At my first psyc. appt. the doc said it was unusual that I loved to read (passionatly) that ADD'ers usually got tired/frustrated & gave up. I have always read any and all things I can get my hands on, even the backs of cereal boxed when I was little. I dont however, have good comprehension at all. What about everyone else? readers? what kind of material?

... I loved to read (passionatly) .... I have always read any and all things I can get my hands on, even the backs of cereal boxed when I was little. Sounds like me.

My reading level has always been advanced....although when I was younger, I remember not knowing the meaning of words I read, or even the correct pronunciation, but reading nonetheless, because I could infer the meaning of a word by the sentence it was in.

I am still a voracious reader. My favorites have always been historical novels, psycho-thrillers and biographies. Sometimes sci-fi.

I think it depends on the ADDer. Did you at some point have a teacher who turned you on to the love of reading? That is what happened to me. My first grade teacher helped me become the best reader in the most advanced reading group even though I started 1st grade 1 month late.....and it is the only thing that got me through school.

I like historical novels also & time travel. I dont remember a specific teacher, I think I just loved the escape of reading. I still "figure out" words by the context, which gives you a great vocabulary eventually!

Well ... I really didn't start to read until the fourth grade. It wasnt that I was slow, I just wasn't interested. I had a weird facination with horror movies when I was young, and my mom figured that she would get me reading with that. And she did ... I read most of S. Kings works in the 4th grade.

And I haven't stopped since ....

my daughter (also ADD) didn't start reading until 4th grade, either. Harry Potter did it for her. I was despairing of her ever reading (in this house full of readers - no suface is without a book or magazine) and my happiest moment was when i had to tell her to put her book away and turn out the light!!!!

I'm a voracious reader; I learned to read by age 5 and have always read a lot ever since.
For me, its part of the hyperfocus aspect of ADHD. When I'm reading and concentrating I get into a very calm and peaceful state which is one of the few times I really feel relaxed.
On the other side of the ADHD coin, there are times when I can't concentrate at all on what I'm trying to read, no matter how much I want to read it or how interesting it is. In these times, I've found it best not to force the issue but to go do something else instead.
Almost everything I read now is of a technical/educational nature, but I used to read a lot of Science Fiction and Thrillers.

I love to read, not usually books but little things. Mail, magazines, letters, menus.....that sorta thing. Books have to really grab my attention in the first few pages to keep my interest. Otherwise forget it, I will either stop reading the book altogether, or I will continue, but not comprehend anything.

As of latly I have been attracted to books about things, ADD, LD, Jobs, biographies, stuff like that.

At my first psyc. appt. the doc said it was unusual that I loved to read (passionatly) that ADD'ers usually got tired/frustrated & gave up. I have always read any and all things I can get my hands on, even the backs of cereal boxed when I was little. I dont however, have good comprehension at all. What about everyone else? readers? what kind of material?

That description fit me early on. I used to read quite a bit of material without absorbing it at all. I obsessively read encyclopedias when I was four, simply to read the words. When I was in first grade, I had demonstrated that I could read quite well, so I was placed with an advanced group of students. I would, however, "zone out" while others were reading alound, also not comprehending information while reading myself. Later on, I avoided reading unless it was imperative.

These days, I read quite a bit better than previously. The reading comprehension on/off switch here is still interest, however. I only read non-fiction. Most of my reading is done on the Internet, where my comprehension seems the best. I also enjoy reading computer books and manuals. When I am required to read for a class, I tend to extract more information out of four-page summaries than out of the book itself.

I know an ADDer in real life that is an excellent reader, both in the mechanical act and comprehension.

I am a voracious reader also. I don't remember much of the fictions stuff, so I read things over and over. Same enjoyment!
I can disappear into books. If someone wants me they have to touch me to get my attention.

i had trouble reading early on. my first grade teacher and soon to be second grade teacher recommend that i read over the summer. i could not then, and still not now read out loud. i would miss words, mess up saying words, etc. truly a nightmare. my mind would race around the page, and my perfectionism/desire to show that i could read to my teachers would cause problems too. since then, ive realized that oral reading in grade school was setup to show the teacher 'where you were at'. However, in my case it wasnt fair that i wasnt the best oral reader, my silent reading was faster and smoother.

