About Patty

Patty believes that you need to really understand ADHD to effectively coach someone with ADHD

Patty’s Story

Patty Blinderman-1 digital web

Hi, and welcome to Positively Coaching ADHD!  Allow me to share a bit of my “ADHD” story…

When my son was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 11, I was embarrassed that I didn’t recognize it myself. My son’s symptoms did not fit neatly into the definition of ADHD I learned while in college and during my early years as a special education teacher. While not physically hyperactive, my son had cognitive hyperactivity. I had never heard of this before his diagnosis.  My son’s thoughts were firing in his head a thousand miles a minute and coming out of his mouth literally faster than he could form the words.

I began learning everything I could about ADHD in order to try to help my son. Through this updated education I not only understood my son’s challenges better, I also began the slow process of accepting what he could and could not control.  This acceptance gave me an explanation (not an excuse!) when talking to family, friends and teachers about behaviors he still struggles with. More importantly, it gave me significantly more patience than I had before I understood the very real challenges he was facing with his ADHD.

Ironically, or maybe not so ironically, several other family members are also impacted by ADHD to varying degrees, including me!  As I now know, ADHD is very inheritable.  My family is living proof of this!

Unfortunately, there is still a tremendous amount of stigma, judgment and ignorance on the part of parents, teachers, bosses and others when it comes to understanding ADHD.  Seeing how this lack of understanding impacts those with ADHD led to my decision to become an ADHD Coach.