Some of you may know that I have two children with ADHD and sensory processing disorders, and my son is on the autism spectrum. In recent years, many of my clients have come to me struggling with similar disorders. I would like to highlight some of the major challenges they face and share techniques and strategies to help reduce negative emotions and feelings.

Let’s discuss how children and adolescents with ADHD can utilise strategies in their daily lives to manage impulsivity. First, it’s important to differentiate between behavioural impulsivity and cognitive impulsivity.

**Behavioural impulsivity** 

Refers to the inability to inhibit spontaneous actions, which can be automatic and ill-timed, leading to potential interpersonal issues. This type of impulsivity is closely linked to emotional regulation. On the other hand, cognitive impulsivity relates to hasty decision-making. It is often associated with disorganised executive functioning, such as problems with working memory, lack of anticipation, poor time management, or inadequate planning, which can result in decisions made without sufficient information. Behavioural and cognitive impulsivity can interact with one another.

**Self-Regulation**

So, how can one work on these types of, impulsivity in daily life? There are two key principles: self-observation and self-regulation. These principles apply throughout development, but it’s crucial to note that children often require more support with both self-observation and self-regulation.

The assistance provided can be visual. For instance, in a classroom setting, reminders can be placed on the child’s desk, that write things like “Raise your hand before speaking.” This helps address impulsive speaking or frequent interruptions in class. Additionally, incorporating temporal reminders is essential. If a child has an understanding of how the first half of the day or the entire day is structured, it aids in self-regulation according to the planned activities.

**Transition** 

Transitions between activities can be particularly difficult for children with ADHD due to increased sudden stimulation and changes in the environmental stimulation levels to help manage these transitions throughout the day, we aim to establish routines and rituals.

Rewards play a vital role in this process. It’s important to focus on rewarding the effort rather than just the end result. We want to praise the child’s intention to observe and regulate their behaviour, rather than the specific outcome. 

**Adolescents**

What about adolescents? The philosophy remains the same: self-observation and increased self-monitoring. The goal is to cultivate curiosity, which can be achieved through psychoeducation, mindfulness, self-observation through meditation, and a better understanding of our functioning. The idea is to view vulnerabilities as opportunities for personal growth. We aim to maintain a positive outlook, fostering interest, curiosity, self-kindness, and awareness of our processes. It’s important to recognise that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution that will work for everyone.

**Process**

This is a process that involves discovering what works for specific individuals. We can certainly take inspiration from various techniques.

**IMPULSE**

Susie Young and Jessica Bremen have developed a way of conceptualizing self-observation and self-regulation through the IMPULSE technique. The IMPULSE technique provides principles for working on impulsivity.

– **I**: Identification of a target problem or behaviour. For example, for instance, I struggle with administrative work and procrastinate on my school assignments. I will identify the characteristics of this behaviour: when it occurs, its frequency, and my experiences during those moments.

– **M**: Mentalisation involves explicitly acknowledging what I am going through. I need to observe myself while I’m experiencing this state. It is ineffective to simply tell myself to stop procrastinating because that is a negative approach. It’s important to recognise and accept, that I am currently in that mindset. Often, this behaviour operates on autopilot, so just making that observation explicit changes the situation significantly.

– **P**: This step involves engaging partners, peers, or parents to help me observe the behaviour itself.

– **U**: Use the information gathered from peers, parents, and oneself to take responsibility and start thinking about making changes.

– **L**: This involves making lists and imagining various ways I can implement change—methods I want to try out to alter my behaviour.

– **S**: After generating ideas, strategies are needed. This step includes trying out different approaches that may lead to improvement.

– **E**: Evaluation consists of assessing how my strategies worked. It involves determining what was useful and what wasn’t, and examining the impact, that these implementations have had on my behaviour: Is it occurring frequently? Is it intense? Have there been successes? This entire evaluation process can enhance appreciation for the journey from observation to self-regulation of problematic impulses.

Other effective strategies for learning emotion regulation and managing impulsive behaviour include meditation and autogenic training, which help develop self-empowerment and tranquillity to quiet down the Monkey Mind.

**Tibetan Mahamudra meditation (breath meditation) teaches us mindfulness, allowing us to connect deeply with our emotions and learn how to respond to them before we face triggering situations, such as transitioning from one scenario to another. These transitions can often provoke instant anxiety or frustration, potentially overwhelming us. However, by becoming aware of our emotions, we develop emotional regulation. More importantly, we also gain insight into the situations that trigger these emotions, enabling us to avoid them altogether using Self-Observation**

**Autogenic Training helps navigate our fight and flight mechanism. Through autogenic training, we encourage the activation of our rest and digest mechanism. This profound relaxation phase leads to a calmer, more constructive and organised train of thought, enabling us to make better decisions. Through daily practice, we can train our brains to avoid overdrive.

**Impulsivity**

differentiated between behavioural impulsivity and cognitive impulsivity. For children, it is important to help them learn self-observation and self-regulation through the use of visual reminders and time cues that structure their daily activities and tasks. Additionally, implementing a rewards system can motivate them as they work on managing their impulsivity. 

**recapitulation**

The same principles apply to adolescents. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all technique; instead, the focus should be on engaging children and adolescents to be interested, curious observing and applying various strategies. Evaluate their effectiveness to understand the progress they are making in managing impulsivity. Activities like IMPULSE and MEDITATION practice are some of the best methods to cultivate curiosity, emotion regulation and cognitive impulsivity.