ADD Student

Archive for the ‘School’ Category

My son Andy is at school right now (Indiana University), and he really seems to be enjoying it. I know that he’s putting more effort into it than he usually has and he’s been really good about doing his homework, too.

Andy is 24 and you know he has ADHD. He’s also extremely intelligent and quick witted, but he never applied himself in school, most of the time because he didn’t need to in order to get by.

Like a lot of kids with ADHD, Andy went to a community college right out of high school. He completely blew it off and failed most of his classes that first year.

ADHD kids and their parents often don’t like the idea of a community college, especially since most kids head off to a university somewhere. It somehow seems to reinforce that whole idea that the kid with ADHD isn’t so bright.

Sending an 18 year old kid with ADHD away from home and expecting him to suddenly shape up, take care of himself and remember things he never has before is often trouble waiting to happen. Remember, until they are in their mid-twenties, kids with ADHD are 3-5 years younger emotionally than their real age.

After a year pretty much failing at community college, Andy got a full time job. And then, when we moved to Indiana, he tried community college again. Once again, he failed to apply himself. And to be fair, it was a difficult time for all of us.

I see a much different person now than I did a few years ago. I think that a few years spent in the real world, working at the kind of jobs you can get when all you have is a high school education was the best education of all.

My son has matured and he knows first hand the quality of a good education. He’s determined to do well this time and I think he will succeed.

It’s hard as a parent to put off your child’s education, whether it’s done intentionally or not. But sometimes, in the end, it can be worth it.

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Jonathan Mooney is one of my favorite authors when it comes to writing about ADHD and learning disabilities. He’s intelligent and funny and I just love his attitude in general when it comes to learning disabled kids.

If you haven’t read his books, you should definitely check them out. Learning Outside the Lines was his first, co-authored with David Cole. When The Short Bus came out, he was generous enough to send me a copy, which I reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed.

Jonathan is working on a new project called Project Eye to Eye, and once again I think he’s totally on target with his thoughts and ideas.

Here is a portion of Project Eye to Eye’s Mission Statement:

Project Eye-To-Eye’s mission is to develop a national coalition of grassroots mentoring programs for labeled learning disabled students and to empower these individuals to celebrate their differences.

Mr. Mooney has been involved in a number of important events and projects lately. Rather than take the time to summarize all of it, I’ll just give you the links:
Project Eye to Eye
A newspaper article about an event in San Francisco last weekend - a wonderful read.
The Parents Education Network.

I think that if we as parents of kids with ADHD and/or learning disabilities got on board with some of these groups and their ideas, we could maybe change the way our schools are run; a change that is long overdue.

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Kids with ADHD aren’t the only ones who have trouble learning. We’ve all had that experience at one time or another.

Like a lot of the ideas on this blog, today’s suggestion isn’t just for kids with ADHD; it’s for anyone to use whenever they are having trouble understanding something.

The idea is simple: use something you know and understand in order to help you grasp the new idea.

For instance, learning things like division, percentages, and decimals might be easier for a kid who’s a sports fan. Just pull out the latest stats and show them how batting averages are determined.

Or take them shopping, if that’s what they prefer. Show them how to figure out how much 20% off the price of those jeans will be. Honestly - it’s how I learned percentages - at the mall.

If it’s English that’s the problem - reading books and understanding the underlying story, history - understanding the dynamics behind the scenes - look to the movies. I would have never gotten through Shakespeare in college without movies to help me understand. There are a lot of modern movies that are based on classic novels, although you might never guess it.

10 Things I Hate About You - with Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger - is based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. West Side Story is an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and some people even say that The Lion King is based on Hamlet!

And of course, you can find a wealth of movies that depict many important moments in history.

Movies are also beneficial in that they combine visual and kinesthetic means of learning in addition to auditory ones.

Current events can also help to make ideas clearer. Our current economy, for instance, might allow kids learning about the Great Depression to grasp it’s meaning more clearly.

The bottom line is that you may have to do more outside of school to help your ADD student understand his or her lessons, but if you can bring the ideas into their world, you have a better chance at understanding and retention.

Sometimes just replacing the characters in the book with familiar people can help with understanding. You’re bringing it down from what seems like theory into real life.

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