Comments on: Worried About Your Teen’s Poor Grades? http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/10/31/worried-about-your-teens-poor-grades/ Tips and Tools for Successfully Parenting your Teen Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:18:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Sue Blaney http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/10/31/worried-about-your-teens-poor-grades/comment-page-1/#comment-1332 Sue Blaney Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:07:45 +0000 http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/10/31/worried-about-your-teens-poor-grades/#comment-1332 Johnny, nothing is more powerful than hearing your personal experience with this. Your comment here can give many parents hope - thank you for sharing it! Johnny, nothing is more powerful than hearing your personal experience with this. Your comment here can give many parents hope – thank you for sharing it!

]]> By: J.Leavy http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/10/31/worried-about-your-teens-poor-grades/comment-page-1/#comment-1330 J.Leavy Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:40:09 +0000 http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/10/31/worried-about-your-teens-poor-grades/#comment-1330 Regina, I am a 32 yr. old with what appears to be adult ADD. I have difficulty maintaining focus, I consistently start projects without seeing them completed (in fact, I am reading about 6 or 7 books all at once), and my attention span...oh look! A chicken! On the positive side, I am a very successful husband and my professional career continues to thrive as I mature and learn how to best use this "disability" to my advantage. Rather than fight to grasp a sense of "normalcy" I am learning to adapt my lifestyle around how my brain works (let's face it - it doesn't exactly work the same way most people's do.) I have learned how my cycles work and have adapted my approach to life to fit those cycles. It's kinda like a cork riding a wave...rather than fight the current I am learning to rise and fall with each passing wave. As a growing adolescent my mother and pediatrician had prescribed ritalin for ADHD, which as I understand is now considered near neanderthal. Even then I knew that I did not want to exist as a "normal" person if it meant that I needed to be chemically altered to do so. I made the choice then to stop taking the drugs and decided that I can learn to adapt, and although it has been a long and arduous journey I can say that it has been worth it. Just knowing that I don't need to rely on medication to function as a contributing member of society (I am an environmental water quality technician) makes me think that others can do it, too. Talk to your daughter and gain some perspective on how she feels about the situation- perhaps there is more to her grades than ineffective medication. If she is strong-willed (as most women are) I would be willing to bet she could learn to adapt to her "disability" as well. P.S. If you really stop and think about it, the pharmeceudical companies pushing these drugs wouldn't make much money if we all learned to adapt. Perhaps that is why medication is almost always the first option suggested by the medical community. Money makes the world go 'round...and if people are pacified rather than "cured" there is a lot more money to be made. Regina,

I am a 32 yr. old with what appears to be adult ADD. I have difficulty maintaining focus, I consistently start projects without seeing them completed (in fact, I am reading about 6 or 7 books all at once), and my attention span…oh look! A chicken!

On the positive side, I am a very successful husband and my professional career continues to thrive as I mature and learn how to best use this “disability” to my advantage. Rather than fight to grasp a sense of “normalcy” I am learning to adapt my lifestyle around how my brain works (let’s face it – it doesn’t exactly work the same way most people’s do.) I have learned how my cycles work and have adapted my approach to life to fit those cycles. It’s kinda like a cork riding a wave…rather than fight the current I am learning to rise and fall with each passing wave.

As a growing adolescent my mother and pediatrician had prescribed ritalin for ADHD, which as I understand is now considered near neanderthal. Even then I knew that I did not want to exist as a “normal” person if it meant that I needed to be chemically altered to do so. I made the choice then to stop taking the drugs and decided that I can learn to adapt, and although it has been a long and arduous journey I can say that it has been worth it. Just knowing that I don’t need to rely on medication to function as a contributing member of society (I am an environmental water quality technician) makes me think that others can do it, too.

Talk to your daughter and gain some perspective on how she feels about the situation- perhaps there is more to her grades than ineffective medication. If she is strong-willed (as most women are) I would be willing to bet she could learn to adapt to her “disability” as well.

P.S. If you really stop and think about it, the pharmeceudical companies pushing these drugs wouldn’t make much money if we all learned to adapt. Perhaps that is why medication is almost always the first option suggested by the medical community. Money makes the world go ’round…and if people are pacified rather than “cured” there is a lot more money to be made.

]]> By: Regina Harris http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/10/31/worried-about-your-teens-poor-grades/comment-page-1/#comment-1237 Regina Harris Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:43:25 +0000 http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/10/31/worried-about-your-teens-poor-grades/#comment-1237 My daughter is a senior this year and was diagnosed with add at the end of 8th grade. her grades improved dramatically on the adderall in 9th grade, but she lost 14 pounds. she did well in 10th grade and fairly well in 11th. then multiple med changes to now she is on strattera. her grades are horrible this year. she hid her progress report from us. I had to call the guidance office to get it. she told us she is ashamed and embarassed. but she refuses to go for help after school. the doctor increased the dose of strattera. she is refusing to take the sat again, ( took it in the spring) but wants to go to college. she tells us we smother her, and to back off. I love her and am worried. My friend ( who is a therapist) said she will have to come to the conclusion herself of trying harder. that we need to let it go for now........ My daughter is a senior this year and was diagnosed with add at the end of 8th grade. her grades improved dramatically on the adderall in 9th grade, but she lost 14 pounds. she did well in 10th grade and fairly well in 11th. then multiple med changes to now she is on strattera. her grades are horrible this year. she hid her progress report from us. I had to call the guidance office to get it. she told us she is ashamed and embarassed. but she refuses to go for help after school. the doctor increased the dose of strattera. she is refusing to take the sat again, ( took it in the spring) but wants to go to college. she tells us we smother her, and to back off. I love her and am worried. My friend ( who is a therapist) said she will have to come to the conclusion herself of trying harder. that we need to let it go for now……..

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