So I Had Another Topic But Got Distracted By A Tweet

My dad was a pediatric endocrinologist. While we were never sure what the exact definition of endocrinologist meant, a loose translation for us was guy who did an hour of phone calls from his car helping children balance their blood sugars while he took his own children to Hebrew School and swim practice. It was important work, we knew because it was the 80's and he had a car phone because of it. As we met children and adults with diabetes we learned that this invisible to the human eye but medically important condition often meant life or death if it wasn't treated properly and the patient didn't learn to control it. My dad was important, although we never knew it. Only as an adult, as I have met his patients who have grown into adults and as the parents of his patients have approached me to share their stories, have I truly begun to understand the impact my dad made on real people. He changed lives and he saved lives. He made a difference in how young boys, girls, and parents approached life and found comfort in who they were and who they could be.

Diabetes is one of many conditions we see in increasing prevalence in our society. As we become more aware of our world around us, as we become more focused on the needs of all of our children and adults, we are becoming more able to support children and adults with diabetes, allergies, and autism. Raising children in the modern era means that we always ask if a child has food allergies before they come to the house. I find out the types of snacks they can eat, figure out the labels, and make sure the surfaces are clean. Children that may not have survived 30 years ago due to these allergies are now hanging out, doing things, and successfully living full lives with their Epi-pens in the backpack. We have friends with children who are autistic. Their struggle is not as easy, as no simple medication seems to help these children find balance. The kids are great kids and great friends. They are the ones who add the unique idea, show great talents, and yet struggle with great changes. As adults, they may make our world a better place because they see the world with such a unique lens. A lens that will help us all focus on things the rest of us have missed. While there is a building understanding of the uniqueness of autism and due to many of the obvious behaviors produced by autism, it is a condition while accepted the children are far less integrated into our daily lives and society as we should.

So I saw this tweet yesterday:

I read through the comments, which is always a mistake. I looked at people's perceptions. I read through the denials that ADD & ADHD exist and the immediate links to performance enhancement which I am sure is true for some of these player exemptions. And then I thought of my experiences. My childhood was memorable for all involved. I was clearly an unmedicated ADHD child (except for 12 weeks of junior high school). The stories are legendary from bouncing all through an RV from Chicago to Florida, falling out of chairs, knocking over desks, and still having the right answer. I was an unmedicated teenager who graduated high school and college because I was swimming 12-15,000 yards a day and passing out in class. I was a poor driver who cornered quickly and hit the garage once. I was an unmedicated adult who knew the answers to everyone's questions in every conversation but was moving so quickly that I didn't understand the level of anxiety I caused in others as I did so. I was smart enough to do everything without the awareness of my own impulsivity and behaviors that it impacted me in several jobs by making others nervous and anxious.

I have been medicated for six years now. I started 3 weeks after my oldest child began his medication. I look at my boys and see so much of me in them. The eldest, just like his father, is more than smart enough to be successful at school. He could read and do math with the finest. However, like his dad, when he is not medicated he is in constant super speed. I think back to growing up and wonder how my ADHD adversely hurt me. How many relationships ended because I made an impulsive decision? How many people did I make nervous because I never stayed for the whole conversation or interrupted the speaker mid-sentence? How many times did I interact inappropriately within a situation because I didn't read the situation or couldn't read someone else's body language. For me, like so many others, ADHD is not a childhood disorder, not a behavioral disability, but just as biological and medical as Diabetes, Allergies, and Autism. It is a life disorder and a life challenge and one that I have chosen to bring into balance.

Yes, Mr. Olbermann, ADD & ADHD medications do improve your performance. I've been to soccer practice and seen my child the moment the medication begins working. Instead of him running with his body at a 90 degree angle and the ball six feet in front of him, he runs upright and the ball is next to him. I've been to religious services at Temple and seen the medication work. My child changes from skipping and literally bouncing everywhere to a child who is upright, in position, and singing along in the choir. He looks people in the eyes. He listens to a conversation. He gives the long answer and will wait while his hand is raised. The medication improves his life's performance. And, yes I wonder how much better of a swimmer I would have been had I been medicated through high school and college. How much better a student I would have been? How much better a friend I would have been?

My parents brought over an article from the New England Journal of Medicine a couple of weeks ago. It was about identification and treatment of Adult ADD and ADHD. While these adults may not be as bouncy or dazed off as their seven year-old selves, the conditions are still there. It made me wonder, how many divorces occur because of ADHD? How many poor impulses occur that results in accidents? How many jobs lost from adults trying to find themselves? How many interpersonal relationships struggle because of this? And most importantly, how many teens and adults self-medicate through alcohol and other drugs because we are a society that is at times unwilling to accept that ADD exists and is a medical condition? If it were as easy to accept as Diabetes, Allergies, or Autism, we may find the answers are before us.

My mom knits a lot. A real lot. She knits in meetings. She knits on planes. She knits in conversations. She knits on the train. Her hands are in constant motion as she talks to everyone around. She's brilliant. She's well educated. She was a national level swimmer growing up in the 50's and one of the first woman doctors in her field in our county. She is so much of her parents, proud, smart, feisty, and active. She was an obstetrician & gynecologist at a time when women weren't. While people didn't share their war stories of time with my mother when I was younger, the moment I passed thirty her patients both mothers and children have sought me out to share times of how mom was there for them whenever they needed it. They share their moments, at times in graphic detail, of split-second impulse my mom had that saved their baby or her diligent perseverance as she would stay all through the night to ensure they were supported throughout that delivery or surgery. It makes one proud to have grown up being raised by a difference maker.

So I was going to write about recipe-based teaching, learning, and the Common Core State Standards with a great tweet referencing Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe, but I guess I got distracted....