Book Review: ADHD & Me — What I Learned From Lighting Fires At The Dinner Table by Blake E.S. Taylor - Page 2

Blake had forgotten to take his medication the morning of a big test. This is a problem, but not insurmountable. What makes the problem insurmountable is that the room is screaming with colors and art on the walls. Outside, it’s a nice day and the lower grades are at recess. All together, it’s distraction enough for anyone not fighting the scattershot focus of ADD/ADHD. Needless to say, Blake did not do very well on that test.

Another characteristic is quickness to boredom that can lead to doing things that if thought about for a few minutes, would never get done. More thought would bring a realization of consequences, usually bad ones. Blake shows this process with an incident in class where he got bored, lost focus and wondered what would happen if he threw his pen into the wall. Before the thought can even process fully, his pen has exploded against the wall. With that, Blake shows another problem with ADHD in that some people, in this case his teacher, don’t believe there is such a thing as ADHD. The thinking is that ADHD is nothing but an excuse for unruly behavior and is nothing that a bout of harsh punishment would not straighten out.

Blake’s writing is like a conversation, not a lecture, and because of that the reader might not get as much technical information as one of the more scientific books. I learned more from it however, because reading it held my attention, kept me engaged, taught through example, and helped me understand strategies that are easy to use in the real world. I plan on having my family read this book and will recommend it to others that either have ADHD or know someone that does.

Article Author: Russ Evenhuis

I am a writer in a mid-life crisis. My passions are Seahawks football, triathlons, rugby, sports in general, Guinness, reading, writing, television, music, computers, family, and movies.

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