ADDitude asked: "What would you put on your to-do list to make yourself happy?"

I try to stop taking things personally and remind myself that I'm not the reason people around me are upset. — Francesca, Germany

Find a therapist who understands adult ADD and the repercussions of a late-in-life diagnosis! — Beth, Massachusetts

Smil...

Taking notes should be more than writing down information as a teacher is lecturing. A student needs to pay attention and try to understand what the teacher is teaching. He should be able to distinguish the big picture from insignificant details. A student should admit it when the lecture material is going over his head and...

Listastic

(iOS, free)

Lists are an ADHD adult's best friend. Going without them often means disaster. Listastic is an app no ADHD adult should be without. It's the simplest app that I have found, with the fewest steps, to keep checklists in order.

From a grocery list to the day's tasks at work, Listastic organizes your...

My son's doctor got it all wrong. I didn't think so at the time. He was a highly regarded ADHD specialist, and I hung on every word he said. At the end of our visit, he made the solemn pronouncement: "Your son has ADHD."

Except that he didn't. But back then, even as a doctor, I was credulous. I wanted a diagnosis and a...

If something minor is irritating you, shouldn't you be able to carry on and not let it bother you?

Most grownups can ignore what bugs them, but adults with ADHD aren't as lucky. One of the side effects of living with ADHD is hypersensitivity. If you're hypersensitive, there are times when you can't block out what's bothering...

ADDitude asked: "If your ADHD keeps you up, how do you get yourself to sleep?"

Aromatherapy oils help me get sound sleep.-Aviva, New York

I listen to music from the '70s. Because I know the songs, it takes my mind off of my worries and I go to sleep almost immediately. -Walter, Alaska

Read a nonfiction book. It is less likely to...

When your main goal is to get control over a defiant teen's behavior, learning to pay attention, spending some positive time together, ignoring minor misbehavior, and offering praise may seem like digressions. But these are essential elements to putting your relationship with your teen on positive footing. Praise and quality...

Now that I've found a career that suits my ADD brain — writing fiction — the biggest challenge left to me is the physical clutter that follows me everywhere I go. That and the hours spent every week looking for my keys, wallet, books, shirts, shoes, and the saltshaker. The list goes on and on, but the worst of it has always b...

I've always known about the ability of music to focus the ADHD brain since I started writing seriously in high school. Whenever I had a paper, essay, or story to write, I'd do it while listening to music. Not just any music: The music couldn't have words, had to have a certain tempo, had to last a while, and couldn't stop and...

I first saw her when I was 20 years old. She was sitting in a back room at an art gallery, and I was immediately drawn to her. As I approached the terracotta sculpture, the expression on her face struck me. It was serene and composed, and I instantly recognized it — not as something I had experienced, but as something I w...

First, the good news: the number of students with ADHD and/or LD attending college has increased exponentially in the past 30 years. Getting into college is only half the battle. All teens, especially those with ADHD and LD, need strategies to meet increased academic expectations and to live on their own.

A Tale of Two...

ADDitude has written lots of articles about the ways ADHDers can be better friends to their non-ADHD buddies: Do this and don't do that, try this, not that. Don't say this, say that. After all the tips, instruction, and how-tos, it seems fair that non-ADHDers should listen to what ADHDers are looking for in a good friend. It...