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Brad was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age. He started with cognitive behavioural therapy, but eventually was given medication.
As a toddler, he was handsome, skinny, happy, talkative, very curious, and probably the most energetic skinny toddler I’ve seen. He learned to speak his first words when he was 10 months old and took his first steps to run, not walk, at 11 months. At 14 months, he was able to speak complete sentences. At 2 years old, he can already read letters A to Z, count up to 20, and identify 12 different shapes - circle, square, triangle, rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, decagon, and diamond. Those shapes represented the 12 numbers on his toy wooden clock that I bought from a second hand store.
His elderly and strict pediatrician would always complain of his
hyperactivity during his check-ups. This pediatrician was popular in our place that despite her unfriendly aura, many parents took their children to her. Even I went to her until I was 12 because my Mom said that I don't get well with other doctors.
So, we usually wait for up to an hour and while waiting, Brad would have gone around the huge waiting areas a number of times either by running, jumping, or crawling until the floor was polished. He would have repeatedly asked the names of the fishes in the aquariums until he’d memorized them. Angelfish, guppy, gold fish, neon tetra, blue moon, blind fish, etc. Those aquariums made the other children sit still while staring at the fishes. Yes, the other children, except Brad.
When it’s our turn to see the doctor, Brad would right away try to climb the patient’s bed. As usual, he wouldn’t stay still while the doctor puts the stethoscope on him and he tries to hold and feel its coldness.
Ironically, though, he hardly cried when he was given a vaccination. The pediatrician was impressed that he refused to look away. Instead, he looked right at the injection slowly piercing and puncturing his soft, fair skin and tiny arm as he jolted a bit. No crying. She was so impressed that I saw a tiny smile on her fierce face for the first and last time.
When Brad was 3, the pediatrician probably reached her threshold and advised me to take him to a psychiatrist to assess if he has ADHD. And the psychiatrist confirmed it. He was advised to attend CBT classes three times a week.
One time, my husband was driving us home from Brad’s 45 minute therapy. I was seated beside him, while Brad was behind with his nanny. He was tumbling and jumping at the backseat, while talking and
asking questions non-stop! The poor nanny had been trying to make him sit but to no avail. I finally turned to him and calmly said, “Brad, can you please sit still for a while and let’s all be quiet in the car? Can you do that please?”
It was one of those very rare occasions that Brad listened right away. He sat still while his nanny let out a long sigh of relief, stopped talking and asking questions. My husband continued to drive smoothly and I turned off the radio to internalize the wonderful sound of silence in the car.
Then, in probably less than 30 seconds, our beloved Brad said, “Can I talk now?!! I can’t breathe if I don’t!!!”, panting with his right hand on his chest.
And that was the glorious 30 seconds of stillness and silence of Brad. Thank God I was there to witness it!
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