After several years of pushing for my eldest daughter Gracie to have extra support and testing through her primary school, the mornings full of tears because she didn't want to go to school (my tears too as I walked away knowing she was su unhappy) as she didn't feel like everyone else and found it so incredibly hard, being told by teachers she was in a "dreamland" or she needs to "read less like a robot" and being told time and time again that she wasn't dyslexic ( I had to laugh to the teachers at parents evening in Year 6 when her spelling book was spelt by her as Selping Book and still no one would mention the word dyslexia and they smiled at me and brushed over it)  or have attention problems, we found the money to pay privately for testing and she has a diagnosis of severe dyslexia and ADHD. There are also memory processing difficulties too, so the time it takes from looking at a board to writing something down on paper, can just go and she has no idea what was written.

Its complex, but we are so relieved we have a better understanding now and we know how to manage these difficulties and work on re-building that confidence and self esteem by developing the things she has a flair for and enjoys. 

She is a fabulous, creative girl (obviously we're biased ;-)) and I'm fundraising for this charity in order to get more information out there and a better awareness of these learning difficulties. I had very little understanding of them (as you know I teach adults and never worked in child education) and sad we didn't go privately when she was much younger her but we have to look forward now. 

If we can make somebodies life easier with better awareness, then this would be a great thing!

Having ADHD or ADD is a challenge - both for the individual and for the people around them. We are here to help people face the challenge. But we want more than just-about-coping. We want to help people to find their unique way and thrive.We aim to do that through warm hearted support, quality relatable information, campaigning to raise awareness and empathy, advocating for ADHD/ADD politically, fighting for fair NHS & Education resources, and challenging employers to put in adjustments that work and create ADHD/ADD inclusivity.