Daily Excerpt: Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain (Wilcox & Wilcox) - My ADHD Brain Made Me Do It

 

Today's book excerpt comes from Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain by Kristin and Andrew Wilcox. 

My ADHD Brain Made Me Do It

I like science. There are no writing essays, and we get to do cool lab experiments. I get good grades in science and can pay attention in class—most of the time, anyway. Today we are learning about the brain. I stare at a diagram of the brain up on the board and listen while my teacher explains what the different parts of the brain do.

“Every day our brains are bombarded with thousands of pieces of information from the world around us,” she says. “The frontal cortex is like a military force keeping out the enemy, only letting in the information you need to pay attention to at the time. The frontal cortex is responsible for you being able to learn, remember, plan, organize, pay attention, and control your emotions.” Apparently, my ADHD frontal cortex is less military-like and more laid-back-on-vacation-like, making my brain feel like an overstuffed garbage can with a lid that doesn’t stay on and garbage falling all over the floor.

The teacher drones on endlessly with the lesson. Glancing out the window, I see the eighth graders on the playground, playing basketball during recess. I wish I was out at recess instead being stuck in class.

“Andrew, are you paying attention?” The teacher is asking me a question. I am snapped back into science class with a sudden feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. What did she ask me? I was thinking about basketball! I stare at her with a blank look on my face. I slump in my chair as she selects another victim to answer the question.  I wish paying attention in class weren’t such a struggle.

The teacher hands out an assignment with questions about our lesson on the brain. Tap, tap, tap. The kid next to me tapping his pencil on the desk is so annoying. What is the teacher saying? I try to ignore the drumming in my brain.

“Okay, class, it’s time to start your assignment.”

Sigh!  Once again, I miss the instructions for the assignment. Reluctantly, I push my chair back and shuffle over to the teacher’s desk. I know exactly what she is going to say to me: “Oh, Andrew, you need to listen and pay attention.” But the infuriating drumming ADHD elephant in my brain made it impossible for me to concentrate. Her non-ADHD brain doesn’t understand.

I walk back to my desk, flop down in the seat, and flip through page after page of the assignment I am supposed to complete. There are too many pages. Oh, where to begin? I don’t want to think about the assignment right now. I wonder if the eighth graders are still playing basketball. Once again, I am staring out the window, only to be pulled back into class by the bell ringing, signaling class is finally over. Then panic! I look down at the pages on my desk to see they are all still blank. The teacher is walking up and down the aisles, collecting our assignment. Why is she walking so fast? I scramble to write something, anything.

The teacher stops at my desk and asks, “Andrew, what have you been doing for the past 20 minutes?”

I almost blurt out, “Twenty minutes? It was more like five minutes!” Then, I look at the clock on the wall and see she is correct. Did I mention my laid-back-on-vacation ADHD brain isn’t very good at keeping track of time? I just look at the teacher and shrug my shoulders while thinking my brain made me do it.

* * *

Did you know?

ADHD runs in families. Chances are if you have ADHD, then someone in your family has it, too. 

AWARDS

Literary Titan Gold Award
Best Indie Book Award
Readers' Favorite Book Award

Read more posts about the Wilcoxes and their book, click HERE.

Read more book excerpts HERE.

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