ADHD Coaching

People with ADHD often struggle with time management, staying organized, maintaining relationships, and other life skills. Professional coaching can help them overcome these obstacles and regain confidence in their own problem-solving abilities.

This book is an A–Z guide for mental health professionals who want to develop or expand their ADHD coaching skills.

Drawing on over a decade of research and clinical work with ADHD clients, Frances Prevatt and Abigail Levrini have established an empirically-based model for ADHD coaching. Their approach uses elements of cognitive behavioral theory and psycho-education to target executive functioning deficits, and focuses on clients' key impairments.

This book describes the underlying principles as well as the nuts and bolts of ADHD coaching. Step-by-step details for gathering information, conducting the intake, establishing goals and objectives, and working through all stages of coaching are included, along with helpful forms and a detailed list of additional resources. The practicalities of setting up a practice, as well as professional issues are covered, and five richly detailed case studies illustrate how to help adults, college students, and adolescents who present with a variety of ADHD symptoms.

Introduction

I. ADHD Coaching: Fundamentals and Beyond

1. An Overview of ADHD
2. A History and Overview of ADHD Coaching Interventions
3. Underlying Principles and Procedures Used in ADHD Coaching
4. The Nuts and Bolts of Coaching: Getting Started
5. The Nuts and Bolts of Coaching: Working Through Issues
6. Specific Strategies for ADHD Coaching
7. Developing a Coaching Practice

II. ADHD Coaching Case Studies

8. Case Study: ADHD Coaching With a Middle-Aged Adult
9. Case Study: ADHD Coaching With a Young Professional Adult
10. Case Study: ADHD Coaching With a College Student With Executive Functioning Deficits
11. Case Study: ADHD Coaching With a Young Adult With Comorbid Mood Disorders
12. Case Study: ADHD Coaching With an Adolescent

Additional Resources

References

Index

About the Authors

Frances Prevatt, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems at Florida State University. She is also executive director of the Adult Learning Evaluation Center (ALEC), where thousands of college students have been evaluated and treated for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities.

She is the author of two previous books and more than 75 publications in the field of educational psychology. She coauthored (with Abigail Levrini) the best-selling book, Succeeding With Adult ADHD: Daily Strategies to Help You Achieve Your Goals and Manage Your Life (2012), and appeared in a video on treating adults using ADHD Coaching (2013).

Abigail Levrini, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and owner of Psych Ed Coaches, a private practice specializing in in-person and remote ADHD coaching for individuals and families. She has published several scientific articles on ADHD (including her 2008 dissertation, ADHD Coaching and College Students, under her unmarried name "Reaser") and presented her coaching model in professional settings throughout the country. She is a sought-after expert on the subject of ADHD, having been interviewed for articles on popular websites such as WebMD and Psych Central, and she has conducted numerous ADHD-based webcasts and workshops for major companies and associations.

Dr. Levrini is also coauthor (with Frances Prevatt) of the best-selling book Succeeding With Adult ADHD: Daily Strategies to Help You Achieve Your Goals and Manage Your Life (2012).

This book is one of the best guides available to any mental health professional specializing in ADHD. Notably, the research base supporting ADHD coaching continues to grow and is accurately represented within every chapter in the book. Trainees and professionals at all levels of expertise would do well to have it at hand!
—New England Psychologist

As a mental health practitioner who has treated ADHD patients for over 25 years, I strongly recommend this timely book as the absolute go-to reference for anyone interested in both basic and cutting-edge information on all things related to ADHD coaching.
—Doody’s Review Service

Prevatt and Levrini offer clinicians who work with adults with ADHD an innovative and practical approach to assist their clients.
—PsycCRITIQUES

Included here are the clinician and practitioner resources for this book. We have included the documents below in electronic form to make it easier for you to reproduce for your clinical or research use. Feel free to adapt or alter these documents to meet the unique needs of your patients and service. These documents are offered for your personal use. If you reprint or adapt them for publication, permission is required from the publisher.

• Precoaching Paperwork (PDF, 38KB)
• Informed Consent Document From the Adult Learning Evaluation Center (ALEC) (PDF, 13KB)
• Coaching Topics Survey (PDF, 48KB)
• Client Goals and Objectives Form (PDF, 46KB)
• Symptom Checklist (PDF, 33KB)
• The Intake Interview (PDF, 42KB)
• Coaching Topics Survey-Child (PDF, 49KB)
• General Template and Instructions for Progress Notes (PDF, 116KB)
• ADHD Coaching Evaluation Form (PDF, 97KB)