Walks Like A Duck, Kim R. Livingston
Walks Like A Duck, Kim R. Livingston
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Walks Like A Duck
How a Mom with ADHD Led Her Neurodiverse Family to Peace of Mind

Author: Kim R. Livingston

Narrator: Kim R. Livingston

Unabridged: 6 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/27/2024

Synopsis

When her son's teacher suggests the boy be tested for ADHD, Kim Livingston, uninformed and wary of the label, fights her. She fights the social worker, the doctor. "We can call it whatever you like," the doctor says. "But if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, they're all going to know he's a duck."

This English professor grew up spacey and overweight. Drowning in the unrealistic demands of motherhood, Livingston steals her son's ADHD medication and watches it transform her life—for good and bad.

She grows weary of subjective diagnoses and chemical treatments from traditional psychology experts, and experiments with functional medicine—brain mapping and nutritional supplements—as a way to understand her brain's potential, bio-hacking her way to a healthy body and mind.

Kim Livingston's story is for the overextended, out-of-shape parent embarrassed over their messy house, or worried whether to medicate their children; and for teachers who seek insight into the mind of that quiet back-row student. It includes frustration, denial, some bold decisions—moments many listeners will recognize in their own lives.

About Kim R. Livingston

Thirty years of teaching community-college English have made Kim R. Livingston a passionate advocate of neurodiversity. She sees value in our differences and understands that intelligence has many faces. Kim writes what she calls brain memoir, believing way deep down that these stories of ADHD and schizophrenia, of addiction and depression and anxiety-they help us all understand each other and move toward healthier, more peaceful lives.

Her essays have been published in the Sun, P. S. I Love You, Grown and Flown, Cleaver, Multiplicity Blog, Carbon Culture Review, Blue Lake Review, and others. She earned degrees in English from Western Illinois University and Western Michigan University, and, more recently, an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from Bay Path University.

Kim lives in Oswego, Illinois, where she and her husband, after being cat people their whole
lives, are now helicopter parents to two fussy dogs as well. Their three kids were annoyed that the first dog arrived just as the kids were leaving for college. They'll really be mad when the dogs get a pool and a trampoline.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jill on June 02, 2023

I really enjoyed this book about how one person deals with neurodiversity in her family. It details the daily struggles with honesty that makes you feel like you were there with her. This is a great book for anyone who wants to know what it’s like for a day in the life of ADHD.......more

Goodreads review by Sanobar on May 01, 2023

In Walks like a Duck, Kim Livingston normalizes the otherwise 'flawed' traits of a woman, especially a mother's – mixing up schedules, missing appointments, not being a Pinterest worthy cook, intrinsically unorganized and definitely not someone who maintains an Instagrammable home. Disorderly. But,......more

Goodreads review by BK on April 29, 2023

Anyone with ADHD will go through the pages of Walks Like a Duck nodding in recognition, saying yes, that’s me, and that’s me. And those of us who, like the author, Kim R. Livingston, came to the diagnosis late, and, perhaps, only after a child has been diagnosed, will marvel at how easy it is to rec......more

Goodreads review by Heidi on April 19, 2023

Kim Livingston's memoir, WALKS LIKE A DUCK: HOW A MOM WITH ADHD LED HER NEURODIVERSE FAMILY TO PEACE OF MIND is a must read, especially if you are a parent to kids with neurodiversity, you are an educator, or you are an adult learning how to accommodate your own ADHD and/or neurodiverse brain. In WAL......more

Goodreads review by Joanne on April 30, 2023

There is such beauty stemming from Kim Livingston's chaotic life. I devoured her pages while soaking in information and gaining tremendous understanding of her experience as a woman and mom with ADHD. This memoir reads like a conversation you never want to end. I am grateful to have a clearer unders......more

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