Five sentence summary
There are many things instructors do without thinking that do not go over well for brains that have trouble organizing themselves and staying on track. Inconsistent instructions, inconsistent deadlines, multipart questions, sneaking in important steps or bits of information without clear signals and so forth all exacerbate our inability to focus and manage our energy. You create hell for your ADHD learners when you add additional disorganization and obscurity into our lives.
Seemingly little things can cause absolute havoc for folks with inattention and hyperactivity problems. Our brains skip ahead and miss a step. We're thinking about the ten million things we need to do tonight as instructions are being relayed.
1. Directions for assignments in multiple places. Do not give half of the instructions in-person, some instructions written on assignment, and then some more instructions written on the submission page. ADHD learners will miss some. They'll do the whole assignment, submit it at the last minute, and then see that there was this one line on the submission page that was really important but they forgot. 2. Having things due on random days. For example, if class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, have things due on Mondays and Wednesdays and at the same time every time. Don't have essay rough drafts due at 5pm and weekly homework assignments due at midnight. It's much easier for us to remember deadlines if they're built on top of other related items we need to remember. If we have a meeting with you every Thursday at noon, there's a decent chance we're already thinking about that meeting throughout the day, so have the weekly report due Thursday as well. If there is a holiday or something that adjusts the schedule for the week, give lots of reminders and plenty of advanced notice, and don't be surprised if we function on autopilot and submit on the day it was originally due. 3. Being inconsistent about your reminders and communications. Don’t remind students every week that lab is due tomorrow but fail to send out reminders about homework assignments. 4. Insist on “neurotypical” standards of focusing. Let people knit, draw, fidget, walk around, etc. As long as we're not distracting others, what does it matter? Kitting, drawing and other activities allow our brains to work better and are barely noticeable by others. No, you don't need to allow folks to pace the back of the room the entire meeting, but you could schedule in time specifically for movement or when movement wouldn't be as distracting (work in groups, ask your neighbors how they solved this problem, etc.)
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