ADHD presents challenges for students

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on September 7, 2024.

Herald photo by Alexandra Noad Managing symptoms of ADHD can be challenging for some students who returned to classes this past week.

Every college student knows the sinking, yet somehow exhilarating feeling of procrastinating an assignment until the night before and having to cram to get it done in time.

For people with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) being organized, motivated and focused enough to complete assignments on time can be a very challenging.

According to an article written by Jennifer Wirth and edited Meaghan Harmon on Forbes Health on Aug. 24, 2023 “an estimated 35 per cent to 78 per cent of children diagnosed with ADHD maintain symptoms as an adult.”

Shondie Jensen, Taylor Symonds and Kelsey Margison are former Lethbridge university and college students who have ADHD. Here are their five suggestions on managing their symptoms especially while in school.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time

Many people with ADHD struggle with starting a task. If the task is too daunting or has too many steps it can result in procrastination. If there are too many tasks it can make people with ADHD not do anything because they don’t know where to start. Symonds says she has struggled with both situations a lot especially with trying to balance school, work and home obligations. She says starting with a smaller task and finishing it will often give her the motivation needed to complete the big task.

“I go by easy wins, so like, putting the dishes in the dishwasher is easier than, say, cleaning my room if it’s really messy. I’ll do an easy one before a hard task,” said Symonds.

Symonds also says she will often make a list and divide it in easy and hard tasks. She will have an easy task and then use that momentum to do a hard task.

• Aid the memory

ADHD brains are very forgetful. This is because the working memory and long-term memory are both affected by ADHD. According to an article on ADD.org working memory deficits are linked to a lack of focus, hyperactivity, and impulsivity in ADHD. While the deficits of long-term memory are caused by the brain processing information in a disorganized manner, which makes it more difficult for it to be moved and stored into the long-term memory.

Symonds says to combat this she writes very detailed notes as well as talking to her instructors about special accommodations.

“Being very descriptive in your note taking and then also getting permission to voice recorded the classes, so I can go back and listen. I will emphasize on getting permission, do not do that without the teacher’s permission because you know it can cause issues,” said Symonds.

Jensen had a different approach to accommodate her impaired memory. She would take frequent breaks from studying to allow her brain to transfer the info she was studying to her long-term memory.

“There’s an app called Forest that makes apps like Facebook and game apps inaccessible during those 15-to-20-minute intervals of work and then taking five to 10 minutes in between for breaks regularly swapping out between those tasks.” Using app blockers or the do-not-disturb feature on your phone can help those with ADHD stay focused by limiting distractions.

• Itemize and prioritize

As noted before an ADHD brain process things in a chaotic manner which leads to poor memory. According to the same article on ADD.org, “lower activity in the brain’s prefrontal cortex can make it more challenging to remember task goals, instructions, or rules. This area of the brain also enables a person to focus on a specific task until it’s complete. Problems in this brain region can reduce attention, increase distractibility, and impact memory.”

This means not only is it challenging to remember things, prioritizing the things they need to do is just as hard.

Margison says she would use a calendar and lists to keep her on track.

“I used a digital calendar.  There’s no way I could keep track of everything in a day, week, month in my head,” said Margison.

Symonds had a similar experience of not remembering, however through discipline and lots of practice, she was able to overcome needing lists for everything.

“I usually keep that in my brain, but it took me a long time to get to that point.

What I did was I would literally make a list and everything. It took me a long time to overcome that, but until you do find a way to overcome it, it’s really hard. I find making a list is the best way,” said Symonds.

• Double up to keep out of trouble

People who have ADHD tend to get distracted easily. This is often caused by the lack of dopamine in their brain. Jensen says during the pandemic her grades suffered due to the lack of accountability in online lectures.

“Online school was hard because my camera was off, so I still technically watched the lecture, but I was in the other room,” said Jensen.

Jensen explains she would have a friend who would code while she did homework. Even while she did her interval study, she was more likely to get back to work because there was someone their watching her.

This is commonly known as body doubling. It provides motivation as well as responsibility for the person because they have someone watching them.

• Sound the alarm

Time blindness is a common trait of ADHD. According to an article on verywellmind by Rachel Green published on May 11, 2023, “time blindness is the inability to sense the passing of time and it can make nearly every aspect of a person’s life more difficult. The important thing to understand is that it’s more like a sensory issue, not an intentional disregard for time.”

This means it can make it hard for people with ADHD to be on time for obligations.

Symonds says setting multiple alarms throughout the day helps keep her on time.

“I set an alarm almost every five minutes to wake up because I find honestly, I have a really hard time waking up and like staying awake because we can just easily fall back to sleep because we’re not engaged in anything. I also do one to be okay, you have 5 minutes to leave the house. I find that really helps too is being like on top of it and stuff. And I set the alarms the day before,” said Symonds.

• Never give up

Any disability is challenging and ADHD is no different. Learning how your brain works can be very beneficial to unlocking the keys to success. There are many resources online as well at schools. Lethbridge Polytechnic Learning Café is a great resource for any student. They have peer tutoring, as well as many workshops for all kinds of skills. The university also hosts peer study halls every Thursday starting mid-September. More information on these programs can be found on each school’s respective website.