It all started when...

one of my adopted sons was diagnosed with AD/HD. A year later his brother was also diagnosed with AD/HD which brought the number up to two. My oldest boy was in elementary school and also having some challenges with focus.  When his teacher suggested he might have ADD, I didn't want to accept the possibility. I mean, I really didn't want to be a mom of three kids with AD/HD as well as Reactive Attachment Disorder (but that's another story). I didn't want people looking at me skeptically and thinking I was using the diagnosis as an excuse to explain away behavior, to "drug" my kids, or look at me as a bad parent. 

Eventually, though, I had to get over myself and realize it wasn't about me, it was about my boys and helping them learn how to deal with their diagnosis, providing them with the supports they need, and giving them encouragement along the way.

Still, it's a tough job to be a mom of one child with AD/HD, let alone three. In those early years I wondered how I was going to make it through, how I was going to survive and maintain my sanity. How was I going to get them through? I didn't know. The years ahead yawned before me like the ever-stretching hallways you see in horror movies or in nightmares. No matter how fast you run, you can't seem to get to the end.

Here I am though with my kids out of the toddler and childhood stage and in their teens. I even have one son on the brink of adulthood. I have the end of that hallway in sight now. I can't believe it! And I realize now I'm a survivor. I survived those years when I didn't think my kids would progress, I didn't think they'd learn, I didn't think they'd "get it." They have progressed, they have learned, and they're working on "getting it." But aren't we all?

So if you're a parent of a child with AD/HD, there's one thing I want you to know: YOU CAN DO THIS!