I am back & this time writing about me. Yes, I am an adult with ADHD. My late husband had ADHD, my oldest son has ADHD, my younger son has ADHD and my daughter has ADD. So is it any wonder that the subject of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has special meaning to me? I can’t get away from it no matter how hard I try!!!
I was not diagnosed until I was thirty-five years old. Wow! How did I survive all those years? When I was growing up I was the daughter of fabulously involved, loving parents. I was active in sports, never enjoyed reading, unless it was comic books, could not understand the “concept of math” and survived by way of calculator. But, back then they didn’t have the knowledge in reference to ADHD as they do today.
I didn’t know from anything else. To this day I am unable to understand written instructions of more than two sentences. I need to read it at least five times to get any understanding or need to ask someone to explain it to me. In addition, I need to see visuals as I am a much better visual learner, then auditory learner.
I can say that I am the most “organized-disorganized person in the world.” It is my drive for what I believe in that makes me successful. I work best under pressure as I never had any other choice, or never knew of any other way. If I have twenty things to do in one day, I may complete one job and the other nineteen remain unfinished. If a project is due in reference to my special needs color guard team I may have two weeks to complete is but finally finish the remaining ninety percent only because I started the evening before it is due and having no sleep, completing it wee hours of the morning.
I still have become fairly successful and am very successful advocating for those with developmental disabilities. But, it is not without an amazing amount of anxiety.
Help has come my way and the best part is that it is never too late! I, as well as my three children, are all students of The Sparks Of Genius Program. Wow!! Can it be? I am anti-medication and here is a program that is making a significant difference in all of our lives, minus meds. Computerized Cognitive Training works!!! YEAH!!!
I have learned that when processes like attention, memory, listening, language and executive functioning are trained on a regular basis, new neural networks are strengthened and cognitive restructuring actually does occur! If someone told me this and I did not experience it myself I would have said, “Yeah, sure, that’s nice.”
It is true! I have seen a significant difference in all of my children, especially my oldest son, Wes. Others are actually approaching me and asking me, “What is going on with Wes, he seems so much sharper and I am able to carry on a conversation with him.” Oh my G—D, this is nothing less than music to my ears!!! Beautiful music, to say the least.
As for myself, I am absolutely drained when I finish training for the day. I can equate it to training at my fitness club. I am really “exercising my brain.” It is not easy. I really put lots of effort into it. As I continue to live my busy life, I feel myself more “sharper”, less anxious, and “putting things together” in a way I could never do before. I am accomplishing more. I am actually finishing one project before going to another. This is miraculous.
So, here it the moral of this particular blog……be patient……it is never too late to be the best you can be. This goes for you, me and our children.
Hang in there. We CAN survive in the face of adversity & become better people for it. Don’t give up…..your kids are depending on you!
And, remember…to put it in perspective….no matter how tough you think things are, someone out there has it worse. And, things do get better…THINK POSITIVE!!!!
All the best,
ELLEN
July 6th, 2007 at 6:10 am
Hello!
I am an adult woman with ADHD, too. I have a blog here: http://kickmyadd.wordpress.com/
and have linked to your blog. Look forward to reading more of your articles!
-Renee
July 6th, 2007 at 6:11 am
P.S. What kind of computerized cognitive training are you referring to?
July 6th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Renee,
Thanks for your interest. Just to clarify: there is a whole team of professionals, students and parents who post to sparkmygenius.com — and Ellen is just about all three. I’ll make sure she gets in touch with you here.
As for the cognitive training, we have a center in Boca Raton, FL where students train in our Electronic Playground. There are programs you can use at home, too. I’ll get you some links ASAP.
In the meantime, you might want to take the Learning Assessment here: http://www.sparksofgenius.com/screens.html it will help you identify strengths and weaknesses and makes it easy for us to recommend a training regimen.
Good luck!
Allen
P.S. I will add a link to your blog under our community section!
July 7th, 2007 at 7:22 am
OK, thanks!!
July 9th, 2007 at 6:43 am
[...] Here it is: http://sparkmygenius.com/?p=146 [...]