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123 ADHD Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects children and adults alike. It is characterized by symptoms such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention. Writing an essay on ADHD can be a challenging task, especially when it comes to choosing a topic. To help you out, here are 123 ADHD essay topic ideas and examples to inspire your writing:

The history and evolution of ADHD diagnosis and treatment.

The role of genetics in ADHD: nature vs. nurture debate.

The impact of ADHD on academic performance.

How ADHD affects social interactions and relationships.

The correlation between ADHD and substance abuse.

The challenges faced by adults with undiagnosed ADHD.

The effectiveness of medication in treating ADHD symptoms.

Alternative therapies for managing ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on the family dynamics.

ADHD and its association with comorbid mental health disorders.

The role of parenting styles in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of diet and nutrition on ADHD symptoms.

The influence of technology on ADHD prevalence.

The stigma and misconceptions surrounding ADHD.

The educational rights and accommodations for students with ADHD.

The long-term effects of untreated ADHD in adulthood.

How ADHD manifests differently in boys and girls.

The role of peer support in managing ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on self-esteem and self-image.

The link between sleep disorders and ADHD.

The role of physical exercise in reducing ADHD symptoms.

ADHD in the workplace: challenges and accommodations.

The benefits and drawbacks of disclosing ADHD in college applications.

The impact of ADHD on driving safety.

The relationship between ADHD and creativity.

The role of mindfulness and meditation in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of ADHD on time management and organizational skills.

The importance of early intervention in managing ADHD.

The influence of environmental factors on ADHD prevalence.

The impact of ADHD on impulse control and decision-making.

The correlation between ADHD and obesity.

The role of executive functioning deficits in ADHD.

The challenges faced by college students with ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on emotional regulation.

The link between ADHD and criminal behavior.

The impact of ADHD on career choices and job satisfaction.

The role of classroom accommodations in supporting students with ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on learning disabilities and academic achievement.

The challenges faced by adults with ADHD in managing finances.

The correlation between ADHD and addictive behaviors.

The impact of ADHD on time perception and time management.

The role of neurofeedback therapy in treating ADHD.

The influence of sleep hygiene on ADHD symptoms.

The challenges faced by parents of children with ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on risk-taking behaviors.

The correlation between ADHD and creativity in the arts.

The role of sensory processing issues in ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on college dropout rates.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in maintaining relationships.

The influence of ADHD on career success and job performance.

The impact of ADHD on emotional intelligence.

The correlation between ADHD and academic motivation.

The role of cognitive-behavioral therapy in managing ADHD symptoms.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing time-sensitive tasks.

The impact of ADHD on parenting styles and strategies.

The correlation between ADHD and sleep disorders in children.

The role of assistive technology in supporting individuals with ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on impulse buying and financial management.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in maintaining healthy habits.

The influence of ADHD on social media use and internet addiction.

The correlation between ADHD and eating disorders.

The role of classroom design in supporting students with ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on academic motivation and engagement.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

The correlation between ADHD and video game addiction.

The role of occupational therapy in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of ADHD on self-advocacy and self-empowerment.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing transitions.

The influence of ADHD on body image and self-perception.

The correlation between ADHD and substance use disorders in adolescence.

The role of coaching and mentoring in supporting individuals with ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on decision-making and risk assessment.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing stress and anxiety.

The correlation between ADHD and gambling addiction.

The role of assistive devices in supporting individuals with ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on social skills development.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in maintaining healthy sleep habits.

The influence of ADHD on academic persistence and resilience.

The correlation between ADHD and self-harm behaviors.

The role of mindfulness-based interventions in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of ADHD on emotional regulation in romantic relationships.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing sensory overload.

The correlation between ADHD and compulsive buying behaviors.

The role of coaching and organizational strategies in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of ADHD on goal-setting and goal attainment.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing time pressure.

The influence of ADHD on body language and nonverbal communication.

The correlation between ADHD and internet gaming disorder.

The role of self-help groups in supporting individuals with ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on academic self-efficacy and self-confidence.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing distractions.

The correlation between ADHD and hoarding behaviors.

The role of cognitive training programs in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of ADHD on assertiveness and communication skills.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing impulsivity.

The influence of ADHD on conflict resolution and problem-solving skills.

The correlation between ADHD and compulsive eating behaviors.

The role of mindfulness-based stress reduction in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of ADHD on social anxiety and social phobia.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing time perception.

The correlation between ADHD and pathological gambling.

The role of vocational rehabilitation in supporting individuals with ADHD.

The impact of ADHD on emotional expression and emotional intelligence.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing hyperfocus.

The influence of ADHD on public speaking and presentation skills.

The correlation between ADHD and body dysmorphic disorder.

The role of cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of ADHD on assertiveness in the workplace.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing boredom.

The correlation between ADHD and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The role of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of ADHD on social cognition and perspective-taking.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing multiple tasks.

The influence of ADHD on leadership skills and decision-making in teams.

The correlation between ADHD and trichotillomania.

The role of neurocognitive training in managing ADHD symptoms.

The impact of ADHD on social skills in virtual environments.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing procrastination.

The correlation between ADHD and social anxiety disorder.

