ADHD

My oldest son has ADHD and is life has been an amazing journey of not understanding why he does the things that he does. I mean I understand it because I am a psychotherapist and have been working with people whom have carried this diagnosis. I feel others around him have not understood completely what dilemmas he has had to endure in his life. This lack of true understanding has led to a lot of negativity in his life and I realize in many other kid's lives as well. Not every kid diagnosed with this acts or presents symptoms in the same manner. I mean come on we are all individuals here and not cut from the exact same cloth that is how we can all be individualistic and be different. What we do know is that these kids struggle in their daily life and for this reason everything is a struggle. My son cracks me up and frustrates me at the same time. He forgets to complete chores in consecutive steps and always forgets the last step and so leaves the dishwasher door open with dishes in the dishwasher waiting for the soap and for him to push the button to get it going. Since I have worked with many kids with similar issues I decided to help him ease the struggles of his journey. I put up a white board and listed out steps to his chores and he can cross them off when he completes them and then I would give him some kind of token for completion. This help more than you will ever know. Over time he was able to memorize the steps and no longer needed the list and now can complete many tasks from beginning to end.

So what is his biggest hurdle in life. School has been the most difficult of environments for him. He isn't one of those kids able to take medication that is available for ADHD and so has had to endure this alone and many students and teachers alike get frustrated with him. Well he gets frustrated with himself for not being able to do what everyone else can do. It is heart breaking to watch when your son feels like a failure for not being able to follow instruction because of all the other distractions around him. What I love is that he keeps trying instead of throwing in the towel. He tries to make it happen and to make people happy even after having made a disaster of everything he tries and that is what matters. He is a little smarty that has wonderful ideas way beyond my own thinking. I know he will do well in his future but he still has a few more years of high school to bear before he reaches the freedom he needs to soar to the highest limits.

What do you know about ADHD? More and more children are being diagnosed with this disorder every year and there are tons of books about it for you to read and many websites to check out that are helpful. Not every kid with ADHD is running around off the walls with energy. My son didn't have that part of the ADHD which is the hyperactivity so for most they saw his behavior as being defiant instead of being the other parts of this disorder which are inattention and being impulsive which he has both of these.

He blurts out when it is inappropriate. He cuts off conversations because of fleeting thoughts and you get lost in what the heck you are talking about. He is distracted easily with anything visual. This can be the classroom walls. Have you ever been into your child's classroom and seen how busy and brightly colored the walls are with child art and other pictures. Wow it is so mesmerizing for just the normal person. There is so much information to take in and it can be overload for kids that have ADHD and for kids with any type of Sensory disorders as well seen with kids that have Autism. It can overload these individuals causing an overwhelming feeling of anxiety. When a kid is trying to deal with the overload of sensory information it is really difficult to do anything else meaning paying attention in class and completion of assignments because like my kid they lose track of what the teacher just told them.

So with this struggle watching him and other kids with this disorder I realized it might benefit teachers and students alike to a better understanding of why these kids do the things they do so I wrote a children's book about ADHD with the intent of helping those that don't understand it. It is in the process of illustration and publishing. I am sure it will touch and help many people out there.


The book should be finished and published next year sometime and I am looking forward to sharing it with the world.

Also there is some OCD with these kids as well I have placed some you tube videos for you to enjoy
I can see this in my own son in this video and this is where my child cracks me up!

So what is happening in the brain of a child with ADHD?

This last video shows what ADHD is all about