I didn’t want to end tonight’s posting with tragedy when there is so much hope and happiness out there. While Liam Ashley’s story is indeed tragic, there are others who are having great successes. Here are some of those stories:
Mark Condron
Mark Condron is 16 years old. He is passionate about fishing and has been since he was six, about the same age he was diagnosed with ADHD.
His parents were concerned that his fishing passion was really hyperfocus, but an insightful friend who was also a psychiatrist helped them to see that his passion would turn into academic success if they nurtured it.
Today Mark is an honor student, a nationally ranked co-angler (31st) and is competing in a bass fishing tournament in a bid to compete this November in a national tournament. He’s made money competing and has been mentored by a professional angler for the past 10 years.
His parents don’t fish, but they were smart enough not to get in the way of his passion.
My anonymous cousin
My only second cousin turned 18 last December. He is a brilliant, unmedicated by choice ADHD kid. But school was a complete downer for him. Much to the horror of his parents (one of whom is a Rhodes Scholar), he was in danger of not graduating from high school by the end of his sophomore year because he hated school, hated the grind, and had no patience for the rote learning methods employed at his inner-city school.
However, he has been a passionate birder since he was about 10. He is nationally recognized, has traveled twice to Costa Rica on birding expeditions, was chosen for the ongoing Cornell University Ivory-Billed Woodpecker project this year, and if I were to post his name and you were to Google it, you’d discover him at the top of the search results for discovery and documentation of rare pelagic birds, where he has been since age 15.
Fortunately his parents were able to get him into one of the Bill Gates-funded charter schools, where his curriculum was centered around his passion. Math, Science, English and History standards are met through a structured plan with birding at the center of it.
There is no doubt in my mind that his name will be at the top of ongoing research into the environment, the impact on the bird population and preservation of endangered bird species. I believe he has a huge future ahead of him and more importantly, he does, too.
His parents made a commitment to his birding early on. They did not want him driving all over remote areas of California at 4AM, so they faithfully get up and drive him to whatever birding location he needs to be at in a given day.
Sophmom’s Eldest
Sophmom stopped by today and left a comment that was so encouraging and timely! It belongs here on this list.
My oldest son has extreme ADHD with additional LDs (I was diagnosed in the 5th grade but my mother told them it was nonsense – I’ve since gotten myself treated). I remember the Headmaster of my son’s school saying to me at the end of his first grade, after reading his diagnosis, “These kids don’t go to college.” Well, that kid just graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a dual degree in Communication Studies and English, which includes a Certificate in Professional Writing. He’s still in Wilmington (if he didn’t float away last night in Ernesto), running a surfing magazine with a bunch of his ADHD friends. They’re about to put out their ninth issue, which will be distributed in 31 states.
I visited her blog this afternoon and read through some of the posts. One that leapt off the screen at me and into my del.icio.us folder was this one: Do What You Love, which is clearly what she taught her kids as well, since they seem to be doing it.
Common Threads
- ADHD
- Committed parents
- Passionate kids
- A family dynamic that encourages passion around unconventional interests
- Valuing the need to do what we love
- Caring and mentoring adults who may not be their parents
None of those threads involve medication. Some of these kids are medicated; others aren’t. They are all succeeding. The key is making success a family value, something that offers the ADHD-passionate-ones a creative outlet, a productive place to put their energy and opportunities to succeed.
To me, this is the cornerstone of helping teens navigate and manage their ADHD. Do you have success stories? If so, I hope you’ll share them in the comments.
Technorati Tags: AD/HD, parenting, raising ADHD teens
