ADD Student

Archive for February, 2008

I got hit with a particularly nasty flu bug recently, and it seemed to take forever for me to get over it.  Even now, I feel as though I’m not quite myself.  I learned something from the experience though, and I think it’s worthwhile to pass on.  

One of the things that I’ve always advocated in managing the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder is paying attention to the little things – the things we all know that we’re supposed to do and yet never do often enough.  You know what I’m talking about – diet, exercise, getting enough sleep, and drinking enough water.

One of the things that I found especially worrisome as I started to feel better was the fact that my head was so fuzzy. Even a day or two after I stopped taking medication, I was still out of it.  I had trouble focusing or concentrating on things, and I couldn’t read at all.  My eyes seemed to have degenerated dramatically in just a short time –  the words just blurred on the page.

I mentioned this to my husband, because I was really starting to wonder what was happening, and he told me that I needed to drink more water. Such a simple thing – just drink more water.  It really didn’t seem like it could possibly help, but I decided to give it a try anyway.  

The results were amazing.  I could tell a difference after a couple of glasses, and by the end of the day, there was a noticable improvement in the way I felt.  By the next day, I was feeling back to my old self.

Now I know that the reason that this happened to me was because I had been sick, and I had let my body get dehydrated. It had nothing to do with the fact that I have Attention Deficit Disorder, although it did make my ADD symptoms much worse.  

I think that the lesson that I learned, though, is a valuable one for all of us dealing with AD/HD.  Keeping our brains and our bodies well hydrated helps them function the way that they’re supposed to.  Give it a try and see what you think.   

I had a question today from a parent about her son.  For the first time, instead of all A’s and B’s, he had several poor grades on his report card.  She and the teacher both felt that he was capable of bringing the grades up if he just applied himself.

This is one of the areas where understanding Attention Deficit Disorder gets a little tricky.  Of course her son is capable of bringing his grades back up; like most people with AD/HD, he is a very intelligent person.  The act of doing so, however, has gotten harder than it used to be for him because of his AD/HD symptoms.  What has happened to him is what I call “hitting the wall”.

Now how does that make sense?  Hasn’t he always had his ADD symptoms?  Well, yes he has, and always will.  So then, why, all of a sudden, are they causing him trouble?  Why has he suddenly “hit the wall” and what does that mean? 

Briefly, what it means is that his intelligence is at such a level that he has been able all this time to get good grades without paying a great deal of attention or putting forth a tremendous amount of effort.  This is not something he has been doing on purpose – he isn’t even aware of it – it’s just that, up until recently, his intelligence was enough to overpower his ADD symptoms.  Now, though, he’s older, classes are harder, he has more teachers.  He has more to keep track of, and his brain is being taxed to the limit.  He has come to the point where his intelligence alone can no longer overcome his ADD symptoms and still maintain his grades. 

Let me see if I can explain it like this: have you ever been on the phone, and had someone stand right in front of you and talk to you when it was clear you had another conversation taking place?  Aside from being annoying, it’s a little hard to attend to both conversations at once, isn’t it?  When you focus on one, you lose part of what was going on in the other one.

Now imagine that school is the conversation taking place on the phone.  You recognize that it’s the more important one, so you try to tune out the one taking place in front of you (let’s imagine your ADD symptoms as a person, usually an insistent child).  Maybe you plug your free ear, or turn away from the child in order to hear what’s being said on the phone.  You can get away with that for a while, until the child gets tired of not being heard.  They may come around in front of you again, or raise their voice in order to be heard.  The conversation on the phone, unaware of what’s happening in front of you, continues on, neither stopping for you to catch up nor increasing it’s volume so that you may hear.

At some point, the child may begin screaming, or throwing a tantrum on the floor.  When this happens, you will most likely have to hang up the phone.  You might as well – it’s not doing you any good anyway.   This is what happens when you “hit the wall”.

For many kids, “hitting the wall” is the first sign that’s something’s wrong, or out of order at least.  That’s usually when parents or teachers start thinking Attention Deficit Disorder.  For this particular young man, however, this is not the case.  He has been diagnosed and in fact, is on medication.  So what can be done?  Well, there are still options, such as:

•  Re-evaluating medication.  Has it been a while since the dosage was increased?  Has there been a growth spurt since then that would possibly require a bigger dose of medication?  Are hormones a consideration?  If the child in question is going through puberty, ADD medications may not be as effective.
• Even if the child has been diagnosed and is on medication, if there have been little or no real problems for a while, it’s possible that your child is experiencing new symptoms that he has no idea how to cope with.  ADD symptoms seem to change as we get older; our lives change and that may trigger new symptoms.  Also, as we learn to manage our symptoms, other ones that were hidden before may surface.  So it’s possible that some new skills are needed here.
• Take a look at lifestyle changes.  As children get older, their lives often get busier.  Is there too much going on?  Are sleep patterns being affected?  (We all know how much sleep teens seem to need.)  What about eating habits?  Once again, as children get older and more social, they are making more of their own food choices, which may not be as healthy as we would like.
• Talk to your child, especially if they are in middle or high school, and see if you can find a source of the problem there.  It’s surprising to find out how many kids with ADD get that far in school without knowing how to do basic things like write a paper, take notes, or listen to a lecture and pick up verbal cues.  
• Above all, remember that this is more than just something they can do if they apply themselves.  It’s not that simple or that easy.  The grades can be turned around, but not without a clear idea of what happened to begin with, and some effort made towards resolving the difficulty.

Several years ago, I worked in Learning Assistance at a small two year college.  I regularly worked with students with varying learning disabilities, including Attention Deficit Disorder.  So many of them amazed and inspired me with their determination and quiet self-assurance.

I was thinking about those students today, and the 5 stages of grief.  (That’s a great example of the ADD mind in action, by the way; making a connection between two things that seemingly have nothing in common.)

The 5 stages of grief are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  Do you see a connection between these stages and the process of AD/HD diagnosis?  I certainly do.  

The reason that I made this connection had to do with one of the students that I worked with.  This young man had Attention Deficit Disorder as well as a learning disability, yet he had very good grades and a good sense of himself.  

I admired him because he had reached the stage of AD/HD that many people never get to: acceptance.  He knew that in order for him to do well in school, there were certain things that he needed because of his disabilities.  He accepted the fact that this was the way it was, and he dealt with it.  No complaining, no whining, no self-pity; just taking care of business.

This is one of the most valuable lessons that you can teach your child; how to advocate for themselves.  Even very young children can be taught to ask for what they need.  If they are entitled to extra time, a change in test location, or whatever, make sure that they know this, and that they are comfortable speaking up when their needs are not being met.  It’s possible to do this politely and respectfully, and it’s important that they learn how.  It’s a vital part of the journey that leads down the road towards acceptance.