What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

Your child is smart. You know it. But the grades don't show it, and nothing you've tried is working. Dr. Linda Silbert, Ph.D., has spent more than 50 years working with kids who struggle in school, raising an ADHD son of her own, and running Strong Learning Centers in New York. She has seen this story from every angle. And she has some things to say about it.

In this conversation, Dr. Linda walks us through what she calls the "three shuns" every ADHD child battles: lack of motivation for non-preferred tasks, disorganization that touches everything including time, and procrastination that can look like laziness but isn't. She talks about why punishing these behaviors doesn't just fail; it actively makes things worse. And she makes the case that the school system itself, designed on an Industrial Revolution factory model, was never built for brains like your kid's.

We also get into the difference between ADHD, high anxiety, and auditory processing disorder (and why they're so easy to confuse), how to use metacognition to help your child build confidence, and what Dr. Linda's dream classroom would actually look like.

She also shares two books worth knowing: her newly updated "Why Good Kids Get Bad Grades" and Berticus, a hilarious novel written by her son, a TV producer with ADHD, for boys aged 9-11 who won't read anything. (My thirteen-year-old immediately wanted it.)

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Resources Mentioned:

Dr. Linda Silbert Website: StrongLearning.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stronglearningcenter

Why Good Kids Get Bad Grades by Dr. Linda Silbert and Alvin Silbert, Ed.D.

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Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.

What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

Most nutrition advice falls apart for ADHD moms because it never accounts for executive function. This episode tackles that gap directly. Amy Jones, a functional nutrition practitioner, ADHD life coach, and former teacher who was diagnosed with ADHD at 45, joins Jess to talk about why food chaos is not a discipline problem. It's a physiology problem.

Amy explains how skipping meals or eating inconsistently sets off a chain reaction: blood sugar drops, stress hormones rise, and suddenly you're more reactive, foggier, and closer to a meltdown. She walks through her own go-to move with her son (a cheese stick, seriously) and the simple systems she builds with clients so good nutrition doesn't require six hours of Sunday meal prep.

Support the show

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✅ Grab the Dopamine Hit List — click here for your free reset toolkit for the ADHD mom brain

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Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.

What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

You know what habit you want. You just keep waiting for the right conditions to start it. Monday. After the holidays. When things calm down. When you finally feel ready.

Monica Packer is a recovering perfectionist, certified habits and identity coach, and host of the top-rated podcast About Progress. She is also a mom of five currently managing a gas leak, a dying car, and three-hour play rehearsals five nights a week... and somehow, her habits are holding.

In this episode:

The quick win: before deciding what habit you want, identify the time of day you need more support and name how you want to feel during that time; the feeling points you to the right habit.

Why the self-help world's approach to habits was designed to make you fail and what consistency actually means.

The Do Something List: a yearly practice that has nothing to do with goals and everything to do with remembering who you are.

Why bad habits are helpers in disguise, and why shaming yourself out of them does not work.

The baseline habit: how to design your habits to flex with your season instead of collapse under it.

Monica's book Sticky Habits: A Woman's Guide to Reclaim Happiness, Ditch Perfectionism, and Create Habits That Last is publishing Fall 2026. This episode is the practical companion to everything she teaches.

Find Monica at aboutprogress.com and pre-order Sticky Habits at stickyhabitsbook.com.

For more articles and free resources for ADHD moms, visit theadhdmom.com.

Support the show

Loved this episode? Here's your next step.

✅ Grab the Dopamine Hit List — click here for your free reset toolkit for the ADHD mom brain

Follow for more ADHD mom tips and resets Instagram: @quickwinsadhdmoms YouTube: Quick Wins for ADHD Moms

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn Voiceover work: jessicalewisvoice.com

Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.

What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

You know exactly what you need to do. You just can't make yourself start. Monica Packer knows why -- and it's not what you think.

Monica is a recovering perfectionist, habits and identity coach, and host of the top-rated podcast About Progress. She's also a mom of five -- three of them with ADHD -- and a decade into unlearning a version of success that nearly cost her everything.

In this episode:

The quick win: when a task feels too big, do something to start -- and give yourself permission to stop there

The real definition of perfectionism: not tidiness or drive, but placing your identity on your outcomes

Why perfectionism can look like overachieving or like doing nothing at all -- and why both are the same trap

Shame versus compassion, and why shame is the voice convincing you that you can't change

How to start noticing where that harsh inner voice actually came from

Monica's book Sticky Habits: A Woman's Guide to Reclaim Happiness, Ditch Perfectionism, and Create Habits That Last is publishing Fall 2026. This is part one of a two-part conversation -- part two gets practical with the habits she built once she understood all of this.

