Secret Thoughts of an ADHD child

Sadie began speaking on target and has always had a good vocabulary, but oral communication has remained a challenge for her none the less. Her inability to communicate has left us baffled as to what is going on in her little head. I can't begin to tell you how many times I have said things like, "Just ask for what you want," or "tell me what's wrong and I can help you." There have been times that my husband and I have been willing to give her anything she wants if she would just tell us what it was instead of throwing a tantrum and melting into the floor in tears.
I have taught each of my children some basic ASL signs as infant/toddlers. Sadie took off with signing though. She not only used it more then the other children in our family but she still relies on it to communicate with me. I am able to get her attention better if I sign to her, then when I speak to her. Sometimes she refuses to speak and will only sign to me. Last year she had an instructional aide in her class at school who taught all the kids in her reading group to sign the books they were reading. Sadie loved it and has been able to retain almost all the signs she has been taught.
Now that she has a good handle on reading and writing a whole new world has opened up to her. She will sit at the kitchen table for hours writing notes to people. I love it! This knew skill has given me so much insight into what is going on in her brain.
The other day I found a note that she wrote to her Grandfather:

Taday my bruthr got hurt He cryd My dad kut his fingr nel off and it hurt him
He is a bad dad.

Just so you understand Sadie is a total daddies girl! She loves her daddy hugely. What happened was that one of her brothers got hurt playing football outside and came in screaming. His fingernail was bent all the way back. My husband got out nail scissors and cut as much nail off as he could, while my son continued to scream. Obviously this was all very traumatizing for Sadie. I love that I finally have some insight!
A lot of children would ask questions about what happened so they could get an understanding. Sadie does not ask a lot of questions. She also doesn't hear a lot of what is going on around her. Explaining things often makes no difference. You can ask her what you said and she will have heard something completely different (usually whatever she thought before you explained).
This new world of writing notes is exciting to me. Just as ASL allows me to ask her to sit down when she is wild, reading and writing will allow us to communicate feeling in a way I don't think we have ever been able to.
For Christmas we gave Sadie her first diary. It has a key she wears around her neck. She has been busy filling it up with God knows what. I hope that this will allow her an outlet for some of her feelings she other wise has a hard time expressing. I also hope to take advantage of the note writing for many years to come.
I love and treasure these letter and all the creative spelling. Here is one from Chrismas Eve to Santa that will be filed away for keeping.

(Sadie Wrote)
Der Stanicla
(Then Daddy took dictation)
Thank you for coming
Thank you for my presents
Thank you for all of our presents too
Thank you for letting Grandma and Papa come
Thank you for starting Christmas (I need to clarify this with her a bit more)
Love, Sadie and our whole family