Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy Services

12/23/2025

Happy Holidays from CAPS ✨🎄

As the year comes to a close, I want to take a moment to thank the incredible children, teens, parents, and families I am honored to support.

The holidays can bring joy, connection, reflection—and sometimes stress or big feelings. Wherever you are emotionally this season, please know that growth doesn’t pause just because life gets busy. Progress shows up in small moments, quiet resilience, and continued effort.

I’m wishing you a holiday season filled with warmth, rest, connection, and compassion—for yourself and for one another.

With gratitude,
Suzanne Donohue, LCSW
Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy Services (CAPS) 💙
✨ Supporting children, teens, and families—one step at a time.

12/17/2025

A Few Fun ADHD Hacks for Kids & Teens

• The One-Song Clean
Pick one song and clean until it ends. When the song is over, you’re done. Short, doable, and motivating.

• Visual Timers
Seeing time pass is often more helpful than hearing it. Visual timers make time concrete and reduce overwhelm.

• Alarms With Labels
Not just an alarm — label it:
“Start homework”
“Pack backpack”
“Leave the house”
This turns reminders into cues for action.

• Brain Dump First
Before starting work, scribble everything in your head onto paper. No organizing yet — just get it out.

• Ask: ‘What’s the Next Step?’
Not the whole task. Just the very next small step.

A Few More Helpful Hacks.....

• Body Double
Work near someone else (not necessarily with them). Presence helps focus.

• Start With 5 Minutes
Set a short timer just to begin. Momentum often follows.

• Movement Breaks
Jumping jacks, stretching, or a quick walk helps reset attention.

• Use Color
Highlighters, colored folders, or sticky notes make tasks easier to track and more engaging.

• Done List (not just a to-do list)
Write down what you completed to build motivation and confidence.

• Prep the Night Before
Lay out clothes, pack bags, and set up materials ahead of time to reduce morning stress.

ADHD is not a lack of effort — it’s a difference in how the brain organizes, starts, and sustains tasks. With the right supports, kids and teens don’t just cope — they build confidence, independence, and skills that last.

12/17/2025

Help Grow your Child’s Executive Functioning
“Don’t forget your water bottle.”
“Do this.”
“Do that.”
When we constantly prompt, we become our child’s executive functioning — and that keeps them stuck in prompt dependence.
The goal isn’t perfection.
The goal is independence.
Help your child with ADHD move from prompt-dependent to self-directed.
Teach the skills instead of supplying the reminders.
How do we do that?
Address the lagging skills.
Children with ADHD often have a 3–5 year delay in executive functioning development.
1. Non-verbal working memory
This is the ability to visualize doing something in the future.
Instead of reminding, help your child picture themselves:
Getting home

Opening their backpack

Starting homework

Finishing and packing it back up

Visualization strengthens planning and follow-through.

2. Internal dialogue (“Brain Coach”)
Many kids with ADHD don’t naturally use self-talk.
Help them build an internal voice:
“What do I need right now?”

“What comes next?”

“Let me check before I leave.”

This is executive functioning from the inside out.

3. Declarative language (not commands)
Instead of:
“Get everything you need.”
Try:
“Take a look around the kitchen. Do you have everything you need?”
Visuals or checklists can help at first — then gradually fade support to reduce prompt dependence.

The goal:
Less parent reminding
More child self-monitoring, planning, and independence
That’s how executive functioning grows.

12/10/2025

Feeling so honored! Thank you for nominating me as your Favorite Kids' Doc — three years in a row! 🩵✨

12/08/2025

Parenting ADHD Requires a Different Kind of Parenting~~~~and understanding a symptom of ADHD, knows as "Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria" (RSD).

With ADHD, your child isn’t trying to be dramatic, difficult, or disrespectful. Their brain simply processes tone, facial expressions, and feedback differently, and your parenting needs to match that reality.

Here’s what that looks like.
Example With Teens
You say: “Hey, did you finish that assignment?”
Just a normal question.
What they hear:
“You’re failing.”
“You’re lazy.”
“You disappointed me again.”
Suddenly your 15-year-old snaps, “Why are you always on my case? You don’t trust me!” They storm off, slam their door, or shut down completely.
Again—you were asking a simple question.

