If a parent has ADHD, treat theirs first
ADHD is highly heritable, so a parent of an ADHD child often has it too. Untreated parental ADHD produces inconsistent, vacillating discipline and adds emotional dysregulation to the home — which prevents behavioural parent training from working. Screen parents and treat their ADHD first or alongside the child's.
This page isn't typically flagged for the selected profile — shown because you opened it directly.
ADHD is highly heritable, so when a child is seen for it there is a good chance a parent has it as well. Untreated parental ADHD matters for treatment, not just diagnosis: it produces inconsistent, vacillating discipline and weak follow-through, so the parent cannot reliably adopt and generalize the techniques taught in behavioural parent training. Two untreated, emotionally dysregulated people living together also compound the child’s own emotional dysregulation.
The practical sequence is therefore to screen the parents of an ADHD child for ADHD, and to treat a parent’s ADHD first, or at least concurrently with the child’s. Once the parent’s own regulation and follow-through improve, they become genuinely receptive to parent training and able to deliver it consistently — which is what makes the child’s behavioural programme work. (Framing: Russell Barkley.)
