Special Needs/ ADHD / Infertility /Adoption/Grandkids - 3/3/09

[Smartmarriages]

- ADHD/ADOPTION/INFERTILITY/RAISING GRANDKIDS
- WHAT ELSE IS NEW AT ORLANDO CONFERENCE:
- DOWNLOAD A COMPLETE 24-PAGE BROCHURE

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- ADHD/ADOPTION/INFERTILITY/RAISING GRANDKIDS

Because you've asked, we're adding sessions at the 2009 Smart Marriages
conference on helping couples who are raising special needs kids, facing
infertility, adoption, and raising grandkids.

This excellent article on ADHD explains the special challenges faced by
couples raising special needs kids. Susan Blumberg will present a workshop
on how to use Marriage Education Skills to help them:

> 712 - Sat July 11, 2009, Orlando
> Special Families, Special Needs
> Susan Blumberg, PhD
> Help high-risk couples learn to balance the intense challenges of raising a
> child with special needs with the needs of their relationship using PREP
> communication and problem-solving skills.

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Married, With ADHD
Relationships Suffer Under Stress of Raising Child With Disorder, Study
Finds

By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
March 3, 2009

For many years, scientists have explored how parental conflicts and other
marital problems can affect the well-being of children. Far less attention
has been paid to the opposite question: How do children, especially
difficult children, influence the quality of married life?

Couples who have a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are
nearly TWICE AS LIKELY to divorce or separate as couples who do not have
children with the psychiatric disorder, according to a definitive new study
that is the first to explicitly explore the question. The reason appears
simple: Having a child who is inattentive or hyperactive can be extremely
stressful for caregivers and can exacerbate conflicts, tensions and
arguments between parents.

. . . . 

The study, led by psychologists Brian Wymbs and William Pelham and published
last year in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,
longitudinally tracked a large number of families with and without children
diagnosed with ADHD, a disorder characterized by inattention and
hyperactivity and often accompanied by conduct problems and oppositional
behavior.

While 12.6 percent of the parents of children without ADHD were divorced by
the time the children were 8 years old, the figure was 22.7 percent for
parents of kids with ADHD. Couples with ADHD kids also tended to reach the
point of divorce or separation faster.

"We have known for a long time that kids can be stressful for their parents.
What we show is they can be really stressful and can lead to marital
dissatisfaction and divorce," said Pelham, who works at the State University
of New York at Buffalo. "What it means is ADHD should not be treated without
involving the parents in the treatment."

For the full article:
http://tinyurl.com/dm2jes

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- WHAT ELSE IS NEW AT ORLANDO CONFERENCE:
Check here for more of what's new this year:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/new.html

##############################
- DOWNLOAD A COMPLETE 24-PAGE BROCHURE
 
http://www.smartmarriages.com/download.brochure.html



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13th Annual Smart Marriages® Conference, Shingle Creek Resort,
Orlando, Florida, July 6-12, 2009 (General Conference July 8-11)
Pre-Conference Training Institutes July 6-8
Post-Conference Training Institutes July 12
 
Shingle Creek Resort: http://www.rosenshinglecreek.com/

Conference schedule, registration, & exhibit information:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/conferencedetails.html
 
List your program and resources on the Directory of Classes at
http://www.smartmarriages.com/directory_browse.html

Order conference audio & video CD/DVD/MP3s: 800-241-7785 or
http://www.iPlaybackSmartMarriages.com

Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (CMFCE)
Diane Sollee, Director
5310 Belt Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015-1961
http://www.smartmarriages.com
202-362-3332