ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers that..

I'm wondering if there are any other ADHD people out there; you know, "We coulda, shoulda, woulda been rocket scientists, if we could have just focused on the math and chemistry!

Well, that is if we didn't forget to bring our homework to class? Oh, where's that stinking pencil? Could you loan me a pen, I forgot mine?

It's not particularly fun being ADHD, but I also know there are many teachers/profs on these boards that we probably drove out of their minds!

If you are one or the other, and would like to comment, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

I don't think I have ADHD, but I'm kind of restless as far as wanting to do many things in a short period of time. On the outside I'm a very quiet, laid-back person (my writing group can attest to that), but on the inside I'm like a wild man. I can't sit still for more than a few hours. If I'm on a beach for more than 3 hours I'd scream, "Let's get out of here and do something!" I can't watch TV because I find myself switching channels all the time. My workout routine lasts only 30 minutes. The only thing I can really just sit and enjoy without thinking of something else is seeing a movie at a theater... I think my threshold is about 3 hours.

Obviously, that poses a problem for my writing life.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Attention deficit and hyperactivity aren't always side by side, but are often clumped together because they often appear together.

I've known hyper people who have great attention. They aren't forgetful at all. And I've known people who have terrible attention, but don't appear hyper at all.

My two sons are opposite. Both have ADHD diagnosed by psychologists/neurologist. One is extremely hyper. He fidgets 24/7, has to change positions all of the time, yet he is organized, and not particularly forgetful.

The other one is not particularly hyper, except to tap like crazy once in awhile, but he is the most disorganized person you'd ever meet. When he was younger, he'd go out to play and he'd always come back with something missing. How can you lose your shoe or your coat? Everyday? Throughout school, he had to have two sets of books, one for school and one for home, because he always lost his books when he was allowed to carry them.

So you can be "Hyper" and have good attention, or have terrible attention, and not be hyper.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

I tend to run in the "geek" circles. And one thing I've noticed, is that the majority of computer geeks, and heavy gamers are frequently ADD, AD/HD. And of those, most of them are very successful in what they do. It's all a matter of finding what you love, yes?




EDIT: Egads! My typo demons are getting agressive.:eek

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

If I were going to school today I'm sure I would be diagnosed as ADD or ADHD and drugged out of my mind until I quit asking questions and until I quit reading books that were beyond my grade level.

I find it interesting that the kid across the street from my niece who is diagnosed as ADHD is the only kid in the neighborhood to spend all day around her yard sale, reading one book after another, playing chess with the adults, and learning how to play GO. All the other non ADHD kids in the neighborhood were standing on the street corner having meaningful conversations with the lamp post about their acne. True during this time he ran and jumped around the yard, climbed the tree, and played with the dogs while his peers demonstrated their maturity and physical prowess by refusing to move any faster than their ninety year old grand mothers were capable of.

In the late afternoon his mother came over to drag him home: She was upset that he had not taken his morning medications.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

A benefit of ADHD some of us have is excellent ability to focus. It's like the peripheral distractions close down, and the mind goes into a tunnel.

Obviously the ability to multi-task, when developed, is priceless.

You might enjoy books by Howard Gardner. His studies led him to prove ADHD is a type of intelligence, rather than a handicap.

Another feature of ADHD for many is that coffee calms us down. Yeah.

A challenge for me is keeping my desks and work areas neat. There have been years at a time when I lived in slobdom because all the paper in my life wasa tangle of spaghetti, impossible to detangle. I taught myself to organize in ways that work for me. With all my writing projects and accumulation, this became crucial or I wouldn't be able to track what's out there, what came in for review, what's in progress.

People who see my house say, "You're so organized, so neat!" They never believe me when I say our greatest strengths are often a manifestation of overcoming weakness.

Paper bugs me. Yet I'm a reader, writer, musician; I love type, publishing, web management. Everything I must have in life to be happy involves paper and words. I often fight the urge to burn all the paper; I also keep fewer books around. I have few to no pictures on walls. Helps me focus to look at blank space, and there're so many movies playing in my mind at a time, I don't require contained images (framed art) to inspire. I have those in the areas I use to relax and ponder travel, however.

Gardner's ideas fo ADD/ADHD being "not a bug but a feature" were useful to me, and also helped me in volunteer work with kids who are being diagnosed by the system with this "handicap."

