Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and Travolta

I met Travolta when I was a volunteer and helping in a fifth grade classroom.  Like a number of other scholars that were disruptive he sat off to the side of the classroom.  When I was in the classroom I sat close to Travolta and saw up close his disruptive behavior.  Speaking loudly to other scholars, disrupting the teacher while she was talking, getting up and walking around the room for no apparent reason was his typical behavior.  One day he really out did himself and must have stepped over the line drawn in the sand because teacher asked me to take him out into the hallway so she could get some work done.  I said fine and with worksheets in hand out the door we went.  What did he do you ask?  Hold on and I'll tell you because this is one of my favorite stories to tell.  As a reminder the names are fictitious be the events are real.

Right in the middle of a math lesson Travolta stood up and started shadowing boxing   He was throwing jabs and hooks like Smokin' Joe Frazier but he failed to properly defend himself.  Suddenly he reacts as if he was hit hard in the head and down he went right on the classroom floor.  Out for the count.

We find a table in the hallway and start working on a vocabulary worksheet.  He had to read the definition of a word and then match it with the correct vocabulary word.  He completed this task quickly and it was apparent that he was pretty smart.  So much for staying on task as he lost his focus.  First he had to erase all the pencil markings on our work table.  Then he was up and walking across the hallway to look at papers posted outside another classroom.  Next he had to crawl under our table because he thought he saw a bug on the floor.  Great I'm thinking.  What next?  A female student carrying a hall pass walked by and Travolta decided a hey baby how are you was required.

Finally we are back on task.  The assignment was to use each vocabulary word in a sentence of your own making.  He gets started and is quickly writing his sentences.  After several minutes he hands me his worksheet and he says he is done.  I look at the worksheet and noticed that he wrote the exact same sentence ten times but with each sentence he used a different vocabulary word.  I look at him and say do you think the teacher will accept this work?  He said yes as he did it before.  Bull!  In less than three minutes we are back in the hallway.

About three weeks after this incident the teacher caught a break as Travolta's family moved.  The teacher's comment to me after telling me the news was I feel sorry for his new teacher.

Fast forward to a little past the midpoint of the next school year and he's back.  Fortunately I didn't have to deal with him in the sixth grade and I bring his return up for one reason and that is sixth grade graduation.  There he is in all his glory walking across the stage to get his diploma wearing his aviator sun glasses and his all white suit and that is why I named him Travolta.