Observance of ADHD
I have worked with children and young people with ADHD for many years. My perspective and opinions have evolved as I have observed my students over time.
Although I am in a large city, the school community where I worked for some time was in many ways like a small town. I taught students in their early middle school years and then a change in circumstances allowed me to have many of them again in high school. Because I knew them and their parents pretty well by then, I was given a window into their lives as they went through college, began careers, and started families.
Of course, I am not a researcher or even a counselor. I am a teacher, but one who has been given a unique opportunity to have relationships with students at different stages in their lives. As a result, I have observed how the struggles of many with ADHD have persisted even into their young adult years.
That need for an extra day to finish an assignment given three weeks before is now a need for more time on a project at work. The tendency to be late for class has become a tendency to be late for meetings. All those creative ideas that were going to be appreciated someday in the workplace are still not making it off the drawing board. That little habit of interrupting others when they are talking does seem to be taking a toll on relationships. The need to buy the latest version of whatever has persisted, and credit card debt is now a problem.
Not Just a Problem With Attention
Some who seem well adjusted overall and have good relationships still worry often about disappointing people. Some are fearful of being perceived as unintelligent or incompetent. Even those who are obviously gifted in some particular area such as art, music, or mathematics and are pursuing careers using their gifts, still struggle with time management and say they will “pull an all nighter” to finish a project for work. Many say that problems with anxiety and depression have arisen.
As I listened to former students, I was also reading and attending professional conferences when possible. I began to realize that I could offer my students more than just words of encouragement and how to keep an up-to-date planner. With newly acquired information, I knew that ADHD was not just a problem with attention.
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