Five sentence summary It is not at all uncommon to present ADHD folks with choices and/or flexibility and have it overwhelm them. Demonstrate the decision making process to teach learners how to think through the different choices and their possible outcomes. Limit the number of choices given and include a "design your own" option to allow for more freedom for those who need it. Build in check in throughout the learning experience to detect problems early on, give learners opportunities for reflection, and determine if students have the appropriate resources and support to achieve their goals. Choices are often a disabled person's best friend exactly because we choose what works for us. For ADHD folks, there's less of a chance we will feel pigeonholed into something we will inevitably become bored with. Flexibility allows for creativity, innovation, personalization, and endless opportunities, but all of that freedom can overwhelm. Sometimes ADHDers need fewer choices and less flexibility. Choices and flexibility require us to identify goals, prioritize outputs, make a timeline, and identify steps needed to achieve success and these are executive functioning skills. How do we ensure choices and flexibility lead to success? By giving guidance, having a healthy balance of choices (not too many but not too few), and by scaffolding and checking in throughout the process. Guide them through the decisions Don't assume folks understand the nuanced differences between their options. Those students who are outside of their typical realm of study may be particularly lost and need more time to consider their options. Demonstrate how you would make a decision. Outline how the different options could affect their experience: this choice requires a lot of writing, the second option will mean you learn more about forests, this choice will likely require a lot of effort initially but less towards the end, etc.
For the ADHD learner that has no idea which option to work with, they may want you to give recommendations. "If you're low on energy and time right now, you may want to stick a familiar option and write a traditional paper." You could offer to meet individually with students, discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and then guide them towards an option. For larger classes, you could create some sort of Google form or flowchart that guides them through a similar, reflective process.
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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.) Five sentence summary
The hyperactivity and inattentiveness can both lead to creative ideas and new directions, but it also makes organizing thoughts and keeping track of everything challenging. Large assignments, readings, lectures, and projects without clear subsections, goal posts, and breaks can easily overwhelm us. We can get off track and spiral into the wrong direction. By giving us an outline or a table of contents for how we're going to proceed, ADHD learners can plan. By breaking down everything into chapters or smaller chunks, ADHD folks are more likely to focus and organize efficiently.
Why
ADHD brains struggle to color within the lines. We are attentive to a million ideas at once, whether we realize it consciously or not. We can become easily overwhelmed when other neurotypical folks are doing just fine. No matter what "It" is I can guarantee your ADHD learners will benefit from breaking it down. By breaking down talks, events, assignments, and other materials into chunks that are smaller and clearly defined, you help us reign our brains back in and we're less likely to get lost. Whereas neurotypical brains are adept at managing administrative-type tasks, ADHD brains are less equipped to do this. Regardless of the format you're teaching in (essay, textbook chapter, oral presentation with slides, oral presentation without slides, an instructional video), I know your ADHD learners do better when things are divided and those divisions are clear.
What do I mean exactly? No matter what format we're talking about, pretend it's a book. 1) Give your medium a table of contents, allowing learners to see what is coming up. It allows us to plan and we appreciate a heads up because sometimes we have elaborate note-taking methods. 2) Break everything down into chapters with headings. We have trouble organizing our thoughts and organizing someone else's is often more problematic. By giving us more structure and reminding us where we are in the talk, video, podcast, etc., you allow us to focus better and spend less time trying to organize ourselves and more time trying to learn and understand the material. |
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