By 6th grade, i picked up speed reading. we had a competion of who could read the most books in the class. needless to say, i won, by a LONG SHOT (the slow reader 4-5 years eariler). the ability to form pictures in my head as i read helped immensely. i read anything and everything i could in 6th grade for that competion.

as of now, 10 years later, i still enjoy reading. some where along the lines i stopped doing the speed reading. i was reading jeff freed's book, which again introduced me to speed reading, oddly he helped me with my math abilties as well. im working on building up my speed reading again for the winter semester. freed stated quite a bit that i knew, stuff that i did before. The main thrust is to skip the small words (and, but, it etc) and let a picture form in your head. i usually speed read magazine/newspaper articles/text books and other things that im not 100% interested in.

as for reading, i generally read anything. if i am eating alone, i will find a newspaper, magazine, box of cereal, book, anything to occupy the time. i found speedreading helped me when i wasnt not 100% interested in something. if i was interested in something, it would usually put me into hyperfocus:) and i wouldnt need the speedreading.

i can comprehend what i read just about perfectly. i scored high on the iq test on that part. i can not express in words as easy what i read.

finally, i wanted to say im not prompting buying freed's book, but i did find it had a few great idea for me.:)

I can definitely relate. I'm a big time reader too, and in grade school, at one point I was in a reading class one grade level ahead. I love to read but I have the ADHD tie in issues. I skip all over the place and don't remember what I read a lot of the time-have to go back and re-read. So I'd consider that the same as not absorbing it all. But as someone mentioned, there is an on/off type interest switch. I have an excellent memory for certain things, and it always seemed incongruent to me how so much of the time I also forget what I just read. It makes better sense to me now. Since I'm combined type ADHD, I have the hyperfocus part along with the inattentive part.

I am also a voracious reader. I start a book and with hyperfocus the rest of the world vanishes and I am transported. Can be a problem when there's work to be done! :D I, too, will quickly forget what I've read, but the plus to that is that I can read books over and over again and always enjoy them.

I read an interesting article that compulsive reading is another manifestation of hyperactivity, the same way that excessive talking is. This really grabbed me because I and my 2 children (that I think are ADD) all read in a compulsive manner. latch onto one genre of books and read it to the exclusion of all other types. I too have difficulty recalling much of what I read, I keep thinking I'd like to join a book club as a social activity but don't because I would look too foolish trying to discuss what the book was about. When I first started exploring the notion that I might have ADD, I thought the fact that I could stay focussed to read might mean that I was not. For the past few months, I haven't been able to read a complete book (or sit through a whole movie for that matter) as menopause sets in and my ADD symptoms worsened.

interesting post milauran. the words "voracious reader" have been used by many to describe their reading styles here, and i have to add myself to their group. i have always wondered if my reading habits stemmed from a sub-conscious effort to sort of self-medicate, drowning out all the other stuff that over-stimulates my mind. i am the type that gets a 4 inch thick book and reads the entire thing in less than 24 hours. i guess as far as self-medication tools, it's not a bad one....unfortunately, i have often bought the same darn book twice because i forgot i had already read the thing!!!

Milauren, thats really interesting, it makes perfect sense! Thats exactly what I do! I just finished a trilogy on ancient Roman gladiators, and now I need to see Gladiator again, clean the library out of all its history books, ect. Free2beme, thats also me! my doc said I might be reading to escape. Im feeling great now, and able to make more balanced decisions, but I dont want to get rid of that, I think I'll keep it.

I'm a reader !!!

YEP YEP.. love to read and love English Litterature all together.

My reading habits:

Well, I generally don't read books. When I was in the Navy and out to sea for six months I read alot, but much nowadays anymore. I do however LOVE listening to audio books. I thought the Da'Vinci Code was absolutely awsome....

When I am at a doctors office I will pick up and read articles. It's kinda funny, it depends on my mood what catches my eye. Sometimes I will read about sports, well...OK pretty much anytime I will read about sports, but sometimes I will pick up the oddest magazine cause something catches my eye. The other day I picked up a magazine and read an article about why woman do the things they do. It was a womans magazine, and when I put it down and looked up, this lady sittin accross from me gave me a really wierd look.

Anyway, I generally read things that I can start and finish in one sitting, otherwise I listen to it on tape.

yeah im sure this is sad but i have never really read a book before... skipped through it and tried to read but no...

things that interest me the most and i still have a hard time reading it and it takes me a few tries to do it. i get caught up on a word or something and get taken away to many thoughts....i think im just too creative to read.... i should write!!!!

I read a lot. I loose myself in reading. But it has to be engaging. I enjoy fiction-based-on-fact like the Patrick O'Brian books. I also like magazines. I don't always remember all of what I read, but that is not the point for me. I would also read and re-read cereal boxes at the breakfast table when I was a kid.

I love reading when I can get my hands on a really good book....I enjoy almost anything fiction: mystery, horror, romance....usually the title and the description of the storyline turns me on to the book. According to my mom, I started reading when I was 16 months old. By the time I was 2, I could read newspaper articles and picture books. Needless to say, I was the only kid in my kindergarten class that could actually read and I was so advanced that the teacher said I was reading at a grade 6 level. That's why it was recommended that I begin French Immersion, which I did from the age of 5 to the time I was in Grade 12.

ohyeah ohyeah ohyeah.

