December 2011

Reading last week’s first-person essay (“The Rugged Reality of ADD”, by Dylan) and the many comments reminds me to tell you about The Resilience Through the Lifespan Project, conducted by Mark Katz, Ph.D., whom I wrote about recently here. I hope that you will consider participating in this important endeavor. Here are the details.

In his book, On Playing a Poor Hand Well, San Diego psychologist and ADHD expert Mark Katz explored two questions:

1. Why is that so many people who were exposed to multiple risks and adversities in their childhood years never developed the problems some might have anticipated, and have gone on to lead meaningful and productive lives?

2. Why is it that so many people who succumbed to those same risks and adversities in their childhood years—struggling for years with different kinds of behavioral, learning and life adjustment problems—staged a complete turnabout years later, and today are also leading meaningful and productive lives?

In more recent years, Dr. Katz has spent much less time on the first question and much more time on the second. And in particular, the question, why is it that so many children who fail in school later go on to succeed in life?

Here’s where Dr. Katz needs your help. He wants to learn more about the turning point experiences, and second, third and fourth chance opportunities of people who struggled throughout their school lives, but who today feel their lives and meaningful and productive.

 If you feel this describes the course of your life, you can help by participating in the Resilience Through the Lifespan Project. To participate, simply open this MS-Word file containing the Resilience Project Survey, answer the questions as best you can, and then e-mail the document to Email Mark Katz . If you’d like to learn more about the project first, just send an e-mail or call him (619-276-6912).