Good Morning, all!

I am in the process of working on some ADD-related writing projects, and am trying to work out some of my own 'history.' Hindsight being 20/20, I am curious as to whether or not this could have been classified as an early indicator of ADHD.

I have a very vivid memories of my Kindergarten teacher 'holding me back' from recess because I could not learn to tie my tennis shoes. Now, she would go through the motions...make me repeat it, but I remember so vividly about being made to sit inside because I couldn't master remedial shoe tying quickly. (after the first few days, she got really frustrated and would not let me go to recess until I'd successfully tied my shoes on my own. ) My father said I spent the first two months of kindergarten getting held back from recess, until I said something about wanting to play recess and he found out why. He went to the school and met with the principle and the teacher and I was soon allowed to go to recess without fully mastering shoe-tying for beginners. I remember eventually mastering it before the year was out, but I distinctly recall my difficulties with tying shoes and the teacher's frustration with it.

My question is that, looking back, Would the repeated difficulty following the instructions and my lack of coordination towards tying my shoes would now probably serve as a possible indicator towards ADHD, since it appeared to involve so many of the small tasks that make up the mountain of overall ADHD symptoms?

I am talking to a friend of mine who organizes adult education classes, and she thinks that this might be a good topic for an adult education class/seminar. She's asked me to write an outline/background, and this is one of the things I assume pointed early on, had anyone known what to look for, would have correctly diagnosed me sooner.

Any and all comments appreciated!

The earliest ADHD moment that I can remember is when I aws about 5 or 6 years old and the whole class was on the floor listening to the teacher, except one person (me :D ) who was looking out of the window and spinning a pen around their fingers.
"Are you bored of this class Boone?" I heard that alot.
Yes I was bored, and I couldn't stand staying seated for so long!

The teacher got up and stole my attention from the window and told me I was "too stupid to be in my class" which really upset me as I wasn't stupid and she said it right in front of everyone.

I think that my attention problems at school and my inability to listen would definatly serve as possible indicators of ADHD, though my symptoms noticed more when I got to my high school and so I was diagnosed.

KC..I don't think that the struggle to learn to tie laces was/is an indication of ADHD..but, that's just IMHO :-)
Lots and lots and LOTS of kids struggle with laces well past that age..

I would be looking more for the *blank* look, the look of *confusion*, the struggling girl to stay in her seat, the kid who just can't help but yell out the answer, and more importantly, very differing degrees of the ability to learn things.

I rememebr on the odd (I mean very rare) occasion in high school, what the teacher said made PERFECT sence, and I could listen and understand, and remember..and when I did my homework on that topic, it was GOOD!!..now, the other 99% of the time, I was confused, I had NO idea what they were on about, I was lost, in the wrong room..forgot my books...etc etc..

anyway..LOL..my point...when I *COULD* listen, I had no problems learning, but that just caused MORE problems for the times I had no idea what was going on. The teachers than ASSUMED that because I did the project on *RUSSIA* with no problems, that I should be able to do everythig to that standard..it made my high school life hell..It made no difference at all if the topic was interesting or not either...either my brain was on or off , and nothing I do could do, would flick that switch, even as MUCH as I would try and try and try..so, see if you can get your teacher friends to be alert for stuff like that..as well as the obvious ADHD signs..

good luck

In kindergarten, I never got my letter worksheets done in time to go out to recess before the buses came. They were boring as anything, so I'd daydream for long periods of time between each letter. Not sure if it was ADD or not, but it springs to mind. That was also the beginning of the many parent-teacher conferences about me that happened while I was in elementary school. :S

OK, here's mine.......

I'm in the womb goin'..

"COME ON!!!!!!!"

for me, I remember in grade 1, we had story time..and my teacher brought in and set up a small tent, sleeping bag, and artificial campfire.

We would all sit around the campfire and listen to her read a story. Everyone would get their turn to "camp" in the sleeping bag. I was so excited, when i finally got my turn.

It seemed like such a huge sleeping bag and I was dying to try and slip down to touch my feet all the way at the other end of the bag.

i remember one of the rules was DONT PUT YOUR HEAD BENEATH THE SLEEPING BAG.

Of course, 2 mins into the story I just had to at least try! So, I did, I remember I had NO CONTROL over that decision. Of course I got caught right away....I WAS SO CLOSE!

