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THE MANCHISI FAMILY
So glad you stopped by for a visit, pour yourself some coffee and relax for
a bit!
ALL ABOUT US
Dino and I have been married for eight wonderful years and
we have 3 boys. We met while playing on the same Co-ed Volleyball team
and became friends. The rest is history! We wanted to make a
place where friends and family could keep up with our news and an area that
could help other families who are beginning their search for answers about
ADHD. We've gathered some great info and links,
be sure to browse thru them.
Raymond is 7 years old. He is a fullback on his soccer team and loves to run, a great sport for him! He is busy in the first grade and loves to learn. Raymond is also ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and a gifted student. As you can imagine we are very proud of him and let him know it every time we can catch him!
Alex is 3 years old. He's a wonderful,
caring and high spirited toddler. His favorite thing in the whole world is his stuffed Bunny. This poor animal has lost his ear and then had it repaired many times and worn countless meals on his less than white fur. Bunny is also the most loved and cherished treasure that Alex has. Its pure torture trying to sneak him out at bedtime to give him his bath too.
And of course, we now have Nicholas who is 8 months
old. He has Congenital Muscular Torticollis and
he's the shining light in our house. He just smiles and coos and you
can't help but want to cuddle him all the time. I'm enjoying the fact
that when I put him somewhere he actually stays there! His brother Alex made
sure to tell everyone we saw that Mommy swallowed a baby...quite a reaction
we received from that one!
Dino is employed at a major delivery company. He's
a body builder and a sports nut. If it has a ball then he's on that
team. Currently he's on a Flag Football league, a softball team or
two, and a co-ed and men's league volleyball team. He's also
the most caring and loving father and husband... guess we'll keep
him.
My name is Vicki and I'm a stay-at-home mom. Just trying
to keep up with the rest of them keeps me pretty busy. I volunteer
in the reading program at Ray's school. I love to do different craft
projects, cross-stitch and as if I don't have enough challenge in my daily
life I'm trying my hand at quilting. I love antiques and reading is
my favorite passion too. To find out more about me and my life, visit
my room.
RAYMOND AND ADHD
We were stunned last September when we discovered that Raymond
had a learning disability. We have always watched him closely academically
and he seemed to excel in all he tried. He just seemed to be overly active
all the time and having no one to gauge him against we just thought all little
boys were like this. After further testing and medical opinions
it was determined that Raymond is ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
and a very gifted student. We were puzzled, lost, confused and
disappointed. How could this be possible? Where did this come from
and how did he get it? The questions were and are endless for us.
The depression and grief that we felt for our son was at first
overwhelming. The lack of information was appalling. It was a
large obstacle that Ray needed to overcome and we needed to find out how
to help him.
It's a difficult thing to accept that one of your children
has a problem and its somehow made harder when you realize that either one
of his parents could have brought this disorder to the table. It was
easy not to blame out loud, but in your mind you are always wondering which
one of you did it. Not a good area to get preoccupied with and one
that won't give you positive results. We decided not to dwell there but to
research our options and discover the keys for Ray's success. Its a
long, difficult and emotional road but its the one we're on and we wouldn't
pick another one to travel.
We are the luckiest of parents to have Ray. We know
God gave him to us because he knew we could help him and love him despite
this difficulty. He's warm, sympathetic, loving, bright, funny and
the list goes on. He's also unable to control his actions and impulses.
It is difficult for him to maintain his attention level to just one
particular thing. For Ray its as if he is a radio and he's tuning in
to all the stations at once. Everything that is going on in the room
around you now happens all the time for him and at the same time. He
can't just pick up one noise at a time, he hears them all at the same time.
Then of course, there is the fact that the tag on his shirt is bugging
him, his shoe hurts his left foot, why can't he get the crayon to stay in
the lines, he can't wait to go to his friends house this weekend, the fly
that landed on his desk is really big, wow, what's it like to be a fly
and he hopes his Mom is cooking something he actually likes for dinner.
All of these things and more are happening in his head AT THE SAME TIME
and we wonder why he can't pay attention when we ask him to hang his
coat up. This we have just learned, is called
Flooding .
His world is something that is hard for us who aren't ADD/ADHD
to understand. It drives us to be better parents and to help him find
the ammunition he needs to fight his battle. Most people who don't understand
this disorder would look at Ray and see a child who can't sit still, who
doesn't think before he acts. It would be very easy to label these
kids as "lazy" and to write them off as troubled or problem kids. That
is probably the biggest mistake and disservice we could do. I
don't consider him to have a learning disability, I believe he's got a step
up in life. Whether he chooses to use it is up to him. There
are many great people in the world with ADD/ADHD and other learning disabilities.
Please remember to look at the person and not get stuck on the
label.
FAMOUS PEOPLE WITH ADD
Emily Dickinson, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, John
F. Kennedy, Joan Rivers, Pete Rose, George Bernard Shaw, Robin
Williams.
Drop us a line, we'd love to hear from you!
