ADD & ADHD in kids- bad parenting?

[Sminty_Smeagol]

What determines a gifted student?

Oh and a little rant here about a personal experience of what I guess is ADD (maybe should go in the venting thread?)


often times my thoughts just whir from one to the next, never completing one thought or idea before it's forgotten and my focus or whatever is on another one. It's frustrating. In school I always feel like I am one step behind the rest... I don't feel less intelligent, although sometimes I feel impaired or I entertain the thought of perhaps having some retardation my parents haven't told me about. It takes a lot of hard work to catch on to things, to wrap my brain around audible instructions especially. If it's written down, I'm fine. But even doing written down schoolwork assignments is difficult for me. Sure, I could get into it, I could get thinking about it. I could write a paper for you. Often times I do my schoolwork, but turning it in is another matter. I always lose it or misplace it, or I forget to turn it in or am not sure now. Now I only do assignments that I can get into, but even these are a discouragement, for recently I really got into a History paper and wrote it all in one day, and I even illustrated it and aesthetically adjusted the fonts and inserted quotes pertaining to each of the different sections - something I could really be proud of. Something I would of love to have gotten credit for. But now I have no idea where it is or what happened to it. It probably got thrown out with many other important things in a recent organization binge. I do that. I'll empty everything and throw it all away. Sometimes even if I know it is important, but in a desperate chance to achieve some kind of organization I throw it all out. Around other people when there are instructions, I always feel a step behind everyone else. I feel slow. Oftentimes my most credible educational things never recieve credit.

Oh and the paper was on the 'sexual ideals' in American culture... you know, body type etc that is considered attractive. And how sexual ideals (don't know the technical word, thats what I call it) are developed and affected.

On my report card I got today I got 4 F's, 3 C's, 1 A -the A is in Sculpture, where we don't have to keep up with anything except the piece we are working on, always in our own little plastic boxes on a shelf

But how does everyone else always know what has to be turned in and what we don't have to turn in? Does the teacher say but I just don't notice? Last year I had a quarter in a reading class (schedule problems) and only after I left did I find out that there was a big folder on the wall to place our assignments in. Of course, I got a bad grade in that class. I always feel like I'm in a different world than everyone else, and sometimes I get so self-concious because I feel like I'm doing something wrong. In my fibercraft class I would be requested to go get some material from a storage room. I had to go over it 50 times with the teacher exactly what to do and where it was. By that time everyone was like 'LIZ JUST GO' so I did and all the while I was breaking a sweat worrying whether I was going in the right room or worrying about what I was supposed to do next. I'm really slow at catching on to things. I hate being made to go get something or to deliver a message to a teacher, because I need very detailed instructions. I feel really self concious doing anything Im supposed to be doing, always feeling like I know that I am doing something wrong. It makes me feel so stupid sometimes... Anyways I've pretty much given up hope and I don't even do any assigments anymore.

Hopefully I'll switch to a medication that is ok with me... God bless the meds