My dog from my childhood

Last year I wrote a post about the brain of a man being like the brain of a dog. I got into a little trouble over that with someone who took offense. That’s fine, I don’t back down from people who don’t share my opinions, I welcome their explanations.

After all, I got to have my say …

But before anyone gets their dander up about this post, be advised that this is an analogy only, and barely that. It isn’t even gender specific like the last one.

Take me back to school

I’ve never been one for dwelling on the distant past. Replaying the recent past as if I could fix it is another story. I do that all the time.

I’ve also confessed to rehearsing the near future ’til I know exactly what to do in every possible situation … except maybe the one that actually occurs.

ADHD brain

Resurrecting my school years is not a common thing. And don’t worry, I’m not about to reel off yards of memories for you (though trust me, I’m capable of that). I would, however,  like to draw your attention to several notations on my report cards. They are as follows:

“An excellent “oral” pupil but has trouble getting things down on paper in time.”

“Kelly doesn’t work at the level of his ability – for me.”

“Kelly wastes a great deal of time while doing his work.”

Okay, okay, let’s not dwell on the past

(… yeah, I know, it is ironic I should end up being a writer … )

Well actually, that’s exactly what I want to do here. I want to reiterate that I was not comfortable with the mind numbing process of putting things down on paper (… yeah, I know, it is ironic I should end up being a writer … ) and it showed in my teacher’s assessments of my abilities.

Talk about trouble

I’d also like to draw your attention to the phrase “An excellent “oral” pupil … ” and the ramifications of that. I could be engaged in studies, when they were in the form of a discussion. Although I often excluded the rest of the class and felt like I was in “one on one” conversation with my teacher, I did learn well that way. But when left to write down on paper what I’d learned, I was lost like a dog chasing a butterfly.

Dog brain!

It wasn’t that I didn’t learn, I did. It also wasn’t that I didn’t retain, I did that better than most. It was that, between the laborious process of writing out my answers to dull questions with my inadequate penmanship (Dysgraphia, a common symptom among our tribe), and the lessons being taught in the same room to the other grades distracting me (one room school, one teacher, multiple grades), I did not stand a chance of being able to put things down for the purpose of being marked.

A dog’s life? Not!

In fact, I think a dog might have done better, there would have been fewer expectations. As a student with undiagnosed ADHD, I lived with constantly being instructed to “… put my mind to it!” Now I know that I can do that, but it takes checks and balances that were never in place back then.

So like a dog brain, if left unchecked, my mind isn’t “put” to anything, it goes on its own to the thing it wants.

Woof!

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    Last reviewed: 6 Feb 2012