ABSTRACT
Challenging youth needs to learn to distinguish between healthy feelings and unhealthy behavior. Researchers at the Life Space Crisis Intervention Institute have been studying why so many competent, caring educators and helping professionals experience meltdowns when interacting with challenging youth. The author describes how Thom Hartmann, in his creative book, Attention Deficit Disorder, A Different Perspective, reframe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) by describing it as a natural adaptive trait. It highlights the unique gifts of individuals with ADHD. Solution-focused therapists are trained to view many problems of challenging youth as ordinary difficulties of life rather than reflective of some underlying emotional disturbance or character disorder. Constructionists suggest that reality is what we make it. The author favors constructing a reality that offers the most promise for helping youth, their families, and the professionals who work with them view the problem and solution(s) in a more constructive, optimistic light.
