ADHD Dude

06/03/2026

Your ADHD child argues about everything. Every conversation turns into a debate, and you end up drained.
For many kids with ADHD, arguing itself is a power source. The more you explain, reason, and negotiate, the longer it goes.

Picture the other version of your home. Conversations that do not turn into standoffs. A child who cooperates because the expectations are clear. You're staying calm and steady instead of getting pulled into another argument that goes nowhere.

That is what changes when you stop feeding the arguing and put the right structure in place.

ADHD Dude Parent Behavior Training walks through how to set daily expectations, what to do in the moment, and how to handle severe behaviors when they arise.

Start your Parent Training today. Link in the comments section.

06/02/2026

Few things wear a parent down like watching your child do the very thing you just asked them not to do, and being told the answer is to get them to think first.

Here is what takes the pressure off. Impulse control is an executive function skill, and with ADHD, that skill develops years behind. A 10-year-old can have the impulse control of a 7 or 8-year-old. Your child is not refusing to stop and think. The skill is still coming in, and it shows up inconsistently.

Once you understand that, things look different. You stop blaming yourself, and you stop pouring energy into reminders and punishment that were never going to speed this up. You set expectations your child can actually meet right now, and you put your effort into what genuinely helps.

ADHD Dude Parent Behavior Training shows you how to set expectations that fit your child and teach accountability when they make a mistake.

Start your Parent Training today at our website.

06/01/2026

Living with a child's severe tyrannical behaviors (property destruction, physical aggression, revenge-based school refusal) can feel isolating in a way most people never understand.

And everywhere on social media, there are opinions about what you should be doing, most of them from people with no experience or clinical training in evidence-based behavior modification approaches.

Opinions will not improve severe tyrannical behaviors. Parent Behavior Training will. The ADHD Dude approach is grounded in Nonviolent Resistance, an evidence-based approach I have training in and continue to train in. It is designed to reduce these behaviors and help children feel emotionally safe by teaching parents to lovingly step into their parental authority.

One of the most powerful steps you can take is enlisting supporters. A supporter is someone your child respects and would not want to know about their severe, tyrannical behavior at home. They do not have to live nearby. Your child does not even need to get on the phone with them. They just need to hear from them.

What you see here is a downloadable from the ADHD Dude Parent Behavior Training programs that you can provide to your child's supporters so they understand what to do and what not to say.

When children know their severe, tyrannical behaviors will no longer be kept a family secret and that people who care about them will reach out when these behaviors occur, a shift happens because those behaviors are no longer normalized or kept secret.

A child who feels supported and is held accountable by others can change because parenting a child with severe behaviors cannot be done in isolation.

Start your Parent Behavior Training today:
Capable & Confident (ages 4-7)
Scaffolding Better Behavior (ages 8 and up)
Creating Daily Expectations (courses based on age)

05/31/2026

Things start to loosen up in most homes in the summer, and that's normal. Less structure, more screen time, fewer expectations around the house. None of that is a problem on its own. The problem is when it happens slowly and gradually all summer, and the child with ADHD who was doing fine at the end of the school year becomes harder and harder to live with.

I know the timing because it repeats every year. Between the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September, similar emails arrive.

These are from last year:
"𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲. 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀."

"𝗪𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗳𝘂𝗹. 𝗪𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲."

"𝗛𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜'𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱, 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲'𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿, 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽?"

You and your child both deserve to decompress from the school year. But skill-building doesn't pause just because the calendar says summer. The ADHD brain lives in the moment. It has a hard time linking yesterday's lesson to today and connecting today's choices to what happens next week.

So ease up a bit. Just don't check out of helping your child build skills. And if you haven't started yet, that's fine too. It is never too late to begin.

Stay on track with skill-building through the summer, and your child keeps progressing: more cooperation, fewer meltdowns, steadier emotions. Step away from it, and the progress slips back into the same difficult behavior, emotional dysregulation, and lack of cooperation you worked so hard to improve.

The membership includes our Parent Behavior Training sequence for your child's age twice-monthly Office Hours to have your questions answered live, and more. Stay on track this summer, start your Parent Behavior Training today.

05/30/2026

The day a professional diagnosed your child, they should have handed you the evidence-based treatment recommendations for ADHD. In my experience, 95 percent of families never get them.

Instead, you got a referral to talk therapy, play therapy, or occupational therapy. None of which appear in the treatment recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics or the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.

So you did what good parents do. You found a provider. You drove to the appointments. You trusted that sitting in that office was building the skills your child needed.

