Speaker Series: Bringing Skills into Action: Rethinking Engagement & Treatment Delivery for Youth & Adolescents with ADHD

About the talk: Evidence-based interventions for adolescents with ADHD can effectively target organizational, time-management, and related functional skills, yet treatment outcomes depend on adolescents’ engagement and ability to use these strategies in everyday contexts. This presentation will examine treatment engagement and skill utilization in adolescent ADHD, drawing on findings from a systematic review of cognitive-behavioral interventions that identifies common approaches for promoting engagement, research examining predictors of treatment engagement and differential treatment effects, and a school-based intervention augmented with novel mobile technology designed to support real-time skill use. Together, these findings illustrate opportunities to move beyond traditional approaches to intervention delivery by intentionally designing interventions to promote engagement, reinforce skill use, and provide support when and where adolescents need it. The presentation will highlight how engagement-focused strategies may enhance treatment response and will discuss implications for optimizing the delivery of ADHD interventions across school and outpatient settings.

This presentation is relevant to mental health professionals, psychologists, clinicians, students, and trainees at an intermediate level. The speaker has reported no conflicts of interest or commercial support for this talk.

Learning Objectives:

Describe key components and common elements of cognitive-behavioral interventions for youth with ADHD.Evaluate the potential utility of digital tools for promoting real-time skill utilization and treatment engagement among adolescents with ADHD.At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:

Analyze approaches for treatment engagement and factors associated with skill utilization among youth with ADHD.Apply research findings on treatment engagement and digital augmentation to identify opportunities for improving the delivery and effectiveness of ADHD interventions in clinical and school-based settings.About the speaker: Melissa R. Dvorsky, Ph.D., is a psychologist and Associate Professor at Children’s National Hospital and the George Washington University School of Medicine where she directs the ADHD & Learning Differences Program. She has authored over 70 peer-reviewed publications on ADHD with research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences. Dr. Dvorsky developed the Advanced Tools for Organization Management (ATOM), a technology-enhanced organizational skills intervention for adolescents with ADHD. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Attention Disorders and serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Youth & Adolescence and School Mental Health. Dr. Dvorsky’s research is focused on partnering with communities including schools and care providers, to improve the access, effectiveness, and sustainability of services for the ADHD community.

Continuing Education:

One hour of CE credit is available for attendees who are present for the entire program. We ask that all participants complete the given evaluation form at the conclusion of the program.

The Center for Children and Families at FIU is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Center for Children and Families at FIU maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

This free in-person talk has also been approved for up to 1 CEU credit by Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling; and 1 CE credit by Florida Board of Psychology and Florida Office of School Psychology.

Provider BAP 50-12872.

This event is proudly co-sponsored by the Department of Psychology at FIU.