Students with ADHD have a lot to offer their peers. It is the job of educators in anti-ableist, inclusive environments to help children with ADHD access their inner strengths instead of focusing exclusively on emotional "deficits," socially unacceptable symptoms, and areas for growth. Educators must view ADHD as a neurotype -- as a different way of being; as what I term a "complicated strength" -- and the environment needs to accommodate the student as opposed to forcing the child to conform to normed standards of social-emotional functioning.
As a child (and to this day), I was highly creative, outgoing, and motivated to succeed despite/alongside the challenges that came with having ADHD; I was energetic, talkative, and full of ideas, eager to share what I was capable of with the world. Once I came to terms with my ADHD and saw it as a complicated strength, I saw my tendency to daydream (my "inattention") as the thing that allowed me to produce a large body of creative work: poems, drawings, and short stories. I took great pride in my bouts of "hyperfocus," divergent cognition (which allowed me to think about problems creatively), and feverish artistic production (White 2019, Nadeau/ADDitude Magazine); the work I produced both helped me to express myself (joys, frustrations and all) and allowed other people to see who I really was and what I could do when presented with the proper conditions to succeed. I am lucky that I had opportunities to share my poetry and art with my teachers and classmates, and the creative and performing arts groups I joined inside and outside of school were outlets for my hyperactivity and led to years-long friendships with other talented, neurodiverse students.
Yes, I am neurodevelopmentally dis/abled, but that does not mean I did not develop socially; I simply took the scenic route. I felt things very deeply, I came to accept that I would never be popular, that masking my symptoms did more harm than good. And I knew that the friends who did stick around, who did reciprocate, were real.
Students with ADHD have the potential to channel their energy, dynamism, and brainpower into thoughtful pursuits if given the space to do so. Janice Sawinski notes that cultivating favorite hobbies can help students with ADHD find a "sense of purpose" and work on "interpersonal competence" (i.e., social skills) (2008). If children with ADHD are encouraged to pursue what they love -- and if in turn these environments are designed and/or shaped to accommodate neurodevelopmental differences -- students will have an easier time connecting with peers who have similar interests and personalities. Starting with what the child with ADHD has to offer contributes to students' self-definition and their feelings of having a place in the world.
Nonetheless, communication can still be a challenge for students with ADHD, and we can't ignore the impact that hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity can have on a student's ability to navigate productive conversations with peers. Interrupting a conversational partner, for instance, is seen as rude and ultimately distressing for both parties. The diagnostic criteria for ADHD frames impulsivity and hyperactivity as impairments (DSM-V, pg. 59-60) because these traits can inhibit social-emotional functioning. But what if we reframed these traits -- at least in certain situations -- as a neurodivergent student's way of communicating honestly and openly? Matt Curry writes:
I believe that for most of us, these defects or weaknesses – when channeled properly and perhaps even celebrated – can become our greatest strengths....ADHD is my superpower. It gives me an incredible amount of energy, which allows me to multi-task and to get stuff done. It also makes me intense, impulsive, fidgety, anxious, and impatient sometimes. It makes me controlling, scattered, and extremely blunt; I sometimes blurt out inappropriate things at inappropriate times. But it also helps me get people pumped up and headed in the direction I want them to go. It makes me unafraid of chaos and assertive in the face of conflict. I’m decisive, I take action, I execute. My ADHD allows me to be creative at a million miles an hour. Going off on tangents is fun; I love it. (Curry 2018)
Educators must evaluate the context of interactions to understand the ways that a child's ADHD traits can be turned into assets. The Kennedy Kreiger Institute and Dr. Alison Pritchard note that
a 'super power' can become a problem if exhibited in the wrong context. For instance, impulsivity, a common symptom of many with the diagnosis, is not preferred when driving through an intersection or when playing chess. However, it might be a preferred attribute in a context like improvisational comedy. (KennedyKreiger.org)
Visit the Interventions page for information about how to approach that "misbehavior" and impulsivity that some children with ADHD struggle with; in addition to helping neurodivergent students learn to self-monitor and reflect on their social behaviors, educators must also encourage their peers to be patient, to hold space for and honor different communications styles.
Finally, it's crucial for educators to recognize how to help their students with ADHD use their heightened emotional sensitivity as pathways to perception and self-knowing. Lizzy Arnold, a member of the National Center for Learning Disabilities' Youth Leadership Council, writes:
@drhallowell ##ADHD is a way of being. Embrace it! You have some wonderful traits! ##NedTalks ##neurodiverse ##strengths
♬ original sound - Dr Ned Hallowell
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