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Excellent Book! Provides great insight into ADHD. Sep 21, 2009 This book gave me insight to what my son's life must be like! The author is a young man who lives with ADHD. It was well written and gave examples of situations where ADHD had affected his life. He gave realistic solutions to solving some problems related to ADHD. Every parent with a child that has ADHD should read this! Teenager's with ADHD will also benefit from this book.ADHD & Me: What I Learned from Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table
One Person's Experience Sep 07, 2009 There is a lot to like about this book. The author seems to be an intelligent, well-intentioned person who wants to use his own experiences to help other kids. This is all to the good. What's not is the degree to which he presents himself as a typical kid with ADD/ADHD. His particular case is affected by many factors other kids with the diagnosis may not share (tics being one of the most obvious; although more common in kids with ADD, they do not afflict the majority), and he doesn't seem aware that his being a guy makes a difference. He comes from an extremely privileged background (housekeepers, executive parents, exclusive suburb, prep school, years of sailing camp) and suggests things like kids having their parents enroll them in a school where they will have smaller, more personal classes -- without even a hint of irony. (I had the definite sense that his parents never sweated over an IEP.) I found it peculiar that he stated many times that nothing/little was known about ADD when he was in school, but I find this almost impossible to believe, based both on copyrights of seminal books on ADD and the types of schools his background would make available to him. The bottom line is that this is a book worth reading, but I suspect it will be more helpful to boys than girls. An excellent book for girls is "Attention, Girls!: A Guide to Learn All About Your Ad/Hd by Patricia O. Quinn."
Fills a gap in the ADHD 'literature' for kids, parents, teachers Aug 25, 2009 Have you ever seen those documentaries or commercials where the camera tries to give you the experience of a disorder as viewed from the perspective of the person who has it? They can be effective if done well, and ADHD & ME by Blake Taylor is a book that tries to do the same thing from the POV of a teenager with ADHD. I'd say overall it's a good representation. You can read all the clinical cases you want and memorize the DSM-IV diagnostic rubrics, but it won't give you a sense of the ADHD cognitive style and lifestyle the way this book does. The subtitle is perfect. If you have ADHD you probably know why; if you don't have it, you're probably scratching your head. After reading this book though, maybe you'll just be smoothing down your hair. Luckily Blake has the skill to write clearly, ably, and without hyperbole to give you a literal 'insider's view' as a teenager with ADHD. The distractions, fascinations, associations, and perceptions are well-documented and easy to grasp. This is a book where 'less is more': it's a short book but it fulfills its purpose. It's not intended as a diagnostic tool, a guide for physicians or even parents of or kids with ADHD. It's not even meant to be a tool. And that's what makes it good. It's a 'this is my world' explanation with personal examples, anecdotes, and a bit of advice. LUCKILY Blake is what you might call 'high functioning' person with ADHD although I don't like that term because of its complementary associations (who wants to be labeled 'low functioning'??). The good thing about this, however, is that the author shows and states that most people can function well if given the right guidance (and I won't use the word 'therapy'--people with ADHD are not 'sick'!)--And he's correct.
That's not to say the book is perfect. This is the perspective of one young man with ADHD; one size doesn't fit all, and what you read is the result of someone finding the right balance of treatments. I'm sure the author didn't start out this way. And in the future, there may be issues that arise that need to be dealt with. But that's the point of the book. They can be dealt with for the most part. Maybe not everyone can attain the balance of the author at this point in time, but then again, there have been generations of treatments for people with chronic headaches and they don't work for everyone either. Maybe best of all, this book provides evidence that the old fashioned view of ADHD as an excuse for
'not getting with the program' needs to be jettisoned once and for all. With understanding, encouragement, and common sense, young people with ADHD won't just 'get with the program' they just might help create a new one that's a lot more rewarding and innovative than the old one. In fact, you may not know it, but they've been doing it for a while now.
Insider's view of ADHD Aug 14, 2009 This book gave me a lot of insight into how children with ADHD viewed the world and how it affected their behavior. It has halped me to be more understanding with children with this problem.
A MUST READ Aug 10, 2009 I am a 17 year old girl with A.D.D. and I always felt hopeless like I would never become something, then I found this book and was so happy I read it, it makes me feel like im not a looser and im not crazy and that there are more people out there who have my same issues, if you are a kid or teen with add, please read this book, or if your a parent, read this book, it will give you insight on what your kids mind is like and why we do what we do.
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