Letter from Elisabeth d'Ornano
My interest in children
I would like with this website to explain what ADHD is and emphasize the importance of there being a joint effort between parents, teachers and doctors to help a child progress adequately.
Apart from helping children with ADHD, I would like this project to give back to the image of the child ,the importance in society that it should have and has lost, and call to attention the "loneliness" that these children often suffer since that is the true disease responsible for many of the physical and mental ailments at present.
A way to measure the wellfare of a society is by seeing how it treats its children. The Masai tribe of Africa, one of the oldest on earth, has a beautiful tradition: when a person from one village meets someone from another village, they greet one another with: "How are the children?". In the Masai village nobody, or almost nobody, feels alone. Their children are the foudation of its society, and they make no distinction between their children and God, uniting all the elements of life to form a Single unit.
We must start from the premise that the child is sacred, and as such, needs a lot more than we could think. Its soul grows with age and shines on account of the care we provide. We are the guardians of our children, but they have their own identity. Each child is born with certain characteristics talent and a predisposition, and we, as parents, must respect the fact that they may want to follow a different path than ours. We should try to extract their potential, showering them with the love, encouragement and the support that they need. To do so, we must not be obsessed with academics, but instead allocate the child’s time to try to develop his creativity in music, art, sports, etc. in order to promote his self-esteem. The goal is to reach adolescence and then adulthood as, primarily a well-rounded person, having found a talent and his true essence This will enable him to have a normal family life and a steady job , in order to be able to perpetuate the human chain.
Children with ADHD are special and need even more than other children due to their learning difficulties. What I would personally like to do is to motivate the parents first of all ,but also teachers and doctors involved in their support, so that they make a joint effort required that will bring them many rewards and much satisfaction. When you have a child diagnosed with ADHD early on, and he or she is understood, supported and guided with the necessary love, the child may well become a person that surprises us. We have examples like those of Churchill, Phelps or Einstein, as people from different areas, who have in common the fact of having had a learning difficulties but who at the same time have achieved to become geniuses in their field . Children with ADHD can be intelligent children. Each child has a type of intelligence that needs to be explored, discovered and developed with the help of the right professionals . We will go into more-depth on this subject on this website to try and help parents and teachers on the matter , as well as helping medical professionals to establish a correct diagnosis.
With the valuable help of Mara and Miguel,doctors in child psychiatry we put at your disposal some information that I hope can be of help to you. For my part, I would very much like to encourage everyone involved to confront the challenge of helping these children because I believe it to be truly valuables. Even though sometimes the path may seem uphill and demanding for parents , these children have a lot to offer by being spontaneous, creative and full of positive energy. Seeing that your child is happy and progressing on the right path will be your greatest reward.
The great purpose for all of us is in one way or another is to take care of our children. When one is lucky enough to have the right priorities set in life and is guided by them that person is much more likely to be truly happy. If one does not feel able to do so, due to their own problems, he or she should not hesitate to seek help to resolve personal difficulties in order to achieve emotional well-being, patience, tranquility, that are all essential.
I recommend nuclear families, especially those that are single parent families, that have a family member that has been diagnosed with ADHD, to open themselves up to members of their extended family (grandparents, uncles, etc.) in order to explain the situation and be able to count on their support so they can help the parents to contact schools, non-profit organizations, places of entertainment and other organizations in order to get help from these institutions. The extended family can be of great help and make all the difference. It is very difficult for a single mother or mother and father when they both work to protect the child and provide what he or she needs.
On the part of the association, we will try to work towards facilitating support centers for parents, summer camps for these children and other additional resources that will help reach our objectives in Spain for now. These children have so much vitality that they can be exhausting , this can bring out the worst of oneself, which can lead to wasting time you could spend positively with them, encouraging their well being.
When educating these children it is important to remember the good things about them and try and be positive .Every child has a particular talent or something he does well. Many are highly intelligent with the problem of having a learning difficulty that we must help them with, and an emotional side that we must care for and manage, protecting them from external situations that they may encounter in their environment. Be ever vigilant so that their development does not spiral downward, but always upward. Remember that the child is revitalized with nature and that he or she will benefit much more from it , than spending the day playing Play Station games or watching television. Spending the day in nature in the countryside or by the seaside will benefit all the family by spending time together and by establishing that contact with the elements that we all need.
You can appreciate their personal growth by seeing them smile genuinely and personally. This brings an emotion for any parent with a wonderful feeling of reward.