I almost reached the bottom of it. To this day I wish I had made it. She yelled for me to come out, and I still tried to reach it...then she yelled again...and I had to get out.

I got sent to my desk...never allowed to be in the sleeping bag again...:(

OK, here's mine.......

I'm in the womb goin'..

"COME ON!!!!!!!"

LOL!!!

Learning to tie shoe laces should be used to measure some disorder. Mannn....that one sticks in my brain. My theory, you will be able to tie your shoe laces when your brain is ready to tie shoe laces.

My first memory would be watching kids in grade 1 identify a number of words like the and red. I think I remembered like one word. Not only did they know these words, they were making SENTENCES out of them. That could actually be more of an LD memory...

First ADHD memory would be daydreaming...looking out the window dreaming of "dirtbomb" fights or treeforts....and being so far gone that the teacher had to stand beside me to pull me out of this "dreaming well". I stood out for that in the classroom.

Having the teacher read aloud to us every day after lunch and hating it, because it made me so impatient. Hence, starting to hide a book in my lap that I would read while she was reading, frequently getting caught and scolded, but continuing to do it anyway at the next available chance.

Or maybe, being given directions by my father and trying to concentrate but having my brain simply refuse to take in any more than the first one or two.

I swear I could literally feel my universal translator turn off and the rest of the directions revert into ancient Hittite.

PS I didn't learn how to tie my shoes until I was eight. I would have killed for velcro (which hadn't been invented yet, by the way.)

I remember being the 1st grade the teacher dumping out my desk in from of the whole class because it was messy. I also couldn't tie my shoes until I was in the second grade. I also remember failing a spelling test in 1st grade not because I couldn't spell the words but I had studied them in a certain order and it make no sense to me that the they would test them in a different order.

Though I did have a lot of ADD behaviors when I was little they didn't start becoming a big challenge for me until 5th grade. Until then I liked school and kept up with the rest of the kids.

Age 5/6 playing catch with my dad:

Dad: (ready with ball) shouts, "Look Alive!"
Me: (distracted, most likely by a butterfly or flower) "Wha...?"
Ball hits me in face.
(my dad loves this story)

My first was attempting to do homework. I wanted to but simply couldn't. Just about 50 years later I understood why.

Bob

nursery school was tougher for me i was always labelled the bad kid .

Very friendly and nice but was a big distraction to everyone else regardless of what was going on..

Kindergarten: My mom was in the class helping that day and the teacher was getting kids over who wanted to learn to read. My mom came and asked me why I didn't want to go learn. I prefered the monkey bars

Grade 2: No being allowed to go outside for "Thursday Afternoon Club" because I hadn't finished any of my worksheets. I think I got out a total of 2 times that year.

I once asked my dad about the parties my uncle who died 2 years ago use to have. I asked him about the cocks fights and horse shoes and Black Lable beer. My dad asked me if I remember that. I said I did, how old was I ? he said I could not have been more than 2 or 3 at the most. I think I remember it because I taisted that Black Lable beer and spit it out. I have allot of memories from 4 years on. I think that the ADD factor and 1st time experances causes one to hyperfocus on the event causeing the vivid memory.

I must have been aobut four or five and my parents had taken me to the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. My dad took me to the girl's bathroom and was waiting for me outside. Somehow when I came out I didn't see him and couldn't remember the way back to the big Globe which was our meeting point. I wander off in the totally wrong direction and got totally lost (ADD enough?). It was the mid 60's and there was a group of African-American's protesting with signs and it was a pretty scary mix for a preschooler. They were all going the opposite way from where I was trying to travel. I finally got behind an adult and followed in their path, until I saw the big Globe and my parents. As I recall, my dad got in more trouble from my mom than I did, even though he had stayed quite close.:p


Anyway, I've been getting lost ever since. Did I ever mention the time I got lost all by myself in communist Russia?:eek:

Scattered

I remember 4 grade the most. I couldn't sit still in class. I had to get up and walk around, while everyone else was working. I would get this "twitch" in my spine that would just drive me crazy and make me want to wiggle in my seat. Oh yeah, my seat was in the back corner of the room away from everyone else. :(

BTW look at my signature. :D

I was about 4 and it was my first swimming lesson. I got bored and ditched my flutter board and wandered off behind the teacher to see how far I could walk as the pool got deeper and deeper. It was soon over my head so I decided to see if I could walk across the bottom all the way to the wall. When I got there the nice lifegaurd pulled me out and my mom was there to take me home.

