Success @ School Sweepstakes: Win ADDitude Magazine Issues to Share!
Enter to win a box of ADDitude magazines issues to share by answering this question below: What do you wish your community — at school, at work, with family and friends, and beyond — understood about people with ADHD?
22 Comments: Success @ School Sweepstakes: Win ADDitude Magazine Issues to Share!
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I wish more people, leaders, teachers, practitioners looked at the big picture and different factors that could be contributing to the ADHD symptoms, and would provide resources to support families in the implementation of those interventions. Primary reflex integration and the impact of the STNR reflex (for example) not being integrated, impact of processed food and red, yellow dyes, undetected vision disorders. Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t ADHD. Sometimes it’s ADHD and… I am a teacher and cognitive trainer, and I have seen tremendous improvement in symptoms when children get access to reflex integration, diet change, and vision therapy, if those are in fact, contributing factors. My point is, let’s look at all of the possible contributors and work on them layer by layer.
What do you wish your community — at school, at work, with family and friends, and beyond — understood about people with ADHD?
I wish people understood that ADHD is a feature, not a bug. Imagine if people thought there was something wrong with me because I’m left handed.
Just because you forgot something or have a bad day, doesn’t mean you have ADHD. My ADHD is not an excuse and No, you can’t use it as one. I am completely disorganized which I over compensate for. I am completely distracted unless I listen to music or soundscapes to stay focused on one thing. It is a serious issue and we try hard every day, very hard. We aren’t trying to be normal, we are trying to be true to ourselves and accomplish things we are passionate about.
I wish people knew that ADHD is A CHRONIC & REAL thing, with REAL changes in chemistry make up and functions in the brain. With that in mind, I believe people wouldn’t be so quick to brush of or deny their or others adhd symptoms. I think parents and adults would be more willing to use medications in conjunction with CBT and other therapies too if they only knew they this cannot reverse itself on its own and that they knew/understood the changes their brain has vs someone without adhd. I also wish more emphasis was put in the fact that adhd does not make you a bad child, or bad adult, and it definitely doesn’t make you/us DUMB. Just because behavior and mental disorders normally come hand in hand with adhd also does not mean that your a “crazy” person. Adhd people are just as NORMAL as everyone else!!! I even have MS which also adds to my cognitive disabilities but I now thrive and survive with them, embracing and loving MY ABILITIES (rather than disabilities ☺️)
I wish that everyone could understand and empathize with how hard it is for us. How knowing that there’s something different about you that you have no control over is debilitating. How finding the right treatment is a long, tiresome, frustrating, irrevocably difficult journey that in itself forces us to go against our own mechanisms just to remember to take it. I want people to understand that it’s not an excuse or a get out of jail free card; it’s realizing that your brain is fighting against every way that you were taught how to live in society. I want people to understand that it’s like a fight every day against yourself, and to please show that understanding and empathy.
I wish people understood that no two with ADD/ADHA are the same. It can manifest itself in very different ways.
An ADHD diagnosis is a family diagnosis. Everyone is trying to retrain their thoughts, instincts, responses. It takes time. It takes resources. It takes your “village” speaking into situations when you’re at your wits end trying to find the right therapist, counselor, doctor, program. The judgement is not necessary, that’s the loop many of us ADHDers get stuck on mentally, but oh the grace…that is so very much appreciated. We’re trying to figure it out! For us, for our children, for our families and it can often be overwhelming but those who try to really get it: do their own research, listen to podcasts, read books/articles to try and understand from the ADHDers perspective… well you dear fam and friends are the lifelines that keep us moving forward when we can not propel ourselves.
ADHD does not mean you have a low IQ what it does mean is that you may learn better in a classroom with fewer distractions and more hands-on work.
Including Taekwondo as a sport or at least taught during gym classes would be helpful for all students but especially ADHD/ADD children.
Medications can and do work for many, yet finding what works best can take years and often changes with age. Most ADHD/ADD meds cut your appetite and do not last more than 8-10 hrs. don’t expect the focus and memory to be the same after the meds stop working for the day. Gentle reminders, redirecting, and snack before bed is necessary.
I wish the community would understand and embrace, that we are all different. Not any two people are alike whether they are neurotypical or neurodivergent. And we all deal with our struggles/issues/problems in different ways. Just because not everyone likes to share their struggles, or only some of their struggles (because really, laying it all out there is not just a lot to explain, but also a lot to take in), that doesn’t mean they don’t have any or many.
Also, there is no easy fix or a fix at all. While there are many tools out there to help out, they don’t work the same for everyone, and it takes time to find the best ways to navigate them all to find out what does work. Medication isn’t always the right tool, but it does help some people.
I guess my wish is more acceptance and understanding in the world. You don’t have to go above and beyond to just be accepting, and it is not something you really should have to work at. And being understanding doesn’t mean you have to understand what lies behind it, just being understanding of everyone is different, and we all struggle with our own stuff. It doesn’t mean my struggle is greater than yours or worse than yours. It’s just different. And that’s okay.