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Personally, I think way too many children who are just very bright, and easily bored with things at the level their peers are at, are being diagnosed as ADD AD/HD.

Too many people want zombies for children.

*steps down off her soap-box*

Sorry. Carry on.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Well, there's the "Real Deal" and there are the false diagnosis, and there's a world of difference.

My first son was diagnosed because we thought he was having minor motor Seizures, and was blanking out. He would have staring spells where he wasn't responding to anything.

He was a tornado from the moment he left the womb, but being new parents, we never had any clue what was happening until we took him to the neurologist for the suspected Seizures. He said outright that he had ADHD.

The neurologist suggested holding him out of school an extra year, because he would have trouble in school, and wouldn't be able to keep up with peers, which was good advice.

The second son didn't seem hyper at all. He was just always living in another realm. We got notes home from every teacher he ever had, every day of his first few years of school: "He's not paying attention--he's interrupting other kids--he's staring out the window.

He was that kid who in little league sat down in the middle of the field to chase a bug while the game was going on.

But he wasn't hyper, and we never knew that he could be attention deficit without hyperactivity. It was his fifth or sixth grade teacher who sent home a note, and said, "I never believed in ADHD until I had your son in class. I think he needs to be tested"

So, we paid to have both sons tested by Neuropsychologists. And it turned out they were ADHD and rather off the charts, as if we didn't know.

In fact, we ended up at war with the school-long story, which was why we needed to get this verified by a psychologist.

It's a real disorder. Your brain has a gateway/filter, which allows you to tune out distractions. That gateway isn't working in ADHD kids. A fly on the wall is as important as the test they are taking. They can't tune out the whispers, the person who walks by, and because of that, they are distracted constantly. It can be internal distractions, constantly juggling things in the mind, or external. But Ritalin stimulates the part of the brain that allows the gateway to work.

Ritalin won't work for non-ADHD kids. It's a stimulant and could have a paradox effect on them, making them more hyper.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Oh, I agree there's the real thing.

All three of my kids were "accused" of being AD/HD by teachers and such. They didn't have the true signs of this. They were just ahead of their peers, and bored. I refused to medicate them.

My littlest is 7. She's just been tested again in her reading and math skills. She's in 2nd grade (US), and reading about 6th grade, and doing 6th grade math.

Problem is, there's a catch-22 for these kids. They'll act up because they aren't being challenged, but they won't advance them because they're acting up. (At least around here).

My little one is happiest when she has art supplies, puzzles, books, and writing supplies. IF she's ADD, she's not bad enough to need medication (like with any medical issue, there are varying degrees). I'd rather challenge her. I have hopes she'll be a great writer. But I have a feeling that whatever she does, she's going to be awesome.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

I grew up left handed at a time when you were given a "F" for any paper written with the left hand unless you had a doctor's certificate stating your right hand was incapacitated. If someone hadn't made a law against persecuting left handed children I'm sure by now they would have developed a drug to cure the dysfunction.

I'm not going to go so far as to say that ADD and ADHD do not exist, nor will I say that in its most extreme forms it should not be treated: What I will say is that in most cases the diagnosis has more to do with bringing the child into conformity than it has to do with benefiting the child. I will also say that milder cases would probably benefit more from understanding and tolerance than from drugs.

I also have to note that while people deplore the lousy physical shape our children are in, they deplore far more the child who is in any way active. The teenager sitting on the curb in a drug induced haze is ignored while the kid on a skate board is attacked as a social monster who should be banned from existence.

One of the biggest complaints against my niece's neighbor is that the kid likes to climb trees -- Something that was once considered a normal childhood activity.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

It is amazing that ADHD kids can do so well in certain things. I work with M.Ds and Psychologists. My youngest son, who has ADD is terribly distractable. It drives me to distraction.

However, he is very focused on a few particular things, even to the point of obsession. I asked one of the psychologists, who happens to be head of Psychology Dept at a nearby college, and certifies most school psychologists, why is it that my son can't focus for ten seconds on some things, but he's glued to others.

He said that this is very typical of ADHD kids. They can focus on a specific task that is highly interesting to them, which is why, if those kids have good self-esteem, can eventually excel at a given trade. This is also why so many ADHD kids do better in college than they did in K-12. In college you can major in a subject that interests you. You can avoid subjects (for the most part) that aren't suited to your strengths.

