5 Best ADHD Apps – Better ADHD Parenting Made Simple
- How to parent your special needs child when you have ADHD
- The Top Five ADHD Apps
- Embracing the Future of ADHD Management
How to parent your special needs child when you have ADHD
Are you a parent with ADHD? Do you ever feel so overwhelmed you just do not know where to start? Do you have all these great parenting ideas that you would love to introduce to your family but the actual implementation seems too daunting? Do you have so much to tackle on the weekends that you are paralyzed just thinking about how to even start what you need to do? Man, let me tell you I am right there with you!
This blog primarily focuses on the challenges we face as parents related to our children’s needs, and rightfully so. If you are doing parenting right, it’s a hard job, and when you throw special needs into the mix, it can be extra challenging. For some of us parents, that challenge goes to the next level when you also suffer from a neurodevelopmental disorder such as ADHD.
I was diagnosed with ADHD at a very young age at a time when the research data was not as rich. ADHD was almost exclusively treated with medication and there was a much debate as to how and when that medication should be prescribed. In fact, at the direction of my doctors I was taken off my medication when I entered high school, which was probably the time that I needed it the most. The prevailing medical reasoning was that you did not need the medication once you hit puberty. Many years later, it is understood that ADHD does not just go away as your body matures, you will always have it.
Now, after consulting my primary care physician, I’m on new medication. I’ll be honest though, that is only part of the battle. It has only been through my life experience and a lot of trial and error that I have come to a better understanding of how to effectively manage my ADHD. Thankfully, in recent years, technology has been such a broad resource for my ADHD management. When you are a parent with ADHD, self regulation is critical.
Here are five apps that have helped me tremendously with my ADHD challenges regarding parenting and task management in general. These apps can be extremely helpful even for those that do not suffer from ADHD but just need that help visually organizing what needs to be done, for the day, the week, the monthly or your life in general.
The Top Five ADHD Apps
1. Focus Keeper (Pomodoro Technique)
The Pomodoro Technique is not particularly earth shattering in execution. The idea is simple:
- Chose a task
- Work on the task continuously for a short period of time, typically 25 minutes.
- Take a brief break, approximately 5 to 10 minutes
- Repeat Steps 2 and 3, three times
- After the third set of task/break, then take a longer break, approximately 20 to 30 minutes
- Start back at Step 2 and repeat as many times as necessary to complete your task.
This probably seems pretty simple and straightforward, but let me tell you this technique has been a real game changer for me. Sometimes the easiest solutions can have the most impact. I’ll be completely transparent, this is a technique you can implement in you daily with nothing more than the timer on your phone. Focus Timer allows you to input and save tasks on the daily or weekly basis. It also includes its own app unique timer. This is included in the free version of the app.
If you would like something a little more robust you can upgrade to the Pro Access (currently $5.99 yearly or $0.99 monthly) which allows you to sync across multiple devices, create unlimited tasks, access task data and charts, and the Pro version allows you to adjust timer lengths if you find the standard Pomodoro Technique time segments do not work for you.
If you have ADHD and have never tried the Pomodoro Technique, I highly recommend you look into it. Focus Timer has been one of the best Pomodoro apps that I’ve come across.
2. EverNote
Are you looking for a comprehensive app that handles all your organizational and task management needs? Look no further than EverNote, it’s kind of a beast. I have been using it for close to a decade, and while the app has changed quite a bit since then, one thing that has remained consistent is that EverNote has been an invaluable tool for organization.
I first used EverNote as a way to keep track of my notes for writing but it has evolved into something much greater for my life. My fellow ADHD people will understand the need to keep notes. A key feature of ADHD that I have come to realize over time is “out of sight, out of mind” and I cannot tell you how many times I have had an idea that I have wanted to recall later, and guess what? Days, hours, even minutes later, it’s gone. Any person with ADHD will tell you, the old adage, “if it was important, you would remember” does not apply to us.
EverNote allows you to create notes, to-do list, clip and save web articles, set up and sync with your existing calendar app and much more, not to mention you can tag all of your notes to make life much easier for us ADHD individuals when searching for that note you wrote months ago. Its integration, as well as its ability to sync across multiple devices is really its most powerful feature, at least for me as someone with ADHD that has thoughts, ideas and inspiration that can strike at random times, as I can enter a note, add a task or calendar event on any of my devices.
