interesting. thanks for posting. i really wish i had a time machine and could go back and see myself in kindergarten. i have no idea if i was a "daydreamy kid" or not. it's the one thing that bugs me about being diagnosed with adhd at age 28. i will always wonder if i really have the disorder because it was never picked up on in grade school. but i'm not too worried now as the proof is in the treatment (for me.) i take ritalin... i can do math. i don't take ritalin... i can't do math.
i think the reason my adhd wasn't picked up early in grade school was because for years (until about grade 7) i was so far ahead of my peers that it seemed normal that i would look "bored" and "day dream." i mean... when you go into kindergarten reading novels (like Ramona Quimby novels or the Babysitter's Club) it is expected that you'll day dream when the other children are learning the alphabet! i'm just sort of thinking as i type here... sorry. no real need for this additional comment. it all just makes me wonder what i was like when i was little. i wish i could study my young self objectively. :-P
This, though I wasn't reading Ramona in kindergarten. I was still ahead and was definitely reading novels by grade three (and my mother's parenting books by age 11). I was an excellent student until grade ten. Then everything went kablooey. I was still a good student overall, but I stopped pulling straight A's on first report and then steadily declining over the course of the year. (I wonder if that's ever been studied? Are ADHDers more likely to start out the year or the term strongly and then, as everything ceases to be new and exciting, their interest wanes and their grades go down? That sentence was very poorly constructed, but do you know what I'm getting at?)
I think I usually started the year enthusiastic and then burned out, too. I don't know if that's common for ADHD people, but I know it is common for us to do well in school for awhile and then eventually conk out when the executive functioning demands become too much for us.
And I totally read my mom's parenting books, too :D.
OMG, Ramona Quimby and Babysitters' Club novels were the ones I got hooked on too! I think I was most into Ramona around grade one (which, I believe, was when my parents threatened to take the books away if I didn't stop borrowing mischief-making techniques from Ramona), and Babysitters' Club around grades 2-3. (Remember, alexmegami? :P)
My ADHD also got ignored because of my intelligence. I was daydreamy, but back then, virtually everyone's idea of ADHD was hyperactive little boys. Girls who were bright and not hyperactive were very unlikely to be diagnosed, especially if we hyperfocused at school like I did. (I was the kid who didn't notice when the bell rang at the end of the school day and ended up tucked away reading in a corner of the classroom until 3:45.)
Reply
Reply
Reply
And I totally read my mom's parenting books, too :D.
Reply
My ADHD also got ignored because of my intelligence. I was daydreamy, but back then, virtually everyone's idea of ADHD was hyperactive little boys. Girls who were bright and not hyperactive were very unlikely to be diagnosed, especially if we hyperfocused at school like I did. (I was the kid who didn't notice when the bell rang at the end of the school day and ended up tucked away reading in a corner of the classroom until 3:45.)
Reply
Leave a comment