Find The Genius In ADD - Join The Conversation
The FREE special report that Dr. Edward Hallowell and I (Dr. Kenny Handelman) released today has had more than 1100 downloads in just a few hours.
…and the best part from my perspective - is that people are telling their friends and family to go get a copy!
This is exactly what we wanted…
For the message to get out in a BIG way that:
* there’s genius in ADD
* ADD can be a gift - it is just difficult to unwrap
* the system needs changing (to a ’strength based’ approach to ADD and ADHD)
(If you’ve landed here without getting your hands on this breakthrough new report yet, click through here to get your hands on it right away: Find the Genius in ADD)
In order to have a big impact on the world of ADD and ADHD - we need your input.
Please use this blog to share your thoughts, experiences and impressions.
Please scroll down to the comment box below and share your thoughts about:
* Do you think there’s genius in ADD? Can you share an example?
* Do you have great experiences with the ’strength based’ approach to ADD?
* Have you WISHED you could get the strength based approach (i.e. you were upset by a negative approach to ADD)?
* Any comments you want to share about our special report?
Thanks for ‘joining the conversation’. Every comment will be approved before it hits the blog (this just protects all of us from SPAM comments for inappropriate things) - so have a little patience 
…and watch your email for more updates
… we will be giving away more free information and training in the coming days and weeks.
Dr. Kenny
p.s. just share your comments in the box below to ‘join the conversation’
Dr. Handelman and Dr. Hallowell- I am SO happy to see this report and can’t wait for the live event (teleconference?).
It’s ABOUT TIME that we start recognizing that children and adults with ADHD aren’t “problem children,” but need to be taught how to approach school, home etc. a little differently; and that people who work with kids w/ ADHD need to view them in ways other than “problem kids who are somehow broken.”
I worked for a couple of years in a group foster home for kids with “behavior problems,” and then later as a guidance counselor at an alternative high school for kids who “didn’t make it” in public schools. I also suspect that some of my siblings, growing up, who were labeled as “problem children” may have had ADHD (’not sure, because it wasn’t a common diagnosis then).
In any case, I’ve always KNOWN that the kids I worked with who were labeled ADHD had a LOT MORE POTENTIAL than what they were given credit for! They were either coddled and not allowed to grow, or (more likely) were just labeled as problem kids and put up with until they could be moved to the next class. How incredibly sad!
Very few teachers etc. would look for different approaches to learning for these kids. Don’t get me wrong- most had the best of intentions in mind, however, very few took the time (and perhaps just didn’t know how) to help the kids deal with day-to-day challenges from a different point of view. These kids then started believe that they were broken, that they were problems, and that they had little potential.
What a shameful thing to do to a human being.
It was AMAZING what would happen, however, when somebody discovered a special talent in some of these kids; encouraged them; showed them how to nurture that talent; and let them grow. We would all see a HUGE TRANSFORMATIONS after this happened. Just by believing that they had some real potential in one area, that alone often sparked the kids’ approaching other areas of schooling and their lives with new vigor, hope and fresh perspective!
I think often about how Einstein was labeled as “slow” and mentally retarded… and look how he turned out. I think of the great motivational speaker, Les Brown, who was labeled as “mildy retarded” growing up… until he learned about his own genius to connect with people, and turned his challenges into the GIFT of MOTIVATING 100’s of 1000’s of people to change their lives today!
How many kids are living in the shadow of being “problem ADHD kids,” who’s unique talents and geniuses just need to be discovered? How many adults today, diagnosed or undiagnosed, are living w/ ADHD and feeling like failures… when they need only see how to re-approach their daily lives and discover the genius that they-too have within?! Think of how this will change their lives.
I look forward to learning more from Dr.’s Handelman and Hallowell, and seeing how I can help those that I work with (or know) today “Unwrap the Gift of ADHD and DISCOVER THEIR GENIUS WITHIN!” Thank you!
I couldn’t agree more! It IS about time!
I am not a doctor, and hardly a professional as I am studying Children’s Mental Health at Mount Royal College, AB Canada. I started studying in so that I could learn how to ‘deal’ with my children’s mental health myself because I just couldn’t bare the labels, misdiagnoses, medication-driven medical community, and the negative stigma associated with ADD/ADHD.
All of my children could be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. I share those traits as well, but was never considered a ‘problem child’ yet I suffered in silence.
I knew I wasn’t stupid, or lazy. In fact, I would often make up for my failing grades by acing a final exam. My teachers didn’t know what to do with me. They always said I was very capable, but they didn’t know why I wasn’t ‘applying’ myself.
I hear parents constantly complain about all the problems and issues their ADD children give THEM. What about the problems and challenges they give their ADD children by not exploring their talents and allowing them to spread their wings? Instead they are drugged, in order to conform to their parent’s, or society’s idea of how children should think and behave. I think part of the reason it is such a “challenge” is because we are trying to push a square through a hole the shape of a circle.
I guess I feel so strongly about this because I tend to have thoughts and opinions that also don’t conform to the general population’s attitudes about many, many, many things…
I have always been a ‘think-outside-the-box” type of person, and I’ve always felt suppressed because I don’t want to appear ‘different’ than other people… yet I feel so trapped sometimes, because I do feel different. Not better, or worse, just different.
I feel more confident now about my own perspective about ADD and other mental health issues. I prefer to think of most “Disorders” as “Patterns”. To me, it seems to have a less negative connotaion.
Jennifer, when you said “How many adults today, diagnosed or undiagnosed, are living w/ ADHD and feeling like failures…” you hit the nail on the head. I am 30 years old and have felt like a failure many, many, many times. Sometimes I still do, but I know I am doing what I can to change how I re-approach my life.
I am really looking forward to hearing more about this!!
Drs.,
Thank you both so very much for your work. You have helped me immeasurably, and I hope you help others as well. I only wish I had this report twenty years ago.
I can’t wait until you start publishing real-life examples of successful ADDers- my personal favorite: Michael Phelps.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!
Jennifer left a great comment on my blog, which you can read here:
http://www.addadhdblog.com/find-the-genius-on-the-radio/#comment-47502
Dr. Kenny
I believe my art practice has benefited from gathering input, images, inspiration from numerous and seemingly disparate sources and directions. I have only recently been diagnosed ADHD and am still feeling some reluctance to, for instance, share my name in the log in box…. That is the perverseness of the idea that there are damaged areas of my brain. I have always known I was different and I thought/think it is not such a bad thing. It makes me unique. And unique is good, right?
I’m coming to terms with this diagnosis and seeking treatment. Appreciate finding this source and contributing to the dialogue. But for now, let me be noname.
Dear Drs.,
My daughter was diagnosed at age 54. She would not go to college after high school. She has since told me she was afraid that she couldn’t focus enough.
