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Youth Speak About AD/HD
By children and youth diagnosed with AD/HD

If you were to design an exercise for people who don’t have AD/HD to understand wha it feels like, what would you ask them to do?

I would ask them to drink a lot of energy drinks so you get really hyper. Then sit down and try to plan out wheat you’re going to do for the entire week in a moment’s time. Another exercise would be putting on a blindfold and running across a tightrope. It’s a rush. Either you like, or it makes you feel out of control. –Will (15)

Id’ have them be confused in a lot of subjects and not know as much as other people do because of memory problems or not understanding the explanation. –Justin (18)

It’s like you want to run on a treadmill for hours and hours and hours and hours. You just can’t sit still. Turn on the music, LOUD, and dance to it , WILDLY. But you can’t because you’ll get in trouble. –Mike (13)

I would have them try to do the splits and a handstand at the same time while someone is tickling their nose with a feather. When I feel frustrated I have a hard time putting things into words because it’s very difficult. –Alexis (10)

An exercise I would design is for someone to ride a rollercoaster, blindfolded. If you think about it, it would be a scary thing, not knowing where you’re going, feeling lost and scared. That’s how I sometimes feel –Michael (22)

Reprinted with permission from Minnesota Adoption Support and Preservation (MN ASAP), an organization supporting adoptive families in Minnesota.