"Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention" by Katherine Ellison
Today’s guest is Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Katherine Ellison. A veteran foreign correspondent and writing consultant, Katherine is also the mother of two sons and the author of four books including The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter and her new memoir Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention.
Katherine Ellison gives all she’s got to every professional assignment. (You don’t win a Pulitzer Prize for phoning it in!) One day, she was driving on the freeway, late for a meeting with a new client, when her 12 year old son, Buzz, who’s got ADHD, had yet another major melt-down. Katherine’s 60-mile per hour response was equally over the top. That’s when she decided it was time to put on the brakes, back-burner all other career plans and spend a year paying attention to Buzz and his diagnosis while chronicling her findings and her feelings. In the process she discovered that she too has ADHD (which explained so much about the challenges she’s faced as a journalist and a mom).
Katherine diligently researched and investigated a wide range of ADHD treatments currently available to exhausted, loving parents like herself . For millions of Moms and Dads around the country and abroad who want desperately to help their children with attention deficit disorders find ways to get more control over their behavior so they can be happier and more successful in the classroom and beyond, her book is a welcome and much-needed resource.
If you or someone you care about has a child dealing with ADD/ADHD, you don’t want to miss this interview.
Listen to my conversation with Katherine Ellison right here:
[QUICKTIME http://www.anniefox.com/podcast/FC022.m4a 300 300 false true]
If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to this podcast in the iTunes Store.
Or, you can download an MP3 version here.
Upcoming guests include:
Sean Buvala, author of DaddyTeller: How to be a Hero to Your Kids and Teach Them What’s Really Important By Telling Them One Simple Story at a Time
Dr. Karyn Purvis, co-author (with Dr. David Cross, Wendy Lyons Sunshine) of The Connected Child: Bring hope and healing to your adoptive family
Judith Warner, author of Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety and We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication
Rachel Simon, author of Riding The Bus With My Sister and The House on Teacher’s Lane
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I have enjoyed listening to the interview with Katherine! I have two boys who were diagnosed with ADHD over a year and a half ago. It’s been an interesting learning curve! Both of my boys are on different meds and the section of the interview where you discuss meds is interesting. I think that everyone needs to determine the best route for them and their children in order to allow them to be successful in their lives.
I know that we have not had any issues with my one son on the meds but the other son did experience depression on the “recommended” dose. Once we cut the dose in half, we eliminated the depression side effects that we were experiencing with him and it was just enough to help give him the focus in school to be successful each day. I also find that diet really plays a huge role in their day to day life. We have added Omega’s into their daily mix and it has really helped as well!
Thank you for this interview!!!
Comment by Lori Benns — November 20, 2010 @ 6:22 am