Looking at Things Differently
If it didn’t challenge me I lost interest. If it didn't tap into the deep thinking aspect of my brain, then I couldn't focus on it. Have you noticed how teachers always tell the parents of ADHD children that the child is brilliant, but can't master the basics? It's because the basics aren't challenging them.
People with ADHD are absorbing material at a different rate because they are analyzing each part of it. Forcing an ADHD child forward only slows them down more, because their mind locks in on something and wants to figure it out. They will not move on until they are ready. You can push them on to the next subject, but in their brain they are still thinking about the previous problem and trying to find other solutions and different outcomes.
The people with this gift are the people who make the world beautiful. They may not be picking up the material as fast as the other students are, but what they are picking up is critical. They are looking harder, listening deeper, and discovering new things.
A child with ADHD can stare at a grandfather clock for hours watching the pendulum swing and the gears turn. They are trying to figure out why each moving part is connecting with the other. Growing up I loved taking things apart to see how they worked. I always wanted to know why. It was challenging to me.
I remember taking a radio apart as a 10-year-old. I was fascinated by this thing that plugged in and played music. Putting some things back together was very challenging, but as a child I got more enjoyment out of fixing something that was broken than anything else. I could come up with ideas that other people couldn't.
Different, or Better?
Do some research, look at some of the greatest writers, artists, comedians, engineers, and mathematical geniuses. So many of them exhibited the signs and symptoms of having ADHD. How might Albert Einstein have done if his whole life he was told he had a mental disorder? Do you think he would've taken the time to explain things? Or would he have locked himself in a shell?
If Michelangelo’s parents had told him his whole life he was different, do you think he would've been able to express his feelings in paintings? Every person with ADHD has a very creative side, but putting the ‘different’ title on them locks you out from ever seeing it. They become afraid to bring their creative side out of the shell and afraid to speak up when they have a solution to a problem you have been trying to solve.
These young minds are the ones that will one day solve the world’s problems. These are the young minds equipped to describe emotions on a level that you never will be able to. They write the music that brings you to tears. They write the jokes that make you laugh until you pee. They create masterpieces of art. They become engineers and scientists who discover cures for diseases and better ways to build bridges; all because they slowed down, looked harder, and listen deeper.
So think about it – are they different, or are they better?
