As a Psychologist, I am often asked to evaluate (and treat)
children who are affected by the syndrome of Attention Deficit
Disorder. This problem is characterized by an assortment of
bothersome behaviors including distractibility, fidgetiness,
blurting out answers to questions before they have been completed,
difficulty following through on instructions, failing to finish
chores, shifting from one uncompleted activity to another, talking
excessively, interrupting, not listening, losing things and not
being able to play quietly. Does this sound like your child? All
children display these behaviors some of the times - it is the
nature of the beast! But, somewhere between 3% and 7% of kids have
persistent problems in these areas, which do not seem to be
controllable with normal disciplinary approaches. These behaviors
understandably cause problems at school in the primary grades,
which leads to negative feedback from teachers as well as peers.
By the time they reach adolescence, these children are having
great difficulty with peer relationships and are frequently
labeled as geeks, nerds and dweebs. Life becomes a succession of
horrible, terrible, no good, very bad days.
Treatment is fairly simple, and has conservative goals. The
goal is to salvage the child's fragile self-esteem which is being
hurt every day by the negative feedback, rejection and labeling
which these kids experience. Often stimulant medication (such as
Ritalin, Cylert, etc.) is used, and counseling interventions are
used to help the child establish habits of impulse control,
following through on tasks, and personal organization.
Interpersonal relationships will also benefit from training these
youngsters to notice and respond to interpersonal cues and to
interpret others' intentions towards them accurately.
If not treated, however, these children grow up anyway! Look
around you - some of these "children" are your co-workers today.
You may notice some of the symptoms mentioned above as you work
with certain people in your office, factory, or other place of
business. Ever notice the guy who goes like the proverbial house
afire? He goes from project to project, and leaves pieces of each
one in common work areas, on your desk, in the lunchroom, in the
copy machine and anywhere that has a flat surface. He's often a
big talker, too, full of plans, schemes, and glorious
accomplishments. The problem is, though, that many of these
"accomplishments" are recollections of projects he may have
started, but never finished. He always seems to exaggerate about
the things he has undertaken, and seems unaware that everyone
knows he is exaggerating. He's the guy who is always re-inventing
the wheel - protocol and procedures are never quite followed, he's
always running into roadblocks and delays, and he spends an
inordinate amount of time trying to finish tasks that everyone
else seems to be able to do in their sleep.
So, how do you deal with these deficits in a co-worker? Well,
we tell parents of ADD kids to keep cool and stay focused. You
may find yourself humoring or patronizing the ADD adult. Unless
you are this employee's supervisor, it is not your place to
correct the behaviors, so to a certain extent you must learn to
live with them. The over-talking, for example, may have to be
tolerated or ignored. Depending on the individual, you may be
able to discuss specific events in which he or she did not follow
through and request that they do so. But, if you have the
unfortunate luck to be assigned to work on a project with such a
co-worker, you will have to be the one who tracks the overall
progress of the project - structure and prioritization are not
this person's strong suit, and you will have to bring your
"normally developed" playfulness to bear in order to get things
finished. You may also need to "assist" this person in
periodically gathering all the scattered bits of the project back
together.
If you are this person's boss, why even bother with all of
this - why not just give him or her the axe? This does happen
more often to ADD adults than to others, but you should remember
that ADD people are often bright and creative, so in firing this
person you may be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If
you could just harness all of this person's energy and get it all
going in a single direction, there is potential for him or her to
become one of your best workers. An assessment by a psychologist
who is familiar with adult ADD, and a few structured supervisory
counseling sessions, may be well worth your while, especially when
you consider the direct and indirect costs involved in hiring and
training a new employee. By cultivating better, more efficient
organizational behaviors these individuals can boost their
productivity significantly while reducing your frustration by an
equal measure.
Copyright 1996, Gary Dudley, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.