Here is my story.
I have inattentive ADD. When I was in first grade I was falling behind in class and I was constantly getting ear infections. I could barely read, write and couldn’t tie my shoelaces. I wasn’t paying attention and I had only a few friends. Eventually I had to leave the school because I was too far behind. The next year I attended a new school and had to repeat first grade. My mom who also has a learning disability got me help from a specialist and tutors. I was finally able to catch up, but was still having reading problems.
The specialist in 92 or 93 thought I was dyslexic because of my reading and writing problems. My handwriting was and is terrible. I also had speech problems even today. From first to sixth grade I did ok. Usually I would get c’s and few b’s. Even with tutoring I still did not understand what I did wrong after I saw my grade was a C.
In school people called me goody goody and quite. I always displayed good behavior in school. I went to a small private school and had friends, but I was different from them. I usually did not voice my own opinions and was very quite. I would draw a lot in class and think to myself all the time. When I got older I felt more depressed and withdrawn from people. I was always in my own mindset and tuning out things around me.
In 7th and 8th grade I went to a different small private school. I felt more alone and was even more quite. People treated me as if I wasn’t there or used me for homework etc. In Spanish I just couldn’t do it and got teased for it. I got teased when I did a speech in class and had trouble pronouncing words. I was different from everyone. I also started feeling more anxiety and couldn’t get organized at all. I didn’t have many friends and went into a depression. I took out my anger and frustration on my mom and locked myself in my room.
In high school I went to a bigger school. I was still quite and a goody goody, but I gained more friends. I was starting to get B’s and a few A’s and later began getting all A’s. Soon people were criticizing me for getting the highest grades in each class I was in. I kept my learning disability a secret to people at school. I had to work so hard to get good grades. It hurt when people criticized me for doing well in school after I worked so hard to get good grades.
I had lots of tutoring to help me. I would study for hours and reread things over and over. I couldn’t study if something was distracting me. I was working so hard that I started to get stressed out. Alot of my classes were getting easier, but just took me a long time to study or finish homework. School was getting boring for me. Some days it would easy and others I would be stressed out. My backpack and my room were in chaos. When I started to drive I got lost all the time and impatient at red lights.
Sometimes I mind begins to wonder off and I forget to do something or I lose something. I also put off things to the last minute all the time. When I’m in school I barely eat anything until I get home. After school I get very fatigued and try to eat something to gain some energy. Now my eating is getting somewhat better. I also took me a long time to take tests and I would usually be the last one done.
The reason why I work hard in school is because I wanted to prove to myself that I could get into a good college and be whatever I wanted to be.
I wanted to get untimed SAT’s so I was reevaluated and she said I had non-hyper ADD. That came to me as a shock because I thought I was dyslexic and I had never heard of non-hyper ADD before. Now I am going to be a senior in high school next year and have just started taking adderal for a week, but it makes me feel really dizzy. Even though I get good grades and most of the time I can focus in school my inattentive ADD still effects me everyday, but I am learning to live with it and face it head on. I hope that medication will help me.
Even if you have ADD or ADHD you can still get good grades and succeed in life.