After her diagnosis and medication she immediately enrolled in college. She is getting her associates this Fall. She has maintained a 4.0. She is the happiest I have ever seen her and I am so happy for her. Her Dr. told her he was amazed at the things she had accomplished with her disorder.
Sincerely,
Betty Herman
I realized about 4 years ago that I had ADHD when I was reading an article in US News & World Report. I couldn’t believe it, I was so happy that there was actually a name for what I had, and there was something I could do about it. My entire life I felt like something was “wrong” with me, and I had to work so hard to make sure that no one else found out. I finally got up the courage to get tested, and then diagnosed almost 3 years ago at the age of 29. I am now taking medication and going to therapy which has helped me immensly. There are still times when I feel like I’ve lost out on things I could have done if I had known and been treated sooner. At the same time I feel like the experience has been a gift because I am more understanding of those around me who feel “different” from everyone else. Now my boyfriend’s son has been diagnosed with ADHD, although he’s the hyperactive type unlike myself. I feel a huge responsibility to be an advocate for him when he gets in trouble. I know that he’s not trying to be a bad kid, but it’s hard to explain these things to people that just don’t get it. I try to give him as much positive feedback and encouragement as I can because I want him to feel good about himself. As for myself, I tell everyone on the planet that I have ADHD, including my bosses and co-workers. I probably talk about it too much, but I don’t want them to look at it in a negative light. I do talk about the struggles, but I also talk about how the medication has helped, and what positive things have come out of it. For instance, I found out that I’m creative!!! I never knew that before. So anyway, I appreciate the idea of the strength based approach for both myself and everyone else who has the privilege to experience ADHD.
I have read your report and listened to the radio show. I want to congratulate you and anyone who wants to think outside the box concerning mental health. I have a husband and a son who is diagnosed and treated for bipolar. Now, they are not ADD but many symptoms are similar and even identical. Now, the medical/medication treatment are going to be different because as I understand it different parts of the brain are concerned with each disorder. However, I’ve always wondered how other people, families deal with the diagnosis once it comes. How do you make the best life for all, the diagnosed and the support family surrounding that person. For my husband, life has been difficult and the medication cocktail hard to pinpoint. For my son, we have been very lucky that the medication has worked and he’s now 10 and becoming the beautiful young man than he is meant to be. yes, he has to conform to the school system but there is a limit to that. Even if the school system wants to have cookie cutter children because the powers that be find this easier to handle there has never been such a thing. I sympathize with anyone who has benn made to feel inferior because of a diagnosis. For some, this treatment was due to a lack of a diagnosis. I’ve never been diagnosed with any medical problems but I’ve had my share of put-downs to empathize with anyone who has suffered at the ignorance of others.
Now, even if our situation isn’t called ADD, we still have to deal with inattentiveness, wandering attention, lack of abilities in printing and mood swings of people who end up overwhelmed with the demands put upon them so I am vey interested in techniques in helping with these issues and a mind-set that will eliminate the “moral’” connatation to having mental issues. We all have them at one point of our lives. We should accept that fact and find ways to live, love and thrive because of them and not in spite of them. thanks for reading and I’ll keep reading too.
Hi, I have many thoughts and questions around ADD/ADHD. I am observing a hereditary factor within my family and have directed many questions to my family members about our generations of the family trees and to see how many of my combined family members have this disorder. I will agree that there are differences. I have noticed the hyperactivity and the quiet daydreamer types. Also, the obsessive/compulsive vs. the oppositional defiant members in my family. I sit and contemplate on what does this all mean. I am mostly asking now about the social ability of the person with ADD/ADHD. I notice the difficulties or differences that some of my family members are having. In schools I see children that have been diagnosed and have social problems with their peers because of their differences. Some are told they are anoying or they are too loud or they are too quiet or that they don’t know how to communicate or do not have social skils. I realize that ADD/ADHD people are different within the disorder as well as the rest of society and I question how can we help on a social basis. Thank you for looking at the positive angle for I have tried for many years to encourage young childern that they are okay, just different and they have the power to help themselves. But, we need to be there to guide their efforts. As the saying goes, it takes the whole village to raise a child.
I have a teenage daughter with ADD and she is so influenced by her peers and seems to make bad choices. How can I help direct her to a postive path and direct her in her need to have an education and to be wise socially. These are questions that any parent would want the best for their child but there are differences for a teen with ADD/ADHD. Thank you for listening.
I have read your report and listened to the radio show and I am very glad that you are trying to change the status quo. I don’t think most people truly understand what a child or an adult go through unless they are dealing with it in their own families. I am a 63 year old woman who also has MS and I am maintaining my MS with a vegan diet. I have had no exacerbations for over 17 years. Two years ago I was diagnosed with ADHD. They wanted me to go on Adderall, but it didn’t work for me and I really don’t want to do drugs anyway. My question to you Dr. Handelman and Dr. Hallowell…..if we are gifted…….and we are better than all right………then why do drugs?? We are perfect the way we are. There are companies like Cogmed, who have come up with computer programs to help people with AD/HD. Why not go that route, instead of drugs. I personally think the drugs (which I tried because I had a daughter who wanted me to) didn’t work with me because I AM vegan…….I rarely put anything toxic into my body……like preservatives. I think it didn’t work on me because my body viewed the drugs as toxic…..and they are. I know most people won’t agree with me, but I went from a temporarily blind, numband fatigued person with MS to someone who shows almost no symptoms. I’m not cured, but I’m definitely not getting worse with the MS. As far as the ADHD goes, I think awareness and therapy and certain programs will help with the inattentiveness and organization. I think life coaches can help adults……..we need more of these. Perhaps the computer can fill in for the life coach more inexpensively. Please don’t look for drugs to help……there are way too many drugs out there right now. Gifted children don’t need drugs………they need one on one coaching and education, and therapy and lots of understanding, just as adults do. I’m sure there’s a lot more and maybe that is what you are going to do at your upcoming webcast convention. I am looking forward to it…………but please don’t push drugs!!
Dear Doctor Handleman,
I am so thrilled and I can not thank you enough for doing this and sending out all this information.
I have always known that my son, who is now 16 and was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 6, that he has these…certain qualities, gifts, insights that surpass his peers in a way that only a parent and those whom have truly taken the time to know him, know such things! My son may not ever be the best at sports, but I can tell you this, his heart and dedication to the things that to me, really matter in life, well…he is so ahead of the game.
He can read a book and recall just about everything in it. He can type his memory, much better that having to hand write it all down.
He talks like he is an adult and has been able to communicate like this since he was TEN years old!
Okay, enough.
Thanks again and I am so looking forward to being able to see just how I can help him nurture, all that is just waiting to burst out.
Sincerely,
L. Pucillo
Hello Dr.,
I am 42 and only recently been diagnosed w/ ADHD.
