TPP 225: ADHD Essentials for Parents, with Brendan Mahan
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
46 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 12 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the episode’s introduction and who is the guest Brendan Mahan?
A lot of the anxiety that kids are experiencing when they have to do virtual school. Is getting chalked up to school resistance. And I don't think that's what it is. I think that when a kid sits down to do their virtual schooling, what happens is they get reminded that things are not normal anymore. They get reminded that we're living in the pandemic. And things are scary and uncertain. and unclear and inconsistent. And I think that brings about a very real existential dread that the kid can't even name or identify if they wanted to half the time.
Welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I'm your host, Debbie Rieber, and I just want to say before we get into anything that if you are in the middle of back to school entry, I hope it is going as smooth as possible. Wherever you are in that transition, I am right there with you. Today, I'm really excited to be bringing to the podcast Brendan Mahan, an expert in ADHD and executive functioning, and the host of the ADHD Essentials podcast. As a former teacher and school counselor who also has ADHD himself, Brendan brings to the podcast a powerful perspective on the emotional, academic, and lifestyle impacts of ADHD, combined with the flair for relatable.
And engaging explanations to help everyone else just get it. Brendan helps individuals, families, schools, and businesses manage the challenges of ADHD and neurodiversity through an approach that blends education, collaborative problem solving, and accountability with compassion, humor, and a focus on strengths and growth and his trademark Wall of Awful model. In today's episode, we cover a lot of ground, everything from ADHD and time awareness to balancing screen time and remote schooling to dealing with anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Brendan is also going to break down his wall of offal, which is a brilliant analogy for understanding task resistance, as well as give us his strategies and tips to get past it.
Get ready for many aha moments and realistic takeaways for parents of all differently wired kids, not just those with kids who have attention issues. I hope you enjoy our conversation. All right, now let's get to my conversation with Brandon. Hey Brendan, welcome to the podcast.
Hi Debbie, thanks for having me.
Yeah, we have a lot to get into to talk all things ADHD in this crazy time that we are recording this in. And I was so happy to learn about your work from Seth Perler, who a lot of my listeners are very familiar with. He's a frequent podcast guest. And so you and I have talked, but I would love if you could take a few minutes to just more casually introduce yourself to our Listeners, I've already done your formal bio, but tell us a little bit about who you are as a person and why you're in this space.
Sure. Yeah. And and Seth's great, by the way. I'm really happy that I've connected with him. And with you. So I I'm in the ADHD parenting space because I have ADHD, I guess. Um I started As a kid I was like, I want to be a child psychologist. And uh and I went to college. For psychology and they were like Basically early psychology classes are just the history of psychology. not psychology. There's no counseling stuff that you're learning. And so I left that and In a long and windy road ended up becoming a teacher. And I was a teacher when schools didn't have money, so I kind of bounced around a little bit. I kept In schools it's sort of the most recent person in is the first one that gets bounced when there's no money.
So I got bounced a few times. And eventually I was like, I can't get better at this job 'cause I'm not keeping a curriculum long enough. And when I left education, I had two ideas, either a guidance counselor, which is basically a like a counselor for children and connect kept me connected to education, or an ADHD coach. Because as a teacher, I was really good with the kids who had ADHD. I I wasn't the guy who got mad and frustrated with them.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the episode’s introduction and who is the guest Brendan Mahan?
0:00–5:23
2
How did Brendan’s personal journey shape his work with ADHD and teachers?
5:23–12:06
3
What is the “Wall of Awful” model and why does it matter for kids with ADHD?
12:06–18:12
4
How does ADHD affect a child’s sense of time and task‑horizon?
18:12–26:21
5
What strategies help parents manage screen time and remote learning?
26:21–33:36
6
Which practical techniques help kids climb or open a door in the Wall of Awful?
33:36–40:56
7
What personal hacks does Brendan use as a parent with ADHD?
40:56–45:42
8
Where can listeners find Brendan’s resources and join his ADHD‑parent community?
45:42–46:41
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids