My daughter's Psychiatrist asked me, "What does a girl get when she's in Seventh Grade that she never had before that makes it clear to you and to others that she has ADD-Inattentive Type?"  After a few wrong answers, he told me, "A locker." 

Prior to Seventh Grade, students are in one room and have one teacher.  In their one desk they keep all of their belongings, so chances are slimmer that they will lose or misplace things, like homework or project instructions.  Having one teacher who teaches most, if not all subjects is a benefit because that person can keep the student with initiative and follow-through challenges focused on all assignments, maybe even review everything needed for the following day before the students go home.  But in Seventh Grade, a student has to keep herself organized.  The results if she doesn't, or in the case of a student with ADD, if she can't, are usually incredibly messy lockers, which lead to not being able to find that math paper that you did finish (so you get a 0% for that assignment) or the instructions, including the deadline date for that project that you did start, but now, even if you finish, will get only partial credit  - if you're lucky - for turning it in late.

Having been educated on this "locker phenomena," I understood my daughter's struggles a little better.  She wasn't lazy, and she probably did actually care about her grades...can you fully appreciate how much better that made me feel?!  It was very liberating, as the Mother/Problem Solver, to reach that realization that "This is a disease, and there is something that can be done about it!" 

After a phone call to the Guidance Office, I made sure all of my daughter's teachers were aware of her need to have her Homework Assignment Book checked at the end of every class.  Every evening, she and I would review what was written there together.  I won't lie to you and say, "They all lived happily ever after!"  There were teachers who didn't consistently follow-through.  There were days that I worked late or had other evening committments that kept me from checking.  There were days that she just plain didn't do it.  There were other days when I just plain couldn't do it. 

We say that we would "do anything" for our children.  For me, that includes turning into a constantly nagging, pain-in-the-rear Mother.  Some days, I hate that about myself.  Some days, I don't want to be that person, so I stop.  Some days, I just feel like, "I shouldn't have to keep telling her to make sure she has her house key, or that her cell phone is charged, or to put her dirty clothes into the hamper and not strewn around her floor."  But then something will happen, like she'll get locked out of the house and call me at work from a neighbor's to come home and let her in.  Then I think, "Bad Mother!"  I realize it is ridiculous.  But, in other areas of my life, when a problem is identified, and a solution is found and put into place, the problem usually remains solved.  Unfortunately, this has not been the case with my daughter's Inattentive Type ADD.

But today I have a lot of energy.  Today there is no school, which means no homework.  Her room is a total disaster, but today that's okay with me.  Let's see if I can maintain it all for the rest of this day!!