The ADHD Mind

Introduction

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that leads to the inability to focus and pay attention, difficulty controlling impulses and excessive activity. ADHD is often recognized in childhood, but there are many adults who still have not been diagnosed. In this article, I'll discuss some of the common symptoms of ADHD in adults and talk about how this condition affects their lives as well as what treatment options are available for them.

It's not just attention deficit. It's also a problem with executive function -- the functions that are related to attention, like how you make a plan, how you foresee consequences. You can pay attention to something for long periods of time, even very intently. But it takes something that feels good or important in the moment for you to be able to pay attention to it.

ADHD is not just a problem with attention. It's also a problem with executive function -- the functions that are related to attention, like how you make a plan, how you foresee consequences. You can pay attention to something for long periods of time, even very intently. But it takes something that feels good or important in the moment for you to be able to pay attention to it.

For example: A child with ADHD might be able to sit still during his math homework because he loves math and wants good grades; but if he's asked during free time at school if he wants to go play basketball instead, he may suddenly find himself getting distracted by something else and ending up playing video games instead!

I can't categorize things or count things like most people can. If somebody gives me five dollars, I don't know whether they gave me five ones or a dollar and three quarters. I look at the bill and think, That's some money, but I don't know what kind of money it is.

The way we think about ADHD has changed dramatically over the past few decades. We used to think it was a problem with attention, but now we understand that the disorder is actually much more complicated than that. It's not just about being unable to pay attention: it's also about executive function, which is an umbrella term for many different cognitive skills (like categorization and counting) that allow us to organize and manage ourselves in our daily lives.

In these cases, people with ADHD have difficulty managing their thoughts, emotions and behaviors—subsequently leading them to miss details or make careless errors. The key here is that everyone misses details once in a while; what makes someone with ADHD different is how often they do so due to their chronic difficulties organizing themselves properly.

One reason ADHD kids don't do well in school is because they don't have the executive function needed to do homework. They don't understand homework assignments. They can't figure out what they're supposed to do first and then second and third. And if they're told to read a chapter, they'll skim and miss the details because they don't have the ability at that moment to distinguish between parts of speech and prepositional phrases and relative clauses; their eyes are going right over them without absorbing them.

The ADHD mind has trouble remembering what it reads. It doesn't always retain information from the last time you read it, even if you just read the same page five minutes ago.

It has trouble taking notes in class, because it's hard for them to focus on a single thing for long enough to write anything down. They think about all their other classes, where they're supposed to be listening right now, and then they start thinking about all their homework assignments that are due tomorrow and then they start worrying about what they're going to do after school today instead of paying attention during class...

It's extremely difficult for an ADHD student (or anyone with executive function problems) to organize their thoughts or formulate sentences that make sense out of facts that have been presented by someone else. It's like trying to listen through static when someone is talking into the phone—you hear some words but not all of them at once; there might be meaning there somewhere but you can't find it amidst all that noise! In other words: When someone speaks English without super clear articulation (due either due lack of skill or an accent), then I lose track more easily than normal people do because my brain isn't used as much as theirs is used when listening spoken language."

Kids with ADHD will often have trouble understanding that the homework assignment means "read Chapter 3 and write down three new words." Instead, they'll just end up writing down any three words on page 12.

The ADHD mind is different from the non-ADHD mind. This may seem obvious, but it’s important to understand how significant this difference can be in order to understand how children with ADHD learn and behave.

The ADHD brain has a difficult time understanding that the homework assignment means “read Chapter 3 and write down three new words." Instead, they'll just end up writing down any three words on page 12. This is an example of executive function (EF) taking over: planning, organizing and prioritizing tasks. Children with ADHD also struggle with EF because their brains are constantly drawn off task by distractions such as noise or movement—their focus gets stuck like a broken record player skipping back and forth between two thoughts; they have trouble staying on task until completion of a task; they have difficulty keeping track of time; they have difficulty organizing materials needed for work; they make careless mistakes when trying to complete tasks due to poor attention span; they tend not remember what happened during past episodes where there was no external stimulation present (this lack of retention can lead into problems later on).

Some things about EF in children:

• They improve through maturity

• They improve with practice

• They improve with training

Conclusion

It's important to remember that not every kid with ADHD is going to struggle with every skill. Some kids will do well in school and be able to follow directions but need help with planning and setting goals for themselves. Other kids might have trouble paying attention or managing their emotions, but they're able to get by because they're not expected to do much homework anyway. In some cases, it's even possible that a child may have had ADHD as early as toddlerhood (but wasn't diagnosed until later).