ADHD and the FierceFamily

I had a teen experience that embraced a lot of things. Let’s just say I did not behave responsibly. Maybe I was self-medicating, maybe not. I am self aware enough to not blame everything on my ADD and maybe I just made bad choices with my health and safety because I didn’t have any sense. I don’t regret it, but I sure do fear the thought of my kids (whom I happen to love more than myself), trying the same kinds of things.

Eventually I stopped doing all that. Not because I decided it was wrong, dangerous, or a waste of money. Mostly it was because I just didn’t have the time, and I stopped being around other people who were still doing it. I guess I grew up. And had the good fortune to be able to walk away from things that others had more trouble with.

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We were supposed to go camping this weekend with the Girl Scouts and instead there was a hefty storm here. So, I read two books we recently checked out from the library for the kids: Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and Joey Pigza Loses Control. CommonSense Media review here.

Joey is a 4th grader with ADHD that is inadequately treated with medication, and is not treated with any other method. I found these books simultaneously entertaining and kind of depressing. Joey goes through lots of wacky highjinks and well-intended acts that end in disaster. Like the reviewer at CommonSense, I like that adults that live and work with Joey are not villanized - a very flawed and human bunch of well-meaning folks. But, the picture of ADHD is severe. Joey is unintentionally dangerous to himself and others, as many kids with ADHD can be - but to a really significant degree (he jumps from the rafters of a barn, he runs with scissors and chops off the end of a classmate’s nose, he pierces his dog’s ear with a dart, sticks his finger in a pencil sharpener, etc.). Both of his parents are alcoholics. His teacher’s idea of a behavior management plan is to tape a list of rules to his desk and to send him to the “Special Ed room” when he breaks them. Continue Reading »