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by Terry Matlen
Specialty Press, $17.95
Purchase Survival Tips for Women with AD/HD
Most books on AD/HD are linear and highly structured, just the way that linear and structured editors who don't have AD/HD like them. They may offer great advice, but few people with AD/HD have the patience to work their way through the pages to find it. Now therapist Terry Matlen, who has AD/HD herself, offers a highly entertaining and AD/HD-friendly book for women struggling with the condition. Survival Tips for Women with AD/HD: Beyond Piles, Palms & Post-Its is crammed with lists, advice, and helpful hints from Matlen and other women with AD/HD.
Matlen says that discovering her AD/HD was transformational. She became productive and successful, and subsequently decided that sharing information on AD/HD was her true calling. Says Matlen, "Many AD/HD adults have lived for years in shame, depressed that they can't do what for others seem to be such simple things. This book fills the void by offering concrete solutions to daily problems, submitted by AD/HD women for AD/HD women." Indeed it does.
Survival Tips is uniquely suited to women who want to get in, get out fast, and come back later for more help on a broad array of problems, from the mundane to the major. You can start in the middle or near the end (or the beginning!) - whatever works for you and the problems you face. For example, in a chapter on meals and entertaining, one tip is to leave the microwave door open when you're not using it, so you don't find any "dreadful surprises" later on. Another fun tip is to use Lifesavers candy to hold the candles on your child's birthday cake.
In a chapter on time management, you're advised to call and leave yourself reminder messages on your home or office answering machine. Timers and watches that beep on the hour also help many people with AD/HD. Although some people go wild over the noise, others are pleasantly jolted from Daydream Land into the real world.
A chapter on parenting offers many helpful tips. For example, if you're feeling overwhelmed, get a babysitter to help you while you're home, especially if your children are hyperactive. Having trouble winding down after a hard day's work? One mom suggests stopping for a coffee break on the way home, to "recharge." If the coffee break can't be fit in, tell your family you need 15 minutes alone when you get home in the evening.
Other chapters cover school, work, relationships, personal finance, memory tips, and more. This book is a treasure trove of tips for every woman with AD/HD, prepared as a labor of love from a woman who truly understands the daunting challenges that we face. I highly recommend it.