Why this happens:
Teens with ADHD often carry years of feeling “behind” or “not good enough.” Their brain can turn a neutral question or comment into criticism, and because emotional regulation is harder for them, the response hits at full volume before they even realize what’s happening.

This Isn’t Manipulation. It’s Neurobiology.
Kids and teens with ADHD may experience something called Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)~a symptom of ADHD. Their brains often misread neutral expressions as negative ones. Your silence becomes disappointment. Your distracted look becomes rejection. Your request becomes “You’re mad at me.” *******Their nervous system reacts to that misinterpretation, not to what you actually said.

So What Helps?
Since logic won’t override a dysregulated brain, the goal is to create safety before they misread you.

1. Soften before you speak.
Relax your face, unclench your jaw, take a calming breath.
You’re not faking positivity—you’re reducing signals their brain may misinterpret.
2. Lead with connection, not correction.
Say their name warmly.
Use a gentle tone.
Start with a relationship cue before a task cue.
3. Tell them your mood before they guess it.
“Hey, I’m tired today but it’s not about you.”
This prevents their brain from filling in the blank with fear.
4. Correct behavior without making them feel rejected.
Save feedback for calm moments.
Keep it short, simple, and specific.
5. During a meltdown, don’t fix—just anchor.
Stay calm and say, “I can see you’re really upset. I’m here when you’re ready.”
They can’t hear logic until their body has come down. Or "Maybe there was some miscommunication.."
6. After the storm, reflect together.
This is where emotional skills develop.
“What did you feel?”
“What did you think I meant?”
“What can we do next time?”
You’re teaching them to pause and ask,
“Is this real, or is my brain filling in the blanks?”
The Bottom Line
*****
ADHD parenting is different.
It requires more clarity, more compassion, more softness, and more connection up front.
Not because your child is fragile—
but because their brain is wired to misread neutral moments as rejection.
Every time you slow down, soften, and reconnect, you give them something priceless:
a moment where they don’t have to brace for being “in trouble.”

12/01/2025

Medication + Skills = The Most Powerful Team
For kids and teens with ADHD, both play important—and different—roles.

Medication supports the brain.
It helps with focus, regulation, and turning the “lights on” so learning and thinking can happen.

Skills create the action.
Skills teach what to focus on—organization, problem-solving, emotional regulation, flexibility, planning, and follow-through.

Medication helps them focus.
Skills tell them what to focus on.

Medication turns the lights on.
Skills give them the map.

Together, they help kids feel capable, confident, and in control.
Supporting BOTH is where real progress happens. 💙

11/27/2025

11/19/2025

Should Kids With ADHD Play Video Games?

Short answer: Yes— and for many kids, there are real benefits.
BUT it’s also a family value decision, and what works for one child may not work for another.

So Yes, kids with ADHD can play video games.

Gaming isn’t inherently harmful. In fact, for many kids with ADHD, it offers positive effects:

A boost in dopamine, which can increase motivation

Practice with problem-solving, reaction time, and strategy

Social connection and teamwork through cooperative games

A rewarding area where they often feel competent and successful

But every child is different.

Some kids can handle gaming with clear limits.
Others become more dysregulated, irritable, or obsessed--and cannot handle it.

This is where family values, individual needs, and your child’s temperament matter most.

There is no one-size-fits-all rule.

You get to decide what feels healthy and sustainable for your home.

A few guiding questions:

Does my child stay regulated after gaming?

Can they transition off screens without meltdowns?

Are homework, chores, friendships, and sleep still healthy?

Is gaming enhancing their life—or taking it over?

If gaming is allowed, structure helps.

Most children with ADHD do best with:

Clear time limits

Predictable routines

No gaming 1.5–2 hours before bed

Visual timers and transition warnings

Screens after responsibilities (not before)

Bottom Line

Kids with ADHD can play video games, and many benefit from them—but the right amount, timing, and structure will vary by child and family.

11/19/2025

Why Kids With ADHD May Explode When You Limit or Take Away Video Games
(And why it’s not intentional misbehavior)

If your child with ADHD melts down the moment the video game turns off, you are not imagining it—and you’re not alone. There are real, brain-based reasons for these intense reactions.

