Harnessing the creative energy behind the diagnosis

Wall Street Journal columnist Sue Shellenbarger offers encouragement to parents of kids with ADHD, introducing us to some adults who were labeled as children and went on to build satisfying, productive lives for themselves.

Among those she lists: Ty Pennington, the host on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition;” JetBlue founder David Neeleman and Kinko’s founder Paul Orfalea (above), who also has dyslexia. All had challenging childhoods, run-ins with school authorities, and teachers who didn’t believe they could succeed at much of anything. Neeleman said he thought he was “stupid.” Their stories are more relevant now than ever, with an estimated 8 percent of school-age children carrying the ADHD label.

The common thread in each case was the help of supportive parents who valued their children’s individuality, emphasized their strengths and didn’t give up. (Medication also gets a brief mention, as do behavior modification techniques.) Paul Orfalea praises a saying his mother used: “Look at your five fingers. All five are different for a reason. School wants to make you all the same.”

It’s worth noting that the strategies suggested here for helping a child with ADHD are markedly similar to those needed to help any child, disability or not.

If only Shellenbarger had edited out her references to ADHD “sufferers,” especially in light of the positive messages offered by parents. The phrase “people with ADHD” would have felt so much better.

Readers, now it’s your turn. Any tips of your own to share?

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 8:28 am and is filed under ADHD, NOT2BEMISSED, News_2_Use, behavior, dyslexia, parents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post