Mental Grind

I have a twelve year old young man who is debilitated by his ADHD condition.

I sat in a meeting with his mother, his advocate, and a team of people of specialists and teachers as we tried to dissect this young man who I adore a great deal.

He's a voracious reader and when he's interested in something...he takes his research and learning to the 15th Power. My class was reading this story that was an aside to the Diary of Anne Frank. It was about this Japanese man who lived in Germany and was an official who could give visas for German citizens to move throughout Europe to avoid the Holocaust. The young man of mine not only digested the story and video that I had shown on the Holocaust. He went to the library and begin reading up on the Auschwitz. I was amazed. He had learned so much about how unfairly the Jews were treated by Hitler. And he became this reservoir of information that also shocked his classmates.

Back in this meeting we talked about his inability to attend to the lessons in class, his depression and low self-esteem in being able to manage his focus ability to complete grade level classwork, and the reality that without some real interventions put in place quickly he may be swallowed up in middle school.

Its disheartening to see him cry in frustration and anguish at not being able to sit in a room with his peers and complete a single assignment during the day. You can see a visceral desire to excel but he's held hostage by this "monster". I so want to help him to be a better young man.

We all agree that his ADHD, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, will hinder him from being the best young man he possibly can. I don't believe we need to medicate all kids who have a little bit too much energy...but I believe this young man needs it. With it, I believe there are no limits to his success and achievements.

Having him in my class has inspired me to do some serious research on ADD/ADHD and adolescent brain development. *Smile* I want to be able to run a school in which a strong understanding of contemporary adolescent development is the foundation in molding tomorrow's leaders.