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By Shannon Rempel Oregon State University-Cascade WR 316 Instructor: Cora Agatucci http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr316/
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By Shannon Rempel Oregon State University-Cascade WR 316 Instructor: Cora Agatucci http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr316/
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My Birth I believe that my life long battle with ADHD started before conception. My mother and Father were high school sweeties before daddy was called off to war. In Vietnam he was exposed to many chemical agents and gasses that are very harmful to the body some were the self induced mind altering variety while others were aspects of war. Not long after his arrival back to home, I was conceived and the following summer mom went into labor. The day moms water broke was the beginning of a long and painful labor. After about 24 hours of unsuccessful laboring the doctors decided that a bit of help was in order; so Pitocin was administered. Mom spent the next day and a half in agony. Finally late in the third day the experts decided to prep her for a Cesarean Section. It was a dry birth due to her losing the bag of waters three days before. My tiny lungs were quiet and the room was just as still, as the doctors watched my little, blue, body and waited for my first sounds. With a blessing from God, several minutes later the joyful sounds of life brightened the room. Four days after my birth mom was able to to walk, and visit me through isolation glass, but it was another three days before we were to meet for the first time.
In My Younger Years My mom began to notice my inability to stay in one place for any length of time when I was toddling. As I grew my behavior symptoms became more and more apparent. I began to be self destructive and disturbing. I would bang my head on walls and bite myself for no reason. I would lie chronically and I could not keep myself still. Mom took me to a doctor friend and she was told that I was Hyper Kinetic (Late 1970's version of ADHD). Typical Prescription drugs were offered as a tool for treatment. Thank God! she thought better of this and sought out alternative treatments. After seeing specialist about me and enduring countless hours of therapy she settled for a positive natural approach. She learned many correctors for negative behavior, such as:
Working with a drug free ADHD child wasn't all easy and peaceful, quiet times. I was a very whinny difficult child to live with, but mom was determined keep me drug free and succeeded in raising me into my school age days.
School Daze School Daze certainly describes how most of my school career was spent. I did spend a considerable amount of time on catch up and still fell a bit behind. It was tough, I wanted very badly to fit in but kids seem to sense something different about me and teachers had no patience to deal with a difficult child. I never gave up even among such diversity I stuck with it and struggled to succeed. Many teachers told my mom that If I went untreated I wouldn't amount to much and would probably end up self medicating. (Funny I think I had the same conversation with my sons teachers, I think they need new material). Mom didn't listen and pushed me to be my very best. She expected no less than C grades and a certain amount of good behavior. She didn't apply many rules to my academics but she stayed fast and strong to what she did require. By the time I reached high school I was a grade level behind and it was a hard road to keep up on. My grades were not perfect but I keep them with-in my moms rules and I was able to find an outlet for my energy through theater. After 21/2 years in high school I was involved in a car accident that ended my high school career. With all the diversity I endured growing up, a loss of memory set me back pretty far. I took a year off to recover and then in the exact year I was to graduate from high school I took the State General Education Degree test and passed.
The following Fall I enrolled at Clark Community College in Vancouver Washington. My interest has always been in children so I took the logical step in to Early Childhood Education. I graduated with my AAS degree in 1991 with a B- average. The day I walked the stage during the graduation ceremony and watched my mother cry with joy was the day knew I had made it. I knew that nothing was going to stop me. I thank my mother every chance I get for not subjecting to those drugs everyone begged her to put me on. Since I graduated I have had two children one of them has been diagnosed with ADD. I have chosen to keep him off the usual ADD Drugs, and instead I use alternative treatments that so far have been successful. Unfortunately, nothing is one hundred percent and I still have to deal with his inattentive behavior. The teachers are still begging parents to place their on Ritalin, but this is not an option that I am willing to explore. My son is a warm, bright, healthy child that would be greatly disserviced by drug induced puppetry.
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