ADHD Coaching with Sharon Collon

In this episode, I am joined by Sharon Collon from The Functional Family. We discuss ADHD coaching and how it works to support students living with ADHD, their teachers and families. We focus on practical strategies for supporting executive function, increasing engagement, dealing with emotions, and solving predictable problems.

Sharon is an award-winning, credentialed ADHD Coach & Parent Consultant (who is families trained). She is passionate about helping families navigating ADHD create joyful, functional lives with ADHD. She loves anything that makes life easier with ADHD!

Her husband and her three sons all live with ADHD (throw in some Autism, Tourettes, ODD, OCD, SPD and SLD too).

As well as Sharon’s lived experience, she has been researching ADHD for over 17 years, studied at ADDCA in New York and is PCC credentialed with the International Coaching Federation.

Sharon has runs on the board, assisting over 40,000 families since The Functional Family was created.  Sharon has won multiple awards, including Business Awards – Outstanding Education Service, AusMumpreneur – Disabled Business Excellence, People’s Choice Leadership, People’s Choice Making a Difference and the Cook’s Community Award. Sharon lives in Southern Sydney and enjoys being near the sea, spending one-on-one time with her boys and her two boxer dogs… who are more like living cartoon characters than dogs.

Are you interested in working with Sharon? Book a FREE 15-minute discovery call with Sharon HERE. During this call, Sharon will learn more about you and provide information about what services best suit your needs.

Show notes

I invited Sharon on because ADHD and learning difficulties often go hand in hand, with around 40% of people living with ADHD also living with dyslexia, dyscalculia or dysgraphia.

We know that attention, attitude and positive relationships have a significant impact on learning outcomes, particularly for students living with learning difficulties. Sharon shares some fantastic strategies for engaging students and supporting their (and our) mental health.

What does an ADHD coach do?

We start by looking at what ADHD coaching covers. It’s about making day-to-day life easier for students living with ADHD and their families and teachers. That includes things like time awareness, transitions, getting started on tasks, and building routines that actually work. Coaching is not therapy. It’s focused on how you make practical day-to-day activities easier. One of the big ideas in Sharon’s work is “predictable problems.” These are the same kinds of friction points that show up every day like getting dressed, brushing teeth, leaving the house and doing homework. The example Sharon gives about the toothbrush is a great one. The assumption was that it was a sensory issue. But it turned out the real problem was needing to go back upstairs after breakfast. The solution? Move the toothbrush downstairs. Done.

Co-designing solutions

A big part of Sharon’s process is co-designing solutions with the child. When students living with ADHD have a say, they often come up with smart ideas, and they’re more likely to stick with them if they’ve been part of designing the solution. You’ll hear us talk a lot about building autonomy and doing the planning when everyone is regulated. Not during the heat of the moment.

What do Pinball Flippers have to do with ADHD?

Sharon also explains her brilliant “Pinball Flippers Open / Closed / Neutral” model. It’s a way to quickly understand what state a student is in and how to respond. When a brain is open, it can take things in. When it’s closed, it’s overwhelmed and in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn mode. Our job is to help open the brain through praise, encouragement, novelty and whatever it takes to get our students engaged and open to learning.

We also talk about how to support students in tutoring and classroom settings. I share one of my own strategies a collaborative whiteboard story that students add to each week. This builds in anticipation and (almost) guarantees a positive start to each session. Sharon suggests small “important jobs” like delivering a note to the office to give students a chance to regulate and reset. She also talks about planning exits in advance, so students don’t wait until they’re overwhelmed to step away. Body-doubling (getting expert help like tutors) can help a lot. Kids often respond well to the novelty of an external person, and as parents, we can’t take on everything!

Homework – often a predictable problem

Homework is a big, predictable proble