Parent training is slightly different than behavioral therapy for the child, though the two go very closely hand in hand, since the parent’s behavior will make a big difference on the success of the behavioral therapy.

Many parents don’t believe that they are the ones who need to change – it’s easy for them to think it is the child who needs to make the adjustments. Unfortunately, since the child is likely unable to change on his or her own, parents are the ones who must make adjustments in order to create the best enviroment and atmosphere for the child to be the most successful.

Here are some new skills that parents will need to learn as a part of ADHD parent training:

Make Rules and Enforce Them Consistently: It is often surprising how many few rules parents have or how clear they actually are to the child. Other parents may have plenty of rules, but the consequences for not listening to them are often inconsistent. Choose 5 basic rules that are absolutely critical to follow in your home and discuss them frequently with your child. When the rules are broken, make sure that discipline is consistent. For example, you would not want to take away television one day and make the child sit in time out the next. The more consistent you follow rules, the better your child will remember them and try to follow them.

2. Be Positive: It can be very difficult to be positive as a parent all of the time, especially when a child can wear you down to your last grain of sanity. However, learning how to spin negatives into positives will not only help you feel better, but it will also help your child also, who is often constantly told “no” or given negative attention. For example, instead of saying “No Running!” you would say “We need to walk when we are inside the house.”

3. Create a Structured Environment: Children with ADHD thrive on routine and structure since when they are left without it they can often get lost in distraction or hyperactivity. As parents, you will need to carefully examine you and your child’s schedule and rework it as much as possible so it is predictable and gives your child the structured environment he or she needs.

4. Positive Reinforcement: Positive reinforcement typically works better than negative enforcement, however it requires quite a bit of attention and practice for parents to start incorporating regularly. With positive reinforcement, it is critical to try and ignore bad behavior when it is not an issue of safety and to repeatedly reward and praise good behavior. Anytime your child does something good – even if it is as simple as getting a fork out of a drawer after you asked them to deserves a lot of praise, such as “Thanks for listening to me, you are great at helping me out!”

5. Education About ADHD: Many parents do not understand the whole scope of ADHD or what it means. Education can be done through reading many books about ADHD, attending seminars for parents of children with behavioral problems, or speaking to your child’s pediatrician or therapist for other resources where you can learn more.

6. Individual Counseling: While children diagnosed with ADHD are a definite candidate for counseling or therapy sessions, many parents neglect to take care of their own mental health needs as well. It can be exhaustive and overwhelming caring for the ADHD child, which is why it is so critical for parents to get the support they need. In addition to being able to get your feelings off your chest and be assured that what you are going through is normal, you can also learn some very valuable coping techniques for parents to help you be the best parent you can be for the ADHD child.

To learn more about ADHD parent training, ask your child’s pediatrician or therapist for different resources available in your area or what activities and things they suggest you can do to help benefit your child for living with ADHD.