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In this episode, I sit down with renowned author, psychologist, and CHADD Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Kathleen Nadeau to dismantle long-held myths about ADHD. Dr. Nadeau shares her journey as an “accidental ADHD specialist” who helped pioneer the recognition of adult, female, and high-IQ manifestations of ADHD. The conversation explores why girls fly under the diagnostic radar, the exhausting cost of masking, how hormonal shifts dynamically alter symptoms, and how practitioners can overhaul their assessment frameworks to look beyond basic DSM checklists.
Key Moments
- [01:07] The “Accidental” ADHD Pioneer: How a field once thought to only apply to hyperactive, misbehaving boys exploded in the mid-90s to include adults, girls, and women.
- [10:53] Redefining “Functional Impact”: Why high-IQ individuals, doctors, and lawyers get missed. “ADHD is manifested when the demands of our circumstances are greater than can be met.”
- [12:56] The Staircase Analogy: A powerful reframing tool for practitioners. Just because a student or professional achieves an “A” or finishes a project doesn’t mean they didn’t have to “crawl up the stairs” to get there.
- [22:34] The Estrogen Factor & The Ghost of Research Past: Addressing the historical lack of female-centric data and how estrogen directly dictates dopamine and serotonin receptor sensitivity.
- [27:14] Socially Rejected vs. Socially Neglected: Breaking down the social struggles of girls with ADHD. Hyperactive girls are often rejected as “bossy,” while inattentive girls are silently neglected/isolated.
- [34:48] The Kindergarten Masking Toll: The intense cognitive load girls carry to keep from rocking the boat, often leading to school avoidance or after-school behavioral meltdowns (“Screaming Mimis”).
- [52:20] Internalizing Disorders Require Internalized Inquiries: Why standard parent/teacher rating scales fail girls and why we must ask them about their qualitative, internal experiences.
- [01:03:40] Accommodations & ADHD-Friendly Families: Moving away from rigid symptom-tamping toward environment matching, collaborative problem solving, and making classrooms universally ADHD-friendly.
Cool Things Mentioned
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About Dr. Kathleen Nadeau
Kathleen G. Nadeau, PhD, is an internationally recognized clinical psychologist, author, and pioneer in the field of ADHD. She is the author or co-author of 18 books on ADHD. Dr. Nadeau was honored with the CHADD Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025. After spending 35 years leading The Chesapeake Center in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the largest multidisciplinary ADHD specialty clinics in the US, she has turned her attention to the development of ILAT (the Institute for Lifespan ADHD Training), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing comprehensive, case-based, online training for clinicians. While knowledge about ADHD is everywhere, how to apply that knowledge is not. ILAT was created to bridge that gap.
Get in touch:
- Email: drnadeau@ilat.org
- Dr. Nadeau’s virtual private practice: Drnadeau@drkathleennadeau.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-nadeau-phd
- Website: https://drkathleennadeau.com/
About Dr. Jeremy Sharp
I’m a licensed psychologist and Clinical Director at the Colorado Center for Assessment & Counseling, a private practice that I founded in 2009 and have grown to over 20 clinicians. I earned my undergraduate degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina before getting my Master’s and PhD in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University. These days, I specialize in psychological and neuropsychological evaluation with kids and adolescents.
As the host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast, I provide private practice consulting for psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to start or grow psychological testing services in their practices. I live in Fort Collins, Colorado with my wife (also a therapist) and two young kids.
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