08/06/2026
ADHD doesn’t automatically mean someone will struggle to read. In my case I also have dyslexia.
What ADHD did do was help me mask.
I adapted. I watched everyone around me. I memorized. I copied. I found ways to survive school without anyone realizing how much I was struggling.
From the outside I looked distracted. Quiet. Head down. Maybe even lazy.
On the inside I was working twice as hard just to keep up.
It wasn’t until Grade 9 that someone finally looked beyond the behaviour and realized something wasn’t adding up. I was assessed and the results shocked everyone. I had the reading comprehension of a Grade 1 student and was reading at approximately a Grade 2 level.
The question everyone asked was “How did you make it all the way to Grade 9 without anyone noticing?”
Here’s the truth.
I didn’t know I was struggling.
I thought everyone experienced school the way I did. I knew learning felt harder for me than it seemed to for my classmates but I had no idea how significant the gap really was. I had spent years adapting so well that I had hidden my struggles from everyone including myself.
Back then I was diagnosed with something called a severe learning disability. Looking back with what we know today it was really ADHD and dyslexia together. As we’ve learned more about how ADHD can present differently in girls so much of my story finally makes sense.
I don’t look back with regret.
I genuinely believe my journey shaped the person and therapist I am today. Living it gives me a perspective that no textbook ever could. It allows me to sit with my clients and truly understand what it feels like to work twice as hard while believing you’re simply not trying hard enough.
But I am grateful for the one person who finally slowed down looked beyond the behaviour and cared enough to ask why. That moment changed the course of my life.
Now I’m here meant to be that person for others like me. The one who sees beyond the behaviour asks the questions that matter and helps people feel understood before they spend years believing they’re simply not trying hard enough.
Does anyone else have a story like this? I’d love to hear it. 💛
