Head in the Clouds

ADD Documentary Available Online Today

Just watched a short documentary about adult ADD by a couple of Canadian comedians. It's fast-moving, funny, and touching and includes plenty of interviews with experts and people with ADD. It's called ADD and Loving It, and it's available to watch free online—but only through today, and I'm not sure what time today. It's about 43 minutes long.

To find out how to view the film in the future, check out  the filmmakers' website, which looks to be a fun and informative destination in and of itself, or the film's Facebook page.

And Yet More Teleclasses

The Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA), an organization for adults with ADD, is also offering a set of teleclasses. Topics range from anxiety and addictions to sleep issues and—my favorite title—“tedium management.” The classes are free to ADDA members; it costs $45 to join as an individual. Go here for more information:  http://www.add.org/store/teleclasshome.html.

Great Message, Terrible Marketing

In case you want to listen in on the second half of the teleseminar series I wrote about on April 16, the organizers increased the number of people who can participate.

And if you’d like to buy recordings and transcripts of the series, here’s a tip: They cost $79—but only the first time you log in. The next time you log in, the package costs $99. If you already logged in once and didn’t buy, you can sign up again with a different e-mail address and still get the $79 price.

Unfortunately, it took reading through a bunch of hype and doing some sleuthing to find this out. Honestly, I’m put off by the hard-sell approach the organizers are taking. I’ve urged them to communicate more clearly, concisely, and gently in the future, providing all information about pricing up front.

Despite the high-pressure marketing, the series looks excellent, with some great presenters. And the message they’re trying to spread bears repeating: Society is moving from a moral model of ADD to a medical model, but it’s time to move further, to a more strength-based approach.

I hope the marketing doesn’t turn people off from the message.

Again, here’s where to sign up: http://www.unwrappingthegiftofadd.com/?vip=13.

Sign Me Up! No, Wait …

After finishing my taxes this evening—a relaxed three or so hours before midnight, mind you—I found in my inbox an announcement for a free teleseminar on ADD, with speakers from Ned Hallowell to Sari Solden. It’s all about a strength-based approach to ADD.

And it had me in a tizzy for a while.

You have to sign up at a precise time tomorrow (today by the time you read this)—exactly the time I’m committed to driving my daughter and two other children to a djembe performance they’re in. Also, only 400 or so slots are available, but more than 4,000 people have already visited the site. Not only that, the seminars are a bunch of evenings in a row, for an hour right at either dinnertime or Little League game time.   

But all this didn’t stop my brain: Can I arrive late for the driving gig? Should I e-mail the music teacher? How long will it take to sign up? Will I get a slot? How many of the nights is my daughter at her dad’s? Can he get her to her games? If I do sign up, will my daughter be squirming in my lap every evening asking me questions and trying to play with my pen? Would the whole thing be fair to her anyway?

Thankfully, some part of my frontal lobes kicked in. And I let go, opting for a calm morning tomorrow and eight calm upcoming evenings. Well, as calm as they ever are.

Recordings and transcripts will be available later. I did visit the producers’ blog to plead for an affordable price.

Anyway, maybe the teleseminar will work for you. If you’re either more available or more impulsive than I am, I wish you luck signing up!   

I also recommend a free booklet that’s available at the same site: Find the Genius in ADD. The authors lay out nicely how we’ve moved, at least in part, from a  moral to a medical diagnosis of ADD. And they suggest taking another step: moving to a strength-based approach. I really applaud them for working to get this message out.

For more info on the teleseminar and to sign up to get Find the Genius in ADD, go to http://www.unwrappingthegiftofadd.com/?vip=13. You might also want to follow the link at the bottom of the page to the blog Unwrapping the Gift of ADD—looks like a great resource, with plenty of video as well as type.