I was a brilliant student, science fair winner, etc., but my life took a turn for the worse for a couple of reasons
and at present I’m unemployed and living in hell. (I can elaborate if you truly want insight into my particular situation)
The reason I’m writing?
Your email advising of the “Genius” report triggered memory of a concept I came up with that keeps running through my mind.
It came to me while perusing countless job postings online in my search for employment.
Wouldn’t it be great if employers gained understanding of the special skills associated with some of us with ADD/ADHD?
I envision a time when employers will actually seek out those with ADD/ADHD gifts. Where including ADD/ADHD on a resumé
will become an assett. Almost to the point that people without ADD/ADHD will claim to have it.
I envision some sort of database comprised of individuals with ADD/ADHD, perhaps a website, where employers will actively
recruit us based on outlines our individual gifts. A time when people having ADD/ADHD will be considered to be members
of a highly sought after, elite fraternity.
Personally, I find I have tremendous insight, I can notice subtleties in things others most often overlook. I have a high IQ.
One of my skills is the ability to see “the big picture” in complex systems, such as machienery, business models, etc.
It is hard to explain, but my brain sort of works like a computer: crunching flow charts, comparing outcomes, etc.
I find most people think in a linear fashion. A to B then C and so on. I can go D to A to Z to A to G if you understand what I mean
Regards,
Carmen DeTurse
Thanks a lot for this report. I have read a lot about ADD and ADHD as my daughter seems to be a patient of ADD but your report helps a lot to take ADD as a blessing though still it’s not so easy for any parent to change their attitude towards their children who otherwise are intelligent and clever but just because of lack of concentraition they lose so much in life but defitely after reading your report we start looking at the poitive aspects of ADD.
Hello Doctors,
After raising two children, 20 years ago with ADHD and suffering through the negativity that was associated with ADHD it is wonderful to learn of the great things ADHD brings to children.
Everything you mentioned in your report we saw in our children. They can do genius things and solve problems that others cannot due to their brain function.
After all of the research my wife and I have done on ADHD this is the greatest information and most helpful we have ever seen. Great job!
Best regards,
Alan
I am just learning about ADHD as my seven year old daughter has been exhibiting symptoms all of her life. We are exploring private schooling since I see that she has great skills that get squeltched in the public school setting. She is behind in every subject because they move on with or without her understanding them. We are looking into Applied Scholastics (a branch of Scientology) for her education. We are not Scientologists, but feel that it may be a means to catch her up without stigmatizing her by putting her into special education classes. Hopefully “Unwrapping the Gift” will help guide us to finding a better education for her. I am looking forward to learning more.
Dear Doctor
In Asia ADD is very rare and people are hardly aware, but thanks to medical services we manage to hear the basics of ADD. My question is a child aged 8 weighing 26 kg is prescribed Ritalin 15mg. (As 10mg did not hav any impact on the child.) We have not started the increased dose yet as it is vacation time now. Is the dose determined on the weight of the child? Or how is it determined? Would be great to receive any insight on how the dosage is determined and safety of it.
Thanks. Reka
I love Carmen’s suggestion! My husband with ADHD is like that–his thinking is not linear either and he sees so far ahead of others.
Seems that we need a concerted push about gifts of ADHDers that is directed at employers after this campaign to reach parents/educators/doctors/ADHDers is completed.
Interested, Drs. Hollowel and Handelman?
Dear Dr. Handelman and Dr. Hallowell,
First of all, I would like to thank you for all that work.
I am a high school senior who recently read Delivered from Distraction because I learned, a little bit too late, about ADD. On the one hand, I barely managed to get through 12 painful years of school, most of which I almost failed, but on the other hand I won many prizes in various mathematics contests. I have always been labeled as lazy and I am a world champion in the art of procrastination, and I still have a lot of work to do in these areas. One of the most apparent aspects of my personality is my compulsive personality: every days, I spend (usually waste) many hours on the internet. Although this aspect is very hard to deal with, especially considering my tendencies to procrastinate until it is too late, it has also helped me to manage tasks I loved: I can work for hours and hours on a project I love (although I rarely finish these before finding another project).
I also wish somebody had told me about ADD before (I did not grew up in the US so I was not aware of it and no teacher ever suggested it to me, I only received complains about teachers who tought I was smart but lazy and always underachieved). I also wish the school system could evolve as fast as the society we live in: the schooling system was developed during the industrial revolution and, although our needs changed drastically since then, it barely evolved.
I am looking forwards to listen to your seminars and hopefully find a way to deal with the downsides of my “gift”.
Philipp
I am a 43 year old Master’s of Social Work student with ADHD that was diagnosed after my son was diagnosed 10 years ago. After a bout of depression over our diagnoses I learned to embrace my diagnosis, as well as mentor other women newly diagnosed.
I am currently learning clinical practice skills, particularly Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which would work wonderfully with your model. Adults in particular need to learn to accept that they were undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or untreated and come to terms with how their life turned out but then choose to move forward with the new information and embrace all of their gifts. Once they can do that then they can learn to communicate their difficulties as well as their strengths with others.
I do not hide my diagnosis. I embrace it! Sometimes I laugh at it, but I am me!
The strengths based approach is what social work is all about so to see that come from the medical community is just awesome!! Thank you so much for making this push!! I can’t wait to see more!
I am a 47 year old single mother of a child with severe learning disabilities and dislexia. Growing up I never did well in school. ever. Until I enrolled in an art program. Never have kept a job for very long however worked at the AGO for 10 years. Now I am a housekeeper. Have just lost a client for having too much chaos in my personal life…forgetting appointments, going to appointments, having to leave to attend to personal crisises usually do to poor personal managment. I also left candles burning unattended when I left to go to a Dr’s appt that I was late for. Luckly the client for home in a few house, I could have burned thier house down. Today I was late to a clients because I couldn;t find my keys that were in my hand 5 minutes ago, couldn’t find my bank card that I used the night before, couldn’t find my daughters glasses that she has lost. I spend my life looking for things. I spend my life being late and loosing jobs. trying to make ends meet. I have been in very bad relationships. My daughters father was extremely abusive but I stayed with him for some reason. When my daughter was 11 he tried to drown me in the kitchen sink, finally I left. I have had nothing but bad luck all due to poor choices (so I’ve been told) . I could go on and on about crisis. Now I will watch my daughter go through the same thing. I’ve taken paxil for 1.5 years. All that does is dull the pain of mistakes. Trust me, there is nothing to embrace. My Grade one teacher was nice too, but that is not helping me to not lose my home. Yes, I am very creative but that is not helping me keep a job. That is not helping me find my keys. Hopefully you know what I mean. Procrastinate, I am the master. Why do I do it, i don’t know. Forget, truly forget important events and meetings. Completely gone. Sidetracked. Always. I’ve been told I’m funny, compasionate, that I can do anything most people would hire someone to do. I can always figure it out. what ever it is. Yes, these are all NICE traits but they are not helping me pay the bills, keep my head above water, not helping me from giving my family a nervous breakdown. One sister doesn’t even talk to me at all. I know she thinks I am a complete idiot. She doesn’t understand that I have no control, it’s all out of control. Why finish one task when you can do 50 things at once and finish nothing. I have to talk out loud to my self to stay on task. I wish more than anything that there was a way to make me a normal person so that my family could be proud of me for once. How does someone like me help their own child who is even more disabled that they are with something that seems to be a trendy diagnosis. ADD, ADHD are really nice trendy lables for chaos in the mind.
