Conflicting Time Keepers

I have a child with ADD and I must tell you I have never had such battle daily in my life.  It starts in the early morning when I first wake her from sleep.  She is asked to get dressed for the day and given a timeline.  Fifteen minutes later she still sits on the bed looking around not having moved a muscle and when you ask what she has been doing she replies, "I don't know."  This essentially sums up the way the rest of the morning goes task by task until we are both so frustrated our heads are going to pop off.

Mastering a smooth morning is only one of the daily issues we face with this twisted condition.  It can take the most intelligent and creative child in the world and present such road blocks over the basic tasks of the day that it turns the child inside out.  She has two clocks it would seem.  The timekeeper that tells her it is time to move, time to get dressed, time to do her homework, time to move on to the next and there is the other more controlling time keeper that has a different schedule.  The controlling time keepers seems to be working on a different time zone all together.  Maybe it is in Hawaii enjoying the sun.

My child is smart, funny, ridiculously creative, loving and talented.  Unfortunately, she often seems buried beneath a smothering controlling plastic veil allowing me to see her but not quit reach her.  The frustration level can be overwhelming for all of us including my suppressed little dress designer.

Medications, we've tried them.  We are still trying them.  But finding what works and doesn't cause more harm then good seems to be the hurdle there.  One is so effective she hyper focuses and another causes her to cry at the drop of a hat and lose weight at an alarming rate.

So what do we do?  We move forward and try to put systems in place that can help us avoid the mental road blocks that plague her.  We organize and organize again and again until we find the right combination that unlocks the door to "easy" and "effortless" tasks.  How do you handle your ADHD/ADD kids?  Tips?