Interviews
Twin Cities Student Writes Book about Living with ADHD
Twin Cities student writes 'Journal of an ADHD Kid'
Author to take part in LDA's Symposium Nov. 8
Like many kids his age, 14-year-old Toby Stumpf headed to high school this fall, and enjoys golfing, downhill skiing, snowboarding and traveling. However, Toby has also done something that many kids his age probably haven’t: he’s written a book.
"There aren't very many kid authors," he notes. "S.E. Hinton (is) the author of 'The Outsiders,' one of my favorite books. She became a published author when she was like 15! My book, 'Journal of an ADHD Kid: The Good, the Bad, and the Useful,' will be out this fall."
The 108-page book has been picked up by Woodbine House, a Maryland-based publisher specializing in books about children with special needs.
The book was inspired by “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Do It Yourself,” by Jeff Kinney. Toby started writing the book with his mother, Dawn, when he was in fifth grade. They finished 10 chapters during their first summer writing, and finished the rest by the time Toby was getting ready to go into eighth grade.
"Journal of an ADHD Kid" was published last year through a CreateSpace Independent Publishing platform. The version published by Woodbine House "will get a whole new look," Dawn said.
"They will be able to do what we wanted to do to it," she said. "For example, they will be able to add illustrations, make the book look more like a real journal and just make it better than it already is. For now, the original is still available on Amazon."
ADHD isn’t merely academic for Toby – it’s something he lives with.
“Having ADHD means that certain things might be harder for people with ADHD than those without it. But it doesn’t mean we can’t do it,” he said. “We just have to find a way that works for the way we are wired."
“Some kids get it (ADHD) and what it’s like for us,” he continued. “But then others don’t get it at all and can act kind of mean. But that goes with just about anything and not just kids. Teachers can be the hardest to help understand. Teachers try to and mean well, but unless they’ve lived with it themselves or have their own kid with it, they really don’t have any idea what it’s like to have a mind that wanders off, or a brain that has a hard time ‘getting started’ on something or remembering to turn something in that might be right on our desk in a folder. Instead, they often get annoyed and just assume that we do some of these things on purpose or because we don’t care. That’s the hard part – I know I care and I want to do well. I don’t not turn my stuff in to make them mad. I’m not irresponsible, either – I’m just wired differently.”
Dawn knew about ADHD through her work as a teacher in the Annandale school district. As a parent, it entered her life around the time Toby was 7 or 8, she said.
“Looking back, our family can see how this has been how he’s been wired from birth,” she said. “As a teacher, you would have thought we would have had it ‘noticed’ or diagnosed sooner. But, he’s your typical ADHD’r, diagnosed in about the second grade. There’s something developmentally magical about getting to that year and the signs becoming clear enough to seek a doctor’s assistance. Hyperactive Type can be easier to diagnose sometimes. The inattentive type can go under the radar. You wonder if the child’s shy, if the child is just quiet, if the child has anxiety. But as kids develop and academic skills continue to increase in complexity and learner behaviors have to become increasingly more independent, the child’s needs become more apparent.”
Toby said that he sometimes feels like he is the only one with ADHD, “like nobody understands.” It’s one of the reasons that he wrote “Journal of an ADHD Kid.”
“Nobody really talks about having ADHD,” he said. “ It’s like a big, bad secret. Some kids with the hyperactive type talk about it sometimes, but rarely does the inattentive type ever tell anyone. That’s one reason I wrote my book. I want kids (everyone, really) to know that it’s OK to have ADHD. If we talk about it, we’ll all understand it better and we can help each other. Kids can have great ideas and we should share them. Like how to use a certain app to keep track of stuff or how to color-code our notebooks and folders to try and keep things organized for classes. Sometimes just telling others about having ADHD helps you to just know you aren’t the only one with some of these challenges."
The Facebook page for “Journal of an ADHD Kid” can be found at http://on.fb.me/Sot5p8
by Joseph Palmersheim, Contributing Writer
Author to take part in LDA's Symposium Nov. 8
Like many kids his age, 14-year-old Toby Stumpf headed to high school this fall, and enjoys golfing, downhill skiing, snowboarding and traveling. However, Toby has also done something that many kids his age probably haven’t: he’s written a book.
"There aren't very many kid authors," he notes. "S.E. Hinton (is) the author of 'The Outsiders,' one of my favorite books. She became a published author when she was like 15! My book, 'Journal of an ADHD Kid: The Good, the Bad, and the Useful,' will be out this fall."
The 108-page book has been picked up by Woodbine House, a Maryland-based publisher specializing in books about children with special needs.
The book was inspired by “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Do It Yourself,” by Jeff Kinney. Toby started writing the book with his mother, Dawn, when he was in fifth grade. They finished 10 chapters during their first summer writing, and finished the rest by the time Toby was getting ready to go into eighth grade.
"Journal of an ADHD Kid" was published last year through a CreateSpace Independent Publishing platform. The version published by Woodbine House "will get a whole new look," Dawn said.
"They will be able to do what we wanted to do to it," she said. "For example, they will be able to add illustrations, make the book look more like a real journal and just make it better than it already is. For now, the original is still available on Amazon."
ADHD isn’t merely academic for Toby – it’s something he lives with.
“Having ADHD means that certain things might be harder for people with ADHD than those without it. But it doesn’t mean we can’t do it,” he said. “We just have to find a way that works for the way we are wired."
“Some kids get it (ADHD) and what it’s like for us,” he continued. “But then others don’t get it at all and can act kind of mean. But that goes with just about anything and not just kids. Teachers can be the hardest to help understand. Teachers try to and mean well, but unless they’ve lived with it themselves or have their own kid with it, they really don’t have any idea what it’s like to have a mind that wanders off, or a brain that has a hard time ‘getting started’ on something or remembering to turn something in that might be right on our desk in a folder. Instead, they often get annoyed and just assume that we do some of these things on purpose or because we don’t care. That’s the hard part – I know I care and I want to do well. I don’t not turn my stuff in to make them mad. I’m not irresponsible, either – I’m just wired differently.”
Dawn knew about ADHD through her work as a teacher in the Annandale school district. As a parent, it entered her life around the time Toby was 7 or 8, she said.
“Looking back, our family can see how this has been how he’s been wired from birth,” she said. “As a teacher, you would have thought we would have had it ‘noticed’ or diagnosed sooner. But, he’s your typical ADHD’r, diagnosed in about the second grade. There’s something developmentally magical about getting to that year and the signs becoming clear enough to seek a doctor’s assistance. Hyperactive Type can be easier to diagnose sometimes. The inattentive type can go under the radar. You wonder if the child’s shy, if the child is just quiet, if the child has anxiety. But as kids develop and academic skills continue to increase in complexity and learner behaviors have to become increasingly more independent, the child’s needs become more apparent.”
Toby said that he sometimes feels like he is the only one with ADHD, “like nobody understands.” It’s one of the reasons that he wrote “Journal of an ADHD Kid.”
“Nobody really talks about having ADHD,” he said. “ It’s like a big, bad secret. Some kids with the hyperactive type talk about it sometimes, but rarely does the inattentive type ever tell anyone. That’s one reason I wrote my book. I want kids (everyone, really) to know that it’s OK to have ADHD. If we talk about it, we’ll all understand it better and we can help each other. Kids can have great ideas and we should share them. Like how to use a certain app to keep track of stuff or how to color-code our notebooks and folders to try and keep things organized for classes. Sometimes just telling others about having ADHD helps you to just know you aren’t the only one with some of these challenges."
The Facebook page for “Journal of an ADHD Kid” can be found at http://on.fb.me/Sot5p8
by Joseph Palmersheim, Contributing Writer