The role of mindfulness-based interventions in managing ADHD-related impulsivity.

The impact of ADHD on emotional empathy and perspective-taking.

The challenges faced by individuals with ADHD in managing interruptions.

The correlation between ADHD and kleptomania.

These essay topic ideas provide a wide range of possibilities for exploring different aspects of ADHD. Whether you are a student looking for inspiration or a researcher seeking a fresh angle, these examples can serve as a starting point for your essay. Remember to choose a topic that interests you, conduct thorough research, and present your findings in a clear and concise manner. Good luck with your ADHD essay!

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125 ADHD Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on adhd, ✍️ adhd essay topics for college, 👍 good adhd research topics & essay examples, 🎓 most interesting adhd research titles, 💡 simple adhd essay ideas, ❓ adhd research questions.

  • The Influence and Effects of Colour on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Children
  • Understanding ADHD: A Comprehensive Case Study
  • The Relation Between Attention Deficit Disorder and Colitis
  • Increase in ADHD Diagnoses
  • ADHD: The Center’s for Disease Control and Prevention Webpage
  • ADHD & Personality
  • Hidden Dangers of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Medications
  • Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Academic Progress This work examines the use of stability balls in the classroom for the improvement of disciplinary and academic outcomes of students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
  • Impact of ADHD on Students ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) are experience challenges in managing high levels of energy, controlling impulses, and maintaining attention.
  • Theoretical Approach to ADHD: Case Study Analysis The executive function (EF) theory by Russel Barkley applies to understanding and developing strategies to improve the child’s learning process.
  • Attention Deficit and Effective Treatment of Disorder Effective behavioral and pharmaceutical treatments help reduce the symptoms of ADHD. It can assist individuals in doing better at home, school, and in social situations.
  • The Effects of Food on ADHD The issue of ADHD and its relation to food has been a concern for a while. According to the outcomes of the study, the daily intake of food must be controlled in ADHD patients.
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Diagnosis Controversy The article provides an overview of the factors that led to an increase in the number of cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Nursing Intervention Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of children’s most frequent neurodevelopmental diseases.
  • Exploring ADHD: Genetics, Environment, and Brain Changes Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most prevalent child behavioral disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
  • Is ADHD Genetically Passed Down to Family Members? Genetic correlations between such qualities as hyperactivity and inattention allowed us to define ADHD as a spectrum disorder rather than a unitary one.
  • Aspects of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder The paper discusses attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is a neurologic and developmental illness diagnosed in childhood.
  • Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity a Real Disorder? Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most prevalent children neurodevelopmental diseases. It is identified during childhood and frequently persists into maturity.
  • ADHD in Children and Adults: Causes, Symptoms, and Solutions The paper will try to explain why ADHD is serious, how it can damage a person’s quality of life long into adulthood, and how it can interfere with one’s communication ability.
  • Stimulant Therapy for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Despite the potential for negative consequences, stimulant therapy is an effective treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder signs.
  • Pediatric Occupational Therapy for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder This is a systematic review of quantitative research studies and occupational therapy interventions for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Behavior Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder is a psychological disorder that causes a person’s brain to be abnormally hyperactive than usual behavior.
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Treatment The Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder Therapy mechanisms include psychoeducation, where parents are encouraged to discuss the condition with their children.
  • Characteristics of ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder refers to disorders of the nervous system. Neurological disorders are based on prerequisites of a neurological nature.
  • Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Prominent Aspects, Management, and Prevention Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterized by a pattern of inattention or hyperactivity in a person.
  • A Counseling Theory for Child with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is usually spread among children and adolescents. Proper educational counseling can help students with ADHD to cope with the problem.
  • ADHD Awareness ADHD is a widespread behavioral disorder, which can be considered a different cognitive ability with its benefits and disadvantages.
  • Living with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Though ADHD is not a very dangerous illness, it is better not underrate its effects. Many patients may feel rejected by society, and this alienation is likely to worsen the situation.
  • Relationship Between ADHD-Inattentive and -Hyperactive The cause and effect relationship between ADHD-inattentive and ADHD-hyperactive-impulsive is conditional upon the former’s role in the latter’s emergence.
  • Sugar: Does It Really Cause Hyperactivity? The popular myth contends that the more sugar-filled products children consume, the higher their activity drive is. But the sugar alone does not affect children’s behavior.
  • Mental Health and ADHD in Universities The issue of mental health in university learners is rarely brought up, yet it has a tangible effect on the target audience’s health and ability to learn.
  • ADHD and Socially Constructed Impairment ADHD is responsible for many complications in the life of people suffering from it, including limited educational achievement, and low self-organizational capacity.
  • Sleep Disturbance and Neuropsychological Function Within ADHD Sleep disruption is an inherent behavioral feature in childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD.
  • Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Sleep Issues The document to be analyzed is “The moderating roles of bedtime activities and anxiety/depression in the relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity” by Tong
  • ADHD: Treatment and Over Medication When children have ADHD, it is possible to influence their symptoms by forging a special supportive bond between them, parents, and the education system.
  • The Phenomenon of the ADHD Disorder The paper analyzes the facts represented for whether or not attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is real.
