Last month I ran a guest post, One Man’s Rugged Reality of ADD, by Dylan Rosen. As the outpouring of supportive comments demonstrates, this first-person account of late-diagnosis ADD touched many minds and hearts among ADHD Roller Coaster blog readers. The ensuing comments are all well worth reading, but the one from “Brandy” stood out for me in particular, because this late-diagnosis adult and mother faced some hard realities that many might prefer to avoid.
I often hear from parents in distress and even angry about the school pointing out the red flags of ADHD in their child. They never saw the signs, these parents say; how dare the school suggest such a thing! Of course it’s true that schools or teachers sometimes overstep their bounds and/or mis-perceive behavior as ADHD-related. In my experience as a longtime advocate, however, I more typically hear stories of schools denying the reality of ADHD. The first question I ask of the parents who write to me with such concerns: “Is it possible that you or your co-parent have ADHD, too? And maybe that’s why you didn’t realize that ADHD might be an issue for your child at school?” This question sometimes comes as a shock, and isn’t always well-received. That’s why I so admired the compassionately courageous path of inquiry followed by Brandy, below, as explained in her comment on Dylan’s story: Read the rest of this entry »
This week, I’m preparing a presentation for the 
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