ADHD and ADD Therapy for Children, Teens and Adults in Vaughan

ADHD usually shows itself first at school and at home, which is why most people who contact us are parents. Our clinicians in Vaughan work with children, teenagers and adults, in person in Concord or by secure video anywhere in Ontario.

ADHD at School, Homework and the Morning Routine

School asks for what ADHD makes hardest: sitting still, holding instructions in mind, starting something dull and then finishing it. A child can understand the work perfectly and still hand in half of it. At home it lands on two points in the day. Mornings, where dressing, eating and finding a bag compete for attention that has not arrived yet, and the hour after dinner, when homework becomes the thing the family argues about.

Therapy works on those specifics rather than on general advice. The Canadian Paediatric Society’s position statement on treating ADHD in children and youth notes that behaviour management strategies involving parent and teacher cooperation have been shown to improve homework completion, which is why we ask what the school is already doing first.

The Quiet Child: Inattentive ADHD That Does Not Look Disruptive

Not every child with ADHD is the one being asked to sit down. In the inattentive presentation, sometimes still called ADD, there is little visible hyperactivity: a child who is polite, quiet, apparently listening, and somewhere else entirely. Quiet children get noticed late, because nothing about them is inconvenient, and the pattern is missed more often in girls, which we cover in our article on ADHD signs in men and women. Inattentive ADHD responds to the same therapy as any other presentation.

Symptoms of ADHD

Meltdowns and Emotional Regulation in Children with ADHD

The part parents ask about most is rarely attention. It is the size of the reaction: a small correction ends in a slammed door, a change of plan ends in an hour of tears. CAMH’s guidance on ADHD in young people lists low tolerance for frustration, temper outbursts, emotional instability and conflicts with parents among behaviours associated with ADHD without being clearly defined symptoms of it, and that may lead to aggression.

Emotional regulation is therefore a large part of ADHD counselling with a child. We work on what comes before a meltdown, so some can be seen coming, and on what follows, so the child is not left concluding they are simply difficult.

CBT and Behavioural Strategies for Children and Parents

Therapy for a child with ADHD is a set of concrete adjustments, practised until they hold: breaking a task into pieces small enough to start, catching the thought that arrives just before giving up, rehearsing what to do when the plan changes. Cognitive behavioural therapy is the approach our clinicians use most often, and CAMH says CBT can help build self-esteem, reduce negative thoughts and improve problem-solving skills. With an older child the emphasis shifts, and ADHD therapy for teens spends less time on routines set by a parent and more on the young person running their own systems.

Parents are part of the work, not the audience for it. CAMH notes that parents can learn to manage their children’s behaviour better by taking parent management skills training, and the Canadian Paediatric Society goes further: for children with ADHD younger than six, it states that the evidence is robust that first-line intervention should be parent behaviour training.

Where attention itself is the sticking point, we can also talk about neurofeedback, offered at the Vaughan clinic alongside talk therapy.

Therapy and Medication for ADHD

ADHD care works best when it is collaborative. Our psychotherapists build personalized, evidence-based treatment plans, and for many people therapy alone brings meaningful progress. When clinically indicated, patients may also benefit from psychiatric assessment and medication management. These consultations are arranged only when necessary, as part of an individualized care plan, with the psychiatry team at 101 Medical Centre at our shared Vaughan location.

We Provide Therapy. We Do Not Assess or Diagnose ADHD

101 Psychotherapy does not diagnose ADHD. In Ontario a formal diagnosis is made by a physician or a psychologist, and that is not the service we provide. What psychotherapy for ADHD does is the work that follows a diagnosis, or that helps while you wait for one: the routines, the school fallout, and the confidence that has taken a knock along the way.

Our clinic offers T.O.V.A. attention testing, which measures attention. It is not an ADHD diagnosis and should not be read as one. If a psychiatric assessment is clinically indicated, we can arrange one with the psychiatry team at 101 Medical Centre at our shared Vaughan location, and a physician’s referral is required. No referral is needed to begin therapy with us.