I've been reading like a madwoman ever since I can remember. In my case it was such a nice escape from crazy mommy and other unpleasantries! I too read everything I could get my hands on--cereal boxes, women's magazines (when I was, say 7 or so), 30-year-old encyclopedias, etc. Didn't matter.

Now I read Japanese, and I do the same thing. Interestingly, one of the reasons I find translating into Japanese relatively easy (despite not being a native speaker) is that I always read stupid **** (cereal boxes, trademark notices, ads in magazines, signs on the streets--constantly) so the standard ways of expressing certain ideas often come easily. But then again, I'm kind of a freak.

So why is it, I wonder, that I buy tons of books, but don't let myself sit down and read them (I tell myself I must go clean my house, pay bills, answer letters, etc. before I can reward myself. Of course I never do any of those things, so don't get to read as much as I'd like). Bummer...

I am not a reader. It has always been hard for me to read, not due to any type of illiteracy, but because the words on the page won't hold still. My ADD doc tested me and I have some sort of condition, that I don't remember the name of, LOL, where I see the 'valleys and streams' on the pages (the vertical patterns of white running down the page between the words) more than the words themselves, and it makes me continually lose my place when going from the end of one line to the beginning of another, I'm completely lost, AND because of the condition I have, the background of the paper is so bright that it glows over the letters on the page, making it hard for me to make out. And some part of my ADHD causes me to read the same sentence over and over again, not soaking it in. Now, in spite of all these difficulties, I can still muddle through reading if I absolutely have to, but I hate it, it's very slow if the ADD is acting up strong, and it gives me horrible headaches. I have to concentrate very hard. So - books are my enemy. LOL! I do better in, say, this forum where the background isn't white, and when people make their font bold that helps lots. Chat rooms can be hell for me because the words REALLY ARE moving! LOL and I get lost a lot - as anyone who's been in chat with me knows. ;)
I love to write though. :)

I just luv to read! I started at 4 and never stopped since. When I get started, I can't stop and the pages just turn and turn

The good thing (it was a bad thing when it was for school that I had to read), is that a few days after having finished reading the book, I just totaly forget the book.By this, I mean I don't remember the end nor the beginning of the book, even by reading the back of it!
I realy have a lousy long term memory!

So that's fun, because I can read a book, finish it, put it up in my library and then take it down two weeks later and read it as if it was a new book!! :)

I love to read too. I always have. I remember as a kid having several books at a time that I was reading. I do this now too. I have stacks of books by my bed. Some books I skim thru, some I get engrossed in and finish in a day or two, some I am rereading for the second or third time. I like fiction and non-fiction. I have several interests that I like to read up on.

I think the fact that I was a good reader as a kid hid my ADD.

I dont really like to read but when I read it is usually liek magazines or sports related books. When I have to read a book for english class at school i go and get the book on tape and listen to it because i understand it a lot better and i can listen to it while i do something else

I love to read ,must have newspaper every day and a good book every now and then -was put into speed reading program in grade school -also sometimes when reading I can get to the bottom of a page and wonder what did I just read ? then start from the top again a read the page over .also Tune out the world when reading and must be touched or yelled at before I can break my consentration

I was never much of a reader until my adult life. As a child I had the hardest time recalling details and especially in order. I was often told that I read things that were not there. I never thought about putting in extra words they just happened and then when I was asked to sumerize and I could not remember a thing in the book or just the paragraph. So I just never read. Now as an aduld I enjoy it much more and there are no tests so I just read. The only problem I have now is sitting still long enough to read more than a page or two. I have tow boys and I heare then sharing the same frustrations. So in my opinion Ihtink it is a major factor.

i'm an advanced reader, but i don't read particularly fast because ic ant concentrate on it. i will read an entier paragraph and then realize i wasnt "listening".

i can't read aloud very well, i get too anxious.

reading books: from the last 3 years, books that im reading and havent given up reading: about 8 - 10 books. books in the last month : 3 books.
book im reading currently : 1 book.

I love to read, i love the smell of books, i love just hangin out at the library. I read a lot of serial killers/mysteries/cops adn robber ...and some historical biography of quebec. And a lot of craft and how-to books.
Reading is a need , i read everyday.

Just a quick note since I'm supposed to be homeschooling. I started begging my mom to teach me to read when I was 2y. She had read too many child-care books and been 'brainwashed' (her words) so she thought she was incapable of teaching me. I was put into a pre-school of sorts (I think kinda a Montessori thing) at 2.5y because of this. She didn't know what to do with me. I think it was probably the time I walked up and asked her (at about 2.5y) if she knew what a pachyderm was that was the last straw for her. That was my favorite book at the time...children's picture dictionary. hehe

Since then (or maybe before) reading has been an almost compulsive thing for me. I read anything I get my hands on and often find myself drawn to words. I can't *not* read them. I read literally everything. It's only ever a *problem* for me when I find myself reading a book/article/whatever that I don't even like. I can't make myself quit reading until the end. Very frustrating. lol

That said, most of the time when I read, I get lost in whatever it is, to the point of not being aware of anything going on around me. You can call my name repeatedly and I just will not hear. Yet at the same time, I very often find myself straying (mentally) from whatever I'm reading and suddenly notice that the last sentence/paragraph/page/chapter is a big black hole. I read it but have NO idea what it said.

