Being an ADD/ADHD youth worker #1: Introduction

Of course they didn't know there was such a thing as “ADD” when I was I kid. But I was the kid with ant in his pants and a short attention span. Much later, when reading the list of attributes of people with ADD I realized that they almost all applied to me. People often don't think in terms of adults having ADD but they have noticed how restless I am. The final stroke for my recognizing who I am was in a youth group meeting when a Sixth Grade Middle Schooler turned to me and commented: “Boy, you do have a short attention span.”

So in this series of posts I will be relaying my thoughts, research and personal experience about the advantages of being an ADD or ADHD youth worker.

• As I tell my story, I will be relating what I learned, instinctively, about coping with the down sides and, eventually, what I learned about using it to my advantage.
  
• Now, what I have to say may not always be politically correct or in keeping with current thinking or recommendations by the medical folk...
  
• But it is an expression of what I've experienced in my own life and observed in so many children and youth, diagnosed and undiagnosed.