Find Monica at aboutprogress.com and pre-order Sticky Habits at stickyhabitsbook.com.

Support the show

Loved this episode? Here's your next step.

✅ Grab the Dopamine Hit List — click here for your free reset toolkit for the ADHD mom brain

Follow for more ADHD mom tips and resets Instagram: @quickwinsadhdmoms YouTube: Quick Wins for ADHD Moms

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn Voiceover work: jessicalewisvoice.com

Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.

What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

Your child comes home from school and heads straight for the pantry. You tell them to stop. They do it again tomorrow. And the day after that.

Kamy Moussavi spent most of his life in that pantry. He grew up overweight, cycled through every diet program his mom could find, and still could not figure out why food had such a hold on him -- even after he became an engineer, ran marathons, and built a startup. The answer turned out to have nothing to do with willpower.

Kamy is the founder of Step Together, a family-centered program that helps parents understand what is actually driving their child's relationship with food -- and why changing the home environment, not the child, is where real change begins.

In this episode:

The quick win: when your child runs to the pantry after school, they are looking for dopamine -- try a hug first and see what happens

Why food becomes the default coping mechanism for ADHD brains, and why it makes complete neurological sense

The role of alexithymia -- emotional blindness -- in ADHD and how it keeps people stuck in cycles they cannot see

Why parents often discover midway through Kamy's program that their child's weight is not actually the core problem

The Titanic metaphor: why small shifts in trajectory matter more than dramatic interventions, especially with younger kids

How ADHD is the first three letters of addiction -- and what that means for how we protect our kids

Every person on Kamy's team has personally struggled with childhood weight. This conversation will change how you see the pantry.

Find Kamy at steptogether.us

Support the show

Loved this episode? Here's your next step.

✅ Grab the Dopamine Hit List — click here for your free reset toolkit for the ADHD mom brain

Follow for more ADHD mom tips and resets Instagram: @quickwinsadhdmoms YouTube: Quick Wins for ADHD Moms

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn Voiceover work: jessicalewisvoice.com

Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.

What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

If your child has ADHD, you have probably wrestled with whether the school they're in is actually built for them. Antoinette Elliott has spent over 20 years in childcare, and her answer is a practical one: most aren't, but they don't have to be.

Antoinette is the founder of All Our Children Elite Childcare Academy in Georgia, a nature-based, extended-hour childcare program that intentionally includes children with ADHD, autism, and other learning differences alongside their peers. Every staff member completes crisis prevention training. Every meal is vegetarian. Every child is treated like they belong.

In this episode:

• The quick win: if your ADHD child's sleep is delayed at night, protect their morning -- a later start time produced fewer discipline issues all summer
• Why inclusive classrooms benefit every child, not just the ones with diagnoses
• How outdoor environments level the playing field for neurodivergent kids in ways a classroom never can
• What crisis prevention training teaches that most schools are simply not doing
• Why the vegetarian meal plan works even for the pickiest eaters -- and what social modeling has to do with it
• The story of a mom in her late twenties who discovered her own ADHD after her children were evaluated -- and why it is still happening to so many women

Antoinette's message is simple: you did it the hard way. Now there are resources. Your child does not have to do it the hard way too.

Find Antoinette at aocelitechildcare.com and on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at All Our Children.

Support the show

Loved this episode? Here's your next step.

✅ Grab the Dopamine Hit List — click here for your free reset toolkit for the ADHD mom brain

Follow for more ADHD mom tips and resets Instagram: @quickwinsadhdmoms YouTube: Quick Wins for ADHD Moms

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn Voiceover work: jessicalewisvoice.com

Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.

What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

You sit down to work for two hours. An hour later you have rewritten your to-do list, checked your phone, and made coffee. The work is not done.

Dr. Kailey Buller is back with a quick win that fits how the ADHD brain actually works. Stop scheduling time. Start scheduling tasks. Block an afternoon for "finish two pages and the one-page PDF," not "work from one to four." You already do this with errands without thinking about it. Apply it on purpose to everything else.

In this episode:

• Why time blindness makes time blocks feel the same whether they're 30 minutes or 3 hours
• How task-based scheduling gives your brain a discrete edge to grab onto: done or not done
• The dopamine reward that makes the next task more likely to start
• How to use unexpected 20-minute pockets without losing them to figuring out what to do
• The laundry reframe that lets you redefine what "done" actually means

Dr. Kailey Buller is a double board-certified physician in Emergency Medicine and Family Medicine, mom of two, and creator of Surviving Tiny Humans. 

