Wasn't there a thread on ADD?

[Pbartender]

I don't have problems completing tasks (aside from normal procrastination that everyone gets). I get plenty of stuff done, using todo lists and things like that. My big problem is concentrating when participating in a passive task, like reading a homework assignment or sitting in on a meeting. Nowadays I only read things I'm interested in, so that's not so much a problem, but the meetings are. I don't know how to practice concentrating.

Link an active task to the passive task.

For example, learn how to take good notes, and then take notes during meetings. The act of writing down important points and details form the meeting helps focus concentration, and even then if your mind wanders, you've always got your notes to look back on as a reminder.

Or write down questions you can ask for clarification on points in the meeting... Even if you already know the answer to the question, if it's a good question, ask it anyway. Someone else may be looking for the answer to the same question and not realize it yet, and it always impresses the bosses if an employee asks intelligence questions.

I also had a problem adding small sums of numbers in my head, and I think it's also related to the ADD. If you asked me to add 23 and 8 without the aid of paper or a calculator I could do it, but it would take me much longer than the average person. My problem is that I can't hold the numbers in my head long enough to do the math. I'll add the 3 and the 8 to get 11 and I know how to carry the 1, but at that point I've already forgotten what the first number was that I'm supposed to be adding (23). When I mentally put that 23 back I forgot what number I got for the 1s place (11). If the numbers are written down in front of me I can do it much easier, but when it's all mental I just can't hold the numbers in place long enough.

Work around the ADD and find a different way to do it that's better for you. A few suggestions...

If you're not too proud to do it, go get an elementray school workbook on mathematics. Get one with pages full of simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems (you know the kind... a page of fifty or a hundred problems for those timed tests we used to take in grade school). Make photocopies of each page and do them in your spare time until its second nature. That way, you don't have to "hold the numbers in your head" for so long, you can add the numbers before you forget what you were doing. (This is what we're doing with my son, at the moment.)

Or, visualize the numbers in your head, as if you had them written down on paper. Visualize carrying that "1" to the top of the tens place, when you add 8 and 3 and get 11. (I do this one a lot, myself... It helps my poor memory to visualize what I'm doing in my head.)

Or, find an alternate way to do the math. For example, when I multiply 19 times 22 in my head, I don't think "9 times 22, plus 10 times 22", because then I start thinking, "9 times 2 plus 9 times 20 plus 10 times 2 plus 10 times 20" and there's too many numbers all at once and I get all muddled up. Instead, I think "20 times 22, minus 1 times 22", which seems a bit convoluted, but is a lot easier for me to do in my head... "20 times 22 = 440; 1 times 22 = 22; 440 minus 22 = 420 minus 2 = 418". (My wife goodnaturedly laughs whenever I do math this way, "That's weird... I don't know how you do it backwards.")

The point is, and what we've been teaching my son for the last 3 years, this: Because of the autism or ADD or whatever, your brain is wired a little bit differently than everybody else's. If you try doing things the way everybody else does them, you are going to run into problems. That doesn't mean you're worse off than a "normal" person, or that you can't do things that they can... Quite the contrary, in fact, many things that "normal" people find difficult can be quite easy for you and vice versa. All it means is that you need to find a different way to do it -- whatever way that happens to work best for you.

For anyone interested, I'd highly recommend reading The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon.

 

[ssampier]

Much happier now, and the lack of concentration only comes into play maybe once a month at work. I work in tech support. I don't have meetings all that often, and that's usually when I start zoning. There have been one or two times when I've zoned out while talking to a customer, though, and I've had to ask them to repeat themselves. That's embarrassing, but not as bad as one sales guy at work. He's seriously overworked, and he's told me before that he's fallen asleep while on the phone with the customer. If he wakes up in the middle of the call and no one is talking, he just says, "Oh?" and the customer starts talking again.

I do that, too. Oddly enough, I work technical support also. Usually a customer will tell me, "Can you hold on one minute?" I say, "Sure!" Then I usually do some busy work to occupy myself, then I'll forget what screen or area we were at.

