Five sentence summary Learning environments are often not created with ADHD learners in mind; struggles with working memory, regulating attention, and executive functions create different challenges for us. Making your syllabus (and other key course materials) as concise and clear as possible goes a long way. UDL can work really well for ADHD learners, you'll want to provide materials in advance, and review your assessment policies to ensure they're not ableist. Large projects should be assessed to determine if they can be broken into chunks and scaffolded for more guidance. If you're rethinking your syllabus, designing a course or workshop for the first time, or just want to look over your course materials before the semester starts to check for ableism, this post is for you.
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that has a lot of heterogeneity within it, so what works for one student may not work for another. It's also a disorder or neurotype that most folks misunderstand, including the very folks in your institution who are supposed to act as experts and who gatekeep disability accommodations. So how does one even begin to design a course that is accessible for ADHD folks? Let's start by identifying the potential barriers folks with ADHD face.
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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. Five sentence summary Projects requiring a narrow focus and a lot of depth, whether these are final class projects, or PhD dissertations, can be a serious source of struggle for ADHD brains. We are likely to get bored over time, we have trouble sorting our thoughts and organizing which is no small problem when the project requires depth. How you coach and adapt for your ADHD learners can make the process much easier. By questioning the learning goals for the work, allowing for increased creativity, and supporting your ADHD learners with check-ins and guidance on prioritizing, you stand a chance at some really successful work. Working on a singular project for an extended period of time often does not go well for ADHD folks. A narrow focus can exacerbate ADHD issues. Whether it's a master's thesis or an undergraduate independent research study, forcing and expecting ADHD folks to focus on one narrow topic often backfires. Our minds jump from idea to idea, we make creative connections, and how our brain focuses is different from those without ADHD. If you're really interested in making things more accessible for ADHD folks, you might have to check your ableism. Question your assumptions Yes, graduate school or a final term paper is supposed to be hard. I am not suggesting we remove rigor. Before we go any further, park those assumptions about rigor someplace else. Ask yourself, what ultimately is the point of this assignment? What is the learning objective? Will my student be any less prepared for the career they envision if they do a master's thesis with two sections that are related but maybe a little less closely than I would like? It might seem like giving your student some breathing room and flexibility is a recipe for disaster, but why? If they've expressed the need for something more general, something that allows them to follow their passion, there is likely a middle ground and you only have to find it.
Is a ten to twenty page literature review on one narrow topic my only option for preparing this student to begin lab work, field work, analysis? If I know my student will get bored easily, will get frustrated quickly, and will find the level of detail needed tedious and overbearing (and their brain is structured in a way that makes these outcomes more likely), how can I help them? What options exist that will ensure my student is prepared to start research and yet also works with their brain and their needs? Am I asking my student to adhere to these standards because I think it will make them a better researcher or am I asking them because this is what the department expects? |
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