My mom's version of the story is different. It involves pounding on a window while her child is underwater with nobody noticing...then all the other moms watching from the viewing area above seeing what was going on and shouting and pounding too ...and a mad race downstairs through the locker room and out on the deck...to find me oblivious that anything had gone wrong.

Tim, my signature has a resemblance to yours...LOL

I have a lot of first memories. One is being at the mall (I must have been 3 or 4 as my mom still rented the mall strollers to put me in because it was too much for me to walk...shoot, maybe I was even younger). Anyway, my mom would stop at a rack of clothes and start browsing and OMG, I could swear we sat there for 6 hours! I would start throwing a TEMPER TANTRUM at the fact that the stroller wasn't moving. As soon as she started pushing the stroller, I would calm right down. That must have been one of my few trips out in public, as my mom later told me that she absolutely could NOT take me out in public places because I'd always throw a fit. I like hearing the story of when I was about a year old at a restaurant throwing a fit and crying hysterically. Apparently, the whole place was desperate to get me to shut up, as a waitress brought out a huge plate of whipped cream and set it in front of me. Supposedly, I shut up then and dug in! LOL

Ohhhh, and then there's kindergarten! I absolutely HATED how EVERY morning we had to come in, take the chairs off the desk, which sitting on top of the chair was a STUPID FREAKING picture to color! EVERY morning! I despised coloring. I could never stay anywhere near in the lines. Then, there was my talking. I had a best friend in that class. We were in the morning section. I would talk and talk and talk and talk and talk (like I'm doing now...LOL) to my friend, no matter what was going on in the classroom. I remember talking right out loud to her while the teacher was in the middle or reading a story while we had to sit on that stupid big rug. Anyway, they all had enough of my talking and they moved my best friend to the afternoon class. :( Next time I saw her was on her 10th birthday and it was all awkward because it had been so long since I'd seen her. That was so traumatizing to me. Just whisk away my best friend just like that, not to be seen for another 5 years, which to a kid, feels like an eternity! And my progress notes from kindergarten always said "slow to finish" which I still am till this day. As you can see in my signature, my 1st grade teacher was no happier with my talking. Every progress report mentioned my excessive talking. Haha, I almost forget, when we graduated kindergarted, every student got a little book from the teacher. Anyone remember those "Little Miss" and "Mr. Men" books? Well, my teacher appropriately gave me "Little Miss Chatterbox." :P But, still, I wasn't diagnosed until I was 20 years old. Le sigh.

The earliest thing I can remember is being about 5 years old and going to my bedroom to get something, only to completely forget what it was that I wanted in the first place. I remember this actually being quite scary, as I knew I was intent on going there for a reason, and then my mind just went blank. Also my first year of school I took in a scrap of paper with writing on it my mother had done and claimed it as my own, like I just assumed they would think I could write that well, when in actuality I could probably barely write the alphabet. The signs were definitely there before age 7, lets put it that way.

WOW, my first post. This is a great site.

I was never really that hyper. In grade school I could look super busy and never get anything thing done.

3<SUP>rd </SUP>grade I was moved desk and all away from the standard square cluster of desks off to the side by myself, only people that came near me was for a drink of water (I was next to the water fountain). But I was happy. Teacher didn’t bug me then.

4<SUP>th </SUP>I never had recesses because of timed math sheets. I eventually memorized and figured them out by trial and error. Never really understanding the true concept. Couple times a month is all I had for a recess.

5<SUP>th </SUP>I leaned to managed with my ability to look at a simple homework assignment for hours and never complete it. I had friends and lots of fun through these years but school was like a switch. I just shut down.

6<SUP>th </SUP>same as 5<SUP>th</SUP>

The rest of the years I leaned to cope. I had resource class (since 3<SUP>rd</SUP> grade) which helped but didn’t address the problem.

