How "Billy" Thinks about Things
Eight-year-old "Billy" suffers from ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He is on medication. He is also very intelligent. His mother has just gotten out of prison. His parents are fighting over his custody.
When he seemed overcome with drowsiness in my tutoring session with him, I asked if he hadn't slept. He told me his mother had taken him for the weekend. They went to a party on Sunday evening where he played video games most of the night. The party was far from school, so they began to drive back at five AM.
I asked if he slept in the car.
"No," he said. "My mother was playing loud music all the way."
When I told him he could nap, he put his head down, but didn't sleep. He sat up and commented on a variety of subjects. How caterpillars grow to be butterflies, how he would like to grow up and be able to drive. "No one in my family is a good driver. When we turned off the bridge, my mother hit a rock."
Billy is only eight years old, but he is thinking about how to make his world a safer one. As his parents battle for his custody, he ponders many things.
