=== Center of Attention ===
Newsletter of CHADD of Northern California
Also at: http://www.chaddnorcal.org/newsletter
11 October 2004

**********************
>> IN THIS ISSUE <<
**********************

*Calendar of Events
*Announcement: CHADD Supports Proposition 63
*Feature Article: Tedium Management
*Please Tell Us
*Subscription Information
*CHADD Information

******************************
>> CALENDAR OF EVENTS <<
******************************

This calendar only has events for the next 3 or 4 weeks listed. It
also does not list some other CHADD groups which may be closer to you
and it does not list some non-CHADD events. For a thorough calendar,
including directions, look at: http://www.chaddnorcal.org/schedule
and also http://www.chaddnorcal.org/schedule/otherevent.htm.

============================
Santa Clara - 10/12/2004, Tues. 7:15 - 9 pm
Support Group for Partners! -- Support and community-resource
information for the partners of folks with ADHD. PLEASE NOTE: This is
NOT a support group for people with AD/HD, nor for couples, nor for
parents. It is EXCLUSIVELY for PARTNERS of people with ADHD, and
others will have to be turned away.
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Gina Pera: 888-759-9758
============================
Alameda - 10/13/2004, Wed. 7 - 8:45 pm
Tri-Valley Parent Support Meeting -- Possible speaker to be announced.
Thomas J. Hart Middle School, Pleasanton - Contact: JoAnn Matone: 925-484-2173
============================
Alameda - 10/16/2004, Sat. 9:00a.m.-12:00p.m
"The Reluctant Writer: What's Going On?" Featuring Regina G.
Richards, M.A. -- The First in Northern California - International
Dyslexia Association's Series: Writing Research, Writing Practice.
Tickets $40-$55.
UC-Berkeley Extension International Center, Berkeley - Contact:
International Dyslexia Association: 650-328-7667 or visit
www.dyslexia-ncbida.org
============================
San Francisco - 10/18/2004, Mon. 7 - 9 pm
Adult Success Group -- Share skills and strategies for success at
home, in the workplace, in relationships, etc.
First Unitarian Universalist Church, San Francisco - Contact: Rachel
Rosenfeld: 888-759-9758
============================
Online - 10/19/2004, Tues. 6 - 8 pm PST
"Ask The Expert" Chat -- Sam Goldstein, Ph.D. will chat on Resiliency
Online Chat, Internet - Contact: Chat Web Page: www.chadd.org - Support - Chat
============================
Contra Costa - 10/19/2004, Tues. 7 - 9 pm
Danville Adult Meeting: -- Topic followed by Group Discussion
Los Cerros Middle School Library, Danville - Contact: Liz: 925-886-8735
============================
Marin - 10/19/2004, Tues. 7-9 pm
Adult Support Group, with SueZee Poinsett, Professional coach and
organizer. -- Free, drop-in peer-support group. Talk with others who
really understand. And share and develop life skills. In addition, if
you want to work on skills for sorting and purging papers, bring your
paper piles.
Marin Community Mental Health, Greenbrae - Contact: Beverlee: 415-789-9464
============================
Santa Clara - 10/20/2004, Wed. 7:15 - 9:30 pm
Silicon Valley Adult, Parent and Spouse Support Groups -- Separate
peer-facilitated groups let you share struggles and strategies with
each other. Includes video.
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Silicon Valley Warmline:
650-949-5472
============================
Napa - 10/21/2004, Thu. 7 - 9 pm
Parent/Guardian Support Group -- Focusing on education, ADHD
strengths, and strategies to manage challenges. (It's good to call
first to confirm the date/time and to inquire about the meeting's
topic).
St. John's Lutheran Church, Napa - Contact: Karen Shepard:
707-452-8970, or ksnapa@...
============================
Marin - 10/25/2004, Mon. 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Parent Resource & Support Group -- Call for directions in Mill Valley.
Mill Valley Home, Mill Valley - Contact: Victoria Vogel & Holly
Seerley: 415-383-6048 or 415-924-6656
============================
Alameda - 10/26/2004, Tues. 7 - 9 pm
Adult Support Group --
Lynnwood United Methodist Church, Pleasanton - Contact: Pattie: 925-548-3997
============================
Contra Costa - 10/26/2004, Tues. 7 - 9 pm
Danville Parent Meeting: -- Topic followed by Group Discussion
Los Cerros Middle School Library, Danville - Contact: Liz: 925-886-8735
============================
Out of Area - 10/28/2004, thru 10/30/2004
The 16 th Annual CHADD International Conference on
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder -- Striking the Right Note
Through Science, Education and Support.
Renaissance Nashville Hotel and Convention Center, Nashville, TN -
Contact: See Website: www.chadd.org/
============================
Sacramento - 11/2/2004, Tues. 6:45 p.m.; 7-9 pm
ADHD and Preparing for College: Transition Help for the High School
Student -- Presented by Laurie Dupar, MN
Sutter Center for Psychiatry, Sacramento - Contact: Greater
Sacramento CHADD: 916-552-1557
============================
San Francisco - 11/3/2004, Wed. 6:00 - 7:45 pm
"Developing Minds" Video: Master the Challenge of Reading --
Sponsored by the SF Unified School District, Schwab Learning, the
CAC, SF PTA and SF School Volunteers.
San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco - Contact: Marilyn Dong,
Librarian: Resource Collection for Learning Differences 415/557-4540
============================
Santa Clara - 11/3/2004, Wed. 7:15 - 9:30 pm
Stephen Heuer, BS -- Will talk about Nutripathy and AD/HD
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Silicon Valley Warmline:
650-949-5472
============================
Santa Clara - 11/4/2004, Thu. 7:15 - 9:30 pm
Kitty Petty ADD/LD Institute - "Everything You Wanted to Ask About
ADD: Q & A" -- Matthew Stubblefield, M.D. neuropsychiatrist in
private practice in Palo Alto (formerly at the Amen Fairfield clinic.)
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Kitty Petty ADD/LD
Institute: 650-329-9443 or visit http://www.kpinst.org/
============================
Santa Clara - 11/9/2004, Tues. 7:15 - 9 pm
Support Group for Partners! -- Support and community-resource
information for the partners of folks with ADHD. PLEASE NOTE: This is
NOT a support group for people with AD/HD, nor for couples, nor for
parents. It is EXCLUSIVELY for PARTNERS of people with ADHD, and
others will have to be turned away.
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Gina Pera: 888-759-9758
============================
Alameda - 11/10/2004, Wed. 7 - 8:45 pm
Tri-Valley Parent Support Meeting --
Thomas J. Hart Middle School, Pleasanton - Contact: JoAnn Matone: 925-484-2173
============================

