911…We Have a Problem

In the history of conferences, and I mean HISTORY since we pretty much have been having conferences since Drew was less than one year old, we have never had such a good report. She seemed to be able to look past his highly emotional, over obnoxious, anxious tendencies to genuinely understand his sweet, loving side that is (believe it or not) dedicated to learning!!! Practically unbelievable!!! It was that moment when she said, “do you have any other questions,” and I unleashed that doozy of a question that has been erking me Drew’s whole life that I really had to brace myself for the answer…”Do you think we should be concerned he is ADHD?”

I’m going to give it to you honestly. I think ADHD is overly diagnosed. Sure, we have a better understanding of the issue and are more acutely able to treat and give children with these challenges a better advantage. I would very safely say, with several people testifying as key witnesses, that I probably suffer from a great deal of ADHD. I have managed to successfully make it through school, hold down a job and do what is necessary to be successful in life without the diagnosis or treatment. That being said, I think there are also people that are severely ADHD that need medication and help throughout their academic career to be successful. I just think that that population is less than what our society has made of the syndrome.

I do not, without a doubt as previously mentioned in too many blogs to even note, understand boys. I don’t understand the constant ants in your pants. I don’t understand why he can’t focus on anything unless it has to do with sports. And even when it has to do with sports, he is so anxious that he can’t sit still. I don’t understand why the mere mention of board games, puzzles and playing anything that requires creativity sends him for the hills. But what I can do is try and accept him in spite of him being incredibly different from me and my interests.

I have never been one of those mothers who said “not my kid.” Rather, I say “oh geez, it’s probably my kid.” I think it would be very easy for me to lead an academic professional to believing that my child fits a certain mold because I’m frustrated with how difficult he is. I might even be able to coerce a healthcare professional to identify with my plight and prescribe something to better help me deal with him. It’s not that I have so little faith in those professions that I believe I could actually manipulate them, it’s just that I think if they saw some of the evidence I provided they would also be concerned. Instead I choose to let them stay a little more neutral and come up with their own perspective.

At this point Drew’s teacher said that she won’t rule it out in the future but that she has no concerns about that now. PHEW!!!! I want to give him every advantage to do well in this world. I’m not positive that his anxiety isn’t a little out of hand and he has a hard time paying attention but that could just be what life is like at 6. I don’t speak boy or pretend to but I’m going to relax speaking psycho, nervous, crazy mom for the time being at least 😉