Unraveling the Symptoms that Everyone Wishes we Knew about Earlier

Ruth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, M.ED
Wed, Oct 28, 2026
10:00 am – 12:00 pm (ET)
2 CECs
Virtual

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete

Early research in ADHD in women often neglected the role that estrogen played in the presentation of ADHD symptoms. Recent research now clearly demonstrates that estrogen fluctuations directly affect the intensity and spectrum of symptoms experienced by women at different stages over their lifetime. Over the last decade, there has been an increase in women in peri/menopausal stages that are newly diagnosed with ADHD. As estrogen decreases, ADHD symptoms such as distractibility and disorganization seem to increase. Additionally, we will also explore the recent findings linking Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) and ADHD.

In this webinar, we will:

• examine why women at different stages of life experience increases/decreases of ADHD symptoms
• explore why the topic of estrogen is rarely clinically explained when working with clients with ADHD
• discover the relationship between RSD and ADHD and why women are left questioning why they weren’t told of this earlier in their lives

Ruth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, M.ED
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
10 am – 12 pm

Live Webinar
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a condition where a person has difficulties regulating their senses within their environment. These are our clients who can experience the world as being “too loud” or “too intense”. They can experience the world as being so sensory over-whelming that their bodies go into a defensive “fight, flight or freeze” stance. For many people with SPD, their constant need to re-regulate their senses to adapt to the stimuli around them, creates symptoms of distractibility, irritability, anxiety, and depression.

So where is SPD in the DSM? It isn’t. Although more than half of all the diagnostic criteria of disorders in the DSM 5 describe symptoms of SPD, the APA refuses to acknowledge SPD as a disorder. Therefore, DSM 5 conditions such as ADHD, PTSD, Tourette’s, ASD, ODD, the Anxiety Disorders as well as Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, are never understood or treated through the lens of sensory integration. Yet all of the above disorders are, in large part, sensory-based disorders. Imagine trying to treat a client with ASD or PTSD and not teaching the client about their sensory system reactions?

In this interactive webinar, participants will:

• Explore the long-delayed need to incorporate sensory integration issues into our working knowledge of the DSM
• Recognize that negative behaviors of are better de-escalated when sensory overload can be quieted (calmed down), similar to “sensory rooms” and “sensory placed” used in schools
• Consider the clinical cost of these misinterpretations for both children and adults