ADHD is the medical term given to children (like my 2 sons) who have a hard time paying attention. They are considered attention deficit. Hollis was diagnosed with this early in the first grade. He was put on Cylert, a chewable time release medication (they tried Ritalin first and that was a big disaster) and with help from his teacher and at home made significant progress! However in the 3^rd grade things quickly began to turn down hill. He had a different teacher and he did not "click" with her! I know she meant well, but her means of disciplining him just were not working! We continually upped the dosage of the medication and added Clonodine. He had no appetite and was the classroom problem! Who wants to go to school under those circumstances? His attitude deteriorated at an alarming pace as his self-esteem plummeted. In desperation we searched for answers! It seemed crazy to just keep increasing the medicine dosage! After some prayer and consultation we decided to Home School Hollis! What a life changing decision! I thank the Lord that we had long ago made the commitment to be a one-income family and have mom stay at home. Even with that going for us the transition to home schooling was enormous! However, the payback was equally enormous! By this time we had also started son # 2 – Jasper on the medication. This was getting expensive!

I had noticed that these very same children who were unruly and practically uncontrollable while in a group of their peers, were great company one on one. I had taken both sons on different occasions on long (800 miles one way) trips, and thoroughly enjoyed their company. I began to wonder how this could be. Could it be that the term Attention Deficit actually was correct, but not in the way that we were taught to use it? What I mean is, could it be that these children were suffering not from the inability to pay attention, but literally from LACK OF ATTENTION! They were attention deficit in the true meaning of the words – literally Attention Deficient! As we (my wonderful wife, partner and helpmate Vanessa and I) pursued this, we found it to be true! The more attention we gave these children, the better they behaved! I strongly felt the Lord calling me to back off from church activities (choir – quartet – worship team) and to focus my time and energies on my children. What an awesome thing happened! They never got tired of it! They never said, OK dad that is enough, don’t you have anything else to do than to spend time with us? The coolest thing is that I have not grown tired of it either! Praise God for His wonderful leading in this! Last summer Vanessa felt strongly that we should discontinue medication completely. We had backed the dosage off to about 1/3 of what had been used while Hollis was in school already, but she felt the Lord leading to quit it all. We did, and Hollis grew several inches – gained 15 pounds (from 72 – 87) just over the summer! His appetite came back and then some! He is no longer a finicky eater and is a great joy to us! Is he a perfect kid? Absolutely – NOT! But he is a great kid! A kid who has a keen desire to please and serve the Lord! Jasper has also come along very well! He was not on the medication for as long and not as much so the impact was not as great on him.

Am I saying that there is no such thing as ADHD? I don’t know, but I would challenge you to seriously consider it. Pray about your part in your child’s problems and act on what He tells you to do.

Update 8/4/99 - Hollis is now up over the 110 pound mark!  He gained over 25 pounds in one year and continues to grow.  The kids still have not shown any indication that they have had 'too much of dad'!  As a matter of fact they swarm me every evening when I come home.   Hollis is having a hard time adjusting to the fact that he could knock me down if he isn't careful.  By the way, dad still has not shown any indication that he has had 'too much kids either'!