EXPERIENCE It’s just teenage hormones or anxiety… Going down this route can lead to years of misdiagnosis. Girls and women with ADHD can have difficulties regulating their emotions, a hard time socially and low selfesteem, after years of being told “try harder”, but this pressure to fit in comes at a cost. Girls can be more socially capable, as they often mirror, copy or imitate the skills of peers, thus making them harder to spot, but meltdown and exhaustion can quickly follow. Moreover, undiagnosed ADHD can cause anxiety, depression, conduct disorder, substance abuse, and sleep problems. So, check with your SENCO before chalking it up to “Teenagers”.
But they’re fine in my class… What we’re missing here is the emphasis on my class. In other words, in classes that give us that wonderful dopamine hit (that means we’re interested) we can be fine, whilst in other settings… not so much. That my friends, is the result of something called hyperfocus. It’s our superpower! Hyperfocus is the ability to zero intensely on an exciting project or activity for hours at a time. I personally love it. Unfortunately, most of us with ADHD struggle to direct this… and often forget to eat during such periods as well. People with ADHD have low levels of dopamine in the brain’s frontal lobes and this makes it harder for us to change tasks, especially when enjoying the current task more than a suggested new one. Hyperfocus is our way of References:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-44956540 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS22150366(17)30049-4/fulltext https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorderadhd/symptoms/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC6745333/#:~:text=It%20is%20estimated%20that%20 around,issues%20with%20such%20studies%20and
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boosting our dopamine levels from the enjoyment we get from something that really interests us. So, I might do brilliantly in for example, English Literature when reading Frankenstein, but fail completely in History if it’s not a topic I like. I can’t pick and choose. It’s not that I don’t have attention, I just can’t regulate where that attention goes.
It comes with friends… When I was diagnosed, the shock came not from the ADHD being confirmed. After a while of researching for teaching my pupils, I had long suspected I was different. But the results from my autism diagnosis. I could not be dyslexic, have ADHD and have autism? Well, actually, yes. Studies have shown 60%–100% of children with ADHD also exhibit one or more comorbid disorders. Estimates of up to 30 per cent of those diagnosed with dyslexia also have ADHD and up to 42% with ADS. So, being told I was highly likely to be autistic too means I am now undergoing the whole process of getting diagnosed again, just this time for ASD. This happens quite commonly apparently.
the entire spectrum of symptoms and challenges we face https://www. additudemag.com/. Both have been a godsend, so hopefully you will have a look at them.
Getting yourself checked out… What happens when you DO have a look at the resources above and think… “That sounds like me”? Well… please speak to your GP and take the short diagnostic criteria test for ADHD. Life is much easier with a confirmed diagnosis if you have ADHD. You may not. But if you do, don’t be frightened of telling your school. Mine was very supportive, and we need more teachers and role models for our young people. The phrase “I have ADHD too” has never been more powerful.
Last, but absolutely not least… ADHD role models
Supporting ADHD pupils
Pupils and teachers with ADHD can often feel that ‘the world out there is not like me’ and so struggle to relate to traditional role models. Thankfully, there are a lot of neurodiverse people out there, some of whom have publicly spoken about their experiences, from Simone Biles, Dave Grohl to Sir Richard Branson.
Suppose you’re trying to help a student with ADHD. There are many brilliant resources to help, including some fantastic resources from the wonderful ADHD Foundation https:// adhdfoundation.org.uk/, which we all should be reading and was incredibly helpful in my diagnosis. The attitude magazine is brilliant in understanding
You see, although we tend often to focus on the difficulties of ADHD, there can be a real positives too and Forbes described ADHD as the entrepreneurs’ superpower. ADHDers (as they’re sometimes known) see the world and its potential entirely differently to neurotypical people and this can lead to unique perspectives.
https://dyslexiaida.org/attention-deficithyperactivity-disorder-adhdand-dyslexia/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dalearcher/2014/05/14/adhd-theentrepreneurs-superpower/?sh=6f7da8f259e9
https://www.adhdfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ Teaching-and-Managing-Students_FINAL.pdf
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/leonardo-da-vinci-adhd-scli-intl/ index.html
https://adhdfoundation.org.uk/
https://www.ted.com/talks/temple_grandin_the_world_needs_all_kinds_ of_minds/transcript?language=en
https://www.additudemag.com/ https://www.additudemag.com/simone-biles-adhd-olympicgymnast-publicly-addresses-condition/
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