Books for Parents: NRC Staff Favorites

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The staff of the National Resource Center on ADHD has compiled a list of favorite books written for parents of children and teens with ADHD.  More detailed information on each title, as well as additional books and periodicals written for parents of children with ADHD are available from the NRC Library's online database.

• Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential
  Authors: Peg Dawson and Richard Guare
  Publisher: The Guilford Press (New York, NY, 2009), 314 pages
  Summary: Many children with ADHD lag behind in "executive skills"-- the fundamental habits of mind required for getting organized, staying focused, and controlling impulses and emotions. This book provides easy-to-follow steps to identify your child's strengths and weaknesses. It suggests activities and techniques to boost specific skills, and problem-solve daily routines.
• Making the System Work for your Child with ADHD
  Author: Peter S. Jensen
  Publisher: Guilford Press (New York, NY, 2004), 284 pages
  Summary: This book tells parents how to get help for their child with ADHD from the healthcare system, insurance companies, and the educational system. It also explains how to manage family life and relationships when you have a child with ADHD. The appendices feature sample  accommodation plans, sample appeal letters to insurance companies and school districts, and reward charts to use for behavior modification.
• Teenagers With ADD: A Parents' Guide
  Author: Chris A. Zeigler Dendy
  Publisher: Woodbine House (Bethesda, MD, 1995), 370 pages
  Summary: This book focuses on the special challenges confronting teenagers with ADHD. It has six parts, each of which is devoted to a specific issue, including academic performance and advocacy.
• Empowering Youth with ADHD: Your Guide to Coaching Adolescents and Young Adults for Coaches, Parents, and Professionals
  Author: Jodi Sleeper-Triplett
  Publisher: Specialty Press (Plantation, FL, 2010), 260 pages
  Summary: This guidebook offers instruction for professionals and parents on what ADHD coaching for young people is and how it can dramatically improve the lives of the afflicted. It discusses powerful intervention practices to help youths with ADHD break through barriers and succeed in their lives.
• When Moms and Kids have ADD
  Authors: Patricia O. Quinn and Kathleen G. Nadeau
  Publisher: Advantage Books (Washington, DC, 2005), 79 pages
  Summary: This information guide offers solutions for mothers with ADHD who are parenting children with ADHD. It lists resources and organizations that provide coping assistance.
• Voices From Fatherhood: Fathers Sons & ADHD
  Authors: Patrick Kilcarr and Patricia O. Quinn
  Publisher: Routledge (New York, NY, 1997), 208 pages
  Summary: Written specifically for fathers, this book explains what ADHD is and provides strategies for fathers to improve their relationships with their sons. The authors offer information on how ADHD affects fathers and families and tells how to manage ADHD with discipline, behavior management techniques, and medication.
• Dr. Larry Silver's Advice to Parents on Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
  Author: Larry B. Silver
  Publisher: Three Rivers Press (New York, NY, 1999), 336 pages
  Summary: Treatment for ADHD may involve medication and a combination of education and individual and family counseling. Dr. Silver presents a thorough explanation of all available treatments, as well as a summary of the various types of professionals who deliver them.
• Ready for Take-Off: Preparing Your Teen with ADHD or LD for College
  Authors: Theresa E. Laurie Maitland and Patricia O. Quinn
  Publisher: Magination Press (Washington, DC, 2010), 208 pages
  Summary: The book lays out a plan to keep students with ADHD or LD in college by first teaching parents to prepare their teen for take-off and their first solo flight away from the home. It encourages parents to adopt a unique "coaching-style" approach in their parenting and urges parents to stop micromanaging their teen's day-to-day life.

Page updated August, 2012