I tried imipramine in junior high and dropped it in a couple of weeks because I felt it didn’t help plus it gave me an upset stomach. That’s when I was diagnosed with ADD. This was around 1990. My doctor was somewhat progressive. (I think)

High School went though the motions had a blast went to the local CC. lateer, dropped out

Then I worked full time.

Finally became ****ed off enough to finish Community College I had to retake classes to get my GPA up to go to the University. The first semester was hard and I sought out help I was prescribed Ritalin and all of a sudden I was taking 19+ hours a semester and walked out with a 3.0., which would have better if it wasn’t for my community college days. Later went on to receive my BA from a major University, industrial technology management.

And here I am now. I never wrote any of this before. And I’m quite happy.

Also sorry for such a windy post right off the bat. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

I was just like you Tara...5th grade things started to completely fall apart...I think that's when REAL homework kicked in.

I went to a very small parochial school and up until second grade I think my teachers thought I was just a very friendly and talkative, but enthusiastic and energetic child. Well, by second grade I had become the class distraction. I usually sped through my work just to get it done and was finished before everyone else. So, what did Lil Melissa do while the rest of the class quietly did their work? I kicked my legs back and forth kicking the kid's seat in front of me, twirled my pencils around, danced in my seat, but my most frequent offense was attempting to engage anyone else in earshot in conversation. Sooo....I spent lots of recesses sitting inside with a paper and pencil writing. "I WILL NOT TALK IN CLASS...I WILL NOT TALK IN CLASS. They ended up double promoting me to 4th instead of 3rd thinking that would cure my "boredom" and offer me more of a "challenge."

Did anyone else ever play "around the world" in school? I was THE champ at that because I was always the first to spit out the answer and hated being wrong because I couldn't bear having to stay in my seat quietly while other people happily trotted from desk to desk actively shouting out the answers.

When I was very young I had a tendency to wander off. Once we were on vacation, and we drove in to a large camping site. I saw a "gumball machine"with toys in it. In one of the toyballs there was a pink panther toy. I wanted that toy. So the moment my parents got me out of the car seat, I was on my way. The toy was the only thing on my mind. The camping site was on a large cliff, so when my parents noticed I was gone they went frantic. I ofcourse was standing at the entery, probably licking the glass of the gumball machine. I used to lick things, something I continued to do until I reached an embarrassing high age. Just something that happend when I was daydreaming. I remember beeing very annoyed that my mother did not understand what I wanted when she finaly found me, I ofcourse did not know that she had been convinced I was dead.

At the time I between 2 and 2 1/2. And I ofcourse only remember parts, but nobody knew about the toy before I told them a few years ago.


Funny thing, my mother first thought there might be somethin wrong when I was 6 or 7. The reason was that I did’nt learn how to tie my laces. I remeber spacing out every time she tried to show me (not licking stuff, but my tounge was hanging out)

I was quite young, standing mesmerized by a rusty nail sticking out of an old plank of wood...I was wondering if I stood on the nail would it go through my thong (flip flop)..I was on another planet..LOL..I just couldn't help myself...I stood on it, and yep, it went though the sole of my thong (flip flop) and into my foot! LOL..

I have told this story here lots of times, but I still giggle when I think about it

oh, and bushfires...lots of them, I think I should get back pay for all the controlled burns I did as a child :-)

and peeling wallpaper...sigh, thats a fabulous feeling, getting the biggest strip you can in one go..hehehe..

Age 3. Hyperfocusing on sounding out the words in dr seuss "fox in sox" for the entire afternoon. Mom says I read it to her that evening.

Kindergarten: teacher called to ask why I hadn't turned in 3 weeks of homework. I had no idea what homework she was talking about, and didn't recognize the projects when they were described to me. Where in the world had I been? Sitting quietly in class, listening to the teacher, but obviously not paying attention.

Age 7. Got scolded in class for not paying attention and doing an art project wrong, though I was certain I'd been hanging on the teacher's every word. I was crushed. Then got scolded for not bringing back a permission slip for a field trip. Didn't even remember we had a field trip. After a couple more episodes like this I made a conscious decision to start writing down everything the teacher said, almost word for word, and I got along fine in school from then on but spent a fortune on notebooks til I learned to write really, really small.:foot:

actually, I have been thinking about this thread, and I remember getting arrested when I was about 6 or 7, for stealing....and I had been stealing stuff for ages before I got caught....