Is My Brother Going To Make Me Become a Neuroscientist? by Zain

Is My Brother Going To Make Me Become a Neuroscientist? by Zain - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

Why is brother so…lazy, difficult, hardheaded, inattentive, angry, etc.?

My family consists of myself, my brother, age fifteen, and my mother. We have always gotten along well, with mutual respect for each other. During the pandemic, when virtual school began, it became apparent that my brother was having extreme difficulties with motivation for doing his work. After returning to in-person classes, he continued to struggle. It was obvious that it was not just the virtual learning that was the issue. The atmosphere in our home became very different, where my mother was constantly hounding my brother about him not doing his work, and at one point, he was even missing 37 assignments. Our home became a place that was no longer calm and caring. My brother’s frustration with my mother’s agitation was starting to become unbearable. Even when I tried to motivate my brother, I was on the receiving end of his angry verbal lashings. Something was wrong with my brother. He was not the same. Our house was not the same.
Eventually, my mother took him in for psychological and educational testing with a psychologist. The results were that my brother has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Inattentive. He also has a very high IQ, which is how he was able to maintain passing grades without doing the work. Since receiving a diagnosis, my brother has been educated on ADAH, has started learning ways to complete tasks in school, and he has begun taking medication. Although he thinks and works differently than he used to, he has now learned how to express himself without anger, and he has learned to get his schoolwork done. He seems to be more in charge of himself.
The nearly three years of struggle that my family went through with my brother’s issues, led me to select the major of Neuroscience. Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system with a primary focus on the brain. I have an urge and a desire to know more about the brain, specifically what and why is there ADHD? I want to be able to know about the medications that are prescribed for brain differences, and I want to do research to help people with ADHD. I now find the brain fascinating, and I want to know more and do more.
So, to answer my opening question of why my brother is the way he is, we have learned that it is not a character flaw, but it is his brain functioning differently. With a degree in Neuroscience, I will be able to help others like my brother, who are having the same types of ADHD struggles. I don’t want families to be disrupted and suffer like mine did. I want to help those with ADHD.