Songs That Stick: ADHD Tools with JP & Kat Rende

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Sep 29, 2025

Kat Rende, an Emmy-winning composer known for her work on Sesame Street, teams up with her husband JP Rende, also a composer, to share their innovative AIDEE project. They discuss how music can transform ADHD routines and emotional regulation. Explore the power of 'sticky songs' for memory and motivation, reducing shame through playful tunes, and techniques like breathing exercises. They also touch on parenting challenges and collaboration dynamics as a couple. Tune in for a creative take on helping kids with ADHD thrive!

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ANECDOTE

Jingles Became ADHD Tools

Kat and JP started by writing jingles and then worked on Sesame Street and other kids' shows.
They used silly songs at home to help their ADHD kids remember daily tasks and later expanded that into an album.

ADVICE

Speak Your Intention Out Loud

Say out loud what you're going to do to reduce forgetting when walking into a new room.
Use short mantras like "get a hammer" or "wallet keys phone" to keep the intention active across doorways.

INSIGHT

Modern Distractions Increase Memory Load

Phones and apps create constant, attention-stealing stimuli that never existed for previous generations.
That ambient distraction makes simple memory strategies and external cues more necessary today.

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Hey Team!

This week, I’m talking with Emmy-winning composers Kat Raio Rende and JP Rende, a husband and wife team who’ve written music for everyone from Elmo to the Jonas Brothers. But today we’re talking about their project Aidee, a collection of songs designed to help kids with ADHD build everyday tools through music.

I got a chance to listen through the album before the interview and it’s honestly really great. Since having my own kids I’ve had the opportunity to listen to a lot of children’s music, so I was pleasantly surprised with how good the songs actually are and how quickly the messages got into my head.

Which leads right into what we Kat, JP and I talked about in the interview - how we can use music as a tool for memory and routines, why silly songs can be powerful ADHD strategies, and how turning everyday frustrations into sticky little tunes can lower shame and raise confidence. We also get into working with ADHD but also how to navigate working with a partner who has ADHD. We also touch on breathing exercises, dealing with shame, and the parenting tightrope of empathy and boundaries.

AIDEE - Nothing Rhymes with Orange Full Album - https://www.youtube.com/@AIDEEHD Kat & JP website - https://www.earwormny.com/

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/246

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD

This Episode's Top Tips

For our tips today, let’s go through all those songs on the album, each of which is a tool in itself:

Anything Else - Reminding us to check if there is anything else we need when we leave the house.
Mad Mad (Jelly Belly) - which asks us to check in with ourselves when we’re feeling dysregulated and seeing if maybe we just need to take a second to take care of our basic needs
Put it Away - I think this one is pretty clear cut, don’t put it down, put it away.
Control - While one of the symptoms of ADHD is that we tend to be quite impulsive, we still have control over our actions - when you feel that impulse you can take a breath and decide if that’s what you really want to do
Learning More Everyday - We’re a work in progress and while we’ll have mistakes along the way, that’s okay
Breathe - when we’re feeling overwhelmed it’s important for us to slow down and take a second to breathe and get ourselves recenter

And remember to hear all those songs just check out the Aidee Youtube channel - link in the show notes