My eleven year old son, Nolan and I have been discussing some of these posts. We both have ADHD. He was diagnosed in the second grade and I was diagnosed in my mid 40s. We both agree that we would rather have ADHD than live without it. Nolan tells me he is never bored because there is always something to think about. He is a gifted writer and reads at the senior year in college level. There is little I would do to change him except to help him find more ways to create his own happiness.
I have struggled more than Nolan did. My mother used to tell me that I was so talented yet I wasjust pissing my talents down the drain. I have also lived with clinical depression for years. But, I’ve learned a lot.
Diane, ADHD women make mistakes in relationships because they’re not as clued into the social cues that men give off as non-ADHD women. While you did not learn what comes naturally, you can learn it through counseling and even reading. I learned my social skills through books and community college classes and I do very well now.
Take a look at Flylady.com and start working the babysteps. It will help you. You could also go to a center for people with disabilities to get assistance, such as an independent living center and you can contact the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. You have a documented disabilitity that makes you eligible for vocational training. Request a life skills coach. Go to college, hook up with disabled student services and be prepared to educate people along the way. Dicrimination has severely undermined you as has the lack of adequate tools to care for yourself in difficult situations. Do you deserve to be blamed? No, but you do deserve to care for yourself and your child by using your disabilitiy to get the training that you need and deserve. You are not defeated, just having a bad time with this.
Tools that have helped me are Outlook for organizing, having my evening routine and my morning routines down, and having people of all ages with disabilities in my life. I also limit myself to five task at time within a day and don’t add another until the first five are done. I reward myself with play time when I get something done. Prayer has literally saved my life. I know that God does not make junk.
I strongly suggest that you take the time to train to become an advocate for yourself and your child. It will help give you both the energy to fight through this and be victorious. There truly are many gifts in ADHD, including some wonderful people.
Maura
I totally agree with the idea of seeing differences not as problems, but as simply that, differences, which we can in fact, celebrate! How boring life would be if we were all the same!
However, knowing and living with ADHD friends and family members, I certainly can’t say that I can see that those persons who have AHDH somehow are more creative, more interpersonally intuitive, more to the point, and more unique, etc. than my other friends and family members who don’t have ADHD.
Whether ADHD or not, some people are creative, some aren’t. Some are intuitive, some aren’t…etc. As far as unique goes, I thought we were all unique!
Do we really have to make ourselves feel better about “being different” by claiming to be geniuses and above all the other people? Isn’t that doing just exactly the same thing? Elevating yourself and seeing others as inferior?
Can’t we just all celebrate who we are, just the way we are?
Hello Everyone,
I have a theory that I want to present about Autism, ADD, ADHD and any other “dysfunctional” people that anyone feels do not fit in the box. I will present my theory then I will go on to explain in two parts.
The above mention groups of people are more highly evolved then most humans, that is why the appear to be dysfunctional.
To start with I want to mention that I am Healer, which means I work with clients using my psychic skills both to read people and to work in their energy field. I have worked with some autistic and ADD or ADHD people. What I have found with both, especially with Autism is that they are very psychic. My belief, the reason most Autistic people do not look at others when they speak is because they “see” to much and they can read or sense people without looking at them. Both ADD or ADHD as well as Autistic people function at a higher level of skill that is not yet organized into our system of functioning.
My theory has two parts. A few days ago I came across a video on MSN Video showing an elephant painting a picture. You may have seen it, if not, I can post the link or you might find it on MSN Video. It is quite astonishing to watch an elephant paint a picture and you know clearly what the picture is of. I have also seen pictures and videos of bears playing with dogs, a cat being nurtured by a bird and a horse dancing to music. Watching the elephant video I came to the first part of my theory, which is, Humans have evolved to a more metaphysical awareness and are stepping up the ladder to greater consciousness. As humans step up the ladder it is allowing animals and plants to step up the ladder also. Animals are communicate to humans in ways that we can understand, painting pictures, to show us their intelligence. They are displaying their ability to think, have feelings and how they per sieve the world around them. We are seeing that they have a far greater awareness and content then most people understood.
The confirmation of my theory and the second part came when I listened to the audio “Unwrapping the Gifts of ADD”.
What I have been seeing for a while and believe is that Autistic, ADD and ADHD people are more highly evolved in a way that we are not yet able to understand. They also do not understand the “gifts” that they carry because they do not have a way or place to express their unknown talents and there is no one to receive them. As long as they are looked at as being dysfunctional their greater talents will not have a place to be recognized. When someone does not have an opportunity to expressed their talents, the energy of the internal desire becomes bound up in the body and presents itself in other ways, which we call “acting out”.
We the people that do not have Additionally Developed Design (known as ADD) need to accept that there are a more highly developed species, on this planet, that we can learn from. I also feel, as we are able to help them develop their talents and abilities we will also embody those talents. This will help use to live and comprehend in their world and they will be able to live and function in ours. Or we will be left behind.
Thank you for taking the time to lay out all of the information as you have done in the “Finding the Genius in ADD” 16 page handout.
Personally, I completely lack the patience required to “explain” my plight to non-ADD’ers (medical and laypersons, alike) and your publication has done an excellent job.
I am so encouraged by the strength based paradigm shift and support it whole-heartedly.
I am very “stuck” at present, in my ADHD recovery and have approached a local government funded agency for assistance in my job search; the agency “job matches” folks with “disabilities” with employers who provide workplace accommodations. My work coach there found the “Find The Genius in ADD” handout very informative and was very thankful to receive it.
I had almost given up hope on the work front and was considering going on AISH (Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped) - I still CANNOT believe that I would ever need to be an AISH recipient. However, I am severely affected by my ADHD, LD, PTSD, ODD, SID, anxiety, depression, and more.
I must “rally my troops” because I am now in a battle for my economic survival at 42 years of age (I was diagnosed at 37.5 years).
It is baffling, not to mention intensely disheartening, that I am faltering at a time that is normally considered one’s “prime”.
I am looking forward to some new things now though, since seeing a new ADHD psychologist who has identified a couple of actionable items for me.
