The Evidence for ADHD Coaching

By Sarah D. Wright, MS, ACT

ADHD Coaching

ADHD Coaching: A seamless blend of Life Coaching, Skills Coaching, and Education used in a collaborative, supportive, goal-oriented process in which coach and client work together to identify the client’s desired outcomes and then develop the skills necessary to achieve them.

ADHD Coaching has been in use for over twenty years, but for much of that time it was not the subject of extensive study. As recently as 2005, Sam Goldstein, editor of the Journal of Attention Disorders, failed to identify a single study published during the previous 10 years on the topic of ADHD Coaching upon review. Thankfully, this has changed and there is now a growing body of research on ADHD Coaching. In this month’s article, I introduce you the evidence for its effectiveness, especially for adults with ADHD. We’ll look first at the evidence for the three elements of ADHD Coaching and then at what happens when you put them all together.

Life Coaching

Life Coaching: A process of facilitating changes that enhance self-directed goal attainment, whether personal or professional.

Life Coaching is a key component of coaching individuals with ADHD. Even small victories can make a big difference in the life of someone who has long struggled with feelings of failure.

Russell Barkley, one of the most prominent names in ADHD research, writes prolifically on the role of executive functioning skills in ADHD. Barkley defines executive functioning as: “The use of self-directed actions to choose goals, and to select, enact, and sustain actions across time toward those goals, usually in the context of others and often relying on social and cultural means. This is done for the maximization of one’s longer-term welfare as the person defines that to be.” (Barkley. “Executive Functioning in ADHD: Implications for Assessment and Management.” CHADD Preconference Institute. 2012).

This definition of executive functioning describes the very purpose of life coaching: improving one’s ability to select, enact, and sustain desired actions over time to enhance life satisfaction. Clearly, life coaching offers significant benefits for individuals with ADHD in its direct support of executive functioning.

Life Coaching inspires action. Skills Coaching makes action more effective.

Skills Coaching

Skills Coaching: The development of individualized systems and strategies designed to support and strengthen the client’s ability to manage practical aspects of life.

Skills Coaching is recommended for individuals with ADHD by Ned Hallowell and John Ratey in Driven to Distraction, as well as by Ari Tuckman in his Integrative Treatment for Adult ADHD. Of coaching, Tuckman  (2007) wrote, “…it’s the part that was missing from many of these clients’ former therapies.”

Barkley’s research into executive functioning and ADHD highlights that the key to living well with ADHD is to design prosthetic environments around the individual to compensate for his or her challenges. This “scaffolding” includes externalizing information so that it is available at key points of performance, externalizing reminders and prompts related to tasks and deadlines, breaking up lengthy tasks into smaller clearly defined steps, and externalizing sources of problem solving and motivation. Designing these prosthetic environments is exactly what an ADHD Coach does when collaborating with a client to develop individualized systems and strategies to support the client’s ability to manage the pragmatic aspects of life.

Skill Coaching facilitates action. Education informs it.

Education

Education: Providing evidence-based information that helps clients to understand ADHD and how it might be affecting them.

Just as understanding the cause of any problem — from diagnosing back pain to car engine trouble — gives one a better foundation from which to solve the problem, simply understanding ADHD and how it manifests empowers people to deal more effectively with the challenges that result from having it.

Knowledge helps de-stigmatize ADHD and the challenges associated with it. To quote the title of the famous book by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo, when clients — and their families — discover that they are not “lazy, stupid, or crazy,” it makes a significant difference in their outlook as well as in their ability to effectively deal with the challenges of living with ADHD.

Pulling it all together

Twenty years of coaching individuals affected by ADHD and a growing body of research have resulted in an increasingly clear definition of what ADHD Coaching is and what makes it effective.

We know that ADHD Coaching involves education about ADHD, which is liberating.

We know that ADHD Coaching involves the collaborative development of strengths-based systems, strategies, and skills, which is empowering.

We know that ADHD Coaching involves the collaborative, goal-oriented, supportive process called Life Coaching, which is inspiring.

When these three elements are seamlessly blended, each employed as necessary, ADHD clients find themselves living well with their ADHD. The research agrees.*

Next month look for an article on how ADDA was a significant contributor to the development of ADHD Coaching!

Sarah D. Wright is an internationally known ADHD Coach, well respected as a presenter and author on topics related to ADHD and coaching. She is a founding board member of the ADHD Coaches organization, the 2012 recipient of that organization’s Founders Award for Distinguished Service to the Professional ADHD Coach Community, co-author of the perennial favorite Fidget To Focus, and author of the recently published book, ADHD Coaching Matters: The Definitive Guide. Find her online at SarahDWright.com.

*ADHD Coaching Research Articles

Field, Sharon, David R Parker, Shlomo Sawilowsky, and Laura Rolands. “Assessing the Impact of ADHD Coaching Services on University Students’ Learning Skills, Self- Regulation, and Well-Being.” Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability (AHEAD) 26, no. 1 (2013): 67-81.

Kubik, Joyce A. “Efficacy of ADHD Coaching for Adults With ADHD.” Journal of Attention Disorders (Sage Publications) 13 (March 2010): 442-453.

Parker, David R., and Karen Boutelle. “Executive Function Coaching for College Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD: A New Approach for Fostering Self-Determination.” Learning Disabilities Research & Practice 24 no. 4 (2009): 204-215.

Parker, David R., Sharon Field Hoffman, Shlomo Sawilowsky, and Laura Rolands. “An Examination of the Effects of ADHD Coaching on University Students’ Executive Functioning.” Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability 24, no. 2 (2011): 115-132.

Parker, David R., Sharon Field, Schlomo Sawilowsky, and Laura Rolands. “Self-control in postsecondary settings: Students’ perceptions of ADHD college coaching.” Journal of Attention Disorders 17, no. 3 (2013): 215-232.

Prevatt, Frances, and Sherry Yelland. “An Empirical Evaluation of ADHD Coaching in College Students.” Journal of Attention Disorders (Sage Publications), 3 2013: 1-12.

Richman, Erica Lynn, Kristen N. Rademacher, and Theresa L. Maitland. “Coaching and College Success.” Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability 27 no. 1 (2014): 33-52.

Swartz, Stacy L., Frances Prevatt, and Briley E. Proctor. “A coaching intervention for college students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.” Psychology in the Schools 42, no. 6 (2005): 647–656.

ADHD Coaching Reference Books

Hallowell, Edward M. MD, and John J. Ratey. Driven to distraction: Recognizing and coping with attention deficit disorder from childhood through adulthood. Random House LLC, 2011.

Quinn, Patricia O., Nancy A. Ratey, and Theresa L. Maitland. Coaching college students with AD/HD: Issues and answers. Advantage Books, 2000.

Ratey, Nancy A. The disorganized mind: Coaching your ADHD brain to take control of your time, tasks, and talents. Macmillan, 2008.

Sleeper-Triplett, Jodi. Empowering Youth with ADHD: Your Guide to Coaching Adolescents and Young Adults for Coaches, Parents, and Professionals. Specialty Press, Incorporated, 2010.

Tuckman, Ari. Integrative treatment for adult ADHD: A practical, easy-to-use guide for clinicians. New Harbinger Publications, 2007.

Wright, Sarah D. ADHD coaching matters: the definitive guide. ACO Books, 2014.