As for what I *prefer* reading.... just about anything and everything except hard-core(hc) western, hc sci-fi, hc comics. I read romance, historical fiction and nonfiction, contemporary fiction and nonfiction, biographies, self-help, mysteries, horror/goth, children's books of all kinds (and *not* just because I have kids!), magazines, webpages, bulletin boards (LOL)....

Some of my all-time favorites:
Anne of Green Gables, 1984, Children's Hospital by Peggy Anderson, My Side of the Mountain, Brave New World, MacBeth, poetry by Siegfreid Sassoon, Flowers in the Attic, The Gift of the Magi, The Most Dangerous Game, The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler...I literally could go on all day. I love them all! LOL

I think really have have two main 'themes' I like to follow....stories that mean nothing, just fun to read and dream about...and stories that *really* make me think, stuffed to the brim with hidden meanings, symbolism, and the like. I love digging my heels in those and poking around in there to see what I can turn up.

Chris C
who apologizes for this turning out to be not-so-quick...*sigh*

Sounds a lot like my reading experience. When I got a really good book, I could hyperfocus and literally read from 10PM to dawn. On the other hand, I have a huge pile of philosophy, technical, and now ADD books by my bed all in various states of readness.

I'm a voracious reader; I learned to read by age 5 and have always read a lot ever since.
For me, its part of the hyperfocus aspect of ADHD. When I'm reading and concentrating I get into a very calm and peaceful state which is one of the few times I really feel relaxed.
On the other side of the ADHD coin, there are times when I can't concentrate at all on what I'm trying to read, no matter how much I want to read it or how interesting it is. In these times, I've found it best not to force the issue but to go do something else instead.
Almost everything I read now is of a technical/educational nature, but I used to read a lot of Science Fiction and Thrillers.

My story is a little different but built on the same foundations of what others have experienced.

I read very early and was the only kid in my class that could read in kindergarten. I was voracious about reading through school. I couldn't do the school work but also couldn't sit there doing nothing - so I spent a lot of time reading sci-fi and fantasy books. Worked out well for me as I was a budding comic book artist and it fed the worlds in my head. Read tons of comics/horror/westerns/mysteries/picture books and didn't neglect the classics.

As I got older and better a dealing with people I read less and spent more time being social. Reading is still a bit of a crutch for me and I turn to words whenever I'm bored. When traveling alone and in a hotel room with nothing to read, I've grabbed the phone book to look for amusing names (stuff like Anita Prostate or Sterling Wang) just to keep myself busy. I'm just juvenile enough to enjoy the lamest of wordplay.

For years I haven't read many books for pure pleasure. Whenever I read now, it has to be focused on learning or gaining information. Maybe I'm trying to instinctively trying to catch up with what I missed in school. But I really have denied myself books for joy. It's almost like whipping a horse to make it go faster across the finish line. But the horse is me and the finish line is just on the other side of the horizon. Unless I can get something quantifiable out of book - I get the same anxiety reading it as I do standing in a line.

For someone who loved to read for pleasure - having it become a source of anxiety has been a little tough.

I'm a readaholic, too. I taught myself to read when I was about 3 or so. My mom thought that was normal- boy was she surprised when my brother came along. I'm a compulsive reader, and will read anything I come into contact with. But, I cant seem to retain or comprehend certain types of reading material- technical stuff, astronomy, etc. Just space right out!

I love to read. But alot of it depends on the book. Some will grab my attention and I would'nt put it down till I was finished. I Read "Jaws" in 5 hours. I learned to read at an early age, By the time I was 5, I was reading 3rd grade books. Unfortunately, now I have a hard time reading anything, my mind waunders or something else gets my attention. I had to reread your post, as I just lost my train of thought. I can remember almost everything I read, depending on the interest.

Reading books is one of my favorite things to do.
I need it to be really quite when I read. No background noises.
I didn't start reading till a lot later on.
I think that had more to do with the Dyslexia then the AD/HD
Rereading is something I'm use to doing.
Sometimes I reread because I'm not comprehending what I just read.
But most times I reread because words are getting mixed up.
And a sentence didn't make sense so I have to read it over to get the right word.

Some books will take me a week to get through.
Others I'll read cover to cover in one night.
I read all types of books sci fi being my favorite.
Spending an hour in a book store is fun to me.
And I always have a list of books I want to buy.
I also make reading list for myself of the books I already own.

My three favorite books are
The Red Tent By Anita Diamant
Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte
and The Princess Bride By William Goldman