Two 6-Year-Olds Are Asked the Same Questions. Can You Tell Which One Has ADHD?

These days, it seems like every other kid is being prescribed adderall or or ridellin and being labeled with ADHD.

A video has been floating around the Internet lately that shed some light on this topic, and really hit close to home.

The video shows a 6-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl being interviewed, and asks viewers to guess which one of the children has ADHD.

Some people say it’s just a phase—that kids are hyper and have short attention spans. Others say it’s a control tactic—to have robot kids who never act out or make a fuss. And some just don’t have the knowledge of what ADHD is, because the term is so heavily claimed by people everywhere.

But as someone who suffers from adult ADHD, I can tell you, it’s not a fad. It’s not a phase. They won’t grow out of it and it is very very real for some people.

Growing up, I was not a kid that anyone would suspect to have ADHD (as if ADHD looks like something in particular). I was “wise beyond my years,” and “mature for my age.” I never acted out in class, and I was a pretty average student.

In high school I started noticing how much I truly hated school. I had never loved school to begin with, but 9th-12th grade was miserable. Socially, I loved school. Academically, I couldn’t dread anything more.

I would sit in class and spend 20 minutes reading pages of a book. My eyes would cover every word across every page, and when the time was up, I couldn’t tell you what I had read.

I would sit down to do homework and hours later only have half of a page written (spoiler alert: I’m a writer today and this article didn’t take me hours to write). Only half of my paper might have been written, but I’d also managed to clean half of my room, taken multiple “study breaks” and even started on other homework—but nothing was finished.

My motivation wasn’t lacking—I WANTED to be good at school—but I was severely distracted.

I didn’t have good grades in some subjects, but I thrived in others. I speak three languages, and lived for P.E. classes.

My room was rarely clean, but it was “organized” for me. I would put things into piles, and I could tell you exactly where in each pile any given thing could be found.

I was a good kid. I didn’t act out, I didn’t fidget uncontrollably, or distract others sitting around me. But I also never finished a sentence. My stories would jump from one idea to another to another with hardly taking a breath. I interrupt people way too often, without even realizing I’m doing it, because my ideas come and go so quickly I might forget.

My mom would have never guessed that I had ADHD from looking at me—because it’s a mental illness. Just like depression, anxiety, some eating disorders, personality disorders and anything else that effects your mental health, you can’t always see it.

Kids with ADHD are often considered outcasts. Depending on the severity of their disorder, they often won’t be as visibly composed as I might have been. But some are.

ADHD is a mental disorder that literally makes everyday tasks seem impossible. Grocery shopping when I’m not on my medicine is guaranteed to result in a nervous breakdown. Writing this article without the help of stimulants would take far too long for it to ever be my job. And having the mental motivation to get through almost anything from start to finish would be nearly impossible.

As someone who was diagnosed as an adult, and is able to reflect on the world of a difference that one little pill can make, I have to believe that ADHD is not a fad. It’s not just something that you have on a busy day when life is keeping you from focusing. It’s an illness that keeps you from focusing on life.

Like anything, I’m sure it’s misdiagnosed from time to time, and maybe even over-diagnosed. But it’s not my place to judge the ability at which someone else’s brain can function.

You can’t always see ADHD, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Have patience, be kind and know that we are all human. Some of us just function differently than others and need a little boost to ensure things get done.