However, more often than not, ADHD kids end up stuffed into LD classes, despite having high I.Q, because in some cases, the school would prefer not to have to deal with special accommodations. But if you throw an intelligent kid, who just has trouble with focusing, in special ed, you take away all of their incentive to push themselves.

Some schools are better than others, but I had to threaten to file a lawsuit against my school in order to get them to comply with Federal Laws regarding my own kids. Some teachers were miffed, "What do you want me to do?" -It's not my job to teach you how to do your job, that's the job of the district. If your school doesn't offer inservice and access to the school psychologist to give you suggestions, then your problem isn't with me, it's with the district. But I won't sit back while you ruin my son, and they would have.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

I grew up left handed at a time when you were given a "F" for any paper written with the left hand unless you had a doctor's certificate stating your right hand was incapacitated.

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I have an aunt who actually had her left hand tied behind her back in school so she had to write with her right hand. I believe this gave her problems all her life.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

I have an aunt who actually had her left hand tied behind her back in school so she had to write with her right hand. I believe this gave her problems all her life.

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I'm sure you are right.

By the time I came along they had "modern teaching methods" and were "More civilized" but I'm convinced I have suffered mental and emotional problems all my life because of the treatment I received over being left handed.

It has certainly cast a shadow over every interaction I have ever had with "authority" in any form.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Some disorder's we rarely pay attention to. Many people with the following disorders go undiagnosed their whole lives. The tradgedy is that we already have the drugs to treat most of these afflictions:

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IMAGINATION DEFICIT (IDD) - Subject is extremely boring and conformist to an irrational degree.

ATTENTION SURPLUS (ASD) - Subject is totally dependant on other people to tell him/her how to think and act. Total inability to ponder objects set before him/her. Utter lack of fantasy life.

NON-POLAR (NPD) - Subject has no emotions. Total lack of empathy. Irrational dependence on logic to solve all problems.

SKEPTIZOID (SKD) - Subject trusts authority figures, news anchors, and scientists implicitly. He/she will construct elaborate "coincidence-theories" to explain obvious conspiracies.

SOBRIETY ADDICTION (SBAD) - Every three minutes, another sober driver causes a car accident. Sobriety is known to instill a false sense of superiority and confidence in users. In the worst cases, subjects are unable to get drunk and stay drunk.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

surely I'm not the only ADHD'er on AW? Did I miss a reply?

My parents tried to break me of being left-handed, but to no avail. I use both hands, and sides of my brain very well. Hit baseballs, dribble basketballs, and play instruments right-handed.

I wish someone would invent left handed English script. Yeah, that'll ketch on like the metric sys did here in America.

I took Mom's diet pills--amphetamines--in high school. Calmest most productive days of my young life, and the ability to focus clearly incredible. I only remembered this a coupla years ago when I attended Court Advocate training for ADHD/Meds for kids.

ADHD isn't a bug or a defect; it is a blessing and a feature. So there.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Gala,

I hope you didn't take my previous post wrong. I've been called ADHD, Bi-Polar, Paranoid, and Alcoholic. I've never been officially diagnosed as these things, because I've never gone in for analysis - but all the armchair psychologists in my life have pointed out these supposed "defects" in my character.

I'm on board with you. Whatever it is in my make-up that resembles (or may actually be) ADHD is something I consider to be a blessing and a talent - even if most other people want to beat it out of me.

My previous post was simply to point out that "normal" people can be seen as having "disorders" too... at least from my point of view.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Mr. M.,
Oh I've had a few official diagnoses myself. If I'd believed them I'd have spent time in the funny farm.

I don't believe in the blank slate; I believe I was born, not made. I argued with therapists over that for years and finally gave up on them. (In their defense, they were good listeners and I needed that.)

When I explain my family history and personal struggles, people say, "but you're so normal!"

Are you familiar with author Janet Frame? They were ready to fry her with electroshock within minutes, when she was handed a letter saying she'd won an award. She went on to win fellowships and awards. But I digress.

I found your list hilarious. I may have to give a few people certificates

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

A benefit of ADHD some of us have is excellent ability to focus. It's like the peripheral distractions close down, and the mind goes into a tunnel.

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The first time I heard this, a couple of years ago now, something clicked for me. I've never been officially diagnosed, and if I have it, it's a very minor case. I don't suffer from hyperactivity at all (unless you count wanting to stand up and walk around a bit every now and then when I've been sitting down and working all day!), but my attention does seem to vary between concentrating on one subject for hours at a time (I can keep doing one thing for much longer than anybody else I know), and just not being able to even get so far as to start thinking about something (yep, my ability to procrastinate is unmatched, too).

