Ben Polis is the boy who was meant to fail he was labelled a "weirdo" and was thrown out of six schools for his intolerable, disruptive behaviour.

Now ten years later he has written a book to help parents with children who suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder writes Gabrielle Fagan.

By the time Ben Polis was three he had a reputation as a troublemaker in nursery; at age four he ran over a neighbour's dog and killed it. By the time he was ten the whole family was in therapy and in despair.

Hope, of a kind, only dawned when Ben was finally diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), aged 12.

ADHD, thought to be caused by a lack of the chemical dopamine in the brain, affects about 500,000 (five per cent) of UK children. Its typical characteristics include lack of concentration and impulsive, aggressive behaviour. Boys are four times more likely to suffer from ADHD than girls and it can have a disastrous effect on their education.

Yet ten years on, Ben, now 23, is transformed and has written a book about his struggles, Only A Mother Could Love Him, which could be a lifeline for parents of ADHD children.

Ben says: "I don't even remember half the things that I did in my childhood that were bad, there were so many and I suppose I have blocked a lot of it.

"I wasn't able to control myself for years. Having ADHD is like having a million television screens going off in your head at once, so your attention constantly flicks from one thing to another. You just react on impulse all the time and as soon as you've done something it's wiped from your mind.

"I am not proud of any of it, but I was so mentally unstable at times because I hated myself and everyone else. I was constantly getting expelled and going to new schools and I felt that no-one liked me and even my family couldn't handle me."

There was no magic solution but a combination of counselling, medication with the drug Ritalin, an enduringly supportive family and Ben's own gradual understanding of his problems helped him triumphantly graduate from university.

A key breakthrough came when he was 16 and a sensitive teacher told him that "It's okay to be you and be a bit mad and make people laugh don't lose that but just do some work as well," Ben says.

"It was such a change because everyone else had always just told me what I was doing wrong and said why can't you be more like someone else'.

"I just want kids to realise it's possible to master ADHD and realise it's a state of mind. Once you have done that you can do anything you put your mind to."