A couple
were on their way to Spain for a holiday, when the woman suddenly
said "David can you see that, am I dreaming, is there a little girl
on the wing?" The man smiled and
said "No, you are not dreaming, haven't you heard of Lou Lou -
Super Hero?" "No" replied the woman. "Let me tell you about Lou Lou,
she is a very special little girl, she has ADHD and she is a Super
Hero," said the man. He went on to
say, "her brain races at a fast speed, just like a Ferrari, yet she
goes around the world helping other children with ADHD." "David, please will you tell me more about Lou Lou and
ADHD?" "Of course dear, well...................
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Lou Lou was eating her breakfast when she heard the cry from
a mother trying to get her son to brush his teeth and get
ready for school. Within seconds she was there, standing by
the boy whose name was Josh. Lou Lou smiled at the mum and
said " can I borrow Josh for a couple of minutes?" The
mother nodded and Lou Lou grabbed Josh's hand and they were
gone. Within seconds they were standing by a race track.
Josh's eyes were everywhere, he loved cars. "Oh my a red
Ferrari, that's my favourite, it goes really fast." Lou Lou
smiled and said "Josh you have ADHD, just like me and our
brains go as fast as that Ferrari." "Really oh whoa,"
replied Josh.
"I have learnt that like you I have a brain that is as fast
as a Ferrari, but at the beginning I had brakes from my old
broken bike, which were not very good. Now I have better
brakes and with help from your mum and dad you can
strengthen your brakes." Josh nodded, explained like that,
he totally got it. "So when I take ages to clean my teeth,
it's because my brakes are not strong enough?" Said Josh.
They both giggled and then they were back with Josh's mum
and Josh said "off to clean my teeth mum, sorry it was
my brakes." Josh's mum turned to Lou Lou and said "brakes?"
Lou Lou smiled and replied " let me explain."
Lou Lou came to her mum and said "mum I need to go, there is
another child, who needs my help." Her mum turned to say "be
careful," but Lou Lou had not only gone, but already had
arrived at the home of Steve. Steve loved computers, he
wasn't interested in playing games, he was more interested
in writing computer code and making his robot work. Like Lou
Lou, he has ADHD and just recently he has been getting
really angry with himself. He kept forgetting things, his
school work was suffering and he kept snapping at his
brother and sister. "Let me show you something Steve" and
with that Lou Lou whisked Steve off to a huge room full of
computers.
Steve absolutely loved computers and for a few minutes just
stood there taking it all in. Then they sat down and Steve
told Lou Lou all the things that were going on. "Steve you
know how computers work, they have a set structure and
follow set routines, which makes them work." Steve nodded.
"Well my mum and dad helped me and I have a daily routine
which I follow and it makes me feel safe and secure." "Lou
Lou that makes you the best computer in the world," replied
Steve. They both giggled and in a flash Steve was back at
home with Lou Lou by his side. His mum came in and Steve
said "mum, can we sit down with dad and work out a daily
routine for me, as I want to be the best computer in the
world like Lou Lou." Steve mum turned to thank Lou Lou, but
she had already gone.
Lou Lou was watching TV with her mum, when she suddenly got
up and said "I have got to go mum" and there she was gone.
Lou Lou's mum continued to watch TV when she suddenly
gasped, there on TV was Lou Lou, she was in the houses of
Parliament. She turned up the sound to hear what Lou Lou was
saying. " Like many children and adults I have ADHD, here
you ask questions, so I am going to ask you a couple of
questions." "How many of you know what ADHD stands for?"
"Answer by putting your hand up." "mmmmm, not so many, my
mum would not be impressed, okay one more question, how many
of you think ADHD, is a behaviour problem?" "Mmmmm not
good."
"Now let me tell you what it is like to live with ADHD, it
is nothing to do with having bad parents, my mum and dad are
the best parents in the world, it's nothing to do with bad
diet either, my mum feeds me really well. It is
nothing to do with being difficult, lazy, stupid and is not
contagious. There is no cure, like millions like me, I have
to live with it. What would be really good if people started
to understand and take the time to see the real person
in front of them." Everyone got to the feet and clapped and
with that Lou Lou was back on the sofa with her mum.
Every week Lou
Lou sends every child with ADHD a special message.