Find her at Vitals with Dr. Buller. 

Grab your free Dopamine Hit List at TheADHDMom.com/dopaine

If this episode helps, share it with one ADHD mom who needs to hear it.

Support the show

Loved this episode? Here's your next step.

✅ Grab the Dopamine Hit List — click here for your free reset toolkit for the ADHD mom brain

Follow for more ADHD mom tips and resets Instagram: @quickwinsadhdmoms YouTube: Quick Wins for ADHD Moms

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn Voiceover work: jessicalewisvoice.com

Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.

What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

Most ADHD families are navigating a system that was never designed with them in mind. Diagnosis wait times stretch into months. The national conversation around ADHD is getting louder, but the people most affected by it are rarely the ones in the room when decisions get made.

Today I'm joined by Jakara Eason, Executive Director of Mindful Choices for ADHD, and Dr. Shanta Whitaker, Chief Science Officer at Mindful Choices. Their organization was born out of a national summit that brought together families, clinicians, researchers, educators, and policymakers who had been working toward similar goals in total isolation from one another. Mindful Choices exists to break down those silos and ensure the ADHD community has a real seat at the table.

We talk about how policy actually gets shaped, why your personal story is more powerful than you think, and what Mindful Choices is building for families navigating young adult transitions.

FREE VIRTUAL SUMMIT SERIES:

Thriving in Transition: Reimagining ADHD Care for Young Adults

Session 1 kicks off June 17 at 12:30 PM ET. Session 2 follows July 22 at 12:30 PM ET. Sign up at choicesforadhd.org

Resources mentioned: Mindful Choices for ADHD: choicesforadhd.org Mindful Choices on LinkedIn: 

Free resources for ADHD moms: theadhdmom.com

Support the show

Loved this episode? Here's your next step.

✅ Grab the Dopamine Hit List — click here for your free reset toolkit for the ADHD mom brain

Follow for more ADHD mom tips and resets Instagram: @quickwinsadhdmoms YouTube: Quick Wins for ADHD Moms

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn Voiceover work: jessicalewisvoice.com

Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.

What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

You know your kid needs more support at school. You just don't know who to call, what to ask for, or which plan actually fits. Dr. Katrina Ostmeyer breaks it all down, from IEPs to 504 plans to independent educational evaluations, in language that actually makes sense.

In this episode: the real difference between an IEP and a 504, how to start the conversation with your school district, what to do if the team disagrees with you, and why collaboration almost always works better than confrontation. Dr. Ostmeyer shares from both sides, the clinical and the parental, including a second-grade teacher who changed everything by simply getting it.

First step: call your school. This episode tells you exactly what to say. Find Dr. Ostmeyer at www.beyondtheindividual.com.

Support the show

Loved this episode? Here's your next step.

✅ Grab the Dopamine Hit List — click here for your free reset toolkit for the ADHD mom brain

Follow for more ADHD mom tips and resets Instagram: @quickwinsadhdmoms YouTube: Quick Wins for ADHD Moms

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn Voiceover work: jessicalewisvoice.com

Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.

What is your biggest challenge with ADHD?

Your kid isn't being dramatic. The tag really does hurt. The toothpaste really is too spicy. The gym really is too loud. Dr. Katrina Ostmeyer is a licensed psychologist, behavior analyst, and mom of two neurodivergent kids, and she is here to explain why sensory overload is so often mistaken for behavior problems and what you can actually do about it today.

In this episode: why sensory input doesn't filter the same way for ADHD brains, the difference between accommodation and skill-building, how to strengthen the tolerance muscle without starting at a hundred pounds, and when it is time to get professional support. Plus her quick win: the small system she built that gets her daughter to the bus with a time buffer every morning.

Find Dr. Ostmeyer at www.beyondtheindividual.com

Support the show

Loved this episode? Here's your next step.

✅ Grab the Dopamine Hit List — click here for your free reset toolkit for the ADHD mom brain

Follow for more ADHD mom tips and resets Instagram: @quickwinsadhdmoms YouTube: Quick Wins for ADHD Moms

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn Voiceover work: jessicalewisvoice.com

Quick Wins for ADHD Moms is a podcast for smart, high-functioning moms with ADHD who are tired of systems that don't work. Practical resets for ADHD burnout, mental overload, and everyday mom life. Find every episode at theADHDmom.com.