 

[ssampier]

...

I also had a problem adding small sums of numbers in my head, and I think it's also related to the ADD. If you asked me to add 23 and 8 without the aid of paper or a calculator I could do it, but it would take me much longer than the average person. My problem is that I can't hold the numbers in my head long enough to do the math. I'll add the 3 and the 8 to get 11 and I know how to carry the 1, but at that point I've already forgotten what the first number was that I'm supposed to be adding (23). When I mentally put that 23 back I forgot what number I got for the 1s place (11). If the numbers are written down in front of me I can do it much easier, but when it's all mental I just can't hold the numbers in place long enough.

I

Hmm, interesting. I have a bit of math anxiety. I tend to transpose numbers in my head, too, which doesn't help (i.e. phone numbers especially: 555-6135 become 555-6351.

 

[Merkuri]

I tend to transpose numbers in my head, too, which doesn't help (i.e. phone numbers especially: 555-6135 become 555-6351.

Oh, yes. I've learned to check numbers very carefully because of this. I think everyone does this to some degree. I've found that reading numbers in pairs helps. We have case numbers at work that are usually five digits long, for example: 33214. When I read them to myself I'll say 33-2-41 or 33-21-4 rather than 3-3-2-1-4. I found that pairing them up helps stop me from transposing them as often. It still happens, but not as frequently.

One time when I was still living with my parents I went to call my mother at work. I didn't have the number memorized, but I had written it down a long time ago, so I called the number on the paper. I got a wrong number. I dialed again, being very careful to dial the numbers exactly and got the same wrong number. I dialed a third time, checking each digit and poking it deliberately on the phone to be sure I'd pressed the write button. Same wrong number. Finally, I pulled out the phone book, called the front desk at the hospital where she worked, and asked them for her department. When I got her on the phone I asked her to confirm the number. Turns out I had transposed the last two numbers when I wrote it down, but the thing was I had been using that same piece of paper to sucessfully dial her work number for the past month. I must've been transposing the already-transposed numbers each time I dialed so I ended up dialing the correct number. It was kinda freaky that I went that many phone calls without realizeing I had the number written down wrong.

 

[papastebu]

electroencephalographic biofeedback. it trains your perceptions to notice when you're doing ADD things. I found out about five years ago that I have ADD, and me and the wife have been round and round about treatment. I don't like drugs, having had a lot of them and quit--on my own, I might add--I dread any new exposure, and many of the treatments, Ritalin included, are based on methamphetamines--the root for crystal meth--making them terrifying to me. I have yet to start with the eeg machine that my best friend loaned me, but I think about it a lot.
referring back to the OP, it seems that you get some good benefit from your condition, aside from the detriment. In my psychotherapist's office is a sign that says "Having Attention Deficit Disorder is like catching a dragon by the tail." We have so much potential in terms of creativity that it is very often difficult to know where to start. Once we do start something, it seems that the next thing on our minds becomes a lot more attractive, so we jump to that, casting off the dross of our previous activity. The answer lies in taking all of these new starts and making them into a cohesive effort to the point of finishing.
If you are doing it right, then the finish of the situation, whatever the project might be, then the end will sort of sneak up on you.

I try and keep several things going at the same time, so that my awareness never loses its stimulation. If all else fails, I get up and walk around, thinking on my feet, making that the "other thing" that I'm doing.

Another thing I read about last year is a drug called Stratera. I've been told that it is non-habit-forming, and that it really helps with the distraction. I am scared of this one, too, but I think that it would be the one that I would take if I were going to medicate myself.

Good luck with everything. Definitely post again if you encounter something that helps you out, because I also read that something like one-third of the population of the U.S. has ADD or some variant. Read The Complete Guide To ADHD , I think the name is, by Phil Hartman. A great deal of positive-thinking and well-researched ideas, here.

Anyway. Gotta go get my boy at school, so ya'll have a great day!

