ADHD: How to Find Solutions with Dr. Connie McReynolds

Is your child acting out and has problems paying attention? What you've been told about their "willful bad behavior" could be wrong and Dr. Connie McReynolds has neurofeedback to back it up. On this episode of the HIListically Speaking Podcast, Hilary Russo asks Dr. Connie how she has been able to Solve the ADHD Riddle and the traumas associated with it. Including, anxiety, anger, panic attacks, conduct disorder, depression, chronic pain, cognitive decline, and PTSD Plus, she answers listeners' questions to help you understand what your child needs in order to thrive.⁣ Grab the Book!  "Solving the ADHD Riddle" by Dr. Connie McReynolds https://amzn.to/46XfZWR (Amazon)

Take Dr. Connie's free assessment: 7 Signs Your Child May Have Auditory or Visual Processing Problems https:/www.conniemcreynolds.com ⁣

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Connect with Dr. Connie:⁣

https://www.facebook.com/people/Dr-Connie-McReynolds/100024845513843/ ⁣

https://www.linkedin.com/in/connie-mcreynolds-ph-d-463502b/ ⁣

https://www.instagram.com/morningstarneurofeedback/⁣

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Connect with Hilary:⁣

https://www.instagram.com/hilaryrusso⁣

https://www.youtube.com/hilaryrusso⁣

⁣https://www.facebook.com/hilisticallyspeaking⁣

https://twitter.com/HilaryRusso⁣

https://www.tiktok.com/@hilisticallyspeaking⁣

https://www.hilaryrusso.com/podcast⁣

⁣ Music by Lipbone Redding https://lipbone.com/⁣

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Chapters ⁣

0:00 Intro⁣

4:25 Neurofeedback and ADHD⁣

7:00 Changing the narrative about behavior⁣

8:40 Information on free assessment⁣

11:00 Hyperactivity, neurodivergence, and bullying⁣

13:55 auditory and visual processing⁣

15:25 You can teach an old brain new tricks: ADHD and adults⁣

22:55 Biggest challenge writing Solving the ADHD Riddle ⁣

25:55 Listeners' questions⁣

31:33 Hilary shares the THINK method⁣

39:00 Rapid Fire game⁣

39:56 Dr. Connie McReynold's final thoughts ⁣

41:07 Hilary's close: Show and guest info⁣

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TRANSCRIPT⁣

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Dr. Connie McReynolds⁣

And so if we change the narrative and how we think about what's going on and what behaviors mean, if we broaden that discussion, if we open that conversation to a different level, and we understand what's really going on behind the behaviors or underneath the behaviors, what's actually causing the behaviors, then we can guide this child in ways that we would not be able to otherwise.⁣

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Hilary Russo⁣

Does this sound familiar?  Your child is acting out.  They aren't paying attention. They can't even follow simple tasks and whether it's coming from you or the teachers, you're just at your wits end. I know there are a number of listeners out there that are going, Oh, yeah, Hilary , tell me about it. And you're running out of therapies.⁣

You're running out of medication ideas and you're just over it and you want to know if there's other solutions. Well, that is exactly why we have Dr. Connie McReynolds here today. She's a licensed psychologist. She's a professor, rehabilitation counselor. She's also a podcaster. Love my fellow podcasters who is on the road to map the brain to give you alternative approaches to change the narrative around ADHD, whether we're talking about your child. Where we are talking about you because we're going to touch on that today.⁣

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So Dr. Connie, thank you so much for joining me on HIListically Speaking, for being a voice and just having the ability to talk about this openly because it really is a topic. I think we're not only hearing about how to manage the ADHD with our children, but also ourselves.⁣

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We're finding out these things about ourselves and starting to ask questions. ⁣

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Dr. Connie McReynolds⁣

Oh, thank you, Hilary, for having me. It's a pleasure to be here today and I look forward to our conversation.⁣

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Hilary Russo⁣

Your book, Solving the ADHD Riddle, which is the real cause and lasting solutions to your child's struggle to learn.⁣

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What was your reason for writing this book? I'm going to show this to those who are watching on YouTube, but what made you go here when you actually, as a psychologist, have been holding space for those who are age five, all the way up to 95? Why the kids? ⁣

