college adventuresI have listened for many years to people who believe ADHD is a myth. One would think that with brain scans and MRIs showing different brain functioning between “normal” and “ADD” brains would put the myth to rest.  It still lingers on. Is Attention Deficit Disorder a new disorder, discovered and hyped in the 70s and 80s? The condition was actually first described by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman in 1845. He was also a poet as well as a medical doctor, and he wrote a “book” of poems and stories called “The Story of Fidgety Phillip”.

In jolly old England Sir George F Still described a group of children with hyper and impulsive behavior. He believed the condition was genetic and not caused by poor parenting or other outside influences. Since that time numerous doctors and researchers have studied, researched and written about ADHD and ADD. There are a variety of diagnosis’s, from Attention Deficit Disorder to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, with or without Impulsivity. Often, students who display these traits also have other learning disabilities as well. Parents who have children with these “disorders” (I don’t particularly see them as “bad”, but certainly challenging) generally work overtime trying to do what is best for their child. It can be heartbreaking and backbreaking work, as I well know. I have two children, and both have ADD although different types. My understanding goes beyond professional knowledge….I have ADHD with Impulsivity myself, and it has continued into adulthood. It is true that learning differences seem to run in families.

I was not diagnosed with ADHD as a child. The only term people used in the 60s and 70s was “hyperactive”. For myself, I was merely labeled “bad”, “lazy”, “rebellious”, “scatterbrained”, and my favorite “not living up to her potential”. I simply believed that I was…not smart. Yes, I was always in Honors English and did very well in it, but I flunked science and math and foreign language, and turned in middle of the road performances in everything else (except home economics…I constantly flunked or garnered “D”s in that class). I simply could not concentrate on anything that I wasn’t extremely interested in. I could read for hours and not hear anything that went on around me. Same for singing and dancing. Buy when it came to subjects I wasn’t particularly interested in (or was fearful of) I seemed unable to understand. I can still see my dad breaking pencils through the frustration of trying to teach me algebra. I felt hopelessly stupid, and I dealt with it by acting like I didn’t care about school or doing well. Going to college was simply not an option for me, and it bothered me throughout my twenties that I did not have a college education. Was I well educated? Yes, I was extremely well read in many areas, but to me the seal of being “smart” was a college education. I did try a couple of times….but quit whenever a math course came my way, knowing I could never pass it.

When my first child, Alexandra, went to Kindergarten, it became obvious that something was not quite right. I knew she was intelligent…so why was her learning behind? She was diagnosed with ADD in First Grade and while reading up on it, I was struck by the symptoms. Inattentive? Restless? Impulsive? Blurting out answers or finishing people’s sentences (I still tend to do that unfortunately), unable to sit still? Disorganized? The literature described my entire life. After diagnosis, I began medication. Long story short, I finished my Bachelor of Arts and my Master of Science within 4 years (summa cum laude!) and went on to teach at the university level. Now I work with high school students, some of whom are like I was at that age, unaware of their own potential. And I still take medication. Without it, I am like a TV screen with snow. The medication gives me High Def, and the ability to accomplish a great deal.

So don’t feel bad if you are ADHD, or if your child is ADHD. We are in good company: Sir Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Adam Smith….all attention deficit and with learning problems. The world is moving fast, maybe those of us who can’t sit still are uniquely qualified to keep up. I have embraced my ADHD (and still struggle with that impulsivity) and I actually like some things about it: my endless curiosity, my restlessness which makes me get out and about to explore, the creativity and the million thoughts and ideas that I can sometimes catch. Like everything else, having ADHD is a challenge in life that one must manage. I’m in good company.