"Like everyone, some days I don't
like the way my brain is, that I don't mean to talk in
class, that I mean to follow the rules. Sometimes it makes
me cry, but then my mum cuddles me and tells me, that I am
going to be somebody in the world. That makes me smile
and I am ready for the next day. Never forget, all of us are
Super Heroes."
As you know Lou Lou is a Super Hero, so apart from helping
others with ADHD, she has her normal job of saving the
world. Lou Lou was in the garden playing with her brother,
when she got a call, she rushed in to tell her mum and then
whoosh she was gone. It was not far this time, only a few
miles away, but there was an old lady who lived in a
cottage, who was ill and a really awful fox had turned up to
scare her. So firstly, Lou Lou chased the fox away and then
Lou Lou helped sort out some help for the old lady, while
she was getting better. Lou Lou promised to pop in every
week, to see how she was and told the old lady if she needed
her, to just call.
After a lovely Sunday dinner with her family, Lou Lou had a
call and told her mum she had to go, her mother would never
get used to her suddenly going, but she was proud of all the
good Lou Lou was doing. Emma was having problem with her
math's homework and she had an exam on Monday. Lou Lou spoke
to her and realised that Emma had the same problem as her,
she saw numbers the wrong way round. The first thing Lou Lou
did was show Emma a picture on her phone, she then told
Emma, it was her quiet place, to imagine she was there and
it was a sunny afternoon. She then asked Emma what she would
be doing there? Emma replied "oh that's easy, I would be
dancing, I love to dance."
After 10 minutes, Lou Lou asked Emma if she had some paper
and a pencil, Emma nodded and went to get them. She returned
with them and Lou Lou sat at Emma's desk and wrote down a
question on the paper from Emma's homework. "Emma,
look at the picture again, imagine you are dancing there."
Emma nodded and after a couple of minutes she then asked
Emma to look at paper and the question. "Can you answer that
question Emma? asked Lou Lou. "OMG, yes I can, oh whoa is
that magic?" Replied Emma. Lou Lou giggled and answered "no,
it's just about relaxing."
"Jules, please sit down, the train will go soon." Said his
mother, but Jules wanted to get to the mountains, so he
could use his new snowboard. The train was waiting for
another train to be fixed further up the track. Lou Lou
could hear Jules and his parents were getting upset and
decided to go and see if she could help. "Hello Jules can I
sit next to you?" Said Lou Lou. Jules looked round and was
surprised to see Lou Lou, mmm he thought she wasn't there a
second ago? "Yes" he replied.
"Many a time I get annoyed, but I am beginning to understand
that not everything happens immediately and that there are
things I can't control." Said Lou Lou. "So what I do, is in
my bag here, are some games I play while I am waiting and
also I have paper and pencils, so you could draw me a trick
you want to do on your snowboard when you get to the
mountains, or a design you would like on your next
skateboard." Jules and Lou Lou sat quietly, as Jules drew
his design, 15 minutes later the train started to move.
Jules turned to tell Lou Lou the train was moving, but Lou
Lou had gone and was back on the sofa with her mum.
As children with ADHD, we all know who are the Super Heroes
in our lives, our families, without their love and support,
life would be tough. My mum is amazing, like all mums
of children with ADHD, she took a step back and thought
long and hard and
realised she had to stop seeing the problems as though I
didn't want to be organised and attentive. That the truth
was until she found the right way of helping me, I wouldn't
be. My amazing beautiful mum found the way and helps me with every single
challenge. My wonderful mum tirelessly fights for me for
every single day and I couldn't ask for more. So that's why
for all of us, our families are Super Heroes.
There are times I do send my mum and dad crazy, it's those
times we all know too well, when we ask our mum and dad
millions of questions, one after another and never waiting
for an answer. I tend to do this, when I am trying to do my
homework. My mum has a neat way of keeping me focused, first
I sit at the dining table and do one piece of homework, it
could be spelling or math's for 15 minutes, then I have a 5
minute break, then I sit on the sofa and do another piece of
homework and then have another 5 minutes break. It really
helps me focus and relax, but it's still great fun to see my
mum and dad like that, it does make me giggle.
"Mum mum I don't understand the words, why can't I read like
everyone else in my class." Said Billie and threw his book
on the floor. At that moment Lou Lou arrived,
"hello Billie", said Lou Lou and with that she picked up the
book and gave it to Billie. "Billie, I had the same problem
as you and with my mum's help, I started to read better.
