It won’t surprise you to know I have a very bias interest in the first Australian evidence based clinical guidelines for ADHD. (Yes, you read that right. It’s the FIRST ever guidelines for ADHD in Australia which is astonishing and awesome at the same time!). My bias is reading them from a parenting perspective. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m an ADHD parent coach and I work with parents supporting them to raise children with ADHD. I coach parents individually and also provide ADHD parent training.
The first part of the guideline I zeroed in on was relating to parent/family training. The guidelines recommend that for all young children under 5 and those aged from 5 to 17, their parents should be offered parent/family training. The evidence shows that this is associated with a number of benefits related to family/parent functioning.  Family functioning is the ability to communicate, solve problems, interact positively, and keep connected to each other. ADHD puts pressure on family functioning.
The guidelines go on to detail what are recommendations which have evolved from research and some practice points (i.e., nice to have) again based on research.
The recommendation states that parent training can be delivered either individually or in a group. The crucial factor from this recommendation is that parent training be delivered to all parents and carers in the care of the individual child so both parents, grandparents and ideally, teachers also.
The “nice to have” practice points address the following requirements:
- The training should be sensitive and aware of the stigma and understanding that parents raising children with ADHD may have already experienced.
- The training should really be focused on the individual strengths, the values, and interests of both the parents and the child which is very much a feature of positive parenting. However, the training should include education and information about ADHD and its impact on life’s functioning. It should include information on how to modify a child’s environment to lessen any negative impact of ADHD and it will also include accommodations which will support the child with expectations around behaviour.
- The facilitators should be aware and consider the capacity of parents and ensure that any strategies and skills are appropriate for the current situation of the parent. This is because it is recognised that ADHD families may have multiple family needs, parental ADHD, mental health conditions and may need support to adjust to the additional needs required raising a child with ADHD.
As a mum who has raised a child with ADHD (now 19 so the bulk of parenting complete!), I became aware of these requirements for ADHD parent training 10 years ago. While I was doing my Masters in Education by research in coaching parents raising children with ADHD Coaching parents of children with ADHD, I read a lot of the research which unpins the clinical guidelines.  It was through my own lived experience combined with my education, that I developed an ADHD parenting course which I’m very relieved to say, ticks all the boxed of the guidelines.
If you would like to know more about my course (which I’m delivering online next year in Term 1, 2023), please Sign up for waitlist page.
If you would like to read the guidelines or access the factsheets for individual parts of the guidelines, please click here. AADPA guidelines link
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