Global News

July 29, 2012

Apps That Help Adults with ADHD


If you are an adult with ADHD, your smartphone can be an incredibly useful tool. Smartphones come loaded with gadgets that can be harnessed to help keep you organized. The camera, clock, calendar, notepad, and voice memo features are useful tools. You can take photographs to use as visual reminders of things you might forget. Set an alarm to keep yourself accountable. Make sure important dates and events are scheduled in your calendar. Get in the habit of jotting down notes or leave yourself a voice reminder.
There are also many apps on the market specifically designed to keep you organized, improve your concentration, and help you remember things. A number of these apps are classics that everyone finds helpful, but they are must-haves for people who want to keep ADHD in check.
HomeRoutines is a handy app that gets you through daily household chores. You can organize routines for different days (ensuring that you don’t overlook a task), award yourself with gold stars for missions accomplished, and see a list of your completed goals when you’re done. The app becomes an encouraging companion amidst a sea of housework.
For people with ADHD, one of HomeRoutines’s greatest assets is its timer. You need to clean the kitchen? Set the timer for five or ten minutes and see how much you can do without getting distracted. If you do get distracted, it’s OK—the app will get you back on track again.
Bento, a personal database app, is a useful addition to the workplace: organizing contacts, events, and projects. It’s highly comprehensive, providing 25 database templates that you can customize to suit your needs. Why try to hold a lot of information in your head or scatter it around your office? That can lead to frustration and oversights. Bento keeps vital information at your fingertips.
Do your apps need to be all work and no play? A lot of apps promote productivity, but the right games can actually have mental health benefits. As an example, Brain Trainer by Lumosity features eight different games designed to improve your memory, increase your attention span, and boost your problem-solving skills. You can track your progress over time, watching as the games increase your ability to concentrate.
Do you tend to wander away from your car without pausing to remember where you parked it? Take Me To My Car and similar navigation apps mark your location when you park, then use GPS to reunite you with your car when you head home.
Noise can be a big distraction for people with ADHD. With White Noise, you can let the sound of storms, insects, or oceans tune out the more noisy distractions as you work or fall asleep.
FORGET is a free, all-encompassing app: you can enter anything that might slip your mind (names, dates, license plate numbers, etc.), along with keywords. The app will prompt you later when you need to remember them. Few things are as frustrating as struggling to recall a word at the tip of your tongue. FORGET spares you that pain.
Are there other apps that you have found useful to help with ADHD? Let us know.
By Staff Writer, Amanda Martin



Your generous donations help us continue our work*

SECURE DONATION via PayPal

RELATED POSTS:

No comments:

Post a Comment