Thanks and I look forward to unwrapping the Gift of ADHD as it presents in me. I sincerely want to accept responsibility for my shortcomings, and manage myself better in time.
My self-esteem has taken such a beating over the years and your strength based paradigm is very timely. A thousand thanks.
Dear Drs. Hallowell and Handelman,
Thank you for a refreshingly positive view of ADD and a focus on the unique gifts and strengths it provides for people living with it. I am a 57 woman who wasn’t diagnosed with ADD until my own children were ten years ago. In some ways I feel fortunate not to have had a label growing up, since there were no supports or medications to help back then, and my brother who was more hyperactive than I bore the negative and in some ways self-fulfilling label of “minimal brain damage” throughout his life. He had to live with lower expectations and the impression that he was never going to amount to much, whereas I just tried to “pass as normal” as best I could, though we both struggled through our academic lives, figuring out strategies on our own through a trial and error method. I completed college and graduate school, with academic distinction, elected to Phi Beta Kappa and finishing in the top 5% of my law school class. I always had to work three times as hard as my peers for the same result, but I was determined to reach my goals. My brother entered the military and has lived a simple but satisfying life making a difference in the lives of others. He now works as a court administrator and his particular genius is music. My self esteem was pretty bad growing up so I have always stressed to my own three children, all of whom have this diagnosis, that they have unique gifts and it is their job to find them. It is their strengths that will get them through life, and they will find success and happiness if they work hard and do what they are passionate about. They do walk to the beat of a different drummer and each has wonderful qualities that help them to see life differently from others. This is indeed a gift. My 16 year old gave us an example yesterday when she came home from school and announced that she was elected to student government. She hadn’t even told us she was going to seek this position, and her dean told me that her speech was quite different from all of the other eight candidates as she looked at the job and its challenges with her own unique point of view, and was elected almost unanimously! The point is that we need to embrace our unique points of view and share them with the rest of the world, not hide behind them and try to “pass” as round pegs in round holes.
As a parent, it takes a lot of perseverence and cheerleading to keep this positive message in front of my children, and I have wanted them to have better self esteem than I did growing up. Without having the benefit of your new message of the genius of ADD I have tried to impart my own version to my children, always having them look at the cup as half full, looking for the humor in situations, never quitting on one’s self, and going until you find your passion and unique gifts. I don’t think there is any other way!
Good luck with your very positive message. I would suggest that you add your message of the genius of ADD the growing movement of “positive psychology” that is gaining a lot of momentum.
Hello; I’m 55 and have suspected I have ADD since coming across this and that, over the past couple of years, which itemized the characteristics. The most divinitive article I’ve come across so far is the Wikipedia listing on ADHD/ADD, which found uncontrollabe tears running down my face as I read the list of characteristics.
I’m almost too depressed (not my norm) even to be writing here, not because I suffer from a severe case of it, so much as being so dysfunctional that I can’t figure out what to do first—which IS the norm. That’s not even weighing in the unspeakable inability to follow through, even if I might settle on a plan of action. I feel like a pinpall just bouncing off every constructive thing that I KNOW I should be doing. I am a writer, a remarkable writer—but, even while that is an untellible gift to my sanity, the rest of my life is so societally dysfunctional that it’s finially stating to seem hopeless.
I hear of Ritalin, and I wonder how much it might be able to help. Needless to say, I desperate for a magic pill that’ll counter my incredibly exasperating lack of concerted—or even initial WILL power.
As for the thing Hallowell & Handelman presented as so important for us to read—I sorry, but I found it incredibly blah blah blah tedious to even get through. Toward the end, it seemed to start being more promising, only to realize its just a hook to suck people in to their seminar or program or whatever it is. I am sorry to come off so sarcastic, but the only reason I managed to get through the thing is because of their impressive credentials. Even their smiles come off like a real estate or car salesman’s card or flyer. “See what shiny, up people we are?!! Of course where what you need. We have all the answers. Now if you’ll just send us all your friend and associate’s email addresses, we’ll send you the audio version of our wonderful program.” Then, even when you refuse, they send emails re-requesting all your friends’ email addresses. Now THAT makes me sarcastic, and I’m not the sarcastic type, generally.
They come off as self-promoters with agendas, which all self-promoters ALWAYS tell you is for your own good. The only thing that tempers my aversion to this sort of “Lots of words, but little help” hook of self help smarminess is that I suspect they really do care. It just feels like I’m being pulled by the ring in my nose called desperation. Boy, how many suckers have been manipulated by desperation to find SOMEONE who can actually help them to function better.
To me, a far, FAR better approach would to use the same amount of space as their hook documant and simply state the essentials of “it can be seen as truly a gift, blah blah—” and then start listing the practical things they’ve discovered really help ADD/ADHD sufferers “on the ground” LIke, instead of telling your newly licensed teenager to “Please drive very careful”, instead say something like: “When you come to a left turn, waiting for an opening in traffic, never turn you wheel left until the path is clear, else if you’re hit from behind you’ll be pushed into head on traffic.”
Non follow through is my curse. Pin balling from every important endeavor is its symptom. Having someone say “We can really help, just read this wonderful new paradigm shift article and send all your friends’ email address and come back again and again—-seems sore counter intelligent—-especially when one could’ve simply listed the most affective set of tools for breaking the cycle here to here to here.
Is this just me? HELP
I’m thrilled to see some Positive and Caring and People who finally care to put the ADD best out there.
Everyone does need to share their ADD stories.
I discovered my ADD at 33, and have struggles my whole life with it. Early into my Diagnosis, I read Driven to Distraction. And Have Met Dr. Hallowell throught the years at conferences for Chadd/ADDA. and have to say,
he knows his “Stuff”. As a person himself with ADD who better to educate. That too, Who better then people with ADD to educate too. I have with God’s Help, recently uncovered my Gift. I’m writing a book.
I got a Teaching Degree, in Sp. Ed. not Knowing I was ADD. Until you educate yourself and ask God for His Help it is my opinion you will struggle. It’s Not easy, living in the World that is So Fast Paced and Where others view ADD so negatively. As an Adult/ and Teacher I have experience lst hand the pain. So I would and how hard it is to make it out there. As for a scam, I trust these two doctors 100%. My Gut, which is
by the way, a Good Positive ADD trait I seem to have,
tells me that these two Dr.’s are not Scam! So for what it’s worth, Thanks be to them.
My Goal is to Write a Book and get it published.
Any suggestions from anyone would greatly be appreciated.
God’s blessing I’m addressing!
