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Teens and ADD
I have struggled with this too. What I have come to see is that the ADD is the inability to stay organized, another factor of ADD is his inability to make good choices easily (I tell people that the medicine helps him to center himself enough that he can pause before making a decision. He knows right and wrong, it's just being focused enough to choose the right decision.) , and the inability to understand time management or the concept of time. Everything else is teenager (I have decided). We have struggled this year (8th grade) because we are getting attitude and lack of motivation...big time! His attitude is worse without medicine (again...decision making). I also have finally realized that my son has gotten excellent grades for so long that he actually has been winging it as far as grades/studying goes. Well at the end of 7th grade and now 8th grade we are seeing him struggle with grades. His comments by themselves make no sense...seemed like excuses. But now I can see a pattern and have realized that he has been flying by the seat of his pants and now needs to learn how to study, how to keep himself on track, how to understand time and how to break down assignments into smaller time elements so it is all managable.
If any of this sounds familiar to you, you might want to see if he can relate to the flying by the seat of his pants and now it is overwhelming. If so, then his not wanting to take medicine is probably a way for him to justify to himself his lack of good decisions/grades. It is his personal excuse....I can't do any better because I am not on my medicine. That is controllable to him and so he doesn't feel completely lost. It doesn't make sense to us adults, But as a teenager it would have made sense to me. Hope that helps. Just know that you are not alone, there are many that are struggling with this. I struggle harder because I have ADD and it is hard to be consistent with him when I struggle with consistency issues.
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17 Dec 2009 @ 2:32 PM
18 Dec 2009 @ 1:48 PM