Careers for people with ADD

I am a pediatric orthopedic nurse:-) Fortunately for me most of the time it is BIG ideas.

Charles Schwab is LD. I would do a search of famous people with ADD first possibly. Let me think of more. I know a lot of LDers. Dyslexics

Jonnathan Mooney is another really good one.He wrote a book about being dyslexic and ADHD and how he finnished college with honors from Brown university with a degree in Amercian Lit. Reads on a 3rd grade level,and writes at about the same level. Is ADHD,and an awsome person. The book gives some really good strategies on learning outside the lines.
Actually the title of the book: “Learniing outside the lines” might check this out. At any rate your son would probably really enjoy it. It is written for teenagers or college students.

… the title escapes me, but it’s all about how some traits that get you in all kinds of trouble in the wrong setting (especially school :)) end up being a real asset “out in the real world.” It’s full of examples, too.
I’m not finding it at Amazon :( so maybe I have the author wrong…
There’s enough variability among folks with ADD so that it’s a little hard to come up with “good careers” for the group — and quite often the difference between a good career and a disaster is not so much in the career choice as in other factors in the setting that tap a person’s strengths and manage problems of distractibility or forgetfulness or whatever.

There are 2 excellent books on being successful with ADD - both are written by Thom Hartmann
Attention Deficit Disorder - A Different Perception
Add Success Stories

Reading them gives hope that our ADD/ADHD kids can be successful once they get out into the real world.

I have had lots of businesses in my time. I have been an artist, a picture framer, owned a cleaning business, teacher, aid in school district, worked as a teacher, reading tutor, Speech therapist. Put it this way I am never bored…

Most ADD people have great ideas and can hyperfocus on what their interests are but the problem is that their interests can vary from here to eternity..

Many musicians and actors are ADD too.

Before even getting into careers for individuals with ADD, what do you believe are your son’s strengths…

ADD is not as simple as many people may think and looks very different. What may look like a strength in one person may be a weakness in another.

Oh how very true this post is! They/we do seem to hyperfocus on what are interests are at the time….

And God know we can have many different careers in one lifetime.

My husband for example,is a Blues Musician. Most all of the guys he plays with are defintely ADHD!

Recall reading a book about ADHD with a most unusual title: How to Cure Hyperactivity (an ADHD - Inattentive - autobiography)(1981) by C. Thomas Wild and Anita Uhl Brothers, M.D. Apparently the author worked for a utility company in several positions including an outdoor meter reader to compensate for involuntary distractibility and a very short attention span measured in seconds. The book was available through the non-profit Learning Disabilities Association of America.

Best wishes.

My husband is adhd, has been in the marine corps, an auxiliary sheriff’s deputy, a vinyl siding deliveryman and is currently an army officer. He has been successful in all these things. What I see in common for these jobs besides not having to buy dress clothes ;o), is that they are frequently outdoors, involve some amount of risk taking(he has parachuted out of planes and helicopters, he was in charge of firing missiles during the cold war), the job is always interesting,there is lots of structure, the people and the places change frequently. If you don’t get along well with your boss, you know either you or he will be leaving pretty soon. In the military I mean. My husband is what I have seen described as the concientious controller. He makes things happen, has been known as the hamster(my kids say dad is nocturnal) because of his energy. At times it is great because stuff gets done, and with my add no H, I need that from him. However, it gets kinda hard listening to him bark at us when he gets home cause he is still in active mode and can’t really deal with clutter and mess. He doesn’t do leisure well unless it is completely planned out(no sitting around in pj’s watching cartoons on Sunday). I have a cousin who just joined the army, he is 18 and adhd, his mom took him off meds when he was still in elementary school because of side effects. The first letter so far from him has been very enthusiastic, I will let y’all know he feels about it as things go.
Anyway, the military is right for some folks. Me, I couldn’t take getting yelled at so…hope this helped.

My ADD ex-husband was a fair to poor student up until 7th grade, and then the bottom fell out. All F’s after the first marking period. His parents scared him into getting C’s and B’s for the rest of his High School time, as did the coach to keep his 6’ 230 lb. frame in football. He was considered the big dumb, daydreaming, slacker kid back in the 60’s, despite the fact that the family knew his younger sister would eventually go to medical school.

When the afternoon came to sign up for junior college (by himself, no parent helped), the door was literally locked, so he got a job in a shoe store that very day. He was fired soon after, and then underachieved in photography and a TV production career until the computer age caught up to him. He was, however a hyperfocused hobby person. We actually changed his career to computers for purely monetary reasons, and that clicked just like his hobbies. He was a natural. It also helps that he is very smart, and math came easy. When I saw him get so absorbed in his hobbies, with an absolutely photographic memory for facts about subjects he liked, the bad school grades made absolutely no sense.

