High School Troubles | ADHD Information
You sound a lot like me in highschool :D Anyway, yeah listening in class is near impossible when a teacher can't make it interesting. Oddly enough due to my performance on tests or just my teachers' general lack of concern, I slept through a lot of my classes, mostly because I couldn't sleep very well at night. And homework... oh god I would get behind. One quarter I actually tried, and studied, and somehow convinced myself to be interested in the work. Got a 4.059 GPA that quarter (which was lower than it couldve been had my phys-ed teacher given me higher than a B-) But unfortunately that was the last quarter of the year and summer re-instated my general disinterest in school, and I returned to my former state of procrastination.
I guess my best advice would be try to convince yourself that those classes are actually interesting. Even if you don't need to: take notes, that focus on the subject material might make you hear something that interested you, and you might actually want to do the homework.
Oddly enough for me, I think the secret to my success that one quarter was the aesthetics of a notebook I bought. For some reason just because the notebook was fancy looking, I felt the need to take well outlined notes, and concentrate on the subject... weird O_o yeah I know... Got an A+ on the history final.
However I even failed one of my easiest classes my senior year... simply because it was completely and utterly boring. I didn't really care about my GPA. And I had no respect for my teachers, save for two of them. (one of them died about half way through the year of a heart attack) :(
Througout all of school I usually spent the majority of my time daydreaming or making "smart" comments about the teacher or some aspect of the material being taught. I find that most of my education came from pursuing stimulation elsewhere, books, TV, computer, etc. I find it kind of funny that most of my time through high-school was spent doing nothing. Daydreaming, sleeping.. and when at home watching TV and playing video games... and I still got an exceptionally high score on my ACT, and got 3 college credits in biology for taking an advanced placement test :D
Errrrrrrrrrrr I digress...
Just try to find interest in the subject material. Find some way to keep your concentration on the task at hand. And avoid distractions at home when homework needs to be done. Also: a big tip, I find the longer I procrastinated, and let work pile up, the less I wanted to do any at all.. So just get it done when it's assigned, you wont have that ominous feeling of impending doom and failure leering its ugly head over your shoulder.
Thanks a lot for the replies. It's just been really hard for me right now in school and only five weeks to go!! It's so depressing... the only thing that hlods me together is soccer... thanksfedaalis, how do you find interest when you find mistakes in what the teacher is teaching?I've ALWAYS had troubles with that I'm a terrible smart-ass..... !
I've had too much trouble concentrating to even attempt to explain....regardless, ahhh! Sometimes being smart is bad.....
.....I'm undecided how to approach that because I can't learn something or answer a test something that's factually wrong, even if they're just using it as an example to prove something else... I can't handle that....
claim special needs and switch classes?
dunno
I seem to always get the worst grades in classes that I don't like the teacher. How do you get past that? I mean, if I have this math teacher that can't explain anything for the life of her, really boring, and does not like me at all because she likes people that pay full attention to her (haha), then how do I survive? I drift off so much in her class that half the time I don't even know what she's talking about.
Hi Nightowl,
I am the mother of a 16 yr. old ADHD son who is not medicated. Medication makes him physically ill so he is going thru school without it. I am so glad to read your post, and yes, I too read the whole thing!!
Your post give me an insight about what is going on in my sons head. He too can hold his interest in dirtbikes, rollerblading, skateboarding etc. but put a book infront of his face and he drifts off. Teachers area always on his back about homework and make up tests. He was sick alot this past winter and missed alot of days. It's bad enough that he struggles with homework but then he has to remember to get the missing assignments too. I could lose my mind!!! I do alot of email to teachers to give him the assignments becuase, lets face it, he forgets!!!
His backpack and bedroom are a mess and I mean a mess! There is no organization. I yell at him all the time cause ya know, I'm mom. But then I stop and think that he can't help it. He says he will get to cleaning it but he says he always finds something else to do.
Daydreaming is his way out also. I try to get him to go to bed at a decent hour but he is on the computer IMing friends or downloading music. His teachers don't understand him either. Although they know he is ADHD they still can't understand why he asks how to do something multiple times.
As far as medication, is there an extended release form that you can take?
So I am glad to hear your side of the story. It is very difficult for my son to explain why he does things or what makes him do things. But I can tell you that you are not alone
They usually explain it the same way every time. There are quizzes online and everywhere to find out whether you learn Audially, Visually or Physically, find out which he is....The teachers usually only do audially..... rarely diagrams and NEVER a walk through hands-on demonstration. I'd bet he's a Hands-on typa guy....
Another solution is to try and have a friend that understands it explain it to him, they're more likely to know how to talk to him and how to explain it. Teachers will just repeat what they said....
