To The Teachers of ADHD Students Transcript

McCabe, J. (2018, August 24). To the teachers of ADHD students (how can I help?). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SFB8BTfAG0

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Jessica McCabe: Hello teachers of brains! Back to school is happening, and probably you have mixed feelings about it. Maybe you’re looking forward to discovering the bright, gifted student with so much potential; the one who asks great questions, thinks outside the box, loves to learn, and with the right encouragement, amazes you with what they can do. The student you hope will someday accomplish great things and think back to the teacher who inspired them. You might be a little worried about the student you know will be, uh, challenge. The student you hope will someday [pause] graduate? But here’s the thing: they might be the same student.

Welcome to the wonderfully complex world of ADHD!

[upbeat music]

[new upbeat tune in the background]

Jessica McCabe: I have ADHD, and I’ve been both of those students. I was the student who’d ditch class, or be in the front row with both hands raised. I was an award-winning honors student, and a community college drop out. But I have done great things, and I do think back to the teachers who inspired me; the ones who recognized my gifts, not just my challenges. If you’re a teacher and you’re watching this video, I’m guessing you’re that kind of teacher, which makes you incredibly important because it’s not easy to do what you do. I’m not a teacher, but I do know ADHD, so I’m here to share what I know best in the hopes that it helps you do what you do best.

If you have ADHD students who may or may not be diagnosed, this is what you probably see in class every day. This is what you can’t see…it’s a lot [reflective music begins]. And this is what it feels like.

ADHD is frustrating, not just for you, but for us too. We do battle with our own brains every single day. Like most students with ADHD, my performance was all over the map. It drove some of my teachers crazy, and a lot of them gave up on me. A lot of them believed in me, told my parents I had amazing potential, and that I just needed to try harder.

Here’s what they didn’t know: I was already trying so hard. I tried so hard I often didn’t make it to bed before I passed out from exhaustion. I didn’t stop for dinner. I canceled on my friends. I learned to feel guilty if I took any breaks at all because clearly the work I was putting in still wasn’t enough.

When I skipped class, it was because I was embarrassed that I hadn’t been able to focus long enough to finish my homework, or that I’d forgotten about the project that was due until it was already too late to do it right, or that I was so disorganized, I couldn’t find my book. When I was called on to read and I didn’t know what page we were on, it was because it hurt my brain to read as slowly as the class, and the only way I knew how to keep my brain engaged was to read at my own pace. When I asked too many questions and my teachers couldn’t get through a lesson, it was because knowing I might be called on was the only way I knew how to stay focused. When I could tell it was annoying them, I started sitting in the back and drawing in my notebook so I wouldn’t bother anyone. And when I stopped making the effort entirely, it was because I had learned that my effort didn’t matter. My teachers didn’t see my effort, they just saw the difference between my potential and my performance, and like most students with ADHD, that difference was huge.

I took medication to help with my symptoms, but I still had an ADHD brain, which meant a lot of the things that worked for the other students, the things I thought should work for me, didn’t.

When you have a brain that works differently, you have to work differently. But when I was younger, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know there were strategies that could help me get projects done on time, or stay focused without distracting anybody else. I just knew that I kept doing things wrong, that no amount of effort was ever enough, and sometimes that no one in that classroom liked me, including the teacher. And was that true? Maybe, maybe not, but it felt that way, and it hurt. And I didn’t know it was because ADHDers have trouble regulating their emotions; I just thought I was too sensitive…I thought it was my fault.

So many students with ADHD are working with a brain they don’t understand, that often won’t cooperate in an environment that’s not built for them, and because of that, we get corrected far more often than our peers. I’m not saying we should be let off the hook. As ADHD expert Dr. Russell Barkley puts it, ADHD students actually need more accountability, not less. But if we’re shut down, or being defensive, or seem to have given up on school entirely, it might be because for many of us, the classroom does not feel like a safe place for us to learn.

We understand we can be challenging students, but not every teacher understands that it’s challenging for us too, and that those challenges can be overcome, which is why when we have a teacher that gets it, it means so much.

I don’t remember exactly what my most inspiring teacher said to me. I have no idea what homework she assigned or if I even did it, but I do remember she liked a dumb poem I wrote, and showed me how to submit it to a competition where I was able to get it published. I don’t remember what we did in class, but I do remember she let me stay at lunch and ask questions. I don’t even remember what grade I got, but I do remember that instead of telling me how good I could be or would be someday, she showed me how good I already was…and it was incredibly motivating after years of effort, years of corrections, to feel like I was doing enough.

If you want to know what your students need to be able to learn with a brain that works differently, it’s this: to know that it’s okay to have a brain that works differently, that we’re enough. Not maybe, someday, if we really try, but as we are, because the messages we get every day from others and ourselves is that we’re not. Enough doesn’t mean there’s not room to grow and get better; enough means not already having to be better just to belong. It means even when we make mistakes, or talk too much in class, or forget our homework, again, you won’t see a problem, you’ll see us: a student who maybe doesn’t know it isn’t this hard for everyone, and might not tell you what they’re struggling with because they think it’s their fault. A student who keeps trying the best they know how, but probably could use a little help from a teacher who will work to understand, not judge.

If you are that teacher or you want to be, let me know what questions you have about how to support ADHDers in your classroom, and I will make videos to support you throughout the school year.

In the meantime, you can put a different message in your classroom, one that lets your ADHD students know you get it, or that you’re willing to try. It doesn’t have to be much; a basket of fidget toys on your desk, a poster on your wall, an encouraging note on their half finished homework. You might be the only teacher in their lives that lets them know the way their brain works is okay. Be that teacher, and let me know how I can help.

If you’re an ADHD student, share what helps you in the classroom. Be positive, no venting, we’re all trying to do this together. If you’re a parent, share this with your ADHDer’s teachers.

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Jessica McCabe: Thank you to our brain board, and all our Patreon brains for allowing us to create videos and support this community in all the ways we hope to, without having to worry about how we’ll pay the bills. And thank you to these teachers for giving me suggestions on this episode, and for working hard every day to make sure all of your students feel like they belong.

Like, subscribe, click all the things, and since I’m in school right now, I will see you in two weeks. Bye brains!