“My ADHD Looks Nothing Like Your ADHD”
Our family of five includes five distinct and different ADHD diagnoses. Where one son is exploding with energy, another is lost in his thoughts. Where one reacts to frustration with overt anger, another internalizes the emotions, which festers into shame. What this means: Your assumptions about ADHD aren’t helpful; the only way to manage it is by listening to your child.
3 Comments: “My ADHD Looks Nothing Like Your ADHD”
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This was great to read. I’m really struggling with college right now, and some of my issues that I’m having are ones that ping-pong between examples listed here. For some classes, I can use online textbooks, and for others, I need the physical copy. I thrive on partial structure with a lot of wiggle room (like loose deadlines or a list of recommended steps).
It helps to have the reminder that everyone with ADHD is different, and some people have different issues or needs depending on circumstance or other factors. I really needed this reminder today.
(By the way! Both my parents, my older brother, and both of my younger siblings also have ADHD. We’re all so different, and sometimes our needs get on each others’ nerves, so I definitely know how hectic it can get.)
Awsome article!
How do I get my kid’s school to understand this and just back off? I have tried explaining it to them. But all they see is their rigid structure. They even try to discipline me! Maybe they have hyperfocused on structure.
Anyway, if I can’t get help through the school, what else can I do? I do want my child to get an education.
That was a great read thank you Elizabeth. I believe that the human race has far more in common with each other than they have differences and it took me years to learn (and adequately assert to others) that we are ALL unique, despite those similarities. Throughout my full-time education (left school at 16) I was always compared to my older brother who was the model student.