March 4, 2013

Attention Deficit Disorder is characterized in the DSM IV, as someone who cannot maintain their attention or focus, someone who is easily distracted and cannot engage in tasks that take a longer time period.  This person is disorganized in the way they live their lives and in their thought patterns.  Sometimes they will focus intensely on something for a short while, but then move to the next thing never completing anything. 

In terms more associated with parenting or in my case grandparenting (although I had an ADD child), its a child that although is usually very intelligent, you just can't seem to focus that genius on one thing long enough to finish it.  And when they're young?  They're running in circles picking things dropping them going to the next thing, asking ten million questions, then asking them again.....and again until finally you (the parent) are exhausted and yet they just keep going.  They make the energizer bunny look tired!!  They however, resemble Dr. Seuss's Thing One and Thing Two, and the damage left in the wake is very similar to that. 

Now if the child is under five years of age, no good doctor will medicate them, they're too young, there is the possibility they will calm down by the age of five, not likely but there's always the possibility.  As the parent you think they will spin out of orbit by the age of five and if that doesn't happen you are considering medicating yourself. 

What causes this insanity, what did we (as parents) do wrong?  Who knows, maybe nothing, maybe drugs, maybe deep depression or some traumatic experience and maybe it just happened.  There's so much research on the subject you could spin the wheel and pick an answer.  There are so many variables and none of them make any of us feel better, not one of them.  And even if you understand the problem it doesn't make it go away. 

ADD kids are awesome.  They're intelligent and quick physically and mentally.  When I had my day care center we were doing 2nd and 3rd grade social studies and science projects with these kids.  They were not reading yet although very close, but they loved the projects, the harder they were the more interested they became and the more they learned.  When they went into kindergarten the schools knew where they came from and they knew they had already gone through the kindergarten curriculum, some of them twice and they ate it up.  And quick, you couldn't get anything passed them, I mean nothing, but that was okay they deserved the respect and honest dialogue that every person deserves, but they did not like being talked down to as though they were babies, they were smart and they knew it.

One of my ex-employees has a three year old boy, I believe he's probably Thing 1, very ADD.  He runs circles in my yard slams car doors runs to the back door to the back fence and starts all over again.  He never huffs or puffs, he just keeps going.  I watched him for a long time, he would run so fast he'd fall several times and get back up and keep going.  He'd ask the same questions over and over again, never hearing the answer.  By the time he did it was time for the next question and then some laps around the yard and slam some doors.  The mother's blood pressure never seems under complete control and she self medicates to keep a good attitude.  When she doesn't she's screaming and screaming and screaming, I think all the neighbors know his name.  He won't drink coffee, so that home remedy was out, he drinks regular mountain dew sometimes but it didn't seem to work.  Finally, I told her give him a teaspoon of the five hour energy drink lets see how he does.

 Poof!  He completed a sentence, he actually completed a thought.  He sat and ate lunch, his whole lunch.  He got up and washed his hands.  He walked through the house, didn't run, just walked.  He went outside to play and actually sat down for a few minutes.  He talked, he said please and thank you and listened to other people talking.  He didn't slow down too much, just to a normal pace and amazingly, he took an afternoon nap, a small one but still a nap.  And mom wasn't screaming. 

Now that she has her solution can you imagine if there was no five hour energy drink in the land?  Like anywhere?  Looting in the streets a wild crime spree all committed by a poor mother of an ADD child in search of her remedy.