“My life sometimes has been a living hell because I have ADHD — mostly because people don’t understand me. They think I’m bad, but I’m not. They think I’m stupid, but I’m not. They think I’m going to be a failure and I’m going to prove them wrong.”
These are the winning words that earned Brookswood Secondary student Jeff Rasmussen a $12,000 “Scholarship For Real Life.”
The money had to be used for a project that could reach out and help others facing adversity, and Jeff, 15, knew exactly what he wanted to do.
He created a blog called ADHD Kids Rock, offering tips and life lessons and encouragement to other kids with ADHD.
It can be lonely, Jeff said. “Now kids with ADHD can know they aren’t alone. They have a voice.”
On his blog is a cartoon of him with his shoe above his head and it reads: “Where kids with ADHD are heard, understood and supported.”
The scholarship money Jeff won had to be spent on growing his online project — trying to reach kids, teachers and parents across the world. To help him, the scholarship founders put Jeff in touch with mentor Ryan McRae, a gifted public speaker who lives in Chicago. Together they built Jeff’s site, which officially launched in October, 2014.
Jeff’s blog piece about ADHD medication reached thousands of people, and generated more than 100 comments.
His Facebook page is liked by more than 5,700 people across the world, mostly in North America.
A poignant poem he wrote about living with ADHD got 75,000 views and has even been translated into other languages.
It is that poem, which he wrote for an English assignment, that gets to the heart of what it is like to be a child living with ADHD.
In it he writes about being excited to enter kindergarten and meeting friends, but finding himself put out in the hall, more and more.
“My circle of friends got smaller and smaller,” he wrote.
In the poem he also talks about changing schools and trying again, how his Grade 4 teacher yelled at him every day, making him write lines over and over because his writing was so poor.
Home was his haven, the classroom his jail, said Jeff.
“Many people don’t realize that kids with ADHD — their brain doesn’t talk to our hands like it should, so my writing looks like a fifth grader,” said Jeff.
He describes being bullied a lot by peers and teachers.
“I want to teach kids how to advocate for themselves at school and everywhere.”
Jeff’s mom, Beverlee, who helps manage the blog, said she didn’t really believe or understand anything about ADHD before Jeff came along. He is the youngest of her three boys.
“Jeff was super smart and creative and a bit quirky just like me, so I couldn’t understand why he was always getting in trouble at school,” she said.
“He was put out in the hall in kindergarten. One year his teacher called him out in front of class because he had forgotten his pencil every single day and refused to write in his planner.”
Around 10 per cent of children have ADHD or ADD and yet, there are few resources available for parents and teachers. Some teachers understand and adapt, others don’t believe in ADHD, said Beverlee.
“It can’t be cured with good nutrition or by taking out sugar. ADHD is absolutely real.”
It wasn’t until Jeff was in Grade 7 that the Rasmussens decided to forgo the wait list in B.C. and pay for Jeff to be tested in the U.S. It was then they were given his diagnosis of ADHD.
Jeff lacks impulse control, self regulation and, as with many kids with ADHD, he gets bored easily.
So much so, he said that he gets tired and can fall asleep in the strangest places. He gets frustrated and acts out, and doesn’t always follow instruction or stay on task.
“ADHD is sad because it makes people mad at you all the time,” he said.
But Jeff has a message for everyone wondering about him and the hundreds of other young people in Langley just like him.
“We aren’t crazy. We aren’t bad. We aren’t trying on purpose to get in trouble. We can’t help it,” he said.
The key is finding a plan that works for each kid and finding the right medication and dosage.
It’s a complicated process, mother and son agreed.
“The first medication I was on worked really well but left me with migraines. Another one, if I took too much I would get angry and anxious,” Jeff said.
Now he is on a lower dose and feels it helps a lot. He wouldn’t want to be off it.
Last year, after some trying times at school, Jeff and his mom met with the principal who, with Jeff’s input, designed a behaviour plan to help him in the classroom. He also did some online courses during summer break through Langley Education Centre.
Because he wasn’t stuck in a classroom, he excelled, covering 13 courses, including math 10 and social studies.
“I could break any time. When I needed a break, I could play video games,” said Jeff. “I could wear my pajamas. These are all things I can’t do in the classroom.”
Like many with ADHD, Jeff is drawn to gaming and has made friends online.
While the struggle in the classroom continues, Jeff is busy on his blog trying to reach more kids and spread understanding.
He asked kids to post videos of themselves about living with ADHD. He’s had some great response including some thanking him for creating his blog.
Comments from a recent post about people judging parents of kids with ADHD has people thanking Jeff for his blog.
One mom wrote: “your site has helped so much because even though this has been hard on us as a family, it’s also made me realize it’s been hard on him, too.”
So far, Jeff has been interviewed on the radio and an article about his blog was published in CHADD magazine. He will also speak in Portland this month in front of hundreds of people at the conference where he won the scholarship last year. He will be updating the audience on his progress with the blog.
He also has other big plans in the works, too.
Jeff is working with Fort Langley author Terry Stafford (who wrote Matt & Jenn in Old Vancouver. She is helping him write a book for young readers. It’s about a boy living with ADHD and will follow in the lines of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Jeff said he was inspired to write a book because all the books he has read about living with ADHD have been ‘lame.’ He just lauched a kickstarter campaign to help continue all his goals under ADHDkidsrock.
Check out his blog at adhdkidsrock.com or his Facebook page.
Or help him reach all his goals https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adhdkidsrock/adhd-kids-rock-leading-the-way
