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School and ADHD
I got in trouble before I took my medicine I was in trouble in school a lot before I took my medicine. After I took my medicine, I wasn’t in trouble anymore. –Miles, 7 One thing that is bad right now is that it seems like ADHD is a laughing stock. All these little kids sit in front of a video game all day and everyone is like “My kid has ADHD.” The thing is that they don’t have ADHD, you just don’t make them do their work. So it’s become a laughing stock. So when you say, “I have ADHD” your teachers are like, “Oh, huh, right, sure.” It kind of makes me mad that parents let their kids go crazy and then blame it on a disorder that they probably don’t really have. I know that might sound mean, but the effect it’s had on so many adults is that they don’t take it seriously. -Stephanie, 16 High school was a nightmare. My grades dropped. During my 10th grade year I became irritable and almost gave up at school. I did not want to spend my time in a confined space where I could not focus. I was not interested in learning anything they were teaching me, and I thought it was all boring. Eventually during 10th grade I visited my doctor who referred my to a psychologist who suggested I had ADHD. I went though the learning disability tests, and IQ tests and my learning ability was fine I just could not focus. I didn’t really know what the tests were measuring. I was never told that part so the only part that annoyed me was they took a long time, but I did get to miss a whole day of school. The tests were sent back to my psychologist and I was put on Adderall and all of a sudden my performance improved. –Amy, 23 If someone gave me the choice, I would still take my medicine If someone told me I could stop taking my medicine, I would still keep taking it because when I take it I can study for my spelling tests on Fridays. –Miles, 7 No medicine – not up to usual standard It’s when I don’t take my medication that I notice, because I have it more often then not, so I’m not up to my usual standard. One time I was sitting in a class during 7th period and I had not noticed that I hadn’t taken my pill. I was sitting in this class and the teacher was like, “Write an allegory” and if you told me, “Answer this question, answer this question, answer this question,” okay, fine, I can do it. But you tell something as vague as write an allegory and my brain is not going to do that. If it’s really, really specific and there is only one answer, I can probably make myself do it. But if it’s really vague I can’t settle my mind down enough to concentrate. –Stephanie, 16 I first was told about ADHD in the 5th grade I think. My Uncle Dan (who is a child psychiatrist) told me about it and I said that I didn’t have it. I tried to fight it all the way to 7th grade, I think, and then I gave in and finally started taking Concerta. And with the medicine, my grades actually boosted from C’s and low B’s to A’s and B’s because I was doing my homework and concentrating more. –James, 18 Special allowances have to be made Teachers need to understand that no matter how smart, no matter how hard working and no matter how determined someone with ADHD is, they have to realize that there are special allowances that do have to be made. You have to be understanding and you have to not just brush it off because it’s something you’ve heard of as being overdone. -Stephanie, 16 Behavior differences in boys and girls Boys seem to have it more severe and be more outward about it, like getting in trouble. Girls just seem to not concentrate as well or do as well in school. –Will, 23 I don’t mind taking medication. Since my schedule at college, it’s not like high school were you go from 8 to 5. My schedule is so off. I have some classes at 11, some at 2. I try to take it right before class and when I study. -Megan, 20 I used to wear hoodies in school. I used to put up the hoods, and I could wear my headphones up through my jacket, so you couldn’t really notice it. Now the school took away letting people wear hoodies and now that I can’t do it, I can’t focus as well, which annoys me. -Alex, 17 I definitely pissed off the teachers a lot because I would speak out loud without raising my hand if I had to say something because I couldn’t wait. It bothered me, by sophomore year it definitely started to bother me because I just couldn’t concentrate in class. I wasn’t doing well at all. I couldn’t focus. -Megan, 20 Most don’t know that I have ADHD The teachers are supposed to have sent something— like the 50 thingamajiger plan (Stephanie is referring to a 504 plan), but I don’t think most of them know that I have ADHD. I could tell them and they’d believe me, but I don’t think most of them would assume right off that I had it. -Stephanie, 16 Supposedly everyone knows about my ADHD, but for the past two years I’ve had to go up to my teachers and tell them about it. Finally it was taken out of the hands of guidance and put in the hands of the guy that one of the things he does is teach a Special Ed class but he also runs stuff for people who have special requirements for school. Once it was put in his hands things started working out. But before, the past two years when it was in guidance, I had to advocate for myself. Sometimes the teachers seemed annoyed with me for saying I needed extra time. They’re like, “Well, she’s smart she doesn’t need extra time. What is this? Why should she get more time then?” They didn’t say that, they were like “Oh, okay” but you could tell from the look on their faces that they were like “She doesn’t need extra time, why should I give her extra time?” That just made me so mad because I shouldn’t have to justify myself. -Stephanie, 16 Then there was one teacher who was a nice guy, but I always needed extra time on his tests— always. I did perfectly on the homework, perfectly on everything else, but I needed extra time on his tests and I could never have it because he would not let me come after school because I had his class early in the morning and he thought I would cheat. He was like, “I’m sorry I just can’t do that.” Well, yes. I know you’re not supposed to do that but you kind of have to, but you can’t tell me that I can’t take your test. I know that it is a general rule for normal people that you do not let them have all this time between parts of a test. But I’m not normal people. I can’t finish it in the time that you give me. He wasn’t doing it because he was mean, he was a nice guy, he just wouldn’t/couldn’t understand. –Stephanie, 16 Special ed and one-on-one helped me When I was in middle school I worked with people from Special Ed. That was helpful. They worked with me one-on-one. I don’t know what would help other kids who have ADD in school, it’s different for everyone, so I don’t know. The one-on-one helped me when I needed it. –Ryan, 17 My tutor helped me with planning, study habits, how to have a good time schedule for everything. She was great; she was really helpful. I use a planner now. I’m really good at getting stuff done. I don’t usually wait until the last minute. A few times in school, during finals things kind of overwhelm me. But other than that I was always good at it this semester, planning my schedule. -Megan, 20 I talk to each one of my teachers for the upcoming year, and we talk about what we are going to be planning to do for the year, and how we will manage that, and what can be done, and what we’ll be doing in class sometime. -Alex, 17 |
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Hospital Boston Department of Psychiatry. All Rights Reserved. The information on this website should not be taken as medical advice, which can only be given to you by your personal health care professional. Updated: February 12, 2007 |
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