About Judie Gade

Hello!

My name is Judie Gade & I live in Melbourne, Australia with my husband and 2 children. I am also ADHD & did not find out until I was 40 years old, although I had my suspicions for a few years before that.....

Contrary to popular belief, I do not feel I have a disorder, but rather I have a brain difference that holds me in good stead now that I understand where I'm coming from. Really, I would not change the way I am except perhaps the way I do housework, manage paperwork or a credit card (or not as the case may be!) My quirks give me an advantage, especially in the area of counselling, coaching and writing. ADHD people have an innate ability to see what could be and not just what is. In some instances this can be advantageous, such as seeing the situation for what it really is, in other cases it can make you a bit of an outcast as people just don't get what you are on about!

Being ADHD can be very confusing for anyone, but it is especially for children. You grow up not knowing why other kids pick on you, why teachers find you annoying sometimes, why you start 6 conversations in the one sentence or why you just can't seem to shut up when it is expected of you. Sometimes it just seems too hard. People try and explain your actions to you but you cannot see what the problem is..... in your mind people are endlessly picking on you, telling you to try harder when you're already trying your best & your self-esteem goes down the toilet. Kids need to understand why they are the way they are, because if they don't have it explained to them how are they supposed to handle it? This is one of the reasons that I am writing a Life Skills book for ADD Teens and hopefully it will be published in the next year.

I just wonder how far I could have gone if I had been treated in my teens? I was one of the luckier ones I feel, as I did not have any major problem with school academically, that was until I hit the last 2 years of high school, then I needed a tutor to help me. Now I know the reason why... As far as other issues went, I found it hard to keep friends in the earlier high school years, but as I got older I was fun to be around so I was easier to tolerate. I switched high schools as a "psychological case & highly strung" and spent the last 3 years at a school that was caring & amongst students that were more tolerant of my quirks. No beatings in those 3 years was quite a feat as my first 3 years were spent in fear, with regular bashings, mishandling by one teacher and pranks to regularly humiliate me in front of my peers by other students...... and for what reason? Because they didn't understand and neither did I. All I knew was that I had a kind heart and would do anything for people in need, even the ones that didn't like me.

You might ask "how did the teachers react?" What was even worse was that many of the teachers condoned my tormentors' actions by doing nothing & telling me "to not be so sensitive & toughen up", generally ignoring what was happening even when it was happening in front of them.? When you take the kind of demeaning antics & cruelty that kids can display towards someone who is a little different, and realise it was a daily occurrence, you can imagine the mental cruelty a child can go through.

On one hand you have kids terrorising you and on the other you have teachers who ignored it. It is no wonder that ADD kids are at risk of suicide attempts. I was lucky to have parents that were supportive & another school that was willing to take me and give me a chance..... Thank you McKinnon High School! Looking back at my old school reports I can only remember seeing one positive report as there was always something along the lines of "capable of more", "needs to concentrate more in class" etc. If I had been treated back then I am sure that I would have had a much easier time of it in school. As my mother said to me when I had the "Oh My God, This is ME!" moment ..... "we didn't know, we just didn't know back then".

Now is a different story. I? am entering university to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Psychology, after nearly three years of exploration, helping others who are like me adjust, learning about myself? and doing self-imposed research. One day I hope to practice and also to teach units myself at university to potential primary and secondary teachers. Their training in this area is very limited, and I believe that all training teachers? should have at least one unit dedicated to mental health issues as they are often first in line to deal with these kids other than the parents. Once out in the workforce teachers are reticent to do any form of study or professional development as they are often overworked as it is.

After finding out the real reason for my "difference", I determined never to let another child, or adult for that matter, go without all the help that was on offer. I began writing articles that seemed to hit an nerve amongst the readers, with many of my articles being published globally in different languages by professionals, ADHD support groups, Australian Schools & even government education departments. The last one was picked up by an education department office to be distributed to all their teachers & was also recently the reason for an accolade in a Special Ed newsletter in the USA. My family has quite a few accomplished writers in it, so I guess the gene pool was kind to me in this instance!

Through working on my book, I have been involved in writing a workbook to a Psycho-social skills manual for ADHD and Asperger's kids. I've finished the text for a picture book for 5-8 year olds as well. Currently I am in 3rd year of a psychology degree & am also back selling real estate.