Graduation: We Thought this Day Would Never Come

From an InsideADHD.org subscriber

LJ graduated from high school!

What a celebration we had to honor him on this day that we weren’t sure would ever come.  At the age of two, he climbed onto the kitchen counter and stood there.  We’re not sure how he got up but he was thrilled with himself.  At the age of five, he was so disruptive on the kindergarten bus that he was going to be put off.  At the age of seven, he still wasn’t reading! Thank God for the Reading Recovery Program and an extremely dedicated reading teacher.  At eight, the Children’s Hospital assessment determined that he had ADHD, a slight hearing loss, and he was behind his peers academically.

The first day of school every year was fraught with anxiety that started two weeks earlier and continued until he met his teachers and classmates.  He was rarely invited to birthday parties, had few friends, and drove his sisters crazy! But . . . with lots of love from sometimes bewildered family, great doctors, appropriate medications, and some wonderful teachers, he learned, matured, and has graduated from high school.

He has some true friends, has learned to be a pretty good driver, holds a part-time job and will enter college in the fall under an alternative entrance program. This week, he finds out if he is an Eagle Scout—quite an accomplishment for any young man, but especially so for a person with ADHD when so much of the Boy Scout program is about paying attention to details.