"I think she might have ADHD"

MOMMY: When my daughter's counselor said to me, "I think she might have ADHD," I can't say that I was surprised. About three months ago I began to suspect it myself. Had the counselor made the suggestion prior to the time I started figuring it out on my own, or especially if she had come to that conclusion a year and a half ago when we first began taking her to counseling, I'm sure my reaction would have been, "Forget you. We are sooooo out of here."

ADHD? For a child who get mostly A's, with the occasional B in math? ADHD? For a child who never gets in trouble at school? ADHD for my little girl who can read a 200-page book in a single day and sit and write her stories at the computer for two hours at a time? ADHD for the better-behaved of my two children??? It just wouldn't have made any sense.

But fast-forward to December 31, 2008 when we were sitting in the counselor's office, and there were other things to consider. Now that she was in fourth grade. Her A's were turning into B's, and her B's were turning into Cs. Lately she was bringing home math, science and social studies tests that had F's on them. My daughter getting F's? Even her once-a-week math tutoring wasn't helping.

Her teacher was reporting an increasing amount of wandering around in class. Distraction, trouble focusing, fidgeting. She was getting F's on tests because she wasn't paying attention. And we were noticing it at home as well. Truth be told, she's always done these things, but they were starting to catch up with her. And her natural smarts weren't gonna cut it in the classroom anymore.

And then there's the issue of her not sitting still. She never has sat still, this child. She's like a little Energizer Bunny. It's an oddity the family has always worried about, but honestly no one ever thought ADHD. She has this habit that drives us all crazy, bless her heart. She runs around our coffee table in the living room. Around and around and around. One she even developed this little cyst on her foot--I can't remember what it was called. But I remember that the doctor had thought she was a dancer, because it's a repetitive motion injury. She got it from pushing off her foot in that one spot running around the coffee table all the time. She always tells us that the running helps her imagination. "I'm using my imagination," she would say.

Over the years, I've tried to figure out all this movement. I've asked the doctor if she could have Restless Leg Syndrome or growing pains. But I never once considered ADHD. Not until the signs started adding up together three months ago. And now I've learned that 4th grade is actually the most common age for girls to be diagnosed, because it's often the grade in school where girls can no longer compensate anymore. The schoolwork gets harder and they are expected to sit still for longer amounts of time.

In our case, I believe the symptoms started showing up in second grade. And we've been on a two-year journey trying to figure out why school was getting increasingly difficult for her (even as she kept her grades up). Now that we know why, we deal with how ... how to deal with it. And where ... where do we go from here.

I actually, really, and truly have ADHD?

ME: It never occurred to me that I had ADHD. A few weeks ago when mommy told there was a possibility that I had ADHD I was dumbfounded. Sure I'd heard of ADHD before. I had thought it was some kind of disability that made your brain not focus well. I didn't really like the idea that I might have a disability. But, then mommy told me about it, she said it was NOT a disability. When I found out that I had ADHD for real It took me awhile to take it all in. Now I think of it as an obstacle that I will fight. ADHD.