Simple but Daunting

Trying to check off even the easiest assignment with an ADHD student can sometimes be a daunting task as a parent. To illustrate this point, let’s go back a couple of months to the beginning of the school year when every teacher is asking for a quick intro to who the student is and what is interesting about them. I’ll admit as a child and even today as an adult this is not one of my favorite assignments but I would always just pick something, check the box, and move on. Not Emily, haha.

This assignment for Emily was almost gut-wrenching as she squirmed in her seat, whimpering, and putting her head down on the table. I watched as she literally melted down over a period of 30 minutes. I asked Emily what was happening and what she was supposed to be doing. She murmured something about a video and a bunch of sounds. She didn’t want to make the video and she hated making videos is what she claimed. I suggested sharing that she is an artist (which she is and pretty good at it by the way) or that she played the piano. Emily was quick to respond that those were unacceptable answers and definitely NOT interesting!

So I thought a minute more to think what Emily could share about her that she finds of interest. I remembered that she had drawn her plans for a spiderweb-like material that would capture all of the space junk so we could bring it back to earth to recycle. I mentioned this drawing and there was an immediate change in her mood as she quickly ran upstairs to return with this drawing. She hit record on her computer and shared her idea and drawing and was done! She was excited and quickly accomplished the task.

Emily’s idea on how to capture space junk so it can be recycled.

But is it interesting? This is a challenge we face every day or maybe even with every task. I find that as a parent when I accept the challenge to meet Emily at what she finds interesting that we have a better day and we get things done in a more enjoyable way. The days I yell, just get it done, always lead to an emotional meltdown and we accomplish very little.