TESTIMONIALS
A recent letter from a former Cedars student with Attention Deficit Disorder that was part of a college psychology class.
At an early age, I was diagnosed as suffering from moderate Attention Deficit Disorder. As a consequence, my early education took place at a special school for children with this disorder that was situated outside my local community. All the friends I made a school lived, therefore, far away from where I lived. The classes were small and most of the children were able to learn successfully at a slower pace and with more help from the teachers than in a regular school environment.
As I approached ninth grade, my parents and the “special education specialists” at my local high school felt I was ready to return to my community and to begin to assimilate with the “normal” kids living there. They could not have been more wrong.
I felt all alone and scared. I had no friends and the work was coming too fast. In spite of all the efforts by my parents and teachers, I started a downhill slide almost form day one. I began hiding my grades. I stopped doing homework, which to me seemed far beyond my capabilities. This led to my skipping many classes altogether.
My need for friendship and esteem from my peers led me to start hanging out with the only group of kids who seemed to want to have anything to do with me, the druggies and the low-lifes in the school. I started lying to my parents, steeling money to buy joints and beer, and finally ended up being suspended.
With no other alternatives, my parents sent me to a small boarding school in Delaware. The environment here was highly structured, much like a military academy with no “military.” Unlike my parents, the headmaster at the school wouldn’t accept the “I’m sorry” as two magic words to get me off the hook for my actions. I was taught that every choice I made in behavior and speech had very real consequences. Not following the rules brought about an immediate response. Cause and effect became very real to me.
During the three years I spent as this school, I learned to control my emotions and to stop and think before I acted. I learned that the world is not “FAIR” and that one can be one’s worst enemy. I stopped living for the moment and began thinking about tomorrow and the day after that. Slowly, I gained back my self-respect as well as the respect of my family. I began to realize that the real joy of success brought about by hard work and discipline. The last summer in Delaware, I attended the local community college where I performed very well. For the first time in many years, I felt good about myself.
This road through life has brought me to this psychology class. I was surprised how my past behavior is so accurately outlined by the concepts in my textbook. I guess I am “normal” after all.
