Supporting ADHDers' Attention
Saturday's Dose
In Tuesday’s dose, we discussed the two stages to attention:
Expectation of attention (cueing)
Focusing of sensory organ (attending)
What can we do practically with this information?
Reduce Filter Load
Preparation
Medication
Movement & Attention Spans
Reduce Filter Load
We talked about how a brain has to filter out millions of extraneous stimuli every moment. This can be made easier for ADHDers by:
Minimizing clutter
Chunking directions
Providing visual cues (like a photograph of a tidied-up bedroom)
Reducing extraneous sounds
Preparation
Let’s talk more about how to prepare someone to attend.
Verbal cues
“watch this next part of the video carefully”
“look at the whiteboard”
“listen carefully to what xe says next”
Gameify Preparation
“how many times does the speaker use a cliché?”
“write down three lab safety rules from the video”
“draw an organized backpack, and then let’s organize your backpack and compare the two”
If someone you know would find this helpful, please:
Medication
ADHD medications are well-understood and very safe. When used as directed by a prescriber, for some ADHDers they can be life-changing. Never use any medications except how they are prescribed.
Some ADHDers, unfortunately will self-medicate with marijuana, alcohol and even cocaine. These are in particular individuals who will gain a lot in their lives by visiting with a licensed prescriber and learning more about ADHD medications. In the meantime, for many, caffeine can have a salubrious effect on attention, without all the hassle of illegal drugs.
Movement & Attention Spans
I can’t remember where I learned this, but it changed my teaching practice.
Adults cannot attend to one thing for more than 36 minutes.
Children cannot attend to one thing for more than 20 minutes.
Halve those values for individuals with ADHD.
Chunk your work. Especially the boring stuff you have to do. Break it up with 5-minute walks or rigorous exercises, such as:
Climbing
Jumping
Stairs (skipping steps)
Rearranging furniture
Wrestling with your dog
These are just some things that you can do to support your attention. What else have you tried and how has it worked for you?