.

Through vivid stories and case histories of patients — both adults and children — Hallowell and Ratey explore the varied forms ADHD takes, from hyperactivity to daydreaming. They dispel common myths, offer helpful coping tools, and give a thorough accounting of all treatment options as well as tips for dealing with a diagnosed child, partner, or family member. But most importantly, they focus on the positives that can come with this “disorder” — including high energy, intuitiveness, creativity, and enthusiasm.

See also, Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder.

This book reveals how the authors’ findings from their research in psychology, neuropsychology, special education, and medicine can help clinicians assess and remediate reading and attention disorders. Valuable directions for future research are also offered.

In the well-researched and compelling Standardized Minds, former journalist and economist Peter Sacks launches an exhaustive attack on the national obsession with testing — and lands a few hits. If you think you’ve heard every argument against standardized tests, think again. Sacks methodically picks away at our feeble attempts to measure the mind, reaching back into the history of testing with unsettling revelations about the creation of the first intelligence test and its many flaws. He deftly illustrates how the belief of inferior cultures motivated the creator of the SAT college entrance exam and takes on all that standardized testing has wrought: ability grouping, gifted programs, state accountability efforts — even the effect on parents whose perceptions of their own children are often shaken by scores on a sheet of paper. Standardized Minds is a persuasive must-read for parents, educators, and lawmakers that challenges our basic assumptions about intelligence and pays homage to the talented minds we may have overlooked in our fervor to rate the human brain.

In 1994, Driven to Distraction sparked a revolution in our understanding of attention deficit disorder. Widely recognized as the classic in the field, the book has sold more than a million copies. Now a second revolution is under way in the approach to ADD, and the news is great. Drug therapies, our understanding of the role of diet and exercise, even the way we define the disorder — all are changing radically. And doctors are realizing that millions of adults suffer from this condition, though the vast majority of them remain undiagnosed and untreated. In this new book, Drs. Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey build on the breakthroughs of Driven to Distraction to offer a comprehensive and entirely up-to-date guide to living a successful life with ADD.

Adulthood is nothing to be frightened of, even if you have LD. This guide is aimed at helping prepare you not only for academic success, but for life as an adult. It helps explain how kids get into LD programs, clarifies your legal rights and responsibilities, and covers other vital topics including assertiveness, jobs, friends, dating, self-sufficiency, and responsible citizenship.