A photo of Mia Langrehr, who just graduated from Lake Stevens High School in 2024. Mia was diagnosed with ADHD when she was 13 and said she endured struggles throughout her time in high school. , or ADHD, it's often related to behavior at home and in the classroom. But ADHD is classified as a mental health condition, and that becomes even more important to manage as children enter their teenage years."I struggled a lot more than the other kids," Mia said.
"Mental health has to do with a lot aspects of how we think and feel and learn, about how calm your mind is," said Dr. Maggie Sibley, UW Medicine Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Seattle Children's clinical psychologist."When people are younger, you do often see the classroom aspects of ADHD – academics impacted, maybe behavior at home and school.
"It's up to me to show up to places on time and to get my assignments done and things like that, and there's little things I can do, but I'm not always going to be perfect," Mia said. "And my ADHD isn't an excuse for that. But it's understanding yourself so you don't beat yourself up about it." This new high school graduate now hopes to join the National Guard and be trained as an EMT. After struggling through school, Mia saw her high school commencement as the first step toward an exciting future.
"We were all wearing the same thing," Mia said of the cap and gown. "We were all getting the same diploma. We were all getting the same achievement. And that was the first time I felt like I was on the same playing field as my peers. I felt equal to my peers for the first time."Sibley said 90% of children with ADHD will still have occasional struggles with it as adults. You don't grow out of it.