What I used to do was read aloud to mum, it was hard at
first, but then it became easier, until I could read a whole
paragraph to my mum without any mistakes. Billie you can do
the same with your mum." Said Lou Lou. "At the beginning I
just read for a couple of minutes then had a break, then 5
minutes, then 10 minutes, until I am able to read as long as
I want," said Lou Lou.
"Can I do that too?" Asked Billie. "Yes of course,"
replied Lou Lou. "At the beginning I read with my mum, she
made it fun and you can do the same." Replied Lou Lou. She
went on to tell Billie, that every evening she stills
reads with her mum for 15 minutes, that it was a nice way
of ending the day on a positive note. "What do you like
Billie, me I am crazy about giraffes." Said Lou Lou. Billie thought for a moment and
then replied " I love planes, nature and snakes." "Well
then Billie tomorrow go to the library and get a book on
one of them and that can be your first book to read."
Replied Lou Lou. Billie smiled and gave Lou Lou a big hug
and ran over to his mum and asked what time the library
opens.
Lou Lou was enjoying herself in her room, just relaxing, she
felt good today, when suddenly she was called away, a girl
was having trouble and Lou Lou went to help.
Lou Lou just arrived in time, Eva did not know what was
happening to her and her mum did not know yet, that Eva had
ADHD. Eva was standing there shouting "I am not like other
girls, my brain doesn't work properly." Lou Lou said quietly
"Eva, look around, you are frightening your little sister and
you don't want to do that do you?" Eva nodded and began to
cry.
Lou Lou then sat them down and then told them her story, how she
was the same as Eva at the beginning, until her mum got a
diagnosis and then with medication and the strength of mum
and dad, how her life improved. Lou Lou then told Eva she was not alone and Eva's mum
stood up and gave Eva a big hug. They both turned to thank
Lou Lou, but she was already back in her bedroom, with her
two tigers, her mum and dad.
One day, my mum
was so angry with my school, she wrote this letter.
At school Lou Lou loves painting, the other girls in her
class love the paintings she does, as Lou Lou is very
creative. Three girls in her class invited her after school to
come and have tea and do some painting. They started off
well, but then they started painting each other, first their
hands and then their faces, it's fair to say, the paint went
everywhere. The girl's mum came into the room and went "OMG,
Susan tell me that paint is water based." "No mum." Susan
replied. Susan mum almost fainted, Susan giggled and said
"only kidding mum."
They all went downstairs and had tea, as they were eating
Susan turned to Lou Lou and said "can you tell us
about your ADHD, what it feels like and as your friends what
can we do to help?" Lou Lou had a tear in her eye, she knew
she would never forget this special day . As she ate her
cake she begun to tell them, after she had finished, they
had a group hug and all her new friends thought she was
quite amazing.
Lou Lou loved cutting hair, she was very good at styling and
cutting the hair on her dolls, but mum had said she was a
bit too young to start cutting hair properly. This had made
Lou Lou sad and she actually got very angry about this,
until she realised her mum was right and it was her ADHD
making her want it now. Her mum was really proud that Lou
Lou had worked that out all on her own, so arranged a surprise
for her.
A friend of hers, John owned a hairdressers not very far
from them and on this particular morning, it was school
holidays, so Lou Lou's mum took her to John's place. Lou
Lou watched him cut hair and after 10 minutes thought he
was not cutting it right and told her mum what she
thought, her mum actually agreed. John had over heard
and said "OMG, it's like having two bosses." With that
they all giggled. John asked Lou Lou what was her idea
and she told him and John actually liked the idea and
used it.
Lou Lou loves riding her bike and every opportunity her mum
and dad take her riding. They discovered early on that when
Lou Lou was spending time in nature, she became calm and
relaxed. Lou Lou tells everyone she meets with ADHD, that
riding her bike is not only good for her muscles, but keeps
her brain in good shape too. In the summer before school mum
lets me run around and skip in the garden, it reduces my
anxiety and helps my brain get ready for learning things. In
the winter, I run around the house, which sends my mum and
dad crazy, but it let's me blow off steam.
We are so much more than
our diagnosis.
Help a friend with ADHD.
Don’t give up on us.
We would never give
up on you.