Thank you for hope and encouragement. I am a 49 year old female with ADD and had always tested well on those grade school aptitude tests. My parents were told that I scored in the “genius” category but none of us could figure out why I never excelled in school. I felt like a failure and a fraud because everyone said I should be getting A’s but I had no internal sense of structure or motivation.People tried to help but I could not apply what I knew I needed to do. I was a B-C student mostly due to procrastination with ensuing overwhelm but always seemed to be able to pull a rabbit out of my hat at the last minute and get the paper done or test material memorized, only to forget it after the test. Crisis management mode for sure. I thought my lack of focus was due to my emotional reactions (ie:anxiety/dep) to an alcoholic family system…..many of whom were struggling w/ their own ADD.
Sooo- now I know why but am grieving many lost years,opportunities and dreams that have gone unfulfilled due to my underachievement. I am very smart, creative and a big-picture person but spent many years in unfulfilling outside sales positions because I could never “get it together” to do anything else and certainly lacked the confidence to try.
Thanks for letting me pour it out. I have hope and have always believed that ADD is not a disorder but a variation of normal. After all, centuries ago people thought that people who needed glasses were less intelligent. Finding the Genius in all of us and playing up those skills has to be our main focus…and yes we CAN focus on what we are interested in. I am interested in helping with this important message. Let me know how!!
Thanks for your groundbreaking work.
Hi.
Haleluja! This is wonderful! I have a son (nearly 9) who was diagnosed at 4yrs old, an I was diagnosed 3yrs ago. I’m now 35.
There is so much information on websites , that it can become confusing and contradictory to those people looking for answers and help. So thanks for your “Unlocking the Genius” report. People the world over need this information, because low self-esteem is a terrible problem for ADD’ers, and very debilitating and destructive.
I am a ADD coach, and always tell my clients how lucky and special they are to have ADD, because of the gifts that we have been given. It may take longer for us to learn and do “normal” things (ie I finally got rid of my digital watch and learned to tell the time at 17yrs old - ouch) But where an ADDer has passion, he can move the world. I was labelled lazy at school, because I didn’t live up to my IQ. I still struggle, one of the gifts of ADD is multi-tasking. I have taken this to an all new level, and get bored in days of any new interests I pick up. I’m still looking for my niche and when I find it, I know the sky is the limit!
Looking forward to getting as much info as possible, and passing it on to everyone I know!
And remember guys… Viva la difference!
I have 2 (almost adult) sons with ADD. We were very fortunate that my oldest son had 2 teachers who understood ADD and educated us about both positive traits and challenges (in Mississauga ON). I would like to suggest that Dr. H Joseph Horacek in Charlotte NC be on your advisory panel. Dr Horacek is both a neurologist and psychiatrist (author of Brainstorms. Understanding and Treating the Emotional Storms of ADHD). After moving to NC, he was truly a god send helping our family with the educational system there. He would be a tremendous asset to your team.
I was going to respond to a post regarding the intent of the report and whether it was meant as a hook people in who are desperate for hope because while the idea is awesome, there was no practical advice included in the report. He did support the theory, but I think he was just disappointed there wasn’t more information on the “how” part of “unlocking the genius”. To be honest, so was I. But that is my nature, to be skeptical of other’s motives…perhaps that is his nature as well. But I still look forward to more information on this perspective of ADD/ADHD
My son is 17 years old and was diagnosed with ADHD when he was in the 5th grade. In high school he is on an “Individual Educational Plan (IEP) in Special Education. His IEP allows for things like longer testing time, assistance with tests, more time to turn in homework and projects, etc. He struggles through school now and always has. He is very social and most people just love him. It seems those who do not like him are usually ignorant of ADHD - they do not understand it and only see him as a “difficult,” protraying “bad behavior,” or just plain lazy. He is a square peg trying to be forced into a round hole. The school environment is not for him (so far); he is just not getting it. He loves to be in school for the social aspect, but not the educational aspect. However, if you put him on the baseball field, he is a genius! His genius comes out in his athletic abilities. He thinks like a genius when working the in-field; he knows exactly what to do and how to recover from errors. He is good at pitching, 3rd base and short stop. He has many schools looking at him - he receives a lot of letters of interest. However, I am afraid he will not be able to get a baseball scholarship because of his low GPA and SAT scores. It is so frustrating to see this happen. As much as he loves baseball, so far it has not been enough to motivate for him to apply himself to his school work. I know he can do it but he has a hard time putting in the time to study. When he studies he moves around in at least 2 - 3 different positions to do so. He cannot sit still. So many of his teachers end up getting angry and frustrated with him because he does not focus in class and does not apply himself. Me and my husband are at wits end - we do not know how to motivate him to do better in school so he can realize his dream on the baseball field. We hear from so many coaches and baseball mentors that his abilities are the best they have seen at his age, and if he continues with those abilities, he can definitely play at the professional level.
I am always reading to find new ways to help him. I am looking forward to more information about “unlocking the genius” in the educational environment (especially since he has already unlocked the genius athletically). Does anyone out there have a son or daughter with great athletic abilities but noes not care to be in the classroom? HELP!
Thank you for your work! I am a 52 year old RN and was not diagnosed until I was 47. MY son was diagnosed at age 9 and interestingly, it never occurred to me that I may have ADHD too. When I initially saw a psychologist for testing, he stated he was sure that I did not have ADHD because I had graduated as valedictorian from high school and had maintained a 4.0 through college. After all the testing was complete, he was shocked that I did indeed have ADHD. I am so excited about Find Your Genius. Thank you!!
My prayers have been answered. My son has been struggling with ADD, diagnosed when he was 12 and is now 30. His job, relationships, health are in real danger. I fear for him. He sounds and looks terrible. He keeps making his lists and trys to carry on. I look in his eyes and the spark is gone. For the last year I have feared I am losing my son. We are very close and at times I am the person holding him together. My health is not good and the time has come to get this fixed. Thank you so much!
I’ll try to restate the issue of ADD. ADD is not abnormal! Peope who do not have ADD are abnormal. Think about that for just a moment. In the days of the cave man, the hunters of the woolly mammoth had to have extreme focus when they were hunting such a huge creatue, else, the crature may have killed or injured them. BUT, they also had to have the ability to know what was happeing in their environment and to immediately distract themselves from the hunt. After all, while they were hunting the woolly mammoth, the local saber- toothed tiger may have been hunting them. ADD is normal! Everybody else survives today because those of us with ADD tamed the environment and procured enough excess to feed the rest of the world. That, by the way, is also why there are so many more males with ADD than females. Years ago, I crated this concept to explain the origination of welfare. Then years later at the age of 50, I was diagnosed with ADD and I realized the mammoth story also explaines ADD.
