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I am a proud mother of two. I have a wonderful, intelligent, handsome 19 year old son named Johnny. I also have a beautiful, creative, sensitive 14 year old daughter named Autumn. We have overcome a lot of obsticles to get where we are today, but it has only made us stronger.
Our story begins when Johnny started school. Johnny had always been an active child. Now when I say active I don't mean destructive like some children I know. At least not to other peoples things. However, his toys were never assembled for very long. He would always take his toys apart and put them together with other toys. Always trying to create something new. I wondered if other children did this or was it my son was just a little more creative then most. Well when Johnny started school I was so excited. I couldn't wait to get my son's first report card. How exciting, my little boy was growing up.
However, it didn't turn out like I had hoped. On Johnny's first report card it said he was struggling to make friends. Also that he could not keep his hands to himself. I found this hard to believe because Johnny was always a sweet child. I didn't realize that the Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder was taking over. I didn't even know what Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder was. Well from that point on it didn't get any better. Report card after report card, it always said the same thing. Only now it started affecting his grades. In first and second grade they suggested we have Johnny tested for ADHD.
The only thing wrong was we didn't have any insurance that would cover that. And we definitely didn't have any money to pay for it. I had been very sick myself and that pretty much took the bulk of our money. Also my husband was a full time student at the time. So our income was limited.
I also couldn't imagine giving my son medication for the rest of his life when while at home we didn't see any signs of what they spoke of. I felt like Johnny had become labeled and every teacher expected him to do bad. I had thought about homeschooling many times and had even started to pray about it. When Johnny was in the 2nd grade his teacher and I battled. Johnny would come home everyday from school crying. Telling me he hated school and then the nightmares started. I knew something had to change. So we decided to homeschool Johnny. This way he could get one on one attention. And there wouldn't be the other distractions from others at school. It was a battle. Johnny just didn't seem to comprehend the work. One day I said firmly to Johnny, what is the problem. He started to cry and said, "Mommy, I can't read." I said, "What?" And he repeated himself. All of a sudden joy sprung up inside of me and I said, "Praise God Johnny." He looked up at me surprised. I then said, "At least now we know where to begin." So we went back to the basics. They had stopped teaching phonics. His teacher had taught the kids creative writing. Where they could write the words anyway they thought it sounded to him. Apparently, it wasn't affective, so we went back to phonics. I had found an old book at a used book fair for $1.00. Then I made flash cards out of recipe cards. I put all the sounds and small sentences on them and we started from there.
Well it's been 11 years since we started and it's been hard but we have overcome this thing. We started to teach Johnny about self control. How to restrain himself even when he felt he couldn't. Johnny has finally been tested for attention deficit disorder. He tested positive. He also has slow learner disability. But he has stayed pretty close to his grade level and is not falling behind. He now takes Ritalin. Do to the fact as we started getting to harder subjects, his mind could not stay focused. This has helped tremendously. He just started about 4 months ago, but we can tell now when he's on the medication. He wants to take it because it not only helps him with his studies but also his sports.
It's funny through all of this I found out I have attention deficit disorder, only I did very well in school so it was never detected. However, I have all the signs. Unable to stay focused, unable to keep a job, unable to complete long projects. And so forth. So our whole family is learning something. I suspect my daughter has it also. However, I won't put her on medication unless I see she absolutely needs it. She has been doing well in homeschool so far. But I won't hesitate if I feel she needs it to help her. I don't take it either, but sometimes I think I should. hehehe.
Our doctor explained the medication like this to Johnny... He said a person has these little finger like things in there brains and they pass information back and forth. Sometimes they can't pass it so the medicine helps them to do that. He said fighter pilots sometimes take this before they fight in a war. It helps them to stay focused. He said everyone could take it. It would help us all to think more clearly. I thank God for wonderful doctors who will take the time to explain something to a little man.
When I first wrote this testimony, Johnny was 12 and Autumn was 7 years old. Johnny attended high school. He was an A honor roll child. He ended up his sophmore year going back to homeschooling and receiving his diploma. He now has come off of the medication. He now suffers from depression. Due to the depression he came back to homeschooling. However, we are getting him help for that. He works at a well known store, in the warehouse. He is going to go to college after we get his depression under control. He has a wonderful christian girlfriend who supports him in everything. She too works at the same store. Autumn is doing wonderful in Homeschool and has never had to go on medication. She is now a freshman. I praise the Good Lord for all He has done for us. I am working now on a page for depression. Please keep coming back to look for it
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