I remember feeling like a cheat when I was growing up. I was held back in second grade. In high school, even though I was in many higher grades, I always felt like I was working harder than anyone else. Reading apparently took me a lot longer. I read a paragraph and thought, “I have no idea what I’ve just read.” I would jump forward, never read directions, and make a lot of negligent mistakes.
In my junior high school year, I took two advanced placement courses and was a member of the soccer and dance team. I came home after training with a lot of homework and no idea where to start. I had no organizational or time management skills, no ability to prioritize. I started on a topic and thought, “It’ll take forever. I’ll never get this done.” Then I was paralyzed and stressed, cried, paused and came back and was even more stressed because I hadn’t done anything.
At that time, my mother took me to a psychologist and I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I was 17. My doctor prescribed medication and my mother hired what is now known as the Executive Functions Coach.
My coach taught me to plan my time. She let me organize every 15 minutes of my day. She showed me that I could complete all of my work and explained reading strategies to help me remember things better, like previewing chapters instead of just jumping forward. She taught me how to break big tasks into small ones, how to stop procrastinating, prioritize, start a task, focus, and finish. I started using a planner to organize everything. The drug helped too.
I am also very fortunate to have a great family who supported me a lot. My mother copied pages from my textbooks for me because I couldn’t write in them, and then she sat with me as a silent partner while I worked.
During my first year of college, I continued to take medication and use the executive functions that I had learned. I became a teacher and then a managerial coach teaching children how to improve the skills I had learned. I’m 30 now and run my own business, a non-profit educational institution that helps parents improve their children’s academic lives.
After I was diagnosed, that enabled me to think, “So I have ADHD. I’m smart and capable. I have something that holds me back, but I can develop strategies that will help me overcome it.” I don’t feel like a cheat anymore.
Katherine’s key
“The important thing for me is not to feel like a failure and to take the medication when I need it.”
“I can’t say enough about a really great support system. I had great teachers. My parents and my husband gave me a lot of support. “
“Being confident and hugging all parts of me, including ADHD, was very important to my success.”
“Leadership practice has been a big part of my success. You know, adults can have coaches too.”
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