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Dr. Connie McReynolds⁣

So over the 15 years that I've been doing this work, um,  I, and I'll back up just a skosh, which is it really goes back to my own childhood, which my mother taught second grade for 32 years in the same classroom.⁣

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And so I come from a long line of teachers and people and my mother was quite innovative. In her world, she brought typewriters into the second grade, you know, 30 some years ago, 40 some years ago, because she knew that's where the future was going. And she thought, let's teach these kiddos how to do this.⁣

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And so fast forward really into my work, I've been a psychologist in the rehabilitation counseling field for well over 30 years now. And my goal has always been strength based assessment and understanding how people are functioning in their life. Looking at these areas that maybe aren't working well for them, it's like, well, what is this?⁣

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And then about 15 years ago when I started this new assessment center and institute in Southern California at a university, I had the opportunity to start exploring what this process was that I now use, which I know we'll get into, it's called neurofeedback. But the precursor to all of that and the reason this book is out is because I started seeing what was happening to children You have these auditory and visual processing problems that get labeled as  a whole broad host of other kinds of conditions, and these other conditions led to interventions that for the folks that I was working with.⁣

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It wasn't working. And so everyone was struggling and really it evolved from understanding, uncovering, discovering what I think is the real cause of a lot of the struggle of people, regardless of age, and then getting this out. So once I had the way to really work with people, no matter where they are, then it's like, okay, get the book out.⁣

So now the book can be out there. Now we can talk about this.⁣

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Hilary Russo⁣

You mentioned neurofeedback, and if you can elaborate on that just for folks that might not necessarily know exactly what that means. What do you mean by the neurofeedback? ⁣

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Dr. Connie McReynolds⁣

Well, I start with the definition of biofeedback, which most people have heard of.⁣

Hilary Russo⁣

Mm-Hmm.⁣

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Dr. Connie McReynolds⁣

Which biofeedback you use a little sensor, you can measure your pulse, you can measure your respiration with this. And by being coached on how to breathe differently or relax your muscles, we learned over time, this has been decades ago, that we could actually affect how our body was operating.⁣

Which became shortened from biological information to biofeedback.  And so neurofeedback is the same concept. It's simply reading data from the body, in this case from the brain. It's fed into an instrument, in this case the computer. And then we interact with that data lifetime. In live real time so that a person can affect change in their life.⁣

So they literally are learning how to do their own brain training with the feedback so they can understand what's happening in their brain.  It's a, it's a brain boost in a short, short, uh, shortcut to affecting change.⁣

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Hilary Russo⁣

I think we could all use a brain boost no matter what age we're at. And I, I imagine catching this, these disruptions. In our lives earlier when we're a child  is going to help pave the way for a much  better adulthood if we're able to see what need, what the needs are, how to manage what we've uncovered at an earlier age, because I know myself, there have been many times where I'm like, Gosh, am I do I have ADHD? Like we tend to label ourselves, right?⁣

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I'm so creative. I've post-it notes everywhere, you know, and we start wondering, What's wrong with me? And putting that label on ourselves is certainly not helpful. And we don't want the children to do that. So how are you approaching this in a way where the children are able to, to look at it as well? I'm sure this book is mainly for the adult, but how, how can a child  accept who they are  and.Manage something that might make them special, or maybe deal with things a little differently. ⁣

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Dr. Connie McReynolds⁣

Well, that comes from how adults interact primarily with children.  And so if we change the narrative and how we think about what's going on and what behaviors mean, if we broaden that discussion, if we open that conversation to a different level, And we understand what's really going on behind the behaviors or underneath the behaviors, what's actually causing the behaviors, then we can guide this child in ways that we would not be able to otherwise.⁣

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So, for example, a child who can't remember what's being said is going to look like they're disorganized, not paying attention, inattentive, we give a whole host. of labels. Sometimes words are said such as it just goes in one ear and out the other. Nothing seems to stick. It's like, well, you're actually quite right.⁣

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That is pretty much what is going on, but it is not a willful situation. And so when we change the narrative about the beha