*************************
>> ANNOUNCEMENTS <<
*************************

Reach for the Stars! Join the Marin County Mental Health Glitterati
at the Campaign for Mental Health Reception and Benefit to support
Yes on Prop 63

Enjoy appetizers, wine, and live jazz in the garden!
On Tuesday October 12th, 2004 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
At the Marin Art and Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross CA 94957

Featured Guests Include
State Assembly Member Darrell Steinberg, Author of Proposition 63

http://www.YesOn63.org

***************************
>> FEATURE ARTICLE <<
***************************

The following article has been published with kind permission from
Lew Mills, PhD, LMFT, a Bay Area psychotherapist working with
Attention Deficit in Adults.

Tedium Management

My brain is about to explode, scattering the few contents that might
remain within it across the computer screen in front of me.

Actually, it just got a lot better. I am putting down the task that
was making me apoplectic in order to write. And writing is something
that I can feel comfortable with. This is particularly so if I allow
myself to express my angst with a gruesome yet amusing metaphor. I
feel much better now. Thank you for askingŠ

The task which was aggravating my brain, and which I am now
procrastinating doing, is an extraordinarily tedious task. I'll spare
you the details because I know that you have tasks just like this
yourself. And you don't want me to even remind you of them. But I do
want to tell you that your ideas about your problems with those tasks
are probably incorrect.

You think that you have a time-management problem. Or maybe you
imagine that you are procrastinating. But I want to suggest a better
term for the reasons why these things don't get done. Tedium. People
with ADHD have a lower tolerance for tedium than other folks. There
is a specific reason why we don't manage tedium well, which is
central to the experience of ADHD.

Tedium management is a fundamental skill in the toolbox of skills we
call "executive functioning." Executive functioning just means your
ability to plan, strategize, prioritize, remember your plans, and
consequently get things done. In simple terms, it's what we don't do
well. ADHD is really a deficit in executive functioning.

Tedious tasks are not just boring. The word boring derives from the
behavior of a person who plods on without any consideration of the
other person who is becoming bored. People with ADHD can be boring to
others. But boredom is only a problem for the person with ADHD in so
far as they get distracted.

Tedium is different than not being interested enough to resist
distraction. I reserve the term "tedium" for precisely those tasks
that overwhelm our executive functioning. Tedium is when the
difference has been lost between the important parts of the task and
the trivial ones. No matter what your good intentions, the executive
functions cannot sort out the task.

