Thread: any other teachers diagnosed with ADD?

They called it minimal brain dysfunction when I was diagnosed, many, many years ago. Today it's called ADD or attention deficit disorder.

I've dealt with it all these years, without medication, but it has required some adjustments on my part, and some accomodations on the part of others.

There are varying degrees of this malady. I, too, have a difficult time finishing things and I get a little perturbed when I am interrupted in my classroom for things that could really wait. At times our guidance counselors and our curriculum coordinator just don't understand.... When I am interrupted, I have a time getting back on track. And it doesn't take a lot for my mind to begin wandering.

I tend to be a bit impulsive, have no shortage of very creative ideas, but cannot always manage to put them into practice.

I don't lose student work as much as you describe yourself doing, but that is because I have developed particular strategies for keeping that from happening. For example, I require that students put things they turn in into a basket I have on my desk, rather than giving it to me. I am also very meticulous about how students do their work and in what form, looking to reduce the amount of "loose papers" that can be mislaid. Much of what m y science students do is in a notebook, which I collect at least once each week. Even then I have a very precise and specified way to do it.

I'm up front with my coworkers and with my students. They know of my malady and I ask them to help me remember things.

Having MBD or ADD is NOT a death sentence. It can be coped with and lived with. One just needs to be up front and knowledgeable about their condition and look for ways to deal with it, without l etting it deal with you.

Having MBD or ADD is NOT a death sentence.

No, but it does impose some limitations- for example, someone who has a particularly severe case of it might be doing themselves a disservice by going into something that requires a lack of impulsiveness and a lack of physical activity, or intense concentration.

Drum, you might do better to find a job where you can flit from one thing to the next. I'm not sure what that might be, but it would be a characteristic to consider, whether it is in education someplace or not.

God, you oughta be in our lunchroom! I gave up trying to start AND finish a conversation, because people interrupt all the time. It's like a frekin ADD support group! Don't get me wrong, I am fully aware I'm "Type A" which means I'm neurotic and probably borderline psychotic - so I'm just as hosed.

For a good laugh, I was listening to a couple of my students talking a couple weeks ago (keep in mind, I teach in a prison) and the one says to the other, "Ni*ger, you are f**ked up AND ADHD!" Wahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep. I got it.

I was waiting for an intake to start and the contract school psych went from reading his notes to taking notes. After a while I asked what he was doing. He said using me to write a book on adult ADD. Apparently it was his specialty.

Excuse me I have to go identify a noise.

Originally Posted by Stan White

God, you oughta be in our lunchroom! I gave up trying to start AND finish a conversation, because people interrupt all the time. It's like a frekin ADD support group!

Hmmmm, I also have a hard time finishing some thoughts at times in our lounge. Not that my colleague has ADD, she has to be in control some things, and feels we are in a competition of some sort, for whatever reason. Either she plows right in while I am in mid sentence, or she jumps in with a sentence while I take a breath. I could live with this a bit better if she had not thrown a gasket last year and told me that I am rude when talking with others. 8O

If I really concentrate and put my mind on things, I do pretty well. However, when I'm not making and effort to stay focused, I "drift". Yesterday I started out replacing the knobs on the bathroom cabinet . . . which led to cleaning out under the cabinet, which led me into the office to get something, which made me notice the wrapping paper, which made me remember that I needed to wrap presents, which led me to the bedroom closet where I noticed that part of the bathroom stuff was sitting on the floor there, which led me back to the bathroom. My whole day kind of went like that. It was no big deal because I had all day to get done. At work I'm super organized and love routine. When things are out of routine, I flip out . . . inside, that is. I'm a "never let them see you sweat" kind of person.

My students say I'm "random". :roll:

That's alright Ima, my daughter says I'm "ackward." Hell, she's probably right!

My students think I am just plain "weird." And that, they say, is one of the reasons they love me so much. One student actually told me that.

Ah, if more only had the curious perspective of the adolescent....

Does anyone else besides me think the idea of an "attention deficit" disorder is laughable? Look at the language of its name -- attention deficit? Attention is not like stomach acid or insulin or white blood cells; it's not some tangible thing that you can have or lack. There is a misunderstanding inherent in the name of this supposed disease.

Despite my disbelief, I have no problem either with the medical status of A.D.D. or with my own diagnosis of it, because the pills I take do help me to concentrate. And the fast pace of modern life (a worn phrase but a persistent thing), one needs to be able to bop energetically from one thing to the next. Anyway, that's my two cents.