Finally an answer...?
Dec. 14th, 2011 04:23 pmI found this article on ADD in gifted children a few days ago.
It could have been written about me.
I... fell off a cliff academically in middle school. Everyone I knew told me that if I just tried a little harder, just focused a little more, just stopped letting myself get distracted by books or crafts, just had a little more will power and self discipline, I could climb back up it and be back on track to as much academic success as my intelligence suggested.
I never managed it. I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth and dropped out of college twice. The whole time everyone told me it was my own fault. The whole time I believed it was a moral failing, a character flaw. Something that I could just get over if I tried hard enough. However hard I tried it was never enough. Nothing I did made a difference.
This article is the first evidence I've seen in 20+ years that maybe it isn't my fault. You wouldn't believe how much I've been crying since I read it.
I'm being tested for ADHD in early January.
It could have been written about me.
I... fell off a cliff academically in middle school. Everyone I knew told me that if I just tried a little harder, just focused a little more, just stopped letting myself get distracted by books or crafts, just had a little more will power and self discipline, I could climb back up it and be back on track to as much academic success as my intelligence suggested.
I never managed it. I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth and dropped out of college twice. The whole time everyone told me it was my own fault. The whole time I believed it was a moral failing, a character flaw. Something that I could just get over if I tried hard enough. However hard I tried it was never enough. Nothing I did made a difference.
This article is the first evidence I've seen in 20+ years that maybe it isn't my fault. You wouldn't believe how much I've been crying since I read it.
I'm being tested for ADHD in early January.