Is there anything that she loves doing? Often times it can be a tiny thing that doesn't seem like much, but can lead to a related area that makes a huge difference. (There used to be a series of articles that would start with something like, "Johnny loves to ride his bicycle. What kind of job will that get him?" and then it would walk through the steps to show that Johnny would make a great engineer or whatever.)

When my son was first diagnosed with ADHD, I compiled a list of famous people that had it and shared that list with him. Are there famous people that she's really into? Showing that they have a connection might help. It may not be widely known that a given famous person has ADHD or another LD right away. You may have to do some poking around. I mean, I didn't know Michael Phelps had ADHD until after he won all those medals. And I didn't know that Daniel Radcliffe had a neurological disorder called dyspraxia until I read about it in an interview.

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Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. I do understand what you mean by the tiny things, but one concept she has trouble with appears to be "caring" for anything or anybody. She almost lives in a type of vacuum where she is the only person she is focused on. When she talks to her few friends she is only talking about what she has done - if she is watching television or listening to music she is only interested in singing along with it (badly I am afraid) and the only interest she seems to be fostering is in boys. I find it really frustrating because I don't seem to be able to convey to her an interest in anything beyond our home - for example other cultures, beliefs, ways of life. If I ask her what she wants to do she just says she will work in a local grocery store and make money so that she can buy her music cd's. Her isolation and self centeredness worries me the most because I am afraid she won't be able to function as a contributing adult outside of the home. I will keep working on it though :) Thank you again Lisa

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With teenagers sometimes total self-involvement, bad choices, and lack of empathy for others sometimes seems par for the course. However, if this seems outside the bounds of normal teenage behavior (and it sounds like you are pretty sure it is), you may want to get a professional involved. There may be other things than the ADHD involved, too. She may need to be evaluated for one of the many "fun" conditions that so often appear with ADHD.

You say she's not on medication at the moment. Does that mean you've tried them in the past? Are you using anything like the Omega 3 fish oil at this time?

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Hello and thank you for your reply. Living in NZ we often don't have access to the same medications I read about on this site. Chey was on Ritolin when she was first diagnosed some four years ago and for a while there it was a wonder cure. But as she got older and hit her teenage years it seemed like her behaviour became more a question of choice, than actually helped by the Ritolin. Also because of subsidy rates changing Chey was put on Rubefen instead (I think that was what it was called) and her behavior dropped drastically. I have heard some talk about the benefits of Omega three and other such supplements - could you give me any idea what sort of dosage she would need, and if there is anything else you might suggest that could help modify her behaviour a bit. At the moment I am very careful about restricting her intake of food colorings and sugars, but I don't have much information on anything else natural that might help - so any suggestions would be wonderful. Thank you again for your time Lisa

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