Have you always wondered why you don’t always pay attention during class? Why you always get in trouble for getting angry a lot? That is the potential effects of ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). But we can always prevent this from always happening. Percy Jackson is an example of a fictional character with ADHD. Then how can Percy improve? Everyone around Percy has a role in helping Percy improve. From his teachers to himself. Percy can try better to control his emotions, whilst his teachers can adjust the lesson plan to change his attitude towards school and his counselor give better advice on controlling anger.
For Percy Jackson to make better choices, he needs to manage his emotions by considering his actions, and the consequences of it. His Counselor should also give better advice on how to prevent anger. In page 5 of Percy Jackson, Nancy, Percy’s nemesis, has said something while Percy is trying to concentrate. Percy responded, quote: “Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, “Will you shut up?” It came out louder than I meant it to” Because of not controlling his anger, it resulted in him in getting in trouble. But how can Percy prevent that? Another example is on page 9 of Percy Jackson, where Percy again, is having trouble with Nancy. Percy is getting angry again, quote: “I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, “Count to ten, get control of your temper.” But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.” Percy attempted to control his anger, but maybe he isn’t doing it the right way. In the end, he still failed to control himself, so what can he do to control himself? Percy could use some tips to control his anger and combine his thinking with his emotional responses. “If you only use one or the other, your decisions may either not be very balanced, or not support your emotional needs. Instead, you need to combine your emotional response with rational considerations.” (Skills You Need, 2019) Percy should combine his emotional response and combine it with his logical thinking to respond. Percy should consider how you will feel as a result of each possible action and consider what might happen as a result and how your decision might affect others (Skills You Need, 2019). The school counselor should also give more reliable and helpful advice to controlling anger, an example by listed by Skills You Need says you should “stop before you decide, to give yourself a chance to think.” Therefore, Percy could combine his thinking with emotional responses, and the school counselor should give more effective ways to combat anger.
To change Percy’s negative view of school, Percy’s educators can adjust his learning environment and activities to encourage him to learn. Mr. Brunner, Percy’s Latin teacher, is the only teacher that didn’t put Percy to sleep. Why is that? In page 2, Percy describes Mr. Brunner and how he teaches, quote: “But Mr. Brunner, out Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes… you wouldn’t think he’d be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of roman armor, so he was the only teacher’s class that didn’t put me to sleep.” Percy says that he likes Mr. Brunner’s classes because his teacher used entertaining and active ways to teach class and interests him. Percy describes Mr. Brunner’s roman armor as ‘cool’, which also means that Percy is interested in that, therefore he pays attention a lot to Mr. Brunner. “It is not true that people with a diffused attentional style can never focus on one thing, either. They might be very focused when something interests them, whether it’s Legos or music.” (Gibson, 2018) Percy’s educator should change the learning environment into a more active environment and adapt similar techniques Mr. Brunner uses, quote: “People with ADHD also do their best in stimulating environments. They like to be outdoors and move their bodies.” (Gibson, 2018). Therefore, Percy likes Mr. Brunner’s class, because of Mr. Brunner’s unique learning structure that involves activeness and interests Percy. But why should we implement these strategies? And what is the effect of not having them? In page 17 of Percy Jackson, Percy is being confronted by his English teacher for not studying for his spelling tasks, quote: “Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicolli, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for my English tests…” Percy has been avoiding his English tests, but why? Apparently, it is a symptom of ADHD, quote: “ADHD symptoms include… avoiding activities that require focus are also symptoms” Because English tests require focus, Percy has been avoiding them by not studying. Should Mr. Nicolli change the class structure to be more active or interesting, Percy would pay more attention, and give in more effort to learn. Therefore, Percy’s teachers can edit the learning structure to be more active and interesting for people like Percy to learn.
In this text, we talked about Percy’s emotions and negative view towards school. Percy is just like any kid out there that has ADHD and there is a lot of people that have ADHD. According to Karen Bush Gibson, more than 6 million young people under the age of 17 have been diagnosed with ADHD (2018). So out there, a lot of people are experiencing the same problems as Percy. ADHD may affect certain aspects of our daily lives, but we can improve using different methods. What part of your daily life does ADHD affect, and how can you improve?