1. Video games create rapid bursts of dopamine
Kids with ADHD naturally have lower baseline dopamine. Video games provide fast, constant dopamine hits—points, colors, rewards, leveling up, sounds.
When the game suddenly stops, the brain experiences a sharp dopamine crash, which can feel almost like withdrawal.

This can lead to:

• Irritability
• Intense frustration
• Aggression
• Emotional overload

This is not defiance—it’s a neurochemical drop.

2. Transitions are neurologically difficult for ADHD brains
Stopping a preferred activity and shifting to anything else requires strong executive functioning—an area where ADHD kids struggle most.

When asked to transition, you may see:

• Explosive reactions
• Meltdowns
• “I can’t!” / “I won’t!” / “I hate this!”
• Physical reactions (crying, yelling, slamming doors)

Their brain simply cannot shift gears quickly.

3. Hyperfocus makes the “crash” more intense
When a child with ADHD is gaming, they are often in a hyperfocused tunnel. Being pulled out of that tunnel is physically uncomfortable and can trigger an instant fight-or-flight response.

4. The nervous system stays amped up even after the screen turns off
Gaming overstimulates the arousal system. Even once the device is removed, their body is still activated, impulsive, and overwhelmed.

This is why dysregulation can look instant, physical, and intense.

Bottom line:
Your child isn’t being dramatic or disrespectful. Their brain is experiencing a sudden shift in stimulation, dopamine, and executive functioning—and reacting accordingly.

Understanding the why helps us respond with empathy, structure, and predictable routines.

11/14/2025

Hey Teens — Feeling Overwhelmed by Friends or Drama? Read This.

Don’t Take It So Personally~
They didn’t say hi to me.
They left me on read.
They cancelled on me.
They didn’t invite me.
They failed me.
They yelled at me.

When you add “me,” it feels like a punch.

Reframe It — Remove the “Me”~

Didn’t say hi.
Didn’t reply.
Cancelled.
Didn’t invite.
Failed.
Yelled.
Now it’s info, not an insult.~

Facts instead of feelings.
Patterns instead of excuses.

What To Do Next~

Ask once.
Clarify once.
(If they wanted to, they would.)

Then Protect Your Peace~

Set the boundary.
Give less access.
Pull back your energy.
Move on without drama.

Truth Time~

Their behavior = about them.
Your response = about you.
Take out the “me.”
See what’s real.
****And choose what’s best for your peace, your self-respect, your growth.

CAPS
Suzanne Donohue, Child/Adolescent Therapist

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11/13/2025

A Powerful Reframe for Parents of Neurodivergent Kids

(ASD • ADHD • Sensory Integration Challenges.....)

Many parents spend so much energy trying to reduce sensory triggers — noise, textures, crowds, bright lights — hoping to prevent sensory overload before it happens. And that makes total sense. You want your child to feel safe and regulated.

But here’s a deeper insight that can truly shift things:

**Sensory overload becomes overwhelming not only because of the sensory input…

but because of the lack of agency in the moment.**

It’s not just the noise or the brightness or the texture itself.
It’s the feeling of “I can’t stop this,”
“I can’t get away,”
or “I don’t have control here.”

Think about how you tolerate something uncomfortable much better if you know you can step out, pause it, or say “that’s enough.”
Our kids’ nervous systems work the same way.

When kids have agency, their sensory system feels safer.

They can often handle more than we think when they know they have options.

What Helps? Increase Agency—Not Just Avoid Triggers

Instead of only minimizing sensory inputs, build in moments of choice:

“Do you want to leave the room or take a break here?”

“Should the lights be dim, medium, or bright?”

“Want headphones or a quiet corner?”

“Tell me when you need a reset—your body is the boss.”

These micro-choices transform a potential sensory crisis into something manageable and predictable.

Why This Works

Agency reduces the panic response.
It builds confidence.
And it teaches self-advocacy—one of the most important lifelong skills for neurodivergent kids.

Agency isn’t just a helpful addition…

It’s foundational for navigating sensory challenges.