I'm going to write about how I overcame dealing with A.D.D, and how was my life before
my family and I found out. Sense the first grade I always had a hour of school in a class where
I and a couple of other struggling students needed help. I remember hating every second of
the hour and wanting to just be in another class with all my friends who didn’t need help like I
did. In elementary school I needed a teacher next to me in third grade during math. The
reason is because when my third grade teacher would be teaching the whole class
something, I would not pay attention because I didn’t know how to do the lesson or problem.
Still to this day I hate asking questions in front of the whole class or going up to the teacher
and asking the question. Everytime I do I usually don’t remember what they said or I didn’t
know what they were talking about. Growing up with my brother having A.D.D, he always
needed help with his homework after school. My parents would spend their time helping him. I
remember sitting at the kitchen counter with my dad working on my math. We would start at
7:00 and end at 10:00, I hated it so much I would just cry secretly to myself. I remember
wiping the tears away quickly so my dad wouldn’t see them.
    

For two years I had to take an extra reading class with four other kids. I Have to be honest I
dislike reading so much, every teacher I tell that to they just say you need to get better at it
and pick a book that relates to you. I remember trying to read a book and I always got distracted
or didn’t feel like reading. In sixth grade I made a bookmark with a plain piece of paper, I
would draw on the bookmark for the entire hour. I wasn’t capable of just sitting still and
wasting my time doing something I hated. When my friends would be doing their homework
or studying for a test I would be getting in trouble, pretending I had to blow my nose a hundred
times. My third grade teacher Mrs. Bruso taught math to me, every day the whole class would
take a timed test of multiplication. We would build up to our twelves, every morning my mom
and me would practice in the parking lot of the school because my brother had to catch the
middle school bus early in the morning. So my mom and I had a couple of hours before I had
to go to school. The most I struggled with was my fives, instead of taking the test in the class
with the rest of the students I took it in the hall where it was quiet and I didn’t have to feel like
everyone was watching me. I took the test many times but one time I only got one wrong, Mrs.
Bruso was very proud of me but that still meant I had to retake it. To myself I wanted to cry
and throw a table.
    

Middle school hit me hard. Everyday in sixth grade I never knew what was going on and I
remember asking so many questions. The first month or two I cried when I got home and the
last four weeks of school felt like three hundred pounds weighed on my back and it not to know what
everyone else knew. I did start giving up and accepting demerits like it was a routine
everyday. My parents didn’t know much about them and I wasn’t going to tell them more about
demerits. That year I left sixth qgrade with an E and twelve demerits. That year was so hard for me
I decided I would just give up and never care about what I get on my tests. I felt like I had what
my brother and mom had but I never believed it because we have never talked to the
doctor about might having A.D.D .
    

The beginning of seventh grade I told my parents if I could go to the doctors to see if I had
A.D.D, they both agreed. I had to sit and explain why I think I might have A.D.D, I told her I can't
focus for an entire hour. She took notes and suggested ways to help it. I told her I've tried
everything and nothing will work. Couple months later we visited the doctors again. My mom
and my doctor talked for a long time, it felt like forever. At the end my doctor said yes you do
have A.D.D, and she told me what is going to happen now. Every morning before school I take
Adderall, adderall is a pill to help A.D.D or A.D.H students or people focus and control being
hyper. I remember going to 1st hour science and we were assigned a paper, I finished it in twelve
minutes. I didn't notice and I remember after a week my science teacher asking if I am getting
more help at home. This change my Schedule for school, instead of having art last year and this
year I have a extra math class third hour. Last year I remember some eighth graders were getting
the same help as me. It made me feel better about being in that class.

My family didn't treat me different because my mom and brother both had the same thing.
Kids in school didn't treat me different either, I bet some don't even know. When I told my
closest friends they didn't really care about it. I did have questions from a couple of my friends
like, does the pill make you smarter? Or do have to do the same lesson as us today? None of
the questions made me mad, and some questions I didn't know. I get more help from teachers
now and my mom helps me pay for stuff at the store, what I mean by that is counting the cents
fast enough. My grades improved a lot last year, first semester I had five C’s and the next
semester I was taking adderall then my grades improved by just having one C, and the rest
were B’s and A’s. I know things will get harder in high school, but I won't give up because there's
no reason to. I want to prove to people not just because I get extra help means I'm dumb. I can
do a lot of things on my own. I know how to deal with A.D.D and I'm ok with people knowing I
have it.