Hedieh Ghazi
This book is about my struggles in trying to understand my son who was diagnosed with ADHD at a very young age and was having a lot of behavioural issues both at home and at school. At the time, the educators and his doctor were very keen on medication but I somehow knew medication was not the solution. My thinking was that I needed to find the problem first, before I looked for the solution. I didn’t believe that ADHD was a condition to treat, rather it is an array of symptoms, which are indicative of the pain the child feels, therefore resorting to a state of restlessness as a coping mechanism.
I accidentally came across a Youtube video of a prominent therapist and after taking a few of her workshops and different programs, I came to realize my own responsibility in how my son was behaving with me at home. Instead of focusing on fixing him, I started to focus on getting to know myself and my own tendencies and reactions to environmental stress and took the path of self-growth, before I could turn to him.
I know there are a lot of parents out there that when faced with similar situations, feel powerless and see medication as the only option. I wanted to give these parents hope and a different perspective when they are told their child has ADHD or other behavioural issues. After all, behaviour by definition is between two individuals and when behaviour becomes a challenge, we should work on the relationship instead of the behaviour.