 

[Nellisir]

Adderall and Ritalin are the two big ADD medications. Most people apparently prefer, and do better on, Adderall. I couldn't stand it, and switched doctors after my first one recommended both increasing and decreasing my dosage...in the same 15 minute session. I've been on Concerta, which I believe is essentially extended release Ritalin, for about a year, and it's much better for me. Many people complain of a Ritalin "slump" after the meds wear off, but I had that with Adderall and not with Ritalin. So, definately try different things.

ADD manifests differently in different people. I have what I call my "little voice" in the back of my head. It chatters all day, all night, constantly. I can't stay on boring tasks; but I can read like a son-of-a-gun. Music and book are the only things that soothe the chattering beast.

My coordination is just fine.

There are a variety of different non-medicinal ways of dealing with ADD; the best approach is simply to do research and find what feels comfortable for you. I have no problem with medication, so I take it.

The one thing everyone does is learn different ways of coping. It might be to always carry a notepad and pen, or mnemonic devices, or simply avoid things (and jobs) that bore you. The older you get, the more coping techniques you learn. I suspect some non-medicinal ADD "remedies" are simply cram courses for coping mechanisms, but that may be a good plan for you or someone else.

My father, incidently, takes an antidepressant to treat his ADD. So like I said, don't be afraid to switch meds. Find an experienced doctor.

 

[BOZ]

I have what I call my "little voice" in the back of my head. It chatters all day, all night, constantly.

mine seems to be more like the static you'd hear from a TV or radio, though only just loud enough to be audible - almost like a slight ringing in the ears at times.

 

[Nyaricus]

mine seems to be more like the static you'd hear from a TV or radio, though only just loud enough to be audible - almost like a slight ringing in the ears at times.

My friend has that, and it could actually be more serious than you think. I just asked him over MSN, adn it sounds like this "tenatus"; though he doesn't know how it's spelt correctly

Last year, a man in Wininpeg actually commited suicide after it drove him half-mad. There are some tenative studies and/or suggestions that state that techo is actually really good to listen to, since it constant changes its' beats and speed, and thus 'breaks up' the constant ringing in your head.

Not saying that you have this (I'm hardly a doctor) but if you can, try to get this checked out

cheers,
--N

 

[Bront]

well, if you do have ADD, you have something that i didn't have at your age - a place to talk about it with other people who have it in common. i felt pretty alone as a kid, for that, and in some ways still do.

I hear you.

I wasn't diagnosed with it till after I was 20. People just weren't talking about it much when I was a kid, particularly because I wasn't hyperactive.

 

[Merkuri]

My friend has that, and it could actually be more serious than you think. I just asked him over MSN, adn it sounds like this "tenatus"; though he doesn't know how it's spelt correctly

I thought it sounded like tinnitus, too. I have that, but it's not bad enough to bother me. It's quiet enough that I only hear it in near-silence. Everyday noises, like birds and crickets outside or the keyboard clacking, drown it out. I've had it all of my life and thought it was normal until a few years ago. When I was a kid I told somebody there's really no such thing as silence because I thought everyone had that buzz in their ears when everything was perfectly quiet. I only realized I had it when my dad found out HE had it, and he'd had it for his whole life without realizing it. It can be genetic. It can also be caused by extended periods of loud sounds (like a rock concert), but in my case it came from my dad.

Whenever I take hearing tests they tell me that my hearing is perfect, but really if the tone they play was constant and not broken (if it was "beeeeeeeeeep" instead of "beepbeepbeep") then I'd do a lot worse. My tinnitus is worst when in a silent room, like during hearing tests, and it's hard to hear the beeping over the whine in my head.

Very different from ADD. An ADD "buzz" is just your own internal monolouge thinking out of control, going off on different tangents. It's not an audible sound, like the "static" of tinnitus. I guess you could say that if your head is a TV that tinnitus would be a problem with hissing speakers, but ADD would be when the remote's broken and it won't stop changing channels on you.