My Son and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

Philip Adrian, or Ian to us is a vibrant, funny, intelligent, friendly and creative 10-year-old boy. He loves watching documentaries, reading fiction and non-fiction, and crafting paper swords and guns like what he sees on YouTube tutorial videos. My son also has ADD or attention deficit disorder. 

                          

He was 3 years old when we brought him to a special education school for children with global delay, cerebral palsy, and autism. Ian exhibited an uncommon behavior for children his age that throws tantrums. Most children would cry and scream. Ian not only cries and screams but he also tends to speak fast and changes from one topic to another so there are times we could not understand what he really wants.  

A male teacher in that school spent time with him while my mother and I spoke to the school administrator.  A couple of minutes later, we were told that my son has Attention Deficit Disorder. I have an idea what it was but I needed to know more so I made my research.

ADD is actually an outdated term of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). It was only called that way to be able to categorize someone that has attention issues but is not necessarily hyperactive. The severity of it varies from one person to another. In my child's case, it's not that he actually has attention issues but that he has a combination of hyperactivity and impulsivity. This is what the school failed to explain to me properly because my son, despite his young age, loves to read and is really good in spelling. Still, I am glad that we were able to get him help despite the school being an expensive one. I realize that there are so many children around the world whose parents cannot afford to seek help. We were indeed very lucky. 

Ian spent only a year in that school. The children there each has a designated teacher who works on them for two hours daily. They give the children excercises and tasks to work on depending on the condition that they have. Teacher Ethel, what we call my son's teacher, would meet with me quarterly to give a report on how my son was doing. I was once told that Ian used to get up from his seat at least twenty times to roam around the room even when his teacher forbids him to. Ian's behavior gradually improved. He was even awarded a Best In Spelling medal at the end of the year. Today, my son is in the honor roll for the third time this third quarter and will be competing at the nationals Science Quiz Bee with his team. He is the sole representative of the entire 4th graders in his school. 

My son leaving that school doesn't end there. Ian's thoughts, as I've observed, seems to be running on overdrive like mine. He just wanted to do so many things at once that when he could not decide, he gets irritable. It's even worse when he thinks that there's nothing for him to do. As his family, we are tasked to be understanding of his needs. Children like my son need all the love and support we can give them. Perhaps there are many children like him who were simply misunderstood and undiagnosed.

*Certain information in this post is from: https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/difference-between-add-and-adhd#inattention