One of my favorite features of EverNote is the Webclipper which can be used as a browser extension or simply as an option on your mobile device. I can not tell you how many times I have seen an article that I don’t have time to finish or even start to read and even if I bookmark it, you know how it goes, out of sight out of mind. EverNote’s Web Clipper is so much more than a bookmark. It can screenshot a whole page or just the part you need. I can clip articles, web pages, and screenshots and put them directly into EverNote. I like that I can put the Web Clip into specific, relevant notebooks I’m currently working on.
The best part is that many of the features of EverNote are free, you can even sync up to 2 devices at no charge, Of course, like any app nowadays there a some benefits of upgrading to the paid plans, but with the free version you can get a good idea of what the app has to offer before laying out any money.
3. Google Tasks
A very effective technique for combating the disorganization that can very common in the lives of those that suffer from ADHD is to list out and organize all the tasks you need to complete. This app is pretty straightforward and even better, it’s free. Google Tasks is one of the many apps that make up the whole suite of Google app family. One of the things that I love most about this particular app is its simplicity. You create your list name, then just add your individual tasks. I appreciate being able to create multiple task lists. For me specifically, I have weekday tasks, weekend tasks and one or two “special” task lists.
Google Tasks also has one specific feature that may seem insignificant to many but for some of us ADHD sufferers, that dopamine hit of completing something is important. Google Tasks strikes through the listed task item once you mark it complete, maybe that doesn’t do it for you, but that little micro-reward can really be the motivation I need to get me moving on to the next task. Non-ADHD people probably have no clue what I’m talking about, and that’s okay, but if you know, you know.
4. Productive – Habit Tracker
There are many things that kind of suck about ADHD especially when it comes to parenting. I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to start regular chore schedules for our kids only to have those routines fail to stick and soon the only evidence that there ever was an attempt at trying to clean our house is a badly smudged whiteboard filled with uncompleted tasks.
The Productive app is a way to get you on track by helping you start those habits but also encouraging you to keep up with them. Productive Habit Tracker is straightforward with an easy learning curve so there is not much a barrier to jumping right in and getting started. This app has graphs and charts that track your completion of tasks and goal, which is totally my jam. Like many ADHD people I love seeing that visual representation of how far I’ve progressed, it’s a real motivator.
The monthly cost of this app is a bit pricey at $6.99 but it does offer quite a bit of features.
5. Todoist
Some of the apps on this list are great on their own as comprehensive tool, and sometimes I just want the basics without all the bells and whistles. However, I’m sure it will come as no surprise to many of you that suffer from ADHD, we often switch from the desire for simplicity, “right now” solutions, to need for more robust, and often complex, long term goals, we can hyper fixate on, for better or worse.
Todoist sort fit the bill on both respects by giving us a nice clean daily overview of the task we need to complete today, but also allowing you to create weekly and monthly overview in a calendar integration. There are plenty of nice features that will really satisfy the need to plan but help you not get stuck in that planning phase.
One little nifty feature I found was the “Inbox”, a place to put those tasks that you are not quite sure where they fit, is so helpful. You know, sometimes I know something needs to get done but I don’t know where it currently fits into the overall plan. The inbox is a way to not lose sight of that task but not forcing you to decide where it needs to be placed at this moment in time.
I’m also a big fan of Todoist’s project planning. I really love the set up where each project phase can be accessed via horizontal scrolling. Each task is a subheading under the project phase and you can check it off as completed (one of personal favorite things… hey, it’s one of my quirks, don’t judge)
If you feel like one of your biggest stumbling blocks is an inability to map things out or maybe you are a big picture person struggling to see the big picture than this app is for you. Todoist is free but also has pay version $5 monthly with enhanced features. If you pay annually it is discounted to $4 per month.
Embracing the Future of ADHD Management
I know some say the more advanced technology becomes it will only make ADHD worse, but I say it is all a matter of perspective. Let’s be real, we all could use some help, and for parents nowadays that is more true than ever. Technology’s outcome is all in the way you use it. There are amazing tools out there that can help those of us that suffer from ADHD. Life is a challenge so why not face that challenge head on with anything and everything available to you for the benefit of you and your family.