That trust came from somewhere, and it wasn't your instinct. It was handed to you by professionals who were unaware of the evidence-based recommendations themselves.

Here's the part that stings. The time and the money were never the real loss. The real loss was being pointed away from the one person with the power to change things at home. 𝗬𝗼𝘂.

You don't need another professional. You don't need another type of therapy. You don't need one more supplement. You need to become the reason your child succeeds, in the place your child actually lives.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲.

The ADHD Dude Membership is step-by-step Parent Behavior Training that follows the evidence. Included are twice-monthly live Office Hours where you can ask as many questions as you want (You are not seen or heard on camera). You can also download the ADHD Dude app to listen to the training on your phone.

Over the past 5 years, it's helped more than 20,000 families in over 50 countries make the change at home.

If you want to help your child recognize how capable they are, end daily battles, and create a calmer home, the ADHD Dude Membership is the right decision for your family.

Read Frequently Asked Questions in the comments section.

05/28/2026

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲.

The hitting. The destructive behavior. The threats. The walking on eggshells, afraid to say no because you don't know what comes next.
Yet for a lot of families of children with ADHD and other neurodevelopmental differences, living with these severe tyrannical behaviors has become normal daily life. That changes when you reclaim your parental authority for your child's benefit.

Your child is not acting out because you are failing them. They are acting out because no one is leading them. And the moment you step into that role, with clear boundaries and Affective Calmness, your child stops feeling like they have to fight for control.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 & 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗗𝗛𝗗 𝗗𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝘀, 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼.

Your child doesn't need emotional validation and negotiating when they're treating your home or your family poorly. They need structure, limits, and a calm adult who says, I love you too much to let this continue.

When that happens, they stop testing. They feel more emotionally safe, because you start leading them, not living in fear of their severe tyrannical behaviors.

The ADHD Dude Parent Behavior Training sequence for your child's age can be found at our website.

05/27/2026

A parent made this graphic to explain why their whole family has to wait, follow the right order, and let one child control how the family moves through their own house. It sounds compassionate. It is creating disability.

If you are exhausted from a child who screams when things do not go their way, who melts down when they are not first, who has the whole house arranging itself around their outbursts, and you have been told that accommodating them is "compassionate parenting" that supports "nervous system regulation," you have been given bad advice. There is no concrete evidence base behind that approach.

The advice feels good. It takes your guilt away. What it does not do is help your child build skills.

When parents change their own behavior so a child does not have to feel uncomfortable, the child's emotional dysregulation does not get smaller. It gets bigger. The more you adjust to your child's distress, the more your child needs you to keep adjusting.

This is what is happening in the graphic. The whole family waits at the bottom of the stairs. The child shouts "all clear." Then everyone can move. Even during a fire, the child still goes first.

This child is not learning to handle a moment that does not go their way. They are learning that losing control is what gets the family to move. They are learning that their outbursts control a household.

When parents stop rearranging the family around the child's outbursts, the child improves. The thing that has to change first is the parent, not the child.

Children build the ability to handle hard things by doing hard things with support, not by having the world rearranged around them. A child whose family stops every time they melt down grows up still needing everyone to stop for them. A child whose parents change first grows up able to wait, follow, and handle hard moments on their own.

You do not have to choose between being compassionate and raising a capable child. Do not trade tomorrow's independence for today's peace.

05/27/2026

05/26/2026

You've tried a lot of approaches for your child's ADHD. The advice sounded compassionate. The strategies are built around connection. The frameworks promise that the right mindset would shift everything at home.

Your child is still struggling with the same behaviors, you're still tired, and the calmer home you've been picturing still feels far away.

The research is clear that ADHD treatment works best as a combination: medication when possible, and Parent Behavior Training. The second piece is the part you have the most control over.

A lot of what's online under the Parent Behavior Training label feels validating to read, but asks very little of the adults, and without that, very little changes for your child. Another year passes, and you're managing the same behaviors with the same tools.

ADHD Dude's Parent Behavior Training is grounded in formal training in evidence-based behavior modification, informed by approaches such as Nonviolent Resistance and the Nurtured Heart Approach, as well as Ryan's experience raising a son with ADHD who was severely oppositional when he was younger, as well as his experience working as a school social worker in special education schools for students with behavior challenges.

The strategies have been used by more than 20,000 families in more than 50 countries over the past 5 years.

When you change how you respond, your child begins to recognize how capable they truly are, and your home starts to feel like the one you've been picturing.

See the course sequence for your child's age in the slides.