Many customers and clients ask about ADHD so here is one that I pulled out to answer.
A customer from Kitchener, Ontario has a son who dropped out of school because he has ADHD and dyslexia as well. I (our Memory Coach) just felt that if Dave would talk to him maybe he could make an impression.
From Kitchener, Ontario, here is an answer for you:
I know how he feels. I wanted to drop out and actually debated it. For me it was impatience. School was so borring i couldn’t take it. I could teach myself but school was agonizing. Doing that day in, day out it was too much to bear. That was ADHD. I think ADHD is not all bad. In the right situation it can be an advantage. Just play a shootem up video game with an ADHD boy and you will see the genius come out. In short, we think faster.
We are told in life that faster is better but not in this case. Thinking faster in this case makes for slower learning. Here is how it works: the so-called normal attentive child takes a class and listens to the teacher and depending on their work ethic and effort, they can learn at a good pace, pass tests and get good grades.
The ADHD child takes the same class and listens to the same teacher but because thier mind is moving faster than the teacher, thier mind craves more stimulation. That means they will listen for a minute of two and the brain will jump to a new subject. Maybe daydreaming, maybe creative thought, really anything. By the time that child comes back to listen to the teacher, they have lost a whole section of the lecture.
You would think this would be frustrating but this is what the brain wants, a challenge. The ADHD brain is now busy trying to figure out what was the section that they missed. This feeds the same need for sitmulation by providing mental games. Once the child figues out what was missed (or thinks they have) they are listening again and get bored thus the cycle continues.
Do not blame the child, blame the brain.
It is not something that can be controlled any more than you could be excited about an insurance seminar (I appologise to all insurance seminar leaders but trust me, it is borring). The point is your brain shuts off. You can try with all your effort but it will not suddenly be interested.
So I know how he feels. That is why I created the focus technique to overcome this problem. You can’t control it but you can train it. That, I will leave for another blog.
My thoughts on this person is that they will avoid temporay pain by dropping out but they will still encounter the same problem. The brain craves stimulation beyond the norm. So in the working world you will encounter the same problem. I will reach out to him and try to convince him to go back to school. Stay tuned and I will tell you how it turns out.
Hope this helps,
Dave
