I got the extra support I needed in learning to read and doing math, and once I got to use a calculator, I felt that I didn’t have to worry myself with my learning differences. However, once at LWHS, I found that I needed to update my diagnosis in order to get the extra time I needed.

Those of you who know some about AD/HD and know me might be surprised that in freshman year I was diagnosed with AD/HD (as well as a reading disorder that accounts for my slow processing). It might seem funny that a person who is so calm, quiet, and (seemingly) focused could have a disorder that many people think of as “rowdy little boy disorder.” I will go further into why AD/HD does not only affect rowdy little boys further down on the page. What is important to note is that while my learning disorders do not significantly impair my ability to do the tasks I need to do¹, learning and behavioral disorders affect many people’s lives significantly. After learning more about learning disorders, I have found that while I may not have to worry about my own learning differences, it is incredibly important for me to understand more about how learning disorders affect other people’s lives.

Deciding to investigate AD/HD may have originally stemmed from my personal experience with learning disorders, but what has interested me most throughout the process is the potential positive effects that destigmatizing, educating about, and treating AD/HD and other learning and behavioral disorders could have on individuals' lives and society as a whole.

AD/HD is a disorder of the “Executive Functions” which can include the following symptoms:

• Difficulty with focusing attention on a specific task
• Difficulty sustaining attention and regulating distractibility
• Difficulty regulating activity (hyperactivity)
• Difficulty organizing time, objects, and space
• Difficulty regulating effort and following through on tasks
• Difficulty initiating tasks (procrastination)
• Difficulty employing working memory
• Difficulty monitoring and regulating one’s behavior and emotions

Many specialists believe that there are different subtypes of AD/HD which include some symptoms beyond these listed, and don’t include some other symptoms. Most specialists agree that AD/HD is a ‘spectrum disorder’: not everyone who has AD/HD experiences the same symptoms at the same level of severity. AD/HD does not affect intelligence—although difficulty with executive functions can heavily stunt learning and can definitely impact the expression of intelligence. AD/HD is based in the brain—it cannot be caused by environmental circumstances, although some environmental circumstances can compound the problems that people with AD/HD can experience.

The dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex is involved in sustaining attention, filtering out distracting and unhelpful stimuli or thoughts, and enabling focus on important information. Because “focus” is needed for so many tasks, the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex also heavily impacts working memory, cognitive speed, and the ability to express oneself. Working memory enables humans to hold information in their mind while processing and manipulating it.
The basal ganglia are responsible for integrating feelings and thoughts with physical movement. When the basal ganglia are overactive, they may cause people to stop movement when they feel stressed or have too much input. People with hyperactivity often have underactive basal ganglia, making them become more active in stressful situations. Basal ganglia are also involved in modulating motivation.

However, many people with AD/HD have additional symptoms that are not caused by inactivity in the prefrontal cortex or the basal ganglia, or even dopamine. For example, many people with AD/HD exhibit cognitive rigidity², symptoms of depression, aggressive behavior and emotional instability, or unpredictable behavior or mood changes. Some experts believe that these symptoms are comorbid disorders while others would argue that these are discrete subtypes of AD/HD. In my opinion, the classification is not particularly important as long as the individuals are able to get the support they need in order to function best and have the happiest life possible.

During adolescence AD/HD symptoms are generally worse in both males and females. Adolescence is also a time during which there is often a heavy demand on students to be able to perform proficiently on a variety of diverse tasks, in addition to managing multiple classes with different teachers and ramping social and extracurricular obligations and pressures. It can be a highly stimulating time during which individuals are asked to show responsibility and maturity without the appropriate fully-formed brain structures that would enable them to do so. It is a time of transition, in which students are empowered and pushed to take accountability and responsibility for themselves and their actions. For individuals with AD/HD, this time of adolescence can be particularly difficult but also particularly empowering. Hopefully, it can also be a time of restructuring the external supports which have been put in place by others (teachers, parents, tutors) to become internal structures or strategies increasingly driven by the individual with AD/HD.

Developing external structure to support organization or working memory can help create an environment in which an individual with AD/HD is more likely to succeed. Below is a list of systems and strategies that can help people who struggle with executive functions or hyperactivity. They are grouped by area of symptom with which an individual might struggle.