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Chapters

This textbook is organized into 15 chapters covering 300 concepts from the learning graph.

Chapter Overview

  1. What ADHD Is And Is Not - This chapter lays the foundation for everything that follows: what attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity actually are, how ADHD is formally defined, and where it comes from.
  2. The ADHD Brain - This chapter explains how the ADHD brain works: brain development, executive function and its components, dopamine and the reward system, and why motivation behaves differently.
  3. Presentations And Everyday Traits - This chapter covers the three official presentations of ADHD and the everyday traits families actually recognize: hyperfocus, time blindness, procrastination, forgetfulness, and the inconsistency that confuses everyone.
  4. ADHD Across The Lifespan - This chapter follows ADHD from childhood through adulthood, with special attention to how it shows up in girls and women and why so many are diagnosed late.
  5. Getting A Diagnosis - This chapter walks through the diagnostic process end to end: who can diagnose, what an evaluation involves, how to prepare, and what the report does and does not mean.
  6. Co-occurring Conditions - This chapter covers the conditions that commonly travel with ADHD — anxiety, depression, learning disabilities, autism, sleep disorders — plus ADHD burnout.
  7. Medication - This chapter explains ADHD medication without hype or fear: how stimulants and non-stimulants work, what titration is, what side effects to watch, and how to track whether a medication is actually helping.
  8. Treatment Beyond Medication - This chapter surveys everything beyond medication with evidence behind it: behavioral therapy, CBT, ADHD coaching, exercise, sleep, nutrition, and mindfulness.
  9. Building Daily Systems - This chapter begins the practical toolkit: externalizing memory instead of trusting it, breaking tasks down, estimating time, using timers, body doubling, and building routines that fit an ADHD brain.
  10. Tools And Keeping Systems Alive - This chapter continues the toolkit with the physical and digital environment: visual reminders, decluttering, calendars, planners, distraction blockers, and prioritization.
  11. Emotional Life And Identity - This chapter addresses the emotional side of ADHD that rarely makes the diagnostic checklists: emotional dysregulation, rejection sensitivity, shame from years of negative feedback, and the grief and relief of a late diagnosis.
  12. School And College - This chapter covers learning with ADHD from study strategies through formal accommodations: IEPs and 504 plans in school, disability services in college, and how to actually request help.
  13. Work And Career - This chapter takes ADHD to work: finding career fit, workplace accommodations and the ADA, the disclosure decision, managing meetings and deadlines, and preventing burnout.
  14. Family Life And Communication - This chapter is where the book's two audiences meet: how ADHD lands on a family system, what the caregiver role really is, and how to support an adult family member without slipping into parenting them.
  15. Partners And Caring For The Caregiver - The final chapter covers romantic partnership with ADHD — dating, telling a new partner, the partner-parent trap, dividing the mental load — and then turns to the caregivers themselves: strain, burnout, boundaries, and support.

How to Use This Textbook

Chapters are ordered so that every concept appears after its prerequisites — reading in order always works. The book is also built for the two of you to read together: most chapters address the person with ADHD and their caregivers side by side, so reading the same chapter and comparing notes is a feature, not a shortcut.

Note: Each chapter lists the concepts it covers. Complete prerequisite chapters before moving to advanced ones.