Nurturing Resilience and Motivation in Children with ADHD: The Search for “Islands of Competence”

EXPERT: Robert Brooks, Ph.D.

Children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD often confront feelings of low self-esteem and a sense of pessimism about their life.

To help these children and adolescents develop constructive coping strategies that enhance motivation, learning, caring, hope, and resilience, it is important for parents, educators, and professionals to adopt a strength-based approach. This kind of approach highlights each youngster’s interests and “islands of competence” and serves to reinforce a “resilient mindset” with accompanying resilient behaviours.