  • Childhood Mental Disorders: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Description, causes, symptoms, discussion around possible treatment options for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Stimulants: Research Method The article that highlights the evaluation of study with regard to the Utility of illegal Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Stimulants among college students.
  • Critique of Articles on Parenting, ADHD, Child Psychology, and Development In this work, the author criticized articles on parenting, ADHD, child psychology, early adult romantic relationships and development.
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms Analysis ADHD, usually starts presenting it self during childhood, and is thought to be a continual chronic condition, and there is no medical cure for this disorder.
  • Diagnosis and Treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder I have been having trouble coping with the fact that my son Ryan was recently diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Identification The criteria for identifying students with the ADHD problem required identifying the essential patterns of attention exhibited by the patient.
  • Developmental Disorder Overview: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder One of the developmental disorders often diagnosed in the middle childhood years is attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
  • Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Diagnostic Mood disorders are adjustment problems that come from stressors emanating from inside and which can be triggered by factors that cannot be controlled.
  • General Features and Etiology of ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a mental health disorder that is expressed by extensive impulsivity and deficient attentiveness.
  • Teaching Students With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a psychiatric disorder characterized by impulsive actions that are not related proportionally to the age of the affected person.
  • Child Psychiatry: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a childhood disruptive behavioral disorder that manifests in “inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity” and can persist into adulthood.
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder at School This work is observations of Jacob, a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which was made at Cornell Junior Public School.
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Students This paper reports the observation of a classroom with children with ADHD. It provides a brief overview of ADHD and summarizes articles regarding ADHD in children.
  • Diagnostic Assessment of Children and Adolescents With ADHD The purpose of the study is to evaluate current clinical evidence on the value of different diagnostic tests of children and adolescents with ADHD in social and educational contexts.
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children: Studies Analysis This paper analyzes five scholarly articles on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. The authors studied the effects and treatment of the disorder.
  • A Special Education Plan: Grade 1 Male Student With ADHD It is important to know the needs of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and make the necessary modifications to accommodate them in the classroom.
  • Co-Occurrence of ADHD and Bipolar Disorder The relationship between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and bipolar disorder has received a lot of attention.
  • ADHD and Its Effects on the Development of a Child‘s
  • How ADHD Medication Affects the Brain?
  • The Epidemiological Rates for ADHD
  • ADHD and Its Impact on Mainstream Schooling
  • Effective Teaching Strategies for Students With ADHD
  • The Debate Over Ritalin Use by Children With ADHD
  • ADHD Diagnosis, Diagnostic Tools, and Its Cultural and Ethical Implications
  • Dealing With Children Suffering From Add and ADHD
  • The Link Between ADHD and Electronic Stimulation
  • Affordable Non-Drug Solution to ADHD
  • Ten Positive Things About ADHD
  • ADHD and What Causes the Childhood Behavioral Condition
  • Treating ADHD Long Term Can Cause Harm by Creating Thoughts of Suicide
  • The Advantage and Disadvantage of Using Psychostimulants in the Treatment of ADHD
  • ADHD and Antisocial Behavior Juvenile Delinquency
  • Scientists Probe ADHD Treatment for Long-Term Management of the Disease
  • The Correlation Between Technology and Adolescent Mental Health Particularly ADHD
  • Over Diagnosis and Medication for ADHD
  • How Do School Systems Deal With ADHD?
  • Resting-State Brain Signal Variability in Prefrontal Cortex Is Associated With ADHD Symptom Severity in Children
  • Social-Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties Alongside ADHD Education
  • The Diagnosis, Symptoms, and Treatments for ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
  • Comorbidity Between Reading Disability and ADHD
  • ADHD: Parents Should Use Alternative Treatments for Illness
  • Parental Income, Education and the Diagnosis of ADHD in Children and Adolescents: The Case for Germany
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Treatments of ADHD
  • Twice-Exceptional Students With ADHD Characteristics and Strategies
  • Psychosocial Academic Interventions for Children With ADHD
  • Impact of Misdiagnosis and Overprescribing of ADHD Medications
  • The Relation Between Sleep, Memory Enhancement, Causes of Emotional Deficiency Among ADHD Patients
  • How Can You Tell if an Adult Has ADHD?
  • About the Controversies Between the Existence of ADHD, and the Different Viewpoints
  • The Effects of ADHD Pharmacological Treatment on Teens’ Risky Behaviors
  • ADHD Children and How Behavior Therapy Is Necessary With the Use of Medication
  • Effective Management Techniques for Children With ADHD
  • Side Effects ADHD Ritalin Symptoms
  • ADHD: The Serious Public Health Problem
  • Alcohol Abuse During Pregnancy and ADHD Symptoms
  • Should Children Diagnosed With ADHD Be Given Medication to Address Their Symptoms
  • The Young Children and Children With ADHD, and Thinking Skills
  • What Are the Effects of ADHD in the Classroom?
  • What Effect Does Being Identified With ADHD Have on a Child?
  • What Are the Nine Symptoms of ADHD?
  • What Are the Three Key Symptoms Used to Diagnose ADHD?
  • What Are the Seven Types of ADHD?
  • Is ADHD on the Autism Spectrum?
  • At What Age Can ADHD Be Diagnosed?
  • Can You Treat ADHD Without Medication?
  • Is ADHD a Serious Mental Illness?
  • Can You Have ADHD Without Being Hyper?
  • What Is Ring of Fire ADHD?
  • At What Age Does ADHD Peak?
  • Do ADHD Brains Look Different?
  • Is ADHD Classified as Special Needs?
  • Can People With ADHD Have Special Interests?
  • Can Additional Training Help Close the ADHD Gender Gap?
  • Can Sports Affect Impulse Control in Children With ADHD?
  • How Does ADHD Affect School Performance?
  • Should Children With ADHD Be On Ritilan or Similar Drugs?
  • Do People With ADHD Have Sensory Issues?
  • What Is the Most Common Treatment for ADHD?
  • Can ADHD Be Mistaken for Bipolar?
  • Why Is ADHD Not Considered a Disability?
  • Can ADHD Cause Panic Attacks?
  • Why Is It So Hard to Get Tested for ADHD?
  • What Foods Should Be Avoided With ADHD?
  • Can ADHD Be Cured or Grown Out Of?
  • Does Omega-3 Help ADHD?
  • What Is the Mental Age of Someone With ADHD?
  • Does ADHD Affect Intelligence?