Here are some bullet points I try to remind people of;
Kids with ADHD/ADD are paying attention, just to too many things.
ADHD/ADD kids are tired. Their brains are tired at the end of the day and that home is their safe space (usually, not all the time).
That medications don’t fix ADHD/ADD.
Preferential seating is not always right in front of the class.
Their parents are tired too. (I have 2 wonderful, exhausting at times ADHD/ADD kiddos)
I don’t care that you don’t think they have ADD/ADHD or you don’t believe in it, unless you live in my house, in my shoes, and work with their school and other care providers you don’t really have a say.
The thing that I wish people understood about ADHD/ADD the most is that behaviors are not because the individual (child, adolescent, adult) is choosing to behave badly. The behaviors are simply a response to something deeper and more emotional. The behaviors are not meant for someone, such as a teacher, parent, or helping professional, to label the person with ADHD/ADD. The issue is a biological one and must be handled with care. More and more people need to understand the neurological challenges that people with ADHD/ADD have to live with. There is no cure. However, with knowledge, support, and a little bit of compassion and patience, people with ADHD/ADD can grow up with ADHD/ADD without feeling like a bad person that no one understands. If we all work together, we can ensure that children with ADHD/ADD grow up to be productive and confident adults.
Momma of Children with ADHD; Wife to Hubby with ADD; Counselor to students with ADHD and Co-Occurring Disorders; Hope for All
As a CASA in Georgia (Court Appointed Special Advocate), adoptive parent with 2 ADHD children I and my children have struggled with school, society and family perceptions of those with ADHD, namely behaviors, discipline, non-compliance and much more that those who do not understand label our children with.
I have and continue to be a strong advocate for children in Foster Care, Special needs children/youth and those with learning challenges. Having resources available to our schools would go far to help educate teachers, parents, aids, caregivers, etc. on how better to serve our children. Because as I and many like me, believe “The more WE know, the more They GROW!”
I appreciate the opportunity the chance to win the magazines for our local schools! Thank you, Barbara Young, CASA of McIntosh County, Georgia
I really wish that people would know that it is not that we are trying to make things more difficult for them. We really are trying, and carry a lot of guilt around not being able to do things as easily as a neurotypical individual.
Children with ADHD are special too! They are no different than any other child in their class they just focus a bit differently because their brains are wired differently. There are no two kids the same they just learn in a different way. Just as teachers teach differently so do children learn differently too especially those children with ADHD.
I’d like everyone to know that when it is hard for people with ADHD to focus on and participate in things they are not super-interested in, that it is not their fault and they are not lazy. Their brain is simply wired differently, and we need to be patient and encouraging.
ADHD is a spectrum disability. It looks different in every child. Your child is not “misbehaving.”
Understand truly what your kid with ADHD needs on a daily basis(Love!, Building confidence in themselves, Helping them understand how sensory exercises and physical activity can help them on a daily basis, letting them being themselves without trying to change who they are, letting them know they are not alone(a lot of people have ADHD) and this does not make them “bad” or “problematic”, building skills that let them express themselves, i.e. art, working with clay, music, bowling, golfing, and many others, letting know you are always there for them no matter what!, and finally Love, love and love them!!!
That kids with ADHD are rarely, if ever, being naughty. They forget what they are meant to be doing, they mask their frustrations with behaviours perceived as naughty, they feel big feelings and don’t have the same in-built skills to manage them like neuro-typical kids. All of this on top of how much energy they expend on every-day activities that come naturally to other kids. Imagine a bunch of kids in a running race, and one kid has a big lead weight chained to their ankles. That’s the kid with ADHD.
And adults with ADHD… they’ve been living their whole life with that weight attached to their ankle… so they need compassion, patience and support also!
Oh, where to start…First of all, I wish they understood that I’m not just taking my time to get ready to leave the house, I just misjudge the time it takes to perform whatever tasks I need to get done before leaving and thinking I can get more done than actually possible and that’s even if I can find whatever it is that I need for any given task, and it’s most likely that I won’t be able to find anything. 🤨 and chances are I’ll end up forgetting something once I’m in the car and have to run back in and we will be late to wherever it is we are going. I wish they understood why I’m so sensitive to things that shouldn’t bother me and why I “fly off the handle” when I feel misunderstood. I wish people would give my ideas a chance and just bc I would take a different approach to any given situation doesn’t make me wrong. I could continue and go on and on but for now I’ll leave it at that, my thought are going a million miles a min. 😵💫
That some step-parents are learning on the fly and have yet to learn the tactics that work.
That people with ADHD are trying SO hard. So so hard. They just need you to be a little patient and give them the benefit of the doubt.
That adhd kids need to be reminded sometimes over and over