Just the Facts, Please

Transcription

1 Just the Facts, Please A Teenager s Guide to ADHD Booklet 2 In a Series Chesterfield County Public Schools

2 So what are the basic facts about ADHD? What do I really need to know? Here are some basic facts about ADHD... Lots of people have ADHD 3 to 7 percent of the population have ADHD. So for every 1,000 students in your school, there are 30 to 70 students with ADHD. So you are not alone. You may know others with ADHD. Some of your friends may have ADHD. People with ADHD find other people who have ADHD very interesting. You both like excitement! You both may not be doing great in school. You both may like to move from one activity to another. You may not get as bored with another ADHD friend. 2

3 How did I get this problem? In most cases ADHD is inherited, just like eye color and many other parts of you. There s a greater chance you inherited ADHD from your father, but it could have come from your mother. And your parents may not have ADHD, but another relative might. So it s not unusual for you to have a cousin who takes medication for ADHD. 3

4 How does this ADHD work? What s wrong? We don t know all the answers at this time. ADHD is a chemical, biological thing. The prefrontal lobe that s in the front of your brain is less active than in people without ADHD. The signals going from one cell to another seem to get lost sometimes, or they just move around a little slowly. The interesting thing is that this part of the brain deals with motivation. And you probably have some motivation problems particularly with boring or uninteresting things, like school. Your brain does fine with things you find interesting. Your brain doesn t become JUMP-STARTED by boring things. So your motivation problems come from an inherited, biological situation. 4

5 Sounds like I m stuck as a poor student!! No that s not right! But It does mean you will have to work harder than some students. It does mean you need to know as much as you can about ADHD. It does mean you need to seek advice from experts. It does mean you will need to find ways to deal with your problems. But most of all it means you need to accept the fact that you are different from most other students. And you need to take responsibility for helping yourself. 5

6 Will I have this the rest of my life? Most people with ADHD will have some symptoms through adulthood. But most adjust to their differences. And they find ways to get around them. For example, most adults with ADHD work for themselves. And they are very successful. Working for yourself allows you to set your own schedule choose the sequence of tasks find your own ways to organize. Don t you hate it when your teachers or parents tell you when to study what to study how to study. You can appreciate why so many adults with ADHD work for themselves or have jobs allowing them greater flexibility and movement than people without ADHD. 6

7 Do medications help with this brain thing? Yes, for most ADHD people medications do help. Medication is the most effective treatment for ADHD. It makes that prefrontal lobe work better. BUT You can t just take a pill and have all your problems go away. You have to work hard to find ways to help yourself. These booklets will help you see ways for you to change, ways for you to learn to structure you life, and ways to take control. 7

8 Back to having friends with ADHD we have some things in common, but also many differences. Why? Some might think that since ADHD is biological, all people with ADHD would be alike. But they are not. They are individuals with strengths and weaknesses, just like people without ADHD. ADHD while biochemical is not based on a single gene. Rather researchers are finding multiple genes that can cause ADHD and these genes can combine in unique ways. That s why some ADHD students may be less attentive to certain tasks than other ADHD students... or why one ADHD child may seem more spacey than another. 8

9 So I can improve my life and beat this ADHD? Yes, you can help yourself and beat this ADHD thing. Students with ADHD can learn to stop procrastinating to start studying better to turn in homework. So far in these booklets you ve learned: 1. You need to accept the fact you have ADHD and that makes you different from most others. 2. You can have a bright future. 3. You have to work harder than non-adhd folks in some areas of life. 4. Medication is the most effective treatment. 9

10 What else do I need to do, other than take pills? This series of booklets will present you with information and options. You will learn about the 12-hour window. Adults with ADHD look forward and backward only about 12 hours. That makes it more difficult for people to change or improve. They also don t plan very well either. You will learn why your parents want to treat you like a younger person. You will learn how to study better, to read with better comprehension, and to have more fun with studying than you now have. You will learn how to take control of your life and to resist the urge to do something more exciting than the task you need to be doing. 10

11 The Chesterfield County public school system does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, age, religion, disabilities, or national origin in employment or its educational programs and activities. Thanks to the Author Kenneth S. Roach School Psychologist 2003