Parenting a child with ADHD comes with unique challenges, from managing impulsivity and emotional outbursts to navigating daily routines and fostering a supportive home environment. For many parents, finding strategies that work can feel like a constant struggle. That’s where The ADHD Centre’s Essential Parenting Course comes in - a comprehensive resource designed to empower parents and carers of children with ADHD by offering practical strategies and insights to implement in your home.
We outline what to expect from the course, the modules covered, and how to use the information to support your child better.
Course Overview
The Essential Parenting Course addresses the core areas where traditional parenting approaches might not be practical for children with ADHD. It focuses on providing parents with a toolkit of strategies tailored to their child's needs, allowing them to develop emotional regulation, improve behaviour, and build on executive functioning skills.
The course consists of six modules, each covering essential aspects of parenting a child with ADHD. Delivered through online video lessons, it provides practical, actionable techniques that you can implement immediately.
It covers behaviours you may find difficult to understand, strategies to help your struggling child, and something you can model to support yourself and your child.
The first module is free of charge, which allows parents to explore the content before committing to the program. There is also an introductory and conclusion video, which you can watch for free HERE
What Makes the Course Unique?
While many parenting courses offer general advice, The ADHD Centre’s Essential Parenting Course is designed for ADHD challenges. ADHD requires different strategies than traditional methods, and this course aims to address the neurodevelopmental and emotional complexities that children with ADHD experience.
The course equips parents to understand their child’s behaviour rather than reacting to it.
The methods taught help build better communication and create a more harmonious home environment. By understanding the unique needs of an ADHD child, parents are better positioned to help them thrive both at home and in social settings.
Core Modules Covered in the Course
The foundation for the course frames ADHD through a neurodevelopmental lens, encouraging parents to see their child’s challenges not as misbehaviour but as symptoms of a neurodevelopmental condition.
Calm
A central challenge in parenting children with ADHD is managing emotional disregulation. This module teaches parents how to co-regulate with their children, guiding them through emotional storms rather than battling against them. You'll learn strategies to stay calm in the face of your child's emotional outbursts and model emotional regulation, helping your child feel safe and understood.
Curious
Daily life with ADHD can feel chaotic, especially regarding routines and tasks like getting ready for school or bedtime. This module covers practical strategies parents can implement to help streamline everyday routines. It uses clear communication, visual schedules, and positive reinforcement to foster cooperation and reduce stress for parents and children. The aim is to provide structure without overwhelming the child, allowing them to feel more in control.
Clarity
ADHD often impacts a child's ability to manage tasks, plan, and stay organised. This module focuses on strengthening executive functioning skills—essential abilities that help with time management, decision-making, and problem-solving. Parents will learn how to scaffold these skills at home, providing support while encouraging independence and time management. This module is beneficial as children grow older and are expected to handle more responsibilities independently.
Compassion
One of the core struggles for many children with ADHD is managing their emotions. This module teaches parents how to help their child cope with unpredictable moods, reduce overwhelm, and improve their attention span. Techniques such as mood metres or emotion wheels encourage children to ask for help. These tools help children gain control over their actions and provide parents with methods to validate their feelings calmly.
Brain Coach
Your child may seem to be deliberately ignoring the warnings you give and disobeying you. It is more likely they can’t process instructions, are not interested, or don’t have the experience yet. The Brain Coach needs to be cultivated, as it doesn’t exist in a child with ADHD. By practising self-reflection and asking how, what, and where questions, not why, you can help develop this essential tool to help your child ‘coach’ themselves.
Tidy Mind
The final module focuses on fostering a home environment where parents and children develop positive habits. This module emphasises the importance of children learning the skills of making mental checklists and creatively resolving their errors—practical strategies to help them retain information and take responsibility. The goal is to create a peaceful, supportive household that has a time and place for things but with flexibility and patience.
Course Leader
The course leader is Alexandra Loewe, BMus, MA, DipTCA, ADHD Coach, Life Coach, and Mindfulness Coach.
Alexandra has worked for 25 years in education and mentoring, working with young people to develop their social and creative skills, with elderly with dementia to regain communication pathways and with adults and children on the autism and ADHD spectrum.
She works in schools as a mindfulness practitioner and runs workshops in emotional intelligence and mental resilience. Her sessions incorporate mindfulness practices, and she has an online video course on Mindfulness for ADHD.
In 2015, Alexandra trained as a Life Coach specialising in neurodiversity and now works as an ADHD coach with recently diagnosed adults and children. She runs parenting programmes to support parents with neurodivergent children and adolescents and offers “ADHD in the workplace” training days to support neurodivergent employees.
She said, “The videos highlight how important it is to remember that a child with ADHD sees and experiences life differently, and this isn’t always obvious from their behaviours.
We often see a response to an internal challenge caused by a neurodevelopmental disorder in the brain. Human beings naturally try different coping mechanisms to deal with adversity, challenges, or discomfort, and that’s how we learn the best ways to navigate tricky situations.
Most of these are helpful and can get us through life. We’ve all hidden behind something to get out of the way of a bully; we’ve all crossed our arms and pretended not to hear an indication we don’t like at the moment. However, some of these coping mechanisms can be very stressful and distressing. When there’s too much noise or too many people, a child with ADHD will be overwhelmed and meltdown, and their only coping mechanism is to scream or cry or run away. If they’re not soothed and validated, those fears stay lodged, and self-confidence is worn down.
As parents, you will want to help your child notice and manage their ADHD symptoms best. The Essential Parenting Course videos pinpoint some of the triggers and consequent behaviours you’ll see: one or two strategies to support your child in settling the brain to learn better ways to manage ADHD and one or two ways you can model better coping strategies for your child. This will give you confidence and build an approach that shows empathy and supports resilience.
It is not exhaustive: there are many ways to explore strategies to support our children. These videos can help your parenting by bringing a new way of looking at your child with ADHD. The more we can see where our children are struggling and how best to support them at the moment, how to reflect with them on their behaviour so that they learn their best version of themselves, the more we’re preparing them for adulthood.
Ultimately, these videos can help you better understand ADHD. Still, the best route to better understand your child is through parent coaching, where you can discuss your child's specific needs and challenges in one-on-one sessions with an ADHD coach. This helps tailor your support to the areas your child needs and ensures that school support provides the specific accommodations your child can benefit from.”
How to Get Started
If you’re ready to take the first step toward transforming your parenting journey, The ADHD Centre’s Essential Parenting Course is a fantastic resource.
To learn more and sign up, click HERE. Remember, you're not alone in this journey—this course offers expert guidance and a supportive community of parents who understand the challenges of raising a child with ADHD.
The ADHD Centre
The ADHD Centre has a team of medical professionals who have worked with ADHD patients for decades. We understand the challenges of the condition and how ADHD can impact your life.
Whether you’re an adult, a student, or the parent of a child with ADHD, we can offer support and treatment to help you manage and cope with the challenges ADHD can bring.
For more information on how we can help you:
Call 0800 061 4276
Email enquiries@adhdcentre.co.uk
Follow us on social media. You can find us on Facebook or Instagram
Book an ADHD assessment for an adult or child HERE