Thank you for putting out this information. I am 41 and a father of two great kids, both of whom, I am sure, have ADD like I do. My son is 19 now and when he was young, I intuitively realized that he was a different kind of kid. I refrained from giving him my parents manifesto for success. I let him march to his own tune and supported his need to be different. He was hyperfocused from age five. The three goals for his life
were and, for the most part, still are: fire, police and ems. He has since streamlined his goals having already acheived his fire and ems training, he is going to paramedic school now and may go into nursing school. Although he had difficulty in school, I stood by him and encouraged him to be as pro-active and self-sufficicient as he could be. he befriended those who could help him on his journey, always putting 110% on the job, obtaining free education wherever he could find it and now he is saving lives and he is my hero. He has done the one thing with his ADD that I failed to do with mine. He found his genius. He intuitively found the gift in his ADD and harnessed it. Now it is my turn to do the same.
It’s about time!!! I’ve been telling my fellow ADD friends and kids about this being misnamed a “disorder” for a long time! I grew up never knowing I had a “disorder.” Granted, I was non-hyperactive, so that probably made me more tolerable to the non-ADD people around me. I, like some of the other bloggers, did very well in school. I do recall having to re-read things often, as my mind had wandered, but I recognized it and expected myself to learn what was assigned. I guess it helped that I didn’t really notice that other people learned differently, or indeed I might have felt badly about myself. Fortunately I did very well with math, writing, and other core subjects. History was the toughest to study, because it was presented in such a boring, mundane manner and the books were doubly as dull. I thought that EVERYONE had trouble focusing on it!!
Looking back, I didn’t enjoy school until I found something I was passionate about and then I hyperfocused in true ADD style…did well and even remembered all of it after the tests! Again, I thought that was how EVERYone worked, and that maybe most people were more easily excited about what I found mundane! LOL
When I first heard people describe ADD, I would typically respond, “Isn’t EVERYone like that?” or “So what? We are all like that at least part of the time, aren’t we?” It wasn’t until I had kids of my own that these ADD tendencies had any negative effect on me personally. Their ADD bugged me…more interruptions to my already highly distractable personality…and I had always been able to make choices for my own “messes” - good or bad, they were my responsibilities. Now a whole household of people that were largely unfocused, not finishing projects, leaving more messes that I was supposed to clean up when I had more than enough on my plate with my own wonderful incomplete projects…well, you can imagine how it all came crashing down.
I was crushed and confused. How could I have been such a great success academically and be such a miserable failure in practical living?? I finally came to the conclusion that MAYBE I had this thing referred to as ADD…and I was certain that my husband and kids did.
I’ve gone on enough already…but I wholeheartedly embrace the concept that this difference is NOT a disorder. Maybe WE are the normal ones, but we just didn’t want to run the educational system, the government, etc…too boring!! We have more exciting and adventuresome things vying for our attention, and I truly believe that no one knows how to have fun like someone with ADD does! There would be no creative entertainment or activities without us…and far fewer inventions.
In my opinion, if all was left to the so-called “normal” people to completely orchestrate and run there would be far fewer happy people in the world.
I am looking forward to seeing how your endeavors to shift the paradigm unfold, and I will certainly be an advocate and participant in the movement…I already have been!!
I have tried twice before to post a comment here listing some resources for highly specialized AD/HD life coaches who have a wealth of contacts for treatment or finding a clinician in most areas of the country. Both times I have hit the wrong key and switched pages to lose my comments! Another AD/HD oops to laugh at oneself!
I did this because instead of stories of finding gifts, most comments were about being stuck or mired in failure. I understand.
I had a thesis client like that who I’ve been coaching since Feb. 2007 and the email today (I have permission to post annomously (sp?) you will see somone who was in despair who now lists all the tools and awareness she has gained through a positive “unwrap the gift” method of examining her AD/HD with a trained and experienced specialied AD/HD coach.
I want you to have help. These specialized AD/HD coaches usually work via telephone and assist with finding a good clinician and helping to write a list of things to not forget to ask your clnicial about or to inform how the medication (if that’s your choice) or other methods are working.
There are two major specific AD/HD coaching schools and some excellent ones run on a more individual basis by some of the most experienced and capable AD/HD coaches around. Just search for them and their graduates.
But there are as of the last year or so two organizations with a symbiotic relationship to one another that both have lists to “find a coach.” One, the ACO, is a professional organization that does some minimal checking to see if a professional member has at least met some minimal standard of training and is actually doing business as an AD/HD coach. http://www.adhdcoaches.org Self disclosure-I was a co-founder of this organization.
The other, the IAAC, http://www.adhdcoachinstitute.org has a find a coach listing.
These two list have a lot of overlap, but the IAAC is a certifying body for comptency for AD/HD coaches. Anyone there with the title SCAC has been through an extended grandfathering vetting process and that puts a bit more emphasis (finally) on those AD/HD coaches who meet or exceed the extended criteria needed for that moniker: SCAC. They state:
“The purpose of certification of ADHD coaches through IAAC is to advance the field of AD/HD coaching. To that end requirements and core competencies for certified AD/HD coaches has been developed. Coaches who have been awarded the SCAC designation have met or exceeded these requirements. ”
Now for the great part. An uplifting exposure to a client email to me today which proves the lessons and change in self-image and ability to well manage and control and most of all, moderate, her life through AD/HD coaching shows through. She knows she doesn’t need coaching through these next few weeks to finish the thesis I was hired to facilitate, and there’s an obvious awareness of the balance of work, health, and setting healthy boundaries that we’ve worked on for more than a year.
I’ll leave it up to you to imagine the before, but here is the after, for which I returned much praise for her obvious progress and demonstration that she’d learned much over the last year. There was no need to apologize for setting her number one priority over everything else, including coaching since it’s so obvious the client knows exactly how to handle finishing the thesis.
“Hi Glen,
I am so sorry I have been MIA lately. I have set a thesis defense date for April 30th and am feverishly trying to get everything done by then. I am concentrating on getting proper sleep, keeping healthy food around me, and trying to get in enough exercise - practicing extreme self-care. I have been taking periodic short breaks (~1-5 minutes) to stretch or fill my water glass, and even setting a timer to go off every hour so that I make sure I am not hyper focusing too much on needless tasks.
I have also been very serious about setting proper boundaries with my friends and loved ones. Either they are supportive of my needs right now (i.e . letting me make the necessary accommodations to succeed) or they don’t get to see me until I finish my thesis. I’m not approaching it from an entirely self centered point of view, but I really don’t think it is too much to ask that my work comes first during this month. For example, a friend of mine (not the boyfriend) loves my baking but I have refused requests to spend an entire afternoon making cookies for him until I finish my thesis (I actually love baking, and love feeding people even more, but have found that during my free time I need to just re-charge by being still and clearing my head).
I feel good about my progress and even my organization, but I am truly maxed-out right now. I hope you can understand. I have been so focused on what I am doing that I rarely have a moment where I don’t have a plan on what I should be doing next. As with everyone in my life right now (including you) I think of things other then my thesis on the way to and from work during times that are, respectively, too early or too late to call most people.
