I know it seems like I’m jumping on the bandwagon, but posting the top 10 blog posts at the end of the year serves several purposes. First, it might help someone find a post about a subject that’s important to them but they hadn’t seen yet. Second, it is a way for me to look at what people are reading, which can help me plan future group meeting topics as well as new posts. Third, it’s self-preservation. It’s a busy time of the year and I only have so much time like everyone

As we hear holiday songs of joy and cheer, it’s a great time to talk about the Joy of Missing Out: JOMO. This winter break don’t waste your time looking at all the great photos of what your friends are doing. Fear of missing out, FOMO, leads to depression and feelings of insecurity. Find your own fun. Learn to appreciate the joy of missing out. FOMO is everywhere We’re able to see what our friends are up to at all hours of the day and night. People tend to post pics of what t

I have recently written What is ADHD? Why do some develop it? and What does brain imaging tell us about ADHD? Both of these help to show that ADHD is NOT caused by bad parents, bad kids, or many of the other things that are blamed. It is a disorder of brain development that has a genetic basis. Today we’ll go into some of the genetics of ADHD. My hope is that by learning how and why ADHD develops, we can stop blaming people for acting the way they do and treat the symptoms to

We now are able to look at the brain in ways that show its development and function. Studies have shown that kids with ADHD have smaller brains than kids without ADHD. This does not correlate with the head size your doctor measures in infancy, and head size does not help physicians predict ADHD. Last week’s post What is ADHD? Why do some develop it? introduced the concept that ADHD is a brain disorder, not a problem with parenting or other common misbeliefs. Today we’ll go mo

ADHD was first recognized as a behavior problem, but now we know it’s a developmental disorder. Don’t worry though. Having a developmental disorder doesn’t make you stupid or damaged. It simply means that brain development is a bit different. We’ll tackle details here. Typical Brain Development Our brains have billions of nerve cells called neurons that start developing a few weeks after conception. Within 6 months after conception, there are even more neurons than are found