My Diagnosis of ADD and How It Impacted My Learning From Middle School to High School

Self-awareness is the most fabulous weapon any human can ever have in life. More often, people go through stressful situations in life mainly because they do not understand the cause of their problems. Knowing the origin of a condition or being aware of what hinders ones progress in life help in managing any failures in life. I was not aware of this until I got diagnosed with ADD, otherwise known as Attention Deficient Disorder.

Spending my early childhood living in a neighborhood filled with plenty of children was the best thing I could ever wish for as a child. All seemed rosy and beautiful since life was full of play and daily routines which I appreciated. Just like any other child of my age, I had dreams. Sting together around bonfires in the evening we could remind ourselves of the ideas we had, and it was evident that some were out of proportion. Nothing could give me joy more than realizing my dreams. At this point, my concentration was mainly on the journey of perfection. I wanted to have good grades and do my best in class.

My third-grade education was the most challenging and discouraging experience in my life. For the better part of my third-grade education, I had difficult time concentrating in a class a situation that I could not understand it cause. Most often, I could not comprehend much of what was being discussed in the classroom. The worst case occurred when my teachers requested my contribution to the class discussions. More often, I was off topics. It was embarrassing to have the entire class laugh at me for speaking out of order in the classroom. The laughter from my classmates and friends was sadder than any scolding I could receive from the teachers. Having stayed in a neighborhood with so many children, I had grown fond of many friends. Moreover, the opinion of my age mates mattered a lot to me since I had been raised up listening to peoples opinion it easy to understand why peoples opinion mattered to me.

One of the teachers had noticed that I could hardly concentrate in class and grasped almost nothing in every lesson. I could not understand why, but she kept asking me questions in nearly every lesson she had in my class. It became a routine to the extent that I always wished I could run away every time she came to the classroom. I remember one day I asked for permission to go to the lavatory immediately the madam teacher had stepped into our classes. I was scared she would ask me questions, and therefore, I opted to remain outside the class for the entire lesson. I think she noticed my mysterious absence and consequently summoned me to her office immediately she was done with the lesson.

I was scared as I approached her office. Contrary to my expectations, she treated me nicely. After lengthy talks and discussions, I was shocked to see my parents knock at her desk. Later on, I realized that she had tipped my parents about my condition and they came to discuss how they could help me. Several visits at the hospital led to my diagnosis of attention deficiency disorder (ADD). This diagnosis was the greatest shock I could ever have at this point in my life.

I was mesmerized by the fact that I was supposed to be under constant medication. I remember going with my parents from hospital to hospital with the aim of finding the best cure for my condition. Most of the drug I received at the onset of the situation only worsened my situation. I remember moments when I could not even remember the names of my best friends. It was embarrassing for to take medication every time after a meal. My worst fear was the inquisitive eyes of my friends every time I popped up my medicine. Most of them wanted an explanation, and I was so embarrassed to explain to them that I had a memory problem. How could I even mention such a word knowing so well it would lower the respect my friends had for me? I opted to hide every time I was taking medicine. In fact, after having the right prescription of the drugs, I decided to try so much to concentrate in class. After being reassured by the doctor that everything will come back to normal, I decided to pretend everything was normal and behave as usual in class. Once in a while, I tried answering the questions in class and did not mind even if the answer was wrong. Quite often other students laughed at me, and I did not care because my focus was in concealing my condition as much as I could to avoid raising eyebrows. This happened until I joined high school.

Even though I had thought I could perform better and probably get the honour, I had an average performance which secured for me a chance to be in a high school. However, the chance I had to be in high school brought essential changes in my life. Worthy to note is the fact that my performance improved considerably. This was a significant change in my life, and I attribute the impressive high school performance to my diagnosis with ADD while in the middle school. All the efforts I spent trying to hide my condition had finally paid off in a way that I could not understand.

In the entire period, I was in high school; I had joined the league of the top performing students in my class. I do not remember the time when I stopped using the medication, but I only remember that the teachers began praising my work while I was in high school. I was often used as an example in class whenever the teachers wanted to scold anyone. This gave me great joy and worked even harder to become the best in class. I was proud of the progress I had made, and I attribute everything to the diagnosis with ADD. Knowing that I had attention challenge I fought so hard to conceal my situation. During this struggle and with the help of the doctors, my condition disappeared, and it was like I was born afresh with super memory that could achieve anything that was required. Now at 17 years old, I look back at my middle school life and wonder if I could have reached this far were it not for the diagnosis, surely some conditions can help someone become better.