Running to a Different Rhythm

ADHD: four innocent little letters that can spell disaster - or something like it - if, like the author, you have a son with severe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. For Jacky Fletcher, ADHD meant total disruption, upset siblings, an impeded career and fractured schooling for the dozen or so years covered in this revealing diary of her son's adolescence. But as she says, when her son, Stefan, was away, she missed him. 'A little light in my life went out.' Not for all the world would she send him off to a boarding school for children with special needs. Her litany of Stefan's fires, vehicle thefts, midnight rambles, getting lost in France, binge eating, teachers' assessments, police interviews and 'borrowed' antiques is intended to instruct as well as entertain; and you can't help laughing at some of the more playful incidents. Yet as a record of what ADHD is really like, this work offers unrivalled insight. Besides a useful introduction explaining ADHD, with a list of presenting behaviours, the author has provided a short reading list and some of her own heartfelt poetry.