#adhd and learning

[adhd-hippie]

Everyone congratulate me I finally got started on the homework I’ve been unable to start for the past 3 weeks. 

I only have 3 days left and one of those will include a ton of time in class but that’s okay.  I started!

[3s-are-green]

Note Taking with ADHD

The adhd thought process and memory recall system is a wild ride. As such, taking notes in ways usually recommended for neurotypicals doesn’t work for me. I don’t write notes so I can go back and read them, I write them so I can keep my mind present and stimulated.

During lectures I literally just write down little bits of whatever I’m thinking, on autopilot, as fast as I can, along with copies of anything the prof puts on the board that seems particularly important. I will go off on tangents or write little jokes or commentary about what the prof said or doodle or draw diagrams of funny situations I think demonstrate a certain physics principle.

I often CANNOT read my own notes. They are disorganized, messy, full of terrible drawings, have tons of arrows connecting different topics or phrases, and don’t proceed in a linear fashion down the page. Because that’s how my thought process is organized.

What note taking does for me is keep me stimulated and following along. I allow my notes to be very stream of conscious and disorganized so that I can follow my own unique thought process without getting stuck, being taken over by daydreams, or worrying too much about forcing myself to pay attention and take good notes.

When I do look back at my class notes I often can only read parts of them, but the parts I can read usually jog memories of the class or related topics and by once again allowing my natural disorganized thought process to run its course I'm able to recall material without needing to be able to decipher all my notes.

Another thing that works great for me is writing almost constant commentary in margins of things I’m reading. The commentary doesn’t even have to be relevant, half the time its just me making jokes about things I’ve just read, but if I’m commentating on what I’m reading then I’m actually reading and processing it.

Once again, its very unlikely I’ll be able to decipher these margin notes later, but it is likely I’ll see the page and my ramblings, remember the stupid comment I made about the authors weird writing style, and then that will lead me to actually remembering the content of what the author wrote.

[adhd-hippie]

ADHD and Learning

One of the hardest things I experience as an ADHD student is competing ADHD needs/struggles.  Currently I’m in a zoom class and it’s taking EVERY FUCKING OUNCE of concentration I have to actually pay attention to the instruction and not just fuck around on Tumblr while the teacher lectures on another tab.

There’s another student in my class who also has ADHD, he keeps interrupting the instructor MID SENTENCE to ask questions he’s thinking about or to clarify points for his own understanding.  His need to check his comprehension is messing with my need to remain focused and to understand the instructors ideas.  He has a very surfer dude accent (which I hate and don’t hear well) and he doesn’t structure his ideas in a way that makes sense to me. 

So what happens is the instructor is outlining a point, he interrupts with his summation of her point and she goes “yes, oh yeah exactly” which sucks because I DON’T ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT HE SAID. 

I finally had to ask him to wait until she pauses to ask his questions or to clarify because his summations are making it impossible for me to understand what’s happening.  And if I’m not following the lecture, I become disinterested and am more likely to just eff off and come here to tumblr. 

[adhd-hippie]

So I’m taking classes to become a special education and reading teacher.  For the past few weeks I’ve been taking only Special Education courses, now I’m in a reading course. 

The difference between special education instructors and these reading instructors is fucking astounding! 

The Sped instructors were all about supporting our needs as learning, making all possible tools available, flexibility in time lines and assignments, etc. They’d provide ALL of their power point slides DURING their lecture so we could read along if Zoom wasn’t something we could look at, we could have our camera on or off, we could move around as we chose, the chat could be used for whatever we chose.  The Sped Instructors would adjust something if we requested to do so and if there was a formulaic assignment there were still options, choices, to make it work for us. 

In my reading class we have been told we can’t have the power point slides until after the lecture is over, we have been given a notebook and we had to fill it out EXACTLY as they told us to, they have another assignment that we’re working on and again, no choices, no options, must be done this way.  We can’t have our cameras off, we can’t get up and move around, and we can’t use the chat to talk to the class, it’s only for “academic purposes”

Basically, I hate these reading teachers already because expecting everyone to learn the same way is just bullshit and I don’t care that I’m an adult, differentiated learning is for EVERYONE not just kids.

[familyaddventures]

Learning to Live in the World With ADHD

Learning to Live in the World With ADHD

Hi Friends, I’ve got a great post today from a fellow ADHDer, author, and work-from-home-Dad Jonathan “JO” Oliver.  Check it out:

I didn’t learn that I had ADHD until I was 30 years old. I was in the process of writing my book about Dyslexia when I was diagnosed. While researching for the book, I learned that 43% of people who have Dyslexia also have ADHD. I happened to be one of the 43%. Once I…

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[nloadhd-blog]

ADHD and school can be a struggle. Read our full article for back-to-school tips for children with ADHD!