Smart, Sensitive & Out of Control

When I was a kid I was not in this five-percent group, but I knew kids who were. And it seems to me, one way or another, I've been writing about hyperactivity my entire career. Take Rotten Ralph (the Rotten Ralph books are published by Houghton, HarperCollins, and Farrar) for instance--when does that cat ever settle down? Can he stay on task? Follow orders? Remember the rules? Of course not! He's a hyper cat. And look at the Jack Henry books (published by Farrar). Take the character of Frankie Pagoda--this kid used to haul his Big Wheels up to the top of his roof, then ride down and try to land in the swimming pool. Sometimes, he'd miss and crash badly onto the concrete patio, but this didn't slow him down a bit. When his Big Wheels broke, he'd just put on his roller skates. Once he came home pushing a shopping cart and he had a grin from ear to ear across his face. He never got it onto the roof, but he spent hours attempting to haul it up a ladder, and no matter how many times he fell backward with the ladder and cart landing on him, he didn't quit. Anyone who didn't know the story behind this bruised-up kid figured his parents beat him with a stick each night. But he had great parents. They didn't lay a glove on him--didn't have to.

With Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and Joey Pigza Loses Control (both published by Farrar), I write more specifically about a kid with ADHD. I arrived at this character honestly. I was visiting a school in Lancaster, PA, and was speaking to a fifth-grade class. There was a wiry kid in the front row, and as I spoke he just locked his brain onto mine and scanned my every thought. He finished all my sentences. He delivered all my punch lines. He blurted out a string of very perceptive questions, and all the while, he was spinning around in his seat like a top. His show was far more impressive than mine. Then suddenly, the worm turned, and he began to look worried. He kept spinning around on his bottom and waving frantically for the teacher who didn't notice him, because she was busy resettling another student in his seat. Finally he began to blurt out, "Teacher! Teacher!" And when she looked up at him, he plaintively yelled, "I forgot to take my morning meds!" She pointed to the door and that kid shot out of the classroom, as if he'd been blasted out of a cannon. Then all the way down the hall to the nurse's office, I could hear him pounding each locker with his fist. Bam! Bam! Bam! He was amazing to me. So smart, so eager to learn and eager to please, and so suddenly out of control. It was exhilarating, and disturbing. Later, I spoke to his teacher about him. She said he was already taking Ritalin (the most often-used medication for ADHD), but that it wasn't entirely working, and soon he was to be transferred to a special-ed class that was being started up for kids who were "wired."

Of course, when I wrote Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, I wrote about special ed as I imagined it might be--a frightening, yet ultimately hopeful experience.

Now, I don't work in a school all day. I work in my basement. So I'm not constantly with kids who have ADHD or other special needs. But I'm in schools a lot, and during my talks I'm quite sure all the ADHD kids are packed into the front row. I think teachers believe that the hyper kids will pay better attention to me the closer they are to my feet. They do pay attention. They scoot forward and play with the Velcro straps on my shoes. They mimic all my facial expressions as I speak. They suddenly stand up and begin to play with my slide projector. They ask me questions so rapidly I cannot keep up with the answers. They drift off and begin to play with all sorts of things that are in their pockets, from food bits to manipulatives. They are very active--and generally, very bright.

These are good, smart kids who, like everyone, don't want to be defined by their most notorious qualities. Like most of us, they want to do well, and want to think of themselves as great kids with great futures. So, if you are not a doctor, how can you help them?

Well, you can't glue them to their seats (as one teacher uses as a threat), or staple their clothes to the wall with them in them (as I once did to my brother), or duct tape them to a load-bearing pillar (I read this method of control was used at a day-care facility). My best guess is to keep them actively involved in really fascinating projects. And when they read, then give them an interesting book, and as one special-ed teacher suggested, have them read a book while listening to the same book on tape. Some children are great aural learners, plus the voice helps keep them on task (I've read both Joey Pigza books for Listening Library). I also suggest group projects that allow readers to create hands-on art projects about books, dramatic stage reports about books, songs, computer-generated projects, and games. In short, I would keep them busy with book-based projects and tasks, and I would set them to work with their peers who will help, by example and encouragement, keep them focused. But whatever you do, don't expect them to turn off their brains, or stop tapping their hands and feet, or any of this sort of thing, because it just won't happen.

As a writer of children's books, I primarily concern myself with trying, in a common-sense way, to describe characters as they trundle through a story from the beginning, through the middle, to the end. As a person of common sense, I can only say that kids with ADHD deserve an accurate diagnosis by a specialist in ADHD; they deserve personal and family therapy, and possibly medication. Teachers and librarians need to be trained and equipped to spot their behavior and direct their enormous energy toward obtainable tasks. School systems need to address the issues of ADHD kids and prepare to meet their needs. This is all very basic stuff.

There is no magic solution. But we all know that boredom will make any kid (and any adult) squirm. So, if I was a librarian, I would have a selection of books that have great characters and interesting story lines.

There is no magic solution, but high-interest books, hands-on projects, and group activities will certainly help focus kids with ADHD--and the more they focus and learn, the more you can, too.

Jack Gantos is the author of Joey Pigza Loses Control (Farrar, 2000), a Newbery Honor Book.