I have blogged before about my genius son who has ADHD. He has been homeschooled since the very beginning for many reasons. Had he attended public school, I am sure he would have spent a majority of his day in the principal’s office. He cannot sit still to save his life and is constantly fidgeting. Some days he can complete a month’s worth of work and some days he cannot concentrate at all. We knew we were in trouble when he turned two and we had to put poison control’s 1-800 number on our speed dial. When he turned 13, he began trying to convince me with various impressive arguments that he no longer needed to take Language Arts. We knew that he had genius potential by his vocabulary and reasoning skills since he was about six years old.

Finally, in desperation I told him that if he could pass the CLEP for English at the local college he wouldn’t need to take any more Language Arts courses. A couple of weeks, and $75 later, he climbed into the car smiling. He handed me a piece of paper indicating that he had passed the CLEP and would be granted 6 college English credits. Credit for English 121 and 151 would be posted to his transcript within a month. What could I do, I had him take their entrance exam. Anyone can take the entrance exam, called the COMPASS, for free during regular school hours. He had been thirteen for less than a month at the time. He scored 98 out of 99 on punctuation and 97 out of 99 on comprehension. I enrolled him in college classes that semester. Now at 15 he is officially a college sophomore. It looks like he will receive his high school diploma and associate degree at about the same time.

Over the past year, puberty has hit with full force. He has grown seven inches taller, is struggling with acne, and constant exhaustion. He has completed driver’s training but cannot remember how to get to the college. He says that his brain isn’t working right and he cannot remember anything. His dad gets frustrated with him over forgotten instructions when he is helping him farm and bale hay. We always wait for him, as he is the last one in the car.

I explained to him that during puberty the main processing area of the brain changes from the side to the frontal lobe. I suppose this could be the cause of his forgetfulness or maybe it is the excessive sleep. I assume that the considerable growth has exhausted his body. Is anyone else having issues like this with teenagers, puberty, and growth spurts?


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They Called Him Ninja – Living with ADHD
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Should I Try Medication Now or Wait



Photo Credit: 2004 Julia Fuller.