Sam’s Story of Courage and ADHD

How many of you know that ADHDKidsRock.com has a Forum for kids?

Kids who have ADHD get a space to talk about things on the Forum — not every kid is on Facebook!

Here’s a post from one of the kids who have connected with me through ADHDKidsRock. It’s from Sam. You may remember Sam — he shared a video on the ADHDKidsRock.com Facebook page in June.

I can already tell Sam is going to be a leader, speaking out about ADHD and rooting for change. Click here to check out Sam’s Video on Facebook.

Sam shared his speech from Grade 5 on the forum — in it he explained how he feels about his ADHD.  I think he speaks for a lot of us, in his feelings of frustration and hopefulness. After he shared his speech, he got some great input from another ADHD family who had helped their son through a similar situation.

Why You Don’t Want ADHD.

(A speech about ADHD by Sam Cameron.)

What is ADHD?

Hi my name is Samuel Cameron, most of you don’t know this but I have ADHD.

It is a mental disease that stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

It is a very hard disease to live with it makes school one of the hardest thing for me.

ADHD affects 1 in 5.  And 1 in 5 kids with ADHD get the bad kind. I was the 1 in 5 twice, it makes everything hard.

There is a website that I’m a member of, it is called www.ADHDkidsrock.com. It is a website by kids, for kids with ADHD that tells me what ADHD is about, and that no one’s brain is perfect, and if you have a mental disability like me, remember that.

People like me have social disabilities, so that’s why I only have 4 friends, and when some people see me biting myself, it’s because I feel that if I take my anger out on myself, I won’t hurt anybody else.

ADHD also makes it difficult to pay attention, but I try to make it through every day. Once I found this out, I have been trying harder at school because just recently I found out that I am 1 in 15 million people in North America alone, that have ADHD, so that helps me feel better.

ADHD also affects my mood. It sometimes makes me very angry and it sometimes makes me very happy.

The cause of ADHD is unknown. Some people believe that a baby is born without some nerves.

When I finally got diagnosed at age 5 my parents found out what was affecting me. People with ADHD have the highest dropout rate in the world, but people who have ADHD or ADD have some of the highest IQ’s in the world also. For example Albert Einstein had ADD.

For those who don’t know, ADD stands for attention deficit disorder. It is like ADHD but they don’t have hyper activity.

People with ADHD have trouble in class: for example, we fidget and squirm in our seats, we talk nonstop, have trouble sitting, we are very impatient, blurt out inappropriate comments, get easily distracted from noises.

Once in kindergarten I got laughed at because I did 1+2=6 and I ran out of the building to try and get home, but my principal who is now my football coach got me and took me inside and I was kept from going outside for 3 weeks.

I am probably not going to get picked for this [speech contest] and if I do, I will be surprised because I’m just a goofy kid with ADHD.

Anyways ADHD causes my brain to function differently, one time my life seemed so bad I actually [started] hurting myself, it was that short moment in my life were I really hated my life but I got past that.

I am always messing around talking to my few friends and I like to spend most of my alone time with a really good book. I also like to spend some time watching pewdiepie markiplier and jacksepticeye, they are all people I watch. And pewdiepie, he is really funny when my life sometimes feels like a living nightmare these guys are here for me ☺☺.

I made a YouTube account but I know I’ll never be good at YouTube on the internet.

When I’m watching pewdiepie videos for that 10 minutes of video, I feel normal for 1 time.

ADHD is something bad and something that you don’t want to have, but I hope this little project has helped you understand what ADHD really is, it is a hard thing to have and I hope you guys understand what people with ADHD feel like, it is a hard thing to live with maybe someday in the future people will find a cure for ADHD and every other mental illness.

ADHD also makes me like attention and makes it hard for me to listen in class because of ADHD.

What’s it like for Sam at school?

Sam’s speech sure hit a chord with me — I can definitely relate to how he feels about ADHD. And what he wrote about spending time alone at school also rang true to me.  Kids with ADHD often get segregated away from their peers at school, and yes, it does feel like you are in jail when it happens.

From Grade 2 to now, which is Grade 5, I have been kept indoors away from my friends. Recently I have been moved to a new school along with all elementary kids.  It hit me hard because I didn’t know most of the teachers and one teacher I missed particularly.  She was my Grade 2 teacher.

When I moved, I really hoped she was going to be teaching me in Grade 3 but when my parents said she wasn’t, I was heart broken. I spent 4 days moping around, sad.

Now every day at school recess and lunch, I’m in solitary confinement like I’m in prison. I’m sent to a small room where I sit down and eat my lunch. One teacher is with me.  I’m kept away from the other students at least for 2 hours every day….. That’s how bad some of my days have been……..

The comments in response to Sam’s posts were supportive, offering ideas for helping him through a rough time at school.  Lots of kids on the forum talk about having similar types of struggles at school.

BE SAFE >> Remember, the forum is a place where anyone can sign up, so please share don’t share things like your phone number or home address, and only share things that are safe to share. Click here for a good list of ways to stay safe online. 

The spirit on the forum is similar to the spirit of people who reply in my blog comments, or who connect on the ADHDKidsRock Facebook Page.  Us ADHD’ers are a strong tribe and together, we can help teachers, parents and other kids.  Just remember, we are not bad and there are better ways for teachers to help us be successful at school.

>> Click here to check out our ADHD Kids Forum!

I happen to think Sam is very courageous. He was the first one to offer to post a video to help other kids know they are not alone.  He’s also very courageous in allowing me to post his story in this blog post.  Thanks, Sam!

Oh, by the way, Sam’s speech was voted one of the best speeches in class!

~jeff

If you have a kid with ADHD who has not heard about ADHDKidsRock.com yet, maybe you could let them know about the forum.  Not a lot of kids are using it yet, but we’ve had some pretty amazing conversations between the kids that are using it.

Click here to go to the Forum. 

Click here for a good list of ways to stay safe online. 

Don’t forget to let me know what you think helps your kid in the comments below!