Why I wrote the Books

So, what is it all about, then?

ADHD, dyslexia, oppositional defiant disorder, rage attacks and other behavioural problems and learning disabilities - these have a tendency to hang out together.

They are an endless source of frustration for the afflicted child or teen, who must truly marvel at their parents' and teachers' dim-witted fuelling of this angst with their sticker charts, baby books, time-outs and other well-intentioned inflictions. Parents and grandparents are driven to despair (or drink, or both).

One needs to chip away at the various stressors while at the the time dealing with the real baddie of the learning disabilities - poor flexibiliity and frustration tolerance. Life for some families is a war zone of explosive outbursts, defensive retreats and counter-attacks. It's high stress. It's low on fun.

One of the stressors is the inability to read well. Reading is pretty fundamental to all school pursuits, and poor reading skills handicap you in all subjects. This inability to progress in even the subjects you like clobbers your self esteem, and opens you up to ridicule (and worse) from your peers. If you have poor frustration tolerance this will foster inappropriate, often destructive behaviour.

In my experience the schools' responses to this were ineffective and sometimes damaging. There was little understanding of how to deal with the problem, few resources, and precious little time amongst the myriad demands made on teachers these days. I'm sure it drives them to drink too.

This poetry was one small part of the solution to the reading-averse, hyper-frustrated behaviour bomb teen. It gives parents, grandparents and teachers a well-deserved chuckle too.

Lissa Judd

Publisher's note:

Dr Judd studied education at University, and has more than two decades of teaching experience. (Andrew Flower, The Idea Factory: editor@anwyl.com)

page updated Thursday, January 2, 2014