I will most likely call you no sooner than May 6th. I seriously can’t see myself having a lot of spare time before then.”
What coach wouldn’t be overjoyed at such a demonstration of change of a floundering client into a capable, incredibly intelligent client aware of her AD/HD gifts, the challenges she needs to keep under control, and managing moderation between the task and her life’s health and AD/HD attention?
There is more, but my heart aches when I read testimonials from those who still can’t see a way forward. The first step of progress out of darkness is to know there is light up there somewhere and having someone there with you to keep reminding you of that until you begin to see some sun through the clouds. The sun is always there, it’s just that until the clouds blow away, you can’t see it.
“Practice extreme self-care.” Find help. Search the web for resources. Look at coaching school websites and add.org and others to find what questions you need to ask to find if a doctor is AD/HD aware or not. Hire an AD/HD coach even if it’s only to help you get started and get treatment and some self-AD/HD knowledge. If you have no financed, see if the AD/HD coaching schools have students willing to use their knowledge and the school’s backup to coach you for a very small fee. Some AD/HD coaching is definitly better than none. For many of you medications may be necessary to even have enough of a ground state from which to begin to find your own help beyond that step.
The multimodal treatment is now recognized by most as the best way to treat AD/HD. As Dr. Joel Young states in his excellent book, “ADHD Grown Up”, “even the most efficacious medication, given at the optimal dose and for adequate periods cannot help patients overcome certain persistent behavioral problems that are present with AD/HD.” He then “explores two forms of therapy that have proven most affective with AD/HD: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and (AD/HD) coaching.”
I added the AD/HD as Dr. Young was speaking of it but didn’t use that term at that place on page 253 of his book.
Read “Delivered From Distraction” by Dr. Hallowell, it’s a great start if you don’t really understand your own brain.
Everyone knows about medication only, but for most that is not enough to help patients get beyond the “disease/disorder” paradigm that is encountered most of the time in thier clinician’s office and in society.
Now you know a bit more what to do. Just take that first step….even for five minutes. What’s the worst that could happen?
As an airbrush artist the best skill I have is my ability to hyperfocus. My art is extensively detailed images from my imagination. Getting myself into the studio is one of my greatest tasks because I can’t maintain focus to get there. Once I am there, I work in reverse image and paint it inside out on clear sheets of acrylic. Some of the color changes and overlaps are so demanding a focus that they are almost painful, at the asme time, I know that I am the only one in the world who can do what I am doing because of the incorporation of somany inflexable precisions.
THANKS FOR THE TERM HYPERFOCUS this gives me clairity and therefore some peace of mind.
I don’t hate having ADD, I hate not understanding it.
You know what’s funny? I am so excited for this, and I don’t even know what “this” is. Is it a teleconference? Web based learning? Video conference? I have no idea…but I love anything that comes out of Dr. H’s mouth!
My daughter uses natural herbal drops once daily and her grades have improved as well as her behavior. She has an Individualized Educational Program at her school and her teachers are telling me she is doing A+ work. Children develop differently some faster than others. I know she will be just fine and appreciate the differences.
Hi Dr. Kenny. I felt like the odds of securing my spot were about as good as winning a lottery
so I did not attempt to register today because I had somewhere to be. In any case as a teacher who has worked with kids with ADD and my work with the Learning Disabilities Association of Quebec I have known for a while about the gifts of ADD. I have downloaded some information on the Da Vinci method and I have heard Ed Hallowell speak. In fact it was then (in my late forties) that I began to realize that I too have ADD and have since been assessed for ADD and also found out that I have the comorbidity of bipolar disorder. So much makes sense now.
I have a CD by Sari Solden and I find your lineup up of speakers and your concept fantastic and I really want to know how I can register or download your teleseminar, despite missing the chance today.
Hi Pam,
As of this morning - April 17th - we have been able to keep the registrations open.
This is because we are going to be able to use ‘webcast’ technology - i.e. people will be able to listen via their internet connection.
So, you can go to http://www.unwrappingthegiftofadd.com to register.
Thanks,
Dr. Kenny
I am an ADDult who has for years propounded the viewpoint that ADDers are gifted in particular ways and that they are lucky to have this condition. I am also an elementary teacher who has opened the eyes of many of my ADHD students to how lucky they are, and how they don’t need to do things in the same old boring way–as long as they can show me they understand the work.
Needless to say this is a very different method from my colleagues and administrators, mainly because we are all about showing our work in math and hiding it in final drafts of writing, which is a counterintuitive approach for the average ADHD kid. Nonetheless, my approach garnered me a Premier’s Award for Teaching Excellence nomination for Teacher of the Year from the parents of such students, who were thrilled that there was an educator that actually understood the river their children were wading through.
Administrators, however, have never been very supportive of my methodology or my ADHD, even though they mouth the usual platitudes about embracing diversity. That embrace unfortunately often fails to extend to people of differing attention levels, and this is something that I am very happy to see others striving alongside me to change.
Michael Jursic
I understand how Linda feels; I’m happy that your son is a natural athlete. I think my son is afraid to try things because he thinks he’ll fail. I believed him when he said that he needs time to concentrate on his homework so other activities are out of the question. But he can’t focus on his work anyway. He knows he’s supposed to, but it’s very difficult.
It takes tremendous strength for my son to get through school, always with the lowest GPA, and treated like the other students by teachers in the regular classroom and in special ed. My son is different, he can’t sit and stay focussed, and has great difficulty sticking to his plans for completing assignments.
Perhaps the reason educators choose to stay in the dark about ADHD is that they know these kids are at risk for failure, and they know that they can blame the child when they can’t follow through. I have a bright, loving, social child, that has been denied success by the system. Unless educators are allowed to recognize these children for the gifts they possess, failure and despair will isolate and victimize kids with ADHD. PLEASE help to educate the people who are supposed to be helping our kids perform positively in an academic environment. My son is a junior in high school and continues to be penalized for his differences and weaknesses. It’s cruel and unfair.
I also have ADD and have had to find my way alone. School is geared toward students who can sit, stay attentive, and have good office skills. Many of these kids are brilliant, but they know it because they’re readily and consistently rewarded. My son and I have the weight of a dysfunctional school system on our shoulders, promising help but delivering deals and reprimands. What is the point in highlighting our weaknesses, when in fact we’re smart and excited about lots of things? School has caused our family incredible pain. We are wonderful, warm people, disrespected and stigmatized. Educators always remind me that they “like” my son, even though he’s an academic failure. They have the power to turn the system around, but they need YOUR HELP. ADD kids and adults are terrific and we need educators to notice!
Thank you for the hope your positive and validating approach brings. I wish a change like this could happen overnight.
- Carol