Post by bugsmom on May 7, 2009 12:08:39 GMT -5
A teacher friend of mine came over the other day and gave me a copy of a book she was reading written by an adult ADDer. The name of the book is "Simply Special", by Ben Glenn. It's a great little quick read from the perspective of an adult ADDer talking about how life was like for him as a child.
Anyway, I wanted to share with you his discription of what goes on in the brain of an Adder. I thought it was so great and much easier to understand than all the neuro mumbo-jumbo. This is how he envisions it....
"In a person's brain, I envision there being a place, much like your favorite hangout, which is really called the pre-frontal cortex. The neurotransmitters (hearafter called skippies--because I really like that name) love to chill out at the hangout. When a bunch of these skippies are at the hangout, a chain reaction occurs giving a person the ability to focus and stay on task.
Now in a non-ADDer, the skippies like to hang out for quite a while, and even when some of the skippies decide to call it a night and leave, there are still plenty of other skippies hanging out to keep the party going.
In the ADDer's brain, the skippies only like to hang out when something fun is happening. If things get boring, most of the skippies go home. Since the skippies are not at the hangout, there's no chain reaction, and ability to focus is disrupted.
But say the ADDer's scan-the-room-notice-everything super powers pick up something stimulating and interesting goin on nearby. Well, a siren goes off that tells the skippies something exciting is going down, and so the skippies come running.
When this happens, an ADDer once again has the focusing ability. The trick is to utilize the skippies to focus on what's important and not necessarity on what brought those skippies out of hiding. This is where ADD medications, like Ritalin, come in handy. Ritalin is like a good DJ, the skippies come out and play so long as he's spinning the music.
When the skippies are partying at the hangout an ADDer is able to focus like anyone else. They look intense and engaged. There is no deficit of attention going on. Amazing isn't it?
One thing about us ADDers is that when we alk into a room, we notice everything. That's right--we see it all. Why? Because our brain is wired to scan the environment for that sparkly thing; we like it when the skippies come out to play!
In the classroom, it's not that we don't want to focus on the teacher; it's just that most of the time, theteacher is not the most sparkly thing going on in the room."
Just thought I'd share....
Anyway, I wanted to share with you his discription of what goes on in the brain of an Adder. I thought it was so great and much easier to understand than all the neuro mumbo-jumbo. This is how he envisions it....
"In a person's brain, I envision there being a place, much like your favorite hangout, which is really called the pre-frontal cortex. The neurotransmitters (hearafter called skippies--because I really like that name) love to chill out at the hangout. When a bunch of these skippies are at the hangout, a chain reaction occurs giving a person the ability to focus and stay on task.
Now in a non-ADDer, the skippies like to hang out for quite a while, and even when some of the skippies decide to call it a night and leave, there are still plenty of other skippies hanging out to keep the party going.
In the ADDer's brain, the skippies only like to hang out when something fun is happening. If things get boring, most of the skippies go home. Since the skippies are not at the hangout, there's no chain reaction, and ability to focus is disrupted.
But say the ADDer's scan-the-room-notice-everything super powers pick up something stimulating and interesting goin on nearby. Well, a siren goes off that tells the skippies something exciting is going down, and so the skippies come running.
When this happens, an ADDer once again has the focusing ability. The trick is to utilize the skippies to focus on what's important and not necessarity on what brought those skippies out of hiding. This is where ADD medications, like Ritalin, come in handy. Ritalin is like a good DJ, the skippies come out and play so long as he's spinning the music.
When the skippies are partying at the hangout an ADDer is able to focus like anyone else. They look intense and engaged. There is no deficit of attention going on. Amazing isn't it?
One thing about us ADDers is that when we alk into a room, we notice everything. That's right--we see it all. Why? Because our brain is wired to scan the environment for that sparkly thing; we like it when the skippies come out to play!
In the classroom, it's not that we don't want to focus on the teacher; it's just that most of the time, theteacher is not the most sparkly thing going on in the room."
Just thought I'd share....
I was about to conquer the world but then I got distracted by something shiny.
