A Tale of Two Boys

by Kerstin
(Canada)

The incidents in this story took place 11 years ago or more in Manila. I was a tutoring assistant to my aunt.

We were teaching a group of preschoolers from a Chinese School. Our students have writing assignments, they were all doing it except for one he would suddenly stop & stare blankly into space this scenario is constantly repeated, and that was when I knew he had AD/HD-I-predominantly inattentive.

The second one was also from the same school. He is even worst than the first, this boy would cry each time he is asked to read, the situation escalated into a crisis, the boy would suddenly become impulsive & throws dangerous tantrums, sending his book flying across the table.

It was only by making him stand outside that we would make him stop. I later discovered he had AD/HD-HI. With the first boy, I promised him he can pick a star from my small tin box if he can sit still & complete his lessons, and he continued to do so until he completed his preschool level.

I was not able to deal with the second boy, as his parents has decided to pull him out of the group & teach him themselves.

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Hi Kerstin,

Interesting story. Great to know you found a strategy to help the first boy but unfortunately not the second one. Keep up the good work.

Daniel.