I wasn't a behaviour problem. I just didn't know what to do or how to do it in my early years. My near perfect grade point average when I finally figured out how to cope in the academic environment, is telling. I wasn't thick. I did much better with written information and instructions than lectures, a teacher reading out loud or vocally transmited directions which is the way of elementary (primary) school. By the time I was a teen I was able to tease out what was important and needed to be processed, analysed and retained for future use.

With ADD, everything has the same urgency and importance to it. The fly buzzing in the window, the flickering flourescent light, the teacher talking, Jerry picking his nose, Becca's hiccups, the itchiness of the cardigan on my chin, smell of the banana in someone's lunch box, the worry about how to get past big kid bullies waiting at the end of the playground for little victims after school. Quite often I had to shut down. It was called day dreaming then, but it actually was a useful exercise in that often I would try to work out how I should have dealt with a past incident? Many ADD girls live in the past. The drive to be accepted into a social set is very strong. If your social skills are low you get bullied and/or ignored. So you shut out all the distractions and focus on that latest playground or classroom or lunchroom debacle in the hopes you can avoid a future one.

Hyperactivity is quite nightmarish. Girls are good at outletting the hyperactivity with constantly moving their feet. I still raise one foot on ball of foot and bounce my whole leg up and down, when I am at desk and in meetings. This activity has been related to night leg movement and leg cramps.   Boys are not so capable of squashing the impetuous drive to move, get out of seat, mess with other people's stuff.

I am with Lizzie in that there are different kinds of learners and having been a teacher it is possible to accomodate all types and encourage different types of learning styles in all pupils. Some are hands on, some listen and watch. Some are independent (want to read and figure out for themselves). Some prefer group work. Some need to see a practical application for abstract ideas. Some need to solve problems or improve process.

I made my lesson plans to cover all eventualities so everyone had a chance to shine and a chance to stretch less comfortable learning styles. I alos focussed on rewarding appropriate behaviour and getting all students to notice and praise appropriate behaviours in others. The reward system involved all getting a treat at the end of the week for point earned. I turned a very unruly class around using it.

I am not advocating the patronising pat on the head. "Poor dear, it's not your fault," tactic. But it is a completely different world. Kids are not the same animal as last generation, just as our own generation is different from our parents. Get used to it and try to figure out ways to work with it instead of struggling against it.