With my daughter recently starting the assessment phase of determining if she 
has ADD, or if she is challenged by a potential learning disability…..it opened my eyes up to how to explain ADD, especially to a child.
I’m not really sure a 9 year old can truly grasp the concept, so I tried to keep it simple. The most important thing I wanted to convey was, this is not a big problem or something to be ashamed about. I didn’t come out and say that, I kept my message consistent with positive reinforcement. I offered comments like “everyone learns a little differently, we just want to find out how you learn” and “you are a busy and smart girl, just like me, except I’m a boy 
….so we need to find out how smart you are”.
Indeed my daughter is smart, which is something that should be stressed with so many people who have ADD or learning disorders. Many of these people possess great intelligence, creativity, determination and so many other positive traits. The main challenge seems to be learning to harness these traits in the right way. ADD or a learning disability should not define you or anyone you know. It is simply a challenge in life that needs to be understood and managed. As a child gets older, you can develop strategies to communicate more information on ADD or a particular leaning disability.
Harnessing these traits can mean a different approach academically, professionally, the use of medication, coaching, tutoring and a multitude of strategies.
One piece of advice I would like to emphasize, don’t jump to a quick decision. If you or someone you know who is older or younger is challenged…..take the time to understand what the challenge is first, get a professional diagnosis. As a second step, I would recommend gathering a lot of information on the diagnosed challenge. Third step, look at as many possible options as you can to determine what the best solution will be. The fourth and final step, should be the implementation of that solution.
As an example, if a young child is challenged in school……there is a step by step process that is required to determine the best plan and how it should be implemented. A knee-jerk reaction to move a child from a school without following a course of due diligence could turn out horribly. Take the time to follow the steps I have noted.