I signed him up for college on two different occasions…he just wasn’t capable of getting the ball rolling on his own. But when he finally went to computer school at 37 years old and he made straight A’s and the overall honor roll, while working 25 hours a week for 14 months straight. That year of confidence boosting changed his life, and his outlook. Now every computer certification he has needed, he studies for diligently and passes with flying colors, no matter how difficult. It’s just a matter of finding the right fit.

amyf,
I am surprised about your cousin being in the army. I read somewhere that peoplewith a history of having been on Ritalin are not allowed to enlist.
Could it be he never took Ritalin or did I read a false statement?
Sueamyf wrote:
>
> My husband is adhd, has been in the marine corps, an
> auxiliary sheriff’s deputy, a vinyl siding deliveryman and is
> currently an army officer. He has been successful in all
> these things. What I see in common for these jobs besides not
> having to buy dress clothes ;o), is that they are frequently
> outdoors, involve some amount of risk taking(he has
> parachuted out of planes and helicopters, he was in charge of
> firing missiles during the cold war), the job is always
> interesting,there is lots of structure, the people and the
> places change frequently. If you don’t get along well with
> your boss, you know either you or he will be leaving pretty
> soon. In the military I mean. My husband is what I have seen
> described as the concientious controller. He makes things
> happen, has been known as the hamster(my kids say dad is
> nocturnal) because of his energy. At times it is great
> because stuff gets done, and with my add no H, I need that
> from him. However, it gets kinda hard listening to him bark
> at us when he gets home cause he is still in active mode and
> can’t really deal with clutter and mess. He doesn’t do
> leisure well unless it is completely planned out(no sitting
> around in pj’s watching cartoons on Sunday). I have a cousin
> who just joined the army, he is 18 and adhd, his mom took him
> off meds when he was still in elementary school because of
> side effects. The first letter so far from him has been very
> enthusiastic, I will let y’all know he feels about it as
> things go.
> Anyway, the military is right for some folks. Me, I couldn’t
> take getting yelled at so…hope this helped.

Audrey,
Your husband sounds like my son. He is very skilled on the computer and video games. When he is involved in these 2 things he is quite amazing.
sue

People with ADD can take up any career. It all depends on their interests and strengths. That doesn’t mean they will be successful at it though. It seems to me that ADD people often do one of two things in their careers (and life for that matter).

1. They get by with the minimum. They get stuck in low paying non-challenging jobs, not because they like it, but because they lack the organizational skills, forward planning and perserverance to change jobs or careers. This is not a recipe for success in any career.

2. They jump from job to job and career to career. They lose interest in one thing and suddenly take up another. This does not allow them to progress to higher paying or more rewarding jobs, since they are always starting over. Also, their resume begins to look bad, because not very many companies want to take a chance on someone who will quit in a few months or years. this is not a recipe for success in any career.

Starting your own business is no answer either, since ADD people in their own business will do either 1. or 2. They will either lack the organizational skills to make their business prosper, or they will be constantly jumping from one “great business idea” to another, never allowing one to become a success.

These are the pitfalls of ADD. I know there are many people with ADD who have overcome them and had successful, rewarding careers. But I know many more people who have had their careers sidetracked, derailed or run out of gas because of their ADD symptoms. My family falls in the latter camp. My husband is a 1 and I am a 2. This is causing enormous frustration and strain in our relationship and life in general.

Your child’s job will take up most of his or her waking hours. As parents I believe we need to guide our children into making the right choices, dealing with ADD symptoms and constantly reassessing where they are going and how they are going to get there. This should continue until a child is well into his or her twenties, because that type of forward planning and assessment are not what ADD people do best.

Liz,

Boy, did you hit the nail on the head. It is hard to live with ADD and when it gets in the way of a healthy relationship with those we love it makes it even more difficult. My heart goes out to you.

My cousin was on ritalin but was taken off because of side effects. I think he was at least 12 if not a little younger. Folks who are interested in the military should consult with individual services because they may have different policies. I don’t actually know about how long the person has to be off ritalin or other meds but I don’t think it is a never proposition. I will say the weirdest thing is, at least in the army, if you are dxed after joining, they offer meds to you. My younger son was dxed by an air force major (pediatrician,md) who was himself taking adderall, currently, as well as recently, a medic who triaged my son in the er, mentioned that she also used to take ritalin, after asking if there were any meds my son was taking. Personally, I think there are many folks in the military who are adhd, those would be the hyper focused, hyper organized folks like my husband. When I met him, he was 20 yrs old, a full time college student, part time police officer and marine corps reservist. Add in dating and this was a really busy guy!! Subsequently he got a commission in the army as a 2lt through college rotc, and has been in 15 yrs, successfully. He was dxed adhd this past spring by the military docs, offered meds, but my husband refused, he just basically wanted some answers. Anyway, he is working on his masters with an A average along with his full time work, and this is from a guy who was in the special reading class til grade 7 ( his mom thinks he should have stayed in it). I don’t want anyone to think I am trying to come across as an expert, I am not, these are just my personal experiences that I thought I would share. I also am in the hopes that at some point, the services will realize that some very talented people are being excluded by their policies and at some point it will be unconstitutional to exclude able bodied and able minded people from serving their country. Think about it, where would we be without General Patton? He had a person read for him in West Point. Anyway, at least one of my boys wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps, he takes ritalin and is 10 yrs. We’ll see how things go. Best wishes.