As a metaphor, imagine a well lit image, with good contrast between
the lighter and darker parts of the image. As you dim the light on
the image, the contrast is more difficult to see. In low light you
can hardly tell where the lighter or darker parts of the image are.
Conversely, if the contrast in the actual image were particularly
poor, it would take even more light to make out the image.

Your task is analogous to this image. The relative importance of the
things you need to pay attention to is like the contrast in the
image. Executive functions are your light. In good light with good
contrast in the image, all goes well. In a non-tedious task, you can
easily distinguish dark from light areas, important from trivial. As
the contrast in the image is poorer, as in a tedious task, you would
be likely to try to hold the image under a brighter light to make it
out. If your executive functioning is weak, you can't access that
light at all. You have to rely on the image having excellent contrast
(being non-tedious) or become frustrated trying to decipher it.

You can see that effectively making out the image relates to the
intrinsic "contrast" in the image itself as well as the executive
functioning (light) you can bring to it. Of course tasks that would
be simply boring to the ordinary person are more likely to be tedious
to the person with ADHD, since they can't just shed more light on it
to bring out the important features, If they could, it would still be
boring, but not tedious.

The word tedious comes from the Latin root for wearisome. It relates
to those things that simply wear you out. Tedium is that experience
of drowning in the detail and complexity of a task, where you can't
hold all the pieces in front of you at the same time in order to sort
out where to start, to see what's most important or to anticipate the
consequences of different options. Often the reaction to tedium is a
great deal of anxiety followed by exhaustion and maybe resignation.
You have overwhelmed your executive functioning. You're in the dark.

I contrasted "tedious" with merely "boring." I want to add that
tedious is also not the same as "difficult." Writing actually calls
on more intellectual functions than my now procrastinated tedious
task. But writing flows much more easily for me. Often the only part
that is truly agonizing in writing is the getting started. In fact,
getting started is often the reason that tedious tasks are so
tedious. At the start is when you have to engage your executive
functions to grasp the entire plan of the task. It calls on all of
your organizing abilities.

One of the most popular strategies, usually arrived at by accident,
is to wait for the adrenaline of a deadline to fill your brain with
the neurochemicals you need to sort out the important from the
trivial. It is similar to the way that stimulant medications help.
They actually increase the "light" at the neuronal level that makes
you able to distinguish what is important.

Hopefully this gives you some perspective on what is going on when
you find a task tedious. You can be more aware of how you got stuck.

I will be following up this article with another on specific
strategies. Some will be familiar, some will be new. But now you will
understand how they work and maybe use the same principles to create
your own strategies.

In the mean time, I have to go and attack my tedious task againŠ

**************************
>> PLEASE TELL US <<
**************************

We thank members for their responses to the Newsletter. Any comments,
suggestions, or criticisms will be greatly appreciated. Please
continue to help us make this newsletter and CHADD of Northern
California more beneficial to you all.

We also invite readers to share their experiences with us and other
members. Please feel free to write to us about anything that you
would like to see published.

You can e-mail your comments to us at Lew@.... Simply
replying to this e-mail will also send your message to the editor.

Lew Mills, Editor

************************************
>> SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION <<
************************************
UNSUBSCRIBE
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Center_of_Attention-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

This will not affect your CHADD membership.

SUBSCRIBE
If this was forwarded to youŠ
You can subscribe by sending an e-mail to:
Center_of_Attention-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Feel free to forward this newsletter to others
and they can subscribe the same way.

CHANGE ADDRESS
To change your e-mail address, simply:
1. Unsubscribe from the old address
2. Subscribe from the new one

*****************************
>> CHADD INFORMATION <<
*****************************
Visit our webpage at http://www.chaddnorcal.org if you wish toŠ
* See the up-to-date schedule
* Read this newsletter and the archives
* Join CHADD of Northern California or renew your membership

About the Newsletter:

The Center of Attention is CHADD of Northern California's bi-weekly
newsletter. The newsletter is designed to keep you up to date with
CHADD of Northern California's activities and updates in the field.

* CHADD Works to Improve the Lives of People with
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder through Education, Advocacy,
and Support *

Contact:

--

Lew Mills, PhD, LMFT
Editor, "Center of Attention"
CHADD of Northern California, Chapter # 504
mailto:Lew@...
http://www.chaddnorcal.org/newsletter
Fax or Voice Message: 510-291-2950
Toll Free 888-759-9758