How can I help my students with ADHD stay organized?
In this video, Vanessa Castañeda Gill explains that what often looks like irresponsibility is actually autistic and ADHD students facing analysis paralysis and executive functioning barriers, and they succeed when adults help them break big tasks into small, concrete starting steps and needed supports.
Transcript
As a student, I strived for perfection in school, and my grades definitely showed it, but if you looked in my backpack or paid me a visit after school, you would see that it was nothing but wadded up papers and me banging my head against a wall, just trying to figure out where to get started and how to start on an assignment.
And I just hated being called irresponsible or careless because I felt like I was working 10 times harder than all the other students not to be that way yet that was not producing the right result. And I later figured out that I am autistic and ADHD, and so there were a lot of other barriers that were going up against me, mainly analysis paralysis, where I just could not figure out where to start and if my starting point was the wrong or the right decision. And with multiple classes, those assignments started to pile up and it became even more confusing. Every assignment or project that I was doing just felt like this mountain I had to climb, but I had no idea where any of my gear was.
And then once I finally climbed a mountain, I realized it would take me a lot longer than I expected, and I'd feel like a failure. And then I wouldn't have the motivation to climb the next one, which I'm sure probably happens to some of your students. So to help your students climb their own mountains, it's really important to help them figure out the right gear they need and help them build a couple steps.
Uh, so to do that, you can help them break down big projects into smaller steps. You can also do something as simple as helping them figure out that gear that they need, even getting their sort of prep done, helping them figure out, you know, I need a pencil, I need to write this first sentence, I need paper. Even that really helps us build small steps to get to where we need to go. And if you want more tips like this or even to experience our games that, uh, explore these skills, you can go to socialcipher.com.
Follow us @socialcipher on TikTok and YouTube for more educator-focused videos about neurodivergence!
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