Five sentence summary One of the most common accommodations for folks with ADHD is sharing materials in advance. It allows us to reduce problems we experience due to focusing and trouble with executive functions. We are less likely to be thrown off if we can organize our notes and make any adjustments our brains need in advance of the talk or assignment. I know you finish your lecture materials at the last minute, but that is only an ableist excuse. Based entirely on my own experience, one of the most common accommodations for folks with ADHD is having lecture slides shared in advance. I'm willing to guess it is a common accommodation for many disabilities actually because there is so much room for accessibility when folks can modify the materials themselves to fit their own needs. Yet, this straightforward accommodation that can remove so many barriers for disabled learners is also one of the ones professors dislike and misunderstand the most. Let me be clear: Refusing to share slides and materials before class is ableist and hurts your ADHD learners. To be fair, this is a refusal that harms students without disabilities, but ADHD and other disabled learners are particularly at a disadvantage when we can't learn at our own pace and use our own strategies. Why ADHD folks need materials in advance We have problems with focusing and executive functions, like monitoring our progress, setting goals, and planning. For someone without ADHD, it's easier to ignore impulse reactions and think things through. For ADHD folks, our brains struggle and we follow those impulses, and we may lose our way, despite our best intentions. This is why it's crucial to give us the tools and time we need to organize our thoughts, notes, and space. Having the slides, questions, or other materials in advance allows us to organize on our own time. We can break things down. Whereas organizing in the moment, while a person is speaking or while we need to keep track of directions as they're being given, that's a lot harder for our minds to handle.
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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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