I wish they actually TAUGHT things in school as opposed to forced memorization. 90% of the kids in a class don't have a %$#@^@ing clue what any of it means or why they're learning it, just read and repeat. those of us to DO understand and STRIVE to do so are punished....
it's not an education system, it's a regurgitation system....
i hate it.. i wish they had a school for all of us ADDers, i especially hate when a teacher just tells you to remember somethhing(like math equation) and you just wanna know why it is what it is. i wish theyre was an open concept school ffor uss ADDer i hate being on meds.
Like why change who you are for other people.
we should make a school and curriculum like i love doing things not talking about doing things
It's long and I jump around a lot, try to bear with me
I just have been diagnosed for ADD (the space-case in the back of the class who always procrastinates) a month ago and I can never find the right dosage or right meds. I really like Ritalin when it works but the side effects are brutal. When I first started over a period of three weeks I lost 15lbs and for most teenage girls my age they would probably find that a blessing, but since I'm involved in sports and my health is extremely important I had to start making fruit smoothies to get some nutrition into my body. The meds only work when I take high dosages. I take 40mg-60mg depending on how important it is for me to focus. It makes me feel so alive and happy but 3-4 hours later it's like my thoughts are still racing but my head can't keep up. It's like a confused head ache and I always seem to feel lost and frustrated that I feel lost. I don't know if i should try immediately taking the meds before they start to wear off or find a different med, but I've already tried so many. The worst thing is when my psychiatrist asks me 'so what does this med do for you?' and I can't separate its effects from what I typically would be like anyways.
It's so frustrating when my moods seem to constantly change and at the end of a day that I was planning to do HW I find myself typing this letter. My history text book sits on the desk next to me and I can't seem to open it and start reading. I always worry that I'm subconsciously using my ADD as an excuse to not do HW. I like ADD in some ways sometimes, like I'm constantly praised for creative writing and for just being a enjoyable person that never sets limits. Reflecting on my talents in soccer goalkeeping I can see how the hyper-focus ability comes into hand when I have to make split-second decisions. I never seem to have trouble focusing on things I enjoy like soccer, but when it comes to school I drift into another world as the teacher blabs on.
Out of all the meds I've tried Ritalin seems to help the best in school. The problem is is that what made me go visit a psychiatrist in the first place was my grades were slipping and I was so extremely unorganized that I dug myself in a hole. I have sooooo much overdue HW and my teachers are asking 'you still have this and this and this to get in... whats wrong with you Lindsay?' I've officially earned the title "slacker" at school and my friends are always jealous that I never do any HW but always do better than them on tests. I'm very smart and can pull off incredible things but I always feel one step behind. I'm not even going to get started with my sleep problems that I could go on forever about because knowing what it's like to read long letters with ADD I'm probably loosing your attention.
Time always seems to be my enemy, there's never enough. Daydreaming seems to be my escape from this world that runs on clocks. My bedroom is a mess, my backpack is a mess, actually everywhere I go it always seems to be a mess. They keep telling me to get into better habits, to go to bed on time, to do my HW - haha, your asking the impossible of me. I just want to know if theres any other people that can relate to this. I'm tired of feeling alone in this situation, I don't personally know anybody that has ADD. It was nice to find this website and read other peoples experiences, but I couldn't really find what I was looking for. I'm not sure what that is either, but any help would be greatly appreciated.
Well, believe it or not, I actually read the whole post! (That makes 2 long posts in the past couple of days!! woohooo!!) Unfortunately, I am losing my concentration now, so I'm sorry if I start rambing and it has nothing to do with your post.
Ahh, the difficulty of meds...I can definitely relate when you say you need to take care of your body for sports. When I was in high school, keeping my body up was extremely important to me as well because of the sports I was participating in. I've found that meds don't really affect my hunger levels much...haha I might even eat more when I take them because I remember that I need to eat lol. In order to avoid that "confused headache," you could try timing your doses so that one kicks in as the other is waning off...or you could try a long-acting med.
TIME IS THE ENEMY! lol...actually, it always just seems to run away from me! My days pass like seconds and after each one, if I look back to see what I've done...I often find myself asking, "What did I do all day? Where'd all the time go?"
Messiness...yes...before I moved out of my parent's house, yikes! I was so busy with school and sports and friends, etc. (and I'm just a disorganized pack rat) that everything was all over! I've found that upon having my own place, I work all the time to try to keep things somewhat clean and organized...yet no matter how much I clean, it still needs cleaning...ugh....
Okay, I don't know what I just said, I'm gonna stop typing for now lol...Hope everyone has a good night/day!
Thank you for all the replies, it has helped a lot. It's really nice to know I'm not alone in this whole thing. I guess I've just kind of stopped taking meds because I was so tired of crashing all the time. I've really tried hard to try to enjoy my classes and think of what I'm getting out of it, but I still always catch myself staring out the window daydreaming as my teacher blabs on WWII... wishing I was playing soccer...