Finally an answer...?

[jennythereader]

I 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.

Comments

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

do yourself a huge favor....
read up on ADHD in adults. wayne was finally diagnosed at nearly 40.. but many adults with CLASSIC ADHD "fail" the tests because they give tests for kids, and by the time an ADHD adult has survived this long they have coping mecvhanisms.

in my case i have a LD that wasnt diagnosed until i failed, failed again.. and developed a lifelong flinch at any classroom.

god luck to you!

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

I have been reading up on it, and keep being tripped up by things that I recognize from the inside. It's enlightening and disturbing all at the same time.