ADD Student

Archive for April, 2009

Both my son Andy and my daughter Sarah have had a chance lately to re-connect with some friends from high school.

Sarah was telling me today about a couple of friends she is meeting up with tonight in Chicago. One of her friends from college is actually sharing an apartment with a friend of hers from high school.

At first I didn’t remember the young lady in question (the one from high school) but then it came back.

Sarah had a number of friends in high school who were in the Gifted program. One of the girls, Kathy, was especially disdainful of another girl, Megan, who was not part of the program. Megan barely passed her classes, but the rest of the girls liked her.

As it turned out, the girls who took the time to get to know Megan (and didn’t judge her by outward appearances) found out that Megan was, in fact, brilliant. Possibly even genius IQ. Of course, that wasn’t why the girls liked her.

I never knew Megan well enough to form any opinions about her, so I have no way of knowing whether or not she has ADHD.

I do know, however, that lots of people with ADHD are a lot like Megan. They barely pass their classes, don’t pay attention, and rarely do their work. Like Megan, they have brilliant minds and are completely bored to death at school. The work is often ignored, because it’s far beneath them and of no interest whatsoever.

As an ADD Coach, I’ve worked with 2 kids who had genius IQs and were barely passing, and I’ve met several others who, despite extremely high IQs, were doing no better.

If your child happens to fit into that category, there are some things you can do to help.

I’ll have those suggestions next time.

Just a few things I want you, as my readers, to know.

The Med Free with ADD program is now available. For more information, go here.

If you’ve ever thought about owning your own online business, but don’t know where to start, check out my new business Moms Biz Kit. I’ll walk you through every step, including designing your site for you.

If you have been a subscriber to my newsletter for any amount of time, you should know that I am closing that list and switching to another company to manage it. You can sign up for the new list in the box on the right and get a 15% discount on Med Free with ADD.

Thanks!

There’s a new show on TV that my husband likes to watch. It’s called Pitchmen and it stars Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan, both of whom make their living pitching products on infomercials and commercials.

Billy Mays is the one who yells all the time and promotes OxiClean. Anthony Sullivan is an Englishman who promotes Smart Mop, among other things.

In their new show, they team together to find new products to promote by meeting with various inventors and testing their products.

I have no idea of whether or not this is true, but I would be willing to bet that a disproportionate number of the inventors on this show have ADHD.

They’re highly creative (obviously) as well as big risk takers. Most have spent years of their lives working on their product (one guy had been working on his for 12 years), they have quit their jobs and risked their life savings to bring their product to the market.

Impulsive, creative risk takers; yep, it’s got ADHD written all over it.

What about your family? Any inventors there? Any impulsive, creative risk takers?

In our family, our son Andy is the inventor. He’s always thinking of new ways to make things or do things. When he was 10 or 11 years old, he contacted one of those places that claims to help you get your invention made and marketed. It was a scam, of course.

One of his most memorable inventions was made out of a laundry basket, some duct tape, pillows, and I think, some cardboard. It was supposed to be a faster way to slide down a snow covered hill than a sled, with the added bonus of padding if you crashed.

My daughter Caitlin and her friend Kimmy used to practice what they called “French Cooking” in my kitchen. It was mostly an attempt to mix together various unlikely ingredients in the hopes of making something tasty. It rarely succeeded.

I think it’s way, way important to encourage our little (and not so little) inventors. It’s good for them on so many levels, and who knows? They may end up creating something wonderful.