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StudyCorgi. (2022, January 16). 125 ADHD Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/adhd-essay-topics/

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StudyCorgi . "125 ADHD Essay Topics." January 16, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/adhd-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "125 ADHD Essay Topics." January 16, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/adhd-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on ADHD were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on June 20, 2024 .

essay topics about adhd

How to Tackle an Essay (an ADHD-friendly Guide)

6 steps and tips.

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Most of the college students I work with have one major assignment type that gets them stuck like no other: the dreaded essay. It has become associated with late nights, requesting extensions (and extensions on extensions), feelings of failure, and lots of time lost staring at a screen. This becomes immensely more stressful when there is a thesis or capstone project that stands between you and graduation.

The good news?

An essay doesn’t have to be the brick wall of doom that it once was. Here are some strategies to break down that wall and construct an essay you feel good about submitting.

Step 1:  Remember you’re beginning an essay, not finishing one.

Without realizing it, you might be putting pressure on yourself to have polished ideas flow from your brain onto the paper. There’s a reason schools typically bring up having an outline and a rough draft! Thoughts are rarely organized immediately (even with your neurotypical peers, despite what they may say). Expecting yourself to deliver a publishing-worthy award winner on your first go isn’t realistic. It’s allowed to look messy and unorganized in the beginning! There can be unfinished thoughts, and maybe even arguments you aren’t sure if you want to include. When in doubt, write it down.

Step 2: Review the rubric

Make sure you have a clear understanding of what the assignment is asking you to include and to focus on. If you don’t have an understanding of it, it’s better to find out in advance rather than the night before the assignment is due. The rubric is your anchor and serves as a good guide to know “when you can be done.” If you hit all the marks on the rubric, you’re looking at a good grade.

I highly recommend coming back to the rubric multiple times during the creative process, as it can help you get back on track if you’ve veered off in your writing to something unrelated to the prompt. It can serve as a reminder that it’s time to move onto a different topic - if you’ve hit the full marks for one area, it’s better to go work on another section and return to polish the first section up later. Challenge the perfectionism!

Step 3: Divide and conquer

Writing an essay is not just writing an essay. It typically involves reading through materials, finding sources, creating an argument, editing your work, creating citations, etc. These are all separate tasks that ask our brain to do different things. Instead of switching back and forth (which can be exhausting) try clumping similar tasks together.

For example:

Prepping: Picking a topic, finding resources related to topic, creating an outline

Gathering: reading through materials, placing information into the outline

Assembling: expanding on ideas in the outline, creating an introduction and conclusion

Finishing: Make final edits, review for spelling errors and grammar, create a title page and reference page, if needed.

Step 4: Chunk it up

Now we’re going to divide the work EVEN MORE because it’s also not realistic to expect yourself to assemble the paper all in one sitting. (Well, maybe it is realistic if you’re approaching the deadline, but we want to avoid the feelings of panic if we can.) If you haven’t heard of chunking before, it’s breaking down projects into smaller, more approachable tasks.

This serves multiple functions, but the main two we are focusing on here is:

  • it can make it easier to start the task;
  • it helps you create a timeline for how long it will take you to finish.

If you chunk it into groups and realize you don’t have enough time if you go at that pace, you’ll know how quickly you’ll need to work to accomplish it in time.

Here are some examples of how the above categories could be chunked up for a standard essay. Make sure you customize chunking to your own preferences and assignment criteria!

Days 1 - 3 : Prep work

  • ‍ Day 1: Pick a topic & find two resources related to it
  • Day 2: Find three more resources related to the topic
  • Day 3: Create an outline

Days 4 & 5 : Gather

  • ‍ Day 4: Read through Resource 1 & 2 and put information into the outline
  • Day 5: Read through Resource 3 & 4 and put information into the outline

Days 6 - 8 : Assemble

  • ‍ Day 6: Create full sentences and expand on Idea 1 and 2
  • Day 7: Create full sentences and expand on Idea 3 and write an introduction
  • Day 8: Read through all ideas and expand further or make sentence transitions smoother if need be. Write the conclusion

Day 9: Finish

  • ‍ Day 9: Review work for errors and create a citation page

Hey, we just created an outline about how to make an outline - how meta!

