This blog post came out of all the research I did to support one really sweet girl who for the life of me I could not get to focus. I mean I was for lack of better words hitting my head against the wall trying to support her. The most insight came from books like Delivered from Distation and The ADHD Advantage, but also from my good friend Byron who has learned to use his ADHD to his advantage.
Controlling the Bingo Brain
What you may ask is the Bingo Brain? It is the ADHD brain running free. What I admire most about people with ADHD is their ability to see connections between people, situations, and things that I would never see because thier brains are “hyper connected” . People with an ADHD brain need time to let their brain run free. Honestly that is when some of the most of the wall but brillant ideas come from. One of the best analogies I have come across is that ADHD brain is like a race car that is turbo charged. One has to learn to put the right oil in the car so that it doesn’t burn up and one needs to learn how to put the breaks on and slow it down so it doesn’t crash. – Dale Anchor author of the ADHD advantage. Here are some types to slow things down and keep track of things:
- Write things down. Making lists will help clear space in a person’s brain to allow for room and energy to put on the things that matter.
- Remove distractions. Also when working on a computer things like closing all the apps, tabs and social media that may distract you from the task at hand can be useful.
- Exciting goals. A good way to control the Bingo Brain is to have a meaningful, exciting, goal that stretches the person because then hyper focus is more likely to kick in.
- Prioritize what needs to be done this month, this week, and today.
Time management and forgetfulness
Time management is something a lot of people with ADHD struggle with. They often don’t have a sense of time passing.
- Use a calendar One of the tools I use with the kids I work with is Google Calendar. Rather than giving them a gigantic list at the beginning of the day of all the stuff they need to do we put reminders in their phone. I often but heads up reminders in their phone to start putting it in their head before they need to do it. For example “heads up you need to meet so and so at 4pm” and then 10 minutes later “leave to walk to meet so and so”.
- To do lists and project management software Google calendar is great and an other website I use myself is Asana, which can help keep track of projects and all the little details that go with each of the projects. The best part is that multiple people can interact on the same project.
- Routine is important Building routines is also very helpful for children with or without ADHD. Things like preparing the night before for school in the morning can help, eg. making their lunch, setting out clothes, and packing a bag. Building morning and bedtime routines helps kids to remember: it almost becomes muscle memory. Have specific places for sports equipment like a swimming bag that the swim suit, towel, brush, and goggles live in so they can just grab and go.
ADHD has its challenges but it is also something that can be leveraged. If we spend some time early in a child’s life to figure out how to use their gift and work with it rather than against it one can only imagine what is possible in their future.