The JDHD™ Executive Fucntion Model
untangling adhd "spaghetti"
When you first try to understand your ADHD, it can feel like a giant bowl of tangled-up spaghetti!
But we are about to assess each strand of "spaghetti" on it's own so it will feel less overwhelming.
And the good news is that just like we eat spaghetti all tangled up anyway, once you build up you skills in one or two areas, all of your functioning improves!
what are executive functions?
According to top ADHD expert Dr. Russel Barkley, thriving with ADHD is not so much about knowing what to do as it is about doing what you know.
Doing means acting to produce an intended result, to achieve a goal.
We all have a set of brain skills, called executive functions, which we use to help us do - to act on our intentions.
People with ADHD often struggle with executive functioning and you may too. But everyone's ADHD is different.
The ADHD Wheel exercise will help you pinpoint which skills you find easier to use, and which ones you can focus on sharpening so that you can function better and achieve your goals.
The "pies" that make up the ADHD Wheel are my model of the executive functions, based on a questionaire that appears in The Smart But Scattered Guide to Success. You will see they are divided into 4 stages (represented by 4 different colors):
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PREPARING - What you have to do before you get started on a task/ project.
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STARTING - Initiating - taking the first step. You can see by the color mix that this skill takes us from preparing to managing.
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MANAGING - Things you have to monitor and regulate while working on a task / project.
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CLOSING - Following through to completion, persistence over time.
the adhd wheel
