ADD

As I've gone through my own adolescence and young adulthood and now through college and the MAC Program, there has been one topic that has been the bane of my existence: ADD.

I was diagnosed with borderline ADD in the second grade, when my teacher noticed that I had trouble staying on task, even though I was very bright and not particularly disruptive. I was put on Ritalin, which I took three times a day, including once in the office at school during lunch. I, like my other three classmates who were on any medication, endured cruelty from other kids well into middle school, when they finally started making the time-release Aderol (sp?). This made it so that I could take the drug once a day--usually at night so that it could work it's way into my system for the next day. My parents let me stop taking it during the summers, but my siblings still taunted me anytime I acted up or got cranky. They used to say, "Wow, you're being a brat today. Did you take your pill yet?" (You know, because Valium and Ritalin are somehow synonymous?) I eventually let go of the drug altogether when I reached the age of 16, but quickly found that I had a hard time managing without it, so I took it for about two more years, until I had a grasp on managing work and time with harder schoolwork.

Some of the worst encounters has been dealing with the nonbelievers. Most people consider ADD to be over-diagnosed, which isn't far off from the truth. BUT, that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist in many people. They think it's an excuse for not getting work done or a way to get out of classroom discussions or an excuse for hyperactive behavior. But this is a very real disorder that people like me struggle to manage every day.

Along with this, the very worst encounter is when I meet someone who has an utter misunderstanding of the disorder itself. I will say, "I struggled with ADD as a kid, but my management has gotten much better now." They response, "Oh yeah, I was never diagnosed, but I had it. I still struggle with it. I get distracted so easily by what's going on around me." Pretty much anyone in the world could say that they have ADD by these standards. Of course there are distractions around everyone! We were born with 5 senses, and we tend to be overstimulated by things like Google or Facebook or crowded rooms. But this is not ADD.

ADD is much more internal than this. For example, I will read a passage from a book for homework, and I'll be hyper focused on trying to read, but meanwhile I am actually thinking about something completely different, perhaps still pertaining to the reading, perhaps just letting my imagination take off with a day dream of myself joining the military or learning French. Someone can call my name repeatedly during this time, and I'll won't answer until someone physically touches me and jolts me from this zone. All the time, my eyes have been moving back and forth across the pages, which I've turned maybe five times already. I'll have no recollection of reading at all, so I start over. I not only start over the reading, but I start over the day dreaming or the internal distractions. Still, I'm not aware of my surroundings, generally speaking.

I know that people get distracted. I know there are other people who read the same paragraph three times and forget it each time. But until you've spent night after night after night going through this routine, you don't have the right to say you've got ADD. Until you've spent 4 hours doing a terrible job on homework that took your best friend 15 minutes, you haven't experienced this. Until you've gone off of medication, confidently thinking that you're at an age that you should be able to manage this on your own, but you quickly find that your grades have dropped from As to Cs in a matter of a marking period, you just don't know. And until you realize that the medication is there as an aid, and NOT a solution, while you learn techniques and practices that allow you to read 20 pages of reading in a reasonable amount of time, then stop saying that you know what myself and others like me have been through.

Instead of saying "I know what you mean," ask a person what they've actually been through and gain a real understanding of what ADD is and how it affects people every hour of their lives. This is not just a twice-a-week problem, or a high-stress problem, though it's aggravated by stress for sure. It's a very real, very frustrating, very damaging disorder of which teachers need to work to gain a better understanding.

I have a student in one of my classes whose parents told me about his struggles at home. He, like me, tried to give up Concerta at age 16, which is the age when doctors recommend trying to go without. He, like me, saw a sharp drop in his grades, self confidence, and productivity. I mean, it's hard to even read a novel that you're really, really interested in, so it doesn't just affect your school work. He's learning to manage and has gone back on meds (his own choice), but the school is doing little to help, even disregarding his parents' requests, since so many people believe that ADD is so overdiagnosed and therefore not real for anyone. They told me he worked on his school work for hours upon hours at night, only to get frustrated every single night and walk away every single night from his half-finished homework assignments, simply because he didn't have the mental ability to concentrate. He's even worse than I was, but still people tell him, "Ya, I've been there," as they look at their pristine, perfectly formed answers in front of them.

So if you get a student in your class who claims to have ADD, give him/her the benefit of the doubt. Most kids won't claim it if they don't really struggle with it, because it's not something the average teenager wants their peers to know, especially due to the hyperactive stigma that comes with it. There are also signs you can look for in their work, like unfinished sentences or thoughts. Or they're making a really awesome point, but very suddenly move to another topic and maybe revisit the other one later. They can be smart and outgoing, so don't limit your calls to the quiet kids.

And finally, do some research. For something that's as overdiagnosed as this is, people are still completely ignorant about it's true meaning, problems, and implications. Understand the disorder and learn ways to support your students and help them manage.

Check out the following links to learn more:

http://www.add.org
http://www.oneaddplace.com/
http://borntoexplore.org/index.html
http://www.chadd.org/ (This one includes resources for teachers as well.)