Obviously the ability to multi-task, when developed, is priceless.

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But that's something I absolutely don't have. I am much less capable of multitasking than most of my friends, because if I try to do two things, something about one of them will distract me away from the other.

Another feature of ADHD for many is that coffee calms us down. Yeah.

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While it doesn't calm me down, it certainly helps me concentrate.

I dunno, I figure maybe this is something I have. It doesn't cause me a lot of problems. I forget to do things, is the biggest one (admittedly, that can get big enough at times ). And I like the advantages, if the two are related in my case.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Another feature of ADHD for many is that coffee calms us down. Yeah.

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Cripes, that's me. Actually I don't drink much coffee because it gives me headaches.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Hmmm? When did I know? I don't think I did know until I had kids.

But I always had trouble focusing on a one to one conversation. My mind was all over the place, and I'd catch myself, and bring myself back. But I'd miss perhaps 60 percent of what people were saying, especially if they were doing a monologue.

And when I read, I'd always loose my place. I'd have to keep coming back, because even when I read, sometimes my mind would be elsewhere, and I'd realize I didn't absorb the words.

I loved making toy models, but hated reading directions. And so, I had a tone of models with extra pieces left over. In fact, to this day, reading directions is one of the hardest things for me.

I did tend to lose things, until I developed systems to help me remember.

I was a great basketball player, but it always took me much longer to catch onto the plays. I'd have to ask the kid next to me, "Where do I go next?" And it was because, again, my mind would be all over the place when the coach was talking.

My teachers sort of liked me, but I also irritated the poor things to no end, constantly acting up, and changing the subject. I spent a great deal of time in the principals office.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Personally, I think way too many children who are just very bright, and easily bored with things at the level their peers are at, are being diagnosed as ADD AD/HD.

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Amen. I was often scolded by grade-school teachers for reading ahead and/or completing an entire workbook before they assigned it. School was an excerise in boredom and frustration on many levels. (They want me to do good. I'm doing good. But now doing good is wrong....) GATE classes helped somewhat, but that just increased the teasing by my "peers" for being an egghead. *sigh* </pity party>

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

I also have to believe that. If they diagnosed ADD/ADHD as much as when I was young as they do now, I probably would have been diagnosed. I was just bored all the time because I didn't have think much to get my work done.

In first grade, I was so bored that I was putting glue on my hands, letting it dry and peeling it off because I was so bored. I remember it because one day the pile became so huge that my teacher threatened to send me to the principal if I did it again.

I daydreamed and didn't pay attention in class because I was bored beyond belief. I had everything done. I understood it all. I never studied anything. My mother considered skipping me two grades for a long time, but it never happened.

I believe there is the Real Thing, but I also think that in the schools' efforts to make everything 'equal and fair' they overlook the children who are bored. There is tendency going around schools and daycares to not single any child in any way whatsoever. It's more than slightly discerning, as we are all unique.

Not one of my teachers ever did anything for me and it should have been obvious that something was not right. At that age, I would have gladly accepted extra assignments or extra reading time.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

This is true. It is important to differentiate what is going on: anxiety, boredom...etc.

With my second son, we thought it might be boredom. His I.Q was in the superior range. However, once he got into those honors classes, his disorganization became a worse problem. He'd do assignments and forget where he'd put them, lose his books...etc. They were less forgiving of forgetting your pencil and notebook, and expected more from students.

But that's supposed to be the school's job to determine which is which. They just aren't very good at it.

At anyrate, we all survived our ADHD, which is sometimes a trick in and of itself, because people assume not paying attention is always a motivational issue, and intentional, when it isn't for someone who really has ADHD.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

I used to draw in my notebooks all through class. Teachers thought I wasn't paying attention, but that's how I took my notes. I found that if I was working on a picture, it made it much easier to concentrate on what the teacher was saying

and then, days or weeks later I could look at the parts of that drawing and remember exactly what was being said when I drew each part.

Nobody approved of my method, but I'll tell ya... I've retained everything I learned in grade school and high school, where most other people my age have long since fortotten it.

Re: ADHD Authors, and grammer or is that grammar teachers th

Yes, I know what it is like to be scolded! Shivers....