ADD/ADHD News

March 24th 2005

Conference Report

ADDISS Conference
The Challenges of ADHD in Adolescents and Adulthood

We have received the following report about the above Conference which took place in Newcastle on 11th March 2005 from someone who attended this event. It is great to have feedback about any events which have taken place around the UK in particular as it shows others that there are things going on and also that there is a great need for theses type of conferences to be taking place as there are so many who are looking for information on so may aspects of ADHD.

"I was very glad to be able to attend this conference in Newcastle on March 11th. The location was great, because those of us from Scotland could easily get there by train. It was a bit cramped at the venue, because I think more people attended than were expected, which is good for the cause of getting ADHD information out, but not so great for those of us trying to get coffee during the breaks. But, these things happen, and in the big scheme of things, it was no big deal.

The keynote speaker, Tom Brown, was very good, and I liked his analogy to the ADD brain being like an orchestra that all play their instruments really well, but are often trying to do so without a conductor. The Lancashire Constabulary speakers were absolutely awesome, and their project is to be commended. They are doing wonderful things to help those with ADHD try and keep out of the justice system. A few of the other speakers were a bit dry, but again, you can't please everyone. I have been around ADHD for 15 years now, so there often isn't that much at these conferences that is really new to me. I did learn a few things from Lorrine Marer in her session on Managing ADHD and Challenging Behaviour at home and school that I am already implementing in my home, and she was very entertaining. The other session that I attended was on the Diagnosis and treatment of Adult ADHD; experience from a UK clinic. Being originally from the US! , I want to see how things were here in the UK, and it was pretty much as I expected and had experienced so far.....WAY behind in treating Adult ADHD, but getting there. All in all, it was a very positive experience.

One of our support group memebers brought her adult daughter who has ADD, and she learned a lot and really had a great experience there too. We also gathered valuable information that we will need to run our first Highland ADHD conference on May 9th in Inverness, click here for more details of this conference, because we want it to be the best it can be, so we are learning from the ADHD Conference experts, ADDISS!"

By Les

for adders.org

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