I’ve worked with children with ADHD before ADHD became a household word. Most often, the students I worked with were  undiagnosed. I didn’t know what to do with those kids or why they behaved the way they did. I continually looked for ideas about how to teach them and determine whether or not they had learned anything! Today more than 20 years later, there’s more research and knowledge about the human brain and just as many different opinions about  ADHD.

Anyone can learn to learn!

My philosophy about education influences my approach to working with individuals with ADHD.  In my work as an academic coach and an ADHD coach, I view my clients as resourceful, creative and intelligent. College students with ADHD and adults with ADHD can learn what they need to learn to reach their goals and get things done in life.

Life’s not easy  even for folks without ADHD.  So how are we going to make it through college and life with ADHD? That’s a big question. A meaning-of-life kind of question.  Let’s just  take some baby steps.   What are the experts finding out through research and clinical practice about ADHD and the brain?

Five Things You Need to Understand ADHD (or ADHD for Dummies).*

One

The “H” in ADHD stands for hyperactivity. However, some children have ADHD tendencies without the hyperactivity or impulsivity. The name ADHD is too limiting. There’s more to it than just focus, high activity level and impulsivity.

Two

The fundamental issue behind ADHD is a deficit in executive function skills. Executive Function Skills is the fancy word for thinking, reacting and modulating emotion.  A deficit in executive functions can affect more than academic life and work life.

Three

Here’s some biology.  Executive functions are rooted in the frontal lobes (we’re talking about the brain) .

Four

Under-active   frontal lobes (they might be smaller or underdeveloped) lead to disorganization, poor impulse control, struggles with time management, poor memory, and emotional reactivity. All these are symptoms of ADHD.

Five

Here is a word picture. The frontal lobes act like the “brain manager.” The manager of a store coordinates employees, purchases and deliveries. If the store manager drifts off task the store runs less efficiently. When the store manager wakes up and gets on the job everything runs smoothly. Like the store manager, the frontal lobes supervise a person’s behavior and speech. They handle incoming information and organize how the information will be used. This role sounds like an executive of a large corporation. So it makes sense to call the job performed by our frontal lobes executive functions.

There you have it. I’ve given you some baby steps to begin to understand ADHD. If I can convince my Brain-Manager to get on the ball, I will write more blogs about this topic. (Don’t hold your breath!)

Life may not be easy but life is good.  Let’s live and learn and LOVE IT!

*Bertin, M. (2011).  The family ADHD solution: A scientific approach to maximizing your child’s attention and minimizing parental stress. Palgrave MacMillan: New York. (12-13; 39-41).

**Photo by Steve Bomar Photography.