Soothing Hyperactivity

When Ayesha’s (name changed) mother was carrying her, she would joke, “The baby is always doing karate and gymnastics in my womb.” Since she was a newborn, she would burst into a loud and long cry for situations wherein most other babies would remain calm and contented.

A two-year-old Ayesha would get punished in school almost every second day. When her mother asked her why she was meted with time-outs so many times, she replied in a singsong voice, “Oh… sometimes I was running around and didn’t listen to the teacher.” She would continuously lose things in school and forget to do her homework.

Come bedtime and she would never want to sleep. Even if she dozed off after midnight, she would wake up at the crack of dawn, demanding that she either watched TV or was sent to the terrace to feed the crows.

Ayesha was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). She was extremely intelligent but couldn’t concentrate in class and remember lessons. Then a psychologist stepped in. Today, she is a graduate with distinctions in multiple subjects as she received the correct therapy and medicine for her condition. 

Siddharth (name changed), a ten-year-old slum boy, was being schooled by an NGO that taught slum children. He would constantly disrupt the class by whistling, creating loud sounds, making faces at the teacher and being restless. When he tried to throw glass bottles at the teacher and the students, he was made to discontinue from the school. The NGO’s psychologist diagnosed him with ADHD. However, he didn’t get the right treatment or the teaching that would suit him.

Ravi (name changed) is extremely creative and an original thinker. He has a blank expression while class is in progress and munches on chips. Doing some activity while in class, he says, helps him to concentrate better. He explains that looking out of the window also enables him to improve his focus in class. Though he may not be able to narrate the lessons through rote memory as many other students do, he innovatively absorbs the essence of the class and comes up with the most creative replies. However, teachers have been asked to grade his work based on his ability to generate memorized facts. The school’s head refuses to acknowledge his diagnosis of ADHD but attributes laziness and mischief as to why he cannot score well.

To be continued…

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https://www.pexels.com/photo/notebook-writing-school-business-8378751/: Picture Courtesy: Photo by Tara Winstead from Pexels