SOAR is different than my previous school because... (By: Anna)

How SOAR is different than previous school’s I have been to.

            SOAR, unlike most schools, is a school specially made for kids with ADHD. ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Which means that kids with ADHD have trouble learning in standard school environments. Sometimes ADHD is hard to deal with. I found out I had ADHD when I was 7, and people picked on me a lot. I didn’t really understand why people didn’t like me. I hated myself because I was different than the others. All I wanted was to be Normal. After a while I realized something. Why am I being so hard on myself for being different? That’s when I started finding all my strengths and all the things I was good at. And I began to excel. SOAR also allows us to change the rules and or laws of SOAR if we don’t like it through advocating.

            There’s so many great things that SOAR offers. One of the things it offers is hands on learning. For children with ADHD it’s hard to sit still and learn. So here at SOAR, instead of reading a textbook and pointing out the pictures, you are traveling as you learn. Actually experiencing the things you are learning about first hand. For example, if we were learning about World War II, we would actually be at the World War II Monument in Washington DC. Hands on learning is much more fun and active than reading a textbook, or looking on the internet.

            Another great thing about SOAR, is that it offers one on one attention. I remember that when I was struggling with ADHD, I got in a lot of trouble. Most of it was because the teachers and or staff don’t understand kids with ADHD. At most schools the teachers don’t go around and help every student one on one if they have a question, but at SOAR, they do! Teachers at SOAR understand that we learn differently and struggle with different things, so they help us learn. They give us the one on one help that everyone needs sometimes in life.

            Enough about school, let’s discuss life at SOAR. SOAR is like an imaginary world. It gives you the experience of making mistakes. It compares life as an adult, and fits it into life as a child. Each of us have groups. There is a total of three groups at SOAR each semester. The groups help us learn communication skills. However, most of the time, there are some ‘not so friendly’ communication that goes on. This is when the adult world/real world comes in. For example, if two people in our team are fist fighting, in the adult world/real world they would probably get sent to Juvie; but at SOAR, they would get disciplined in a lighter, less strict fashion. Not only that, but it also helps us manage our bank accounts! Every Friday we have to manage how much of our money we have spent and or earned. We earn money from school work. When you complete school work you get money. On field you can earn up to $20.00, and on base you can earned up to $25.00!

            SOAR has so many great things to offer. Towards the end of SOAR you will become a stronger person, physically, mentally, and behaviorally. It definitely has helped me since last semester in 2011, and it should totally help this semester. SOAR has paid off in my opinion, and I am sure it has in everyone else’s opinion too.