Daily Excerpt: Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain (Wilcox) - Plunging Headfirst into a Dilemma
Adventurous, Daring, and Plunging Headfirst into a Dilemma (ADHD or Superhero?)
A bowl of popcorn
on my lap and remote in hand, I settle in on the couch to watch one of my
favorite superhero movies. Who wouldn’t want to be a superhero? They are courageous
in the face of danger, have awesome superpowers, get to be adventurous, and are
good looking.
However, my ADHD brain doesn’t like to pay
attention very long. So, I get bored with the movie and go outside to ride
bikes with my brother in the driveway.
My brother and I decide it will be fun to
tie one end of a piece of rope we found in the garage onto the back of my bike
and the other end onto a shelf in our garage to see what would happen when I
rode the bike out of the garage and into the driveway. Crash! Basketballs,
baseball mitts, tennis rackets, fishing poles, golf balls, and miscellaneous
sports equipment fly off the shelf and scatter all over the garage floor. Seeing
a basketball bouncing out of the garage and heading towards Mom’s car, I jump
off my bike and chase the ball, hoping to catch it in time.
When I hear the door from the garage to
the house being flung open, I immediately put on the brakes. Uh, oh! I’m in
trouble!
Walking back toward the garage, basketball
in hand, I hear my older brother frantically trying to explain to Mom how I simply
bumped into the shelf by accident while riding my bike and it fell over. Mom
just stands there, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, staring directly at me. Is that
steam coming out of her ears? I can tell she is definitely not buying my
brother’s story.
“How did Andrew manage to make it out of
the garage without the shelf falling on him?” she asks.
“I am invincible, just like a superhero,”
I tell her.
Mom is standing perfectly still in the
doorway, looking like a predator ready to pounce on its prey. Staring at the
ground and being careful not to make eye contact with Mom, I tell her I’ll
clean up the garage. How come in the movies superheroes never have to clean up
their path of destruction? I guess they never get caught by their moms.
When my brother and I finish cleaning up
the garage, I walk into the house. Dad is sitting in the kitchen.
“Andrew, will you help me fix the
computer?”
“Sure!”
Just
like a superhero, the ADHD elephant and I love a good challenge. My mind starts
racing with ideas about how to get the computer working. Sometimes, focusing is
easier when I am faced with a challenge and need to solve a difficult problem. Dad
and I have the computer working by dinnertime.
After dinner, Mom reminds me I still need
to do my homework.
“I know; I’m going.” Reluctantly.
I remember
I have homework for English class. Once again, it’s the night before the assignment
is due. Why do I always wait until the last minute? Where’s the instructions
for the assignment? Ouch! Stupid Legos are still scattered all over my bedroom
floor. One of these days I will get around to cleaning them up.
I walk over to my bed and grab my backpack
from where I threw it when I came home from school today. Crumpled up in the
bottom of my backpack is the paper with the instructions. I stare at the
directions written on the paper. Oh, great! I have to write another fictional
story. My brain hurts, and I feel that familiar ache when I have a writing
assignment to do.
Blink, blink, blink.
The cursor keeps time on the blank screen as thoughts rush through my brain
like a run-away freight train. Oh, where to begin? There are just too many
details to think about. My thoughts drift aimlessly as I glance at the shelves
above my desk filled with countless books about the planets, the moon, and
rockets. Then I spot a paper rocket ship I made, peeking out from under some
papers on my desk. Shoving the papers aside, I pick it up. Space travel! I can
write my essay about space travel! I know a lot about space travel. It’s one of
my favorite things to learn about. Suddenly, my brain doesn’t ache anymore. Furiously,
I begin to type, turning my dreaded writing assignment into something I am
interested in! Before I know it, I have written several pages. Superhero powers
activate. I am hyperfocused. I
remember my ADHD counselor mentioning something called hyperfocus in one of our
sessions.
“It’s when your ADHD brain has intense focus on a project or activity you find interesting she explained. “Hyperfocus can even make you an expert at something.”
So, my ADHD brain can pay attention. I realize my passion for learning about space travel made writing my essay easy. I am like the Flash, whose passion for chemistry resulted in his incredible speed, or Iron Man, whose knowledge of technology helps him fight villains. My ADHD makes me a superhero.
Contrary to the dread I usually feel, I can’t wait for my English teacher to grade my essay. When the teacher finally hands it back at the end of the week, a brightly colored, glorious, red “A” and the words “Great job, Andrew!” adorn the top left corner of the page. I can barely contain my excitement.
A
championship-winning college basketball coach named John Wooden used to tell
his team, “Don’t let what you
can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.” It’s good advice for
someone like me, with ADHD. I have a
creative, fearless, sometimes intensely focused ADHD brain that is an explosive
tornado of disorganization. I will always have ADHD, but I am working on becoming
more of A Determined Hyperfocused Dreamer,
and less Always Disorganized and Hopelessly Distracted. However, Mom isn’t ready to put away her neon-colored sticky notes
just yet.
* * *
Did you know?
There are many successful, famous people
with ADHD. Here are just a few.
1. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time with 23 gold medals and 28 medals in all.
2. World champion and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles said her ADHD is nothing to be ashamed of and she is not afraid to let people know about it.
3. Professional football quarterback Terry Bradshaw is in the National Football League’s Hall of Fame and has won the Superbowl four times. Astronaut Scott Kelly holds the record for the most time in space by an American astronaut. He has been a Space Shuttle pilot and the commander of several Space Shuttle missions to the International Space Station.
5. Successful actress Emma Watson played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies.
6. Singers Adam Levine of the group Maroon 5 and Justine Timberlake both have ADHD and popular songs on the radio.
7. Nobel Prize
winning scientist John B. Gurdon is my favorite person with ADHD. When John was
15 years old, his biology teacher did not believe that John should become a scientist.
The biology teacher wrote on John’s report card that he had trouble listening
in class, did not complete his work, and struggled to learn simple facts. In
2012, Dr. Gurdon won the Nobel Prize, the highest honor a scientist can receive
for his research, in physics.
Book description:
In this two-part book Andrew and his neuroscientist mom each tell their story about living with the inattentive subtype of ADHD.
How do you survive life and middle school with an ADHD elephant in your brain? Kids with ADHD will relate to Andrew's reactions to everyday and school-related situations, like remembering to turn in homework, staying organized, and making friends. Using practical strategies Andrew learns to manage his ADHD even when his brain sometimes feels "like and overstuffed garbage can, the lid won't stay on and garbage is falling out all over the floor". He even realizes there is a positive side to having ADHD like creativity, fearlessness and hyperfocus.
Dr. Wilcox discusses the science behind ADHD, parent-to-parent, from someone living in the trenches, learning to work with Andrew's ADHD brain. She discusses the significance of various aspects of inattentive-type ADHD and the theory and practices of the education and medical professions related to them. Two helpful appendices include a means for parents to "diagnose" the inattentive subtype of ADHD and a list of resources for parents and children with ADHD.
This book provides unique insights into ADHD behaviors and suggests highly pragmatic and successfully implemented strategies for children with the inattentive subtype of ADHD and their parents (with implications for educators and others who work with ADHD children). A must read for kids with ADHD and their parents!
From Amazon: Customers find the book provides brilliant insight into inattentive ADHD, with one customer noting it's a wonderful informative read for children with the condition. The book is easy to read and customers consider it a must-read. They appreciate its pacing, with one customer mentioning it's perfect for both parents and teachers.
Best Indie Book Award
Readers' Favorite Book Award
Pinnacle Book Achievement Award
Read more posts about the Wilcoxes and their book, click HERE.
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