Does Our Middle School Have ADHD?

by Lynn Ayers

In the middle of the night, having devoted most of the evening to extracting an acceptable one-page essay from a brilliant twelve-year-old, I was struck by an astounding revelation. I think it’s highly likely that our school may have ADHD (that’s Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, for those who may not have noticed the news hype over the past ten years). Having two sons diagnosed with this disabling condition, I’m pretty familiar with the signs, and I suddenly found the similarities quite startling. I don't know if all of these symptoms were apparent before age 7 (whenever that was), but here's what I've observed:

Unfortunately, I don't think stimulant medications are an option for this particular patient. I do wonder which of their favorite conclusions they would like to have applied to themselves: Is the school lazy? Careless? Unmotivated? Poorly disciplined? Spoiled by overindulgent parents? Do they just not care?

Since I know that these kinds of labels aren't really beneficial in understanding my children's behaviors, I suspect they won't be helpful in this other case. Perhaps it's more appropriate to assume that the school just hasn’t learned any more effective strategies. I'm pretty sure that I need to adjust my expectations, provide clear explanations of a few basic requirements at a time, and make sure they have appropriate structure, supports, and accountability to carry them out.

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out exactly how to do that. It's not like I can take away their video games if they don't do their part! :-)

©2008 by Lynn Ayers