ADHD is a challenge of the executive functions. These challenges play out not in ability but in performance and execution. This can be misleading as many individuals with ADHD have superior intellectual abilities. Oftentimes teachers and even parents will have difficulty understanding why students “so smart” just can’t get it together to manage their lives. Organization, time management, working memory, planning, and emotional control are just a few of the areas that can be affected by a neurodiverse brain with challenges in the executive functions.
Dr. Russel Barkley, ADHD expert, author, and speaker, reminds parents in his famous long but well-worth it talk, “Essential Ideas for Parents”, that the executive functions are delayed by approximately 30% in children with ADHD. I often point this out to parents and teachers of my clients when they express frustration at what appears to them to be simple tasks that the “extremely intelligent” child should be able to perform.
When your straight A student can’t wake up in the morning, make it to class on time, or remember to throw away his or her wrappers, it can be helpful to remind yourself and actually do the math. Your 18-year-old may have had the academic skills to get into a good university, but now he or she is expected to not only manage the rigors of college classes, but to wake up, get to class on time, do laundry, and get meals ready as well.
All of these skills rely on the executive functions. This could be challenging for a neurotypical 18-year-old, but applying the Barkley formula, we realize that we are basically sending our students with ADHD off to college when they have the executive function skills of a 13-year-old. This knowledge can not only help parents and teachers understand the challenges that come with ADHD but also understand how critical it is for students to learn strategies to compensate for them
-Carol Cooper-Braun, MA, Learning Specialist/Executive Function Teacher at PSLLC