Feel like even that is too overwhelming? Break it down until it feels like you can get started. Of course, you might not have that many days to complete an assignment, but you can do steps or chunks of the day instead (this morning I’ll do x, this afternoon I’ll do y) to accommodate the tighter timeline. For example:

Day 1: Pick a topic

Day 2: Find one resource related to it

Day 3: Find a second resource related to it

Step 5: Efficiently use your resources

There’s nothing worse than stockpiling 30 resources and having 100 pages of notes that can go into an essay. How can you possibly synthesize all of that information with the time given for this class essay? (You can’t.)

Rather than reading “Article A” and pulling all the information you want to use into an “Article A Information Page,” try to be intentional with the information as you go. If you find information that’s relevant to Topic 1 in your paper, put the information there on your outline with (article a) next to it. It doesn’t have to be a full citation, you can do that later, but we don’t want to forget where this information came from; otherwise, that becomes a whole mess.

By putting the information into the outline as you go, you save yourself the step of re-reading all the information you collected and trying to organize it later on.

*Note: If you don’t have topics or arguments created yet, group together similar ideas and you can later sort out which groups you want to move forward with.

Step 6: Do Some Self-Checks

It can be useful to use the Pomodoro method when writing to make sure you’re taking an adequate number of breaks. If you feel like the 25 min work / 5 min break routine breaks you out of your flow, try switching it up to 45 min work / 15 min break. During the breaks, it can be useful to go through some questions to make sure you stay productive:

  • How long have I been writing/reading this paragraph?
  • Does what I just wrote stay on topic?
  • Have I continued the "write now, edit later" mentality to avoid getting stuck while writing the first draft?
  • Am I starting to get frustrated or stuck somewhere? Would it benefit me to step away from the paper and give myself time to think rather than forcing it?
  • Do I need to pick my energy back up? Should I use this time to get a snack, get some water, stretch it out, or listen to music?

General Tips:

  • If you are having a difficult time trying to narrow down a topic, utilize office hours or reach out to your TA/professor to get clarification. Rather than pulling your hair out over what to write about, they might be able to give you some guidance that speeds up the process.
  • You can also use (and SHOULD use) office hours for check-ins related to the paper, tell your teacher in advance you’re bringing your rough draft to office hours on Thursday to encourage accountability to get each step done. Not only can you give yourself extra pressure - your teacher can make sure you’re on the right track for the assignment itself.
  • For help with citations, there are websites like Easybib.com that can help! Always double check the citation before including it in your paper to make sure the formatting and information is correct.
  • If you’re getting stuck at the “actually writing it” phase, using speech-to-text tools can help you start by transcribing your spoken words to paper.
  • Many universities have tutoring centers and/or writing centers. If you’re struggling, schedule a time to meet with a tutor. Even if writing itself isn’t tough, having a few tutoring sessions scheduled can help with accountability - knowing you need to have worked on it before the tutoring session is like having mini deadlines. Yay, accountability!

Of course, if writing just isn’t your jam, you may also struggle with motivation . Whatever the challenge is, this semester can be different. Reach out early if you need help - to your professor, a tutor, an ADHD coach , or even a friend or study group. You have a whole team in your corner. You’ve got this, champ!

essay topics about adhd

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ADHD Essay Topics

essay topics about adhd

10 ADHD Research Topics

  • ADHD and Its Subtypes
  • The Most Common ADHD Symptoms
  • Is ADHD Caused by Genetics, Environment, or Both?
  • ADHD and Structural Changes in the Brain
  • Motivation and ADHD
  • The New Trends in ADHD Treatment
  • Treatment for ADHD Using Behavioral Therapy
  • Natural Solutions for ADHD
  • ADD versus ADHD
  • The Main Difficulties of Living With ADHD
  • What Is ADHD and How Can It Influence Children
  • The Advantages of Physical Activities in Battling the Symptoms of ADHD in Students
  • Exercise and Physical Activity as an ADHD Intervention for Children
  • What Are the Impacts of ADHD in the Classroom
  • Is ADHD Being Diagnosed Too Quickly in Children?
  • The Efficiency of CBT for ADHD
  • Understanding ADHD, Its Effects, Symptoms, and Treatment Methods for Children With ADHD
  • ADHD Stimulant Medication Abuse and Misuse Among Teens in the U.S.
  • ADHD and Anxiety: Increase in Severity if Both Develop
  • The Best Way to Deal With ADHD in Kids
  • An Examination of the Possible Causes and Treatment Strategies for ADHD in Children
  • The Most Effective Way to Manage Your Kid Who Battles with ADHD

 Hot ADHD Topics to Write About

  • ADHD in Children: Response Inhibition
  • Behavioral and Pharmacological Treatment of Kids with ADHD
  • Symptoms of ADHD, Depression, and Anxiety
  • Bioethics in ADHD Intervention
  • How Children’s ADHD Affects Parents’ Relationship Dissolution and Labor Supply
  • The Impacts of Pharmacological Treatment of ADHD on Kids’ Wellbeing
  • ADHD’s Educational Impact on School-Aged Children
  • Differences in Discernment in Youngsters with ADHD
  • The Impacts of ADHD on Kids and Education System
  • Students With ADD/ADHD and Class Arrangement
  • Pros and Cons of Using Psychostimulants to Treat ADHD

 ADHD Research Paper Topics

  • How to Improve Medication Compliance in Children with ADHD
  • Effective Teaching Methods for Students with ADHD
  • Scientists Examine ADHD Treatment for Long Term Management of the Disease
  • Children with ADHD: Should Stimulants Be Prescribed?
  • The Ascent of ADHD and the Investigation of the Medications Recommended for Treatment
  • The Connection Between Smoking During Pregnancy and ADHD
  • Investigating Interventions for Improving Workplace Behavior in Adults with ADHD
  • The Potential of Art and Music in the Treatment of ADHD
  • The Battle Between ADHD Medication and Overdiagnosis
  • The Challenges of Diagnosing ADHD in Children
  • The Destructive Impacts of ADHD Medicine on Children
  • ADHD in Children and Teenagers: Symptoms and Treatment
  • ADD/ADHD in Adults and Its Effect on Education
  • The Experience of Having ADHD
  • Children With ADHD and Thinking Skills
  • The Utilization of Ritalin in Treating ADD and ADHD
  • The Morals Of Giving Kids ADHD Medicine
  • The Significance of Accurately Diagnosing ADHD in Kids
  • The Increase in ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment in the United States
  • The World of Children with ADHD
  • The Utilization of Drug Therapies for ADHD Children

 Research Questions About ADHD

  • What Are the Impacts of ADHD in the Classroom?
  • Does ADHD Have an Impact on Essay Writing?
  • What Are the Three Primary ADHD Symptoms?
  • What Effects Does ADHD Medication Have on the Brain?
  • What Can ADHD Cause?
  • Is ADHD a Real Medical Condition or a Socially Constructed Disorder?
  • How Can Art Benefit Kids With ADHD?
  • What Are the Four Sorts of ADHD?
  • Can Sports Impact Impulse Control in ADHD Children?
  • What Age Does ADHD Reach Its Peak?
  • What Are the Symptoms of Adult ADHD?
  • Should Antihypertensive Medications Be Utilized for Treating ADHD?
  • What Effect Does ADHD Have on Cognitive Development?
  • Is Adult ADHD a Dementia Risk Factor or Phenotypic Mimic?
  • What Is Society’s View of People with ADHD?
  • Can More Training Reduce the Gender Gap in ADHD?
  • How Does Educational Systems Manage ADHD?
  • Are Children With Low Working Memory the Same as Children with ADHD?
  • How Does ADHD Influence Academic Performance?
  • Should Kids With ADHD Be Medicated?
  • How Does Society View Kids With ADHD?
  • What Can We Learn From Research About ADHD Students in Chile?
  • Why Is It Important for Teachers to Understand ADHD?
  • Does DD/ADHD Exist?
  • What Are A Few Difficulties of ADHD?
  • Why Should We Talk About ADHD?
  • Is ADHD Hereditary or Acquired?
  • Can ADHD Lead to Lack of Emotion?
  • Does ADHD Influence Females?
  • Is ADHD a Part of the Autism Spectrum?

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Blog > Common App , Essay Advice , Personal Statement > How to Write a College Essay About ADHD

How to Write a College Essay About ADHD

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University Admissions

Key Takeaway

ADHD and ADD are becoming more prevalent, more frequently diagnosed, and better understood.

The exact number of college students with ADHD is unclear with estimates ranging wildly from just 2% to 16% or higher.

Regardless of the raw numbers, an ADHD diagnosis feels very personal, and it is not surprising that many students consider writing a college essay about ADHD.

If you are thinking about writing about ADHD, consider these three approaches. From our experience in admissions offices, we’ve found them to be the most successful.

First, a Note on the Additional Information Section

Before we get into the three approaches, I want to note that your Common App personal statement isn’t the only place you can communicate information about your experiences to admissions officers.

You can also use the additional information section.

The additional information section is less formal than your personal statement. It doesn’t have to be in essay format, and what you write there will simply give your admissions officers context. In other words, admissions officers won’t be evaluating what you write in the additional information section in the same way they’ll evaluate your personal statement.

You might opt to put information about your ADHD (or any other health or mental health situations) in the additional information section so that admissions officers are still aware of your experiences but you still have the flexibility to write your personal statement on whatever topic you choose.

Three Ways to Write Your College Essay About ADHD

If you feel like the additional information section isn’t your best bet and you’d prefer to write about ADHD in your personal statement or a supplemental essay, you might find one of the following approaches helpful.

1) Using ADHD to understand your trends in high school and looking optimistically towards college

This approach takes the reader on a journey from struggle and confusion in earlier years, through a diagnosis and the subsequent fallout, to the present with more wisdom and better grades, and then ends on a note about the future and what college will hold.

If you were diagnosed somewhere between 8th and 10th grade, this approach might work well for you. It can help you contextualize a dip in grades at the beginning of high school and emphasize that your upward grade trend is here to stay.

The last part—looking optimistically towards college—is an important component of this approach because you want to signal to admissions officers that you’ve learned to manage the challenges you’ve faced in the past and are excited about the future.

I will warn you: there is a possible downside to this approach. Because it’s a clear way to communicate grade blips in your application, it is one of the most common ways to write a college essay about ADHD. Common doesn’t mean it’s bad or off-limits, but it does mean that your essay will have to work harder to stand out.

2) ADHD as a positive

Many students with ADHD tell us about the benefits of their diagnosis. If you have ADHD, you can probably relate.

Students tend to name strengths like quick, creative problem-solving, compassion and empathy, a vivid imagination, or a keen ability to observe details that others usually miss. Those are all great traits for college (and beyond).

If you identify a strength of your ADHD, your essay could focus less on the journey through the diagnosis and more on what your brain does really well. You can let an admissions officer into your world by leading them through your thought processes or through a particular instance of innovation.

Doing so will reveal to admissions officers something that makes you unique, and you’ll be able to write seamlessly about a core strength that’s important to you. Of course, taking this approach will also help your readers naturally infer why you would do great in college.

3) ADHD helps me empathize with others

Students with ADHD often report feeling more empathetic to others around them. They know what it is like to struggle and can be the first to step up to help others.

If this rings true to you, you might consider taking this approach in your personal statement.

If so, we recommend connecting it to at least one extracurricular or academic achievement to ground your writing in what admissions officers are looking for.

A con to this approach is that many people have more severe challenges than ADHD, so take care to read the room and not overstate your challenge.

Key Takeaways + An Example

If ADHD is a significant part of your story and you’re considering writing your personal statement about it, consider one of these approaches. They’ll help you frame the topic in a way admissions officers will respond to, and you’ll be able to talk about an important part of your life while emphasizing your strengths.

And if you want to read an example of a college essay about ADHD, check out one of our example personal statements, The Old iPhone .

As you go, remember that your job throughout your application is to craft a cohesive narrative —and your personal statement is the anchor of that narrative. How you approach it matters.

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Thanks for the Memories: An Essay on Life with ADHD

thanks for the memories

  • Posted by ADDA Editorial Team
  • Categories ADHD in Real Life
  • Date November 3, 2022
  • Comments 2 comments

By Irene Grey

In a moment…it’s gone. The fully-formed sentence sprung from nowhere, a perfect start to a story that might unfold over hundreds of pages. By the time I found my pen, all that remained was a faint memory.

This is the downside of ADHD…falling in love with ideas, images, sounds, smells, and half-formed thoughts several times within one minute.

My thoughts are almost within reach, then slip somewhere I can’t access. As one thought slides away, it’s replaced by one, two or even three more, without order or sequence. The unease lingers.

As a self-employed adult woman recently diagnosed with ADHD, I consider myself moderately successful. I’ve started taking medication, which enables me to reach previously unknown levels of self-awareness.

Medication has given me a fresh perspective. There’s no prescribed way to live or think; it all depends on whom you ask.

The difficulties with ADHD come when you feel and act wildly out-of-step with the majority of society and can’t keep pace.

Originally published on July 13, 2016, this post was republished on November 03, 2022.

What’s It like to Have ADHD (for me):

essay topics about adhd

I can relate to the impulsivity of the Road Runner cartoon. When the wolf runs off the cliff’s edge, his legs cycle rapidly while suspended mid-air. It’s only when he looks down and realizes the enormity of his situation that he plummets down the canyon.

I’ve always empathized with him. Propelling myself forward, and never looking back or down, probably saves me from descending permanently into my own canyon.

Having ADHD, energy, resourcefulness, and optimism fuel me, but mental chaos can overwhelm me, and I grind to a halt. Staring into space, dulled and unable to move without huge effort, the desire for order becomes as overwhelming as it is hopelessly unattainable.

It can last a few minutes, or occasionally all day. I really wouldn’t want it hanging around longer, as the more prolonged times reveal a bleaker view of life.

At least I can explain this now, after a lifetime of inarticulate thought. In the past, I’d try to rationalize what was happening, but if it didn’t make sense to me, what could I say?

I’d always assumed I was terrible at living a normal life. Teachers said, “Only boring people get bored.” They said a lot of other things which confirmed our suspicions I was rebellious, sweet, but slightly simple, and hopelessly forgetful.

I was eventually invited to leave school. The Girl Guides had extended the same invitation a couple of years prior. Friends say, “Remember when…?” I nod, but I don’t really remember.

Everything moves too fast. It’s one reason why I fidget. Trying hard to remember or prevent something which is slipping away is taxing.

I’d like to focus, hold some memories, and have the chance to reflect. These are the big things, although not without drawbacks.

Everyone has elements of their past they’d rather forget, but when you’ve never really learned from your mistakes, a glimpse in the rearview mirror at the mangled wreckage of destructive relationships, dreadful job experiences, and reckless choices can be shocking.

I’ll shift my viewpoint now to say ADHD can be fantastic. Every day offers endless possibilities. Life without self-imposed limits means freedom to go anywhere and speak to anyone.

It’s not so much fearlessness, as simply not considering possible consequences before plunging in.

I’m constantly amazed by what I find out and humbled by what people want to share. I’m trusted, probably because I’m non-threatening. Surrendering yourself, unwittingly or otherwise, to living in the moment attracts people who want to join in.

The irony is I’ve always been shy, so attracting strangers creates a tension that I struggle to overcome. It’s like having an all-access pass for life; it’s a gift you’re not sure you want.

On Relationships with Others:

Friendships are easily formed, and the tenacious ones survive. Constantly forgetting birthdays, meetings, and dinners takes its toll.

I always answer my texts, but often only in my head. It can lead people to think I don’t care about them or am shallow, selfish, and unfeeling. It’s an understandable impression, but couldn’t be further from the truth.

“I forgot” is met with instructions to get a diary (planner), set alerts on my phone, or find another way to get organised. After all, everyone forgets, so you can, too. You just have to focus, plan ahead, and generally get a grip.

How can you tell them you’ve lost your third diary (planner), and it’s only April? Your replacement phone is also gone and you thought today was Tuesday instead of Thursday.

Getting any kind of grip on the stuff sliding in and out of my head is quite tricky. So, to the people I’ve let down, I’d like to say, “It’s not you. It really is me.”

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this” has been screamed at me more times than I could obviously hope to remember. The last time was halfway up a mountainside, sheltering in a pine forest from driving rain. It probably wasn’t the moment to confess that my car keys seemed to have gone.

Everything would be ok, and if we just retraced the last 10 miles, we’d definitely find them. I did find them, inside the unlocked car, so everything worked out well.

To that particular friend, I’d like to say that you always complain about wanting more exercise and, as I pointed out at the time, human skin is waterproof, so can we please move on?

I get blamed for quite a lot. When you’re the forgetful, accident-prone one, it comes with the territory. It can’t always be your fault, and small doses of support and understanding go a long way with those of us who think and operate a bit differently in the world.

paragliding

I’m good at adventures and spontaneous decisions. I’m open to anything because I have few defenses. Although I generally believe what I’m told, which has got me into trouble.

Keeping secrets comes easily, but hiding my own is hard. I’m a magnet for children and animals and try to cherish and look after everyone around me.

Visitors are well-fed and listened to. I’m known for giving good, at times unorthodox, advice and cocooning those in need of understanding.

The problem comes when transferring this care to myself, or recognizing when I should ask for help. I’m not invincible, but the irrational, hopeful side still can’t quite shake the belief that I just might be.

Why not? I’ve been tremendously lucky so far.

On Seeking Treatment and Disclosing My Diagnosis:

I could continue living in the moment without planning ahead. Forgetting most of it, then starting over the next day.

It’s often great, but I’m tired of reacting and acting impulsively, searching for new ways to keep boredom at bay. I’m weary of losing track of time, thoughts, and people.

I want to build something solid that I can keep going back to. Seeing each day as a clean slate has got me this far, and it’s fascinating, if chaotic.

Endless curiosity feeds the cycle, but it’s all so temporary. I want to pick up where I left off.

These are the reasons why I wanted treatment. A bit of control over my rapid impulses, combined with the chance to focus and untangle the constant, shifting thoughts, has shown it to be the right decision for me.

I’ve told three of my closest friends about the diagnosis, and no one has been surprised, despite having the good grace to pretend otherwise. It seems each one suspected something wasn’t quite ‘right’ at times.

Realizing I’ve been quietly understood and cared for over the years is touching but also difficult to accept – especially as I like to believe I’m invincible.

My abrupt disappearances are par for the course, and those who know me well no longer expect an explanation. Instead, they gently inquire and don’t take it personally.

Like my diary (planner) and phone, I misplace my loved ones sometimes. They’ve all said they need me to stay the way I am, for the adventures and sheer living in the moment thing. Although I’ve always hidden the worst of it from them by retreating.

I’ve reassured them I wouldn’t take medication. It’s dishonest, but I didn’t want them to start preparing to miss the old me. What if I become unrecognizable, stunned into submission by a chemical taser?

The great news is they haven’t noticed anything different, although I have. I’m more focused, and my energy levels are now steady.

I no longer feel the sudden need to run down the street — something that can be alarming to other pedestrians, especially when you’re a grown woman in high heels. (It looks like you’re being chased.)

The sudden development of a verbal filter is a welcome relief after years of unintentionally insulting people who ask for an opinion. It turns out diplomacy doesn’t mean lying.

It’s more choosing words carefully that don’t eviscerate friends, family, or complete strangers. “But you asked me” isn’t a reasonable defense after all, especially for the many times they didn’t ask.

sleeping in the subway

Sleeping well in bed is a new treat. Funnily enough, for me, slipping into unconsciousness in cinemas, theatres, and on all forms of public transport was never a problem.

Most welcome of all the improvements is my memory. I’m forgetting less and thinking more clearly.

I’ll always be a more flawed, impulsive wolf than a perfect, predictable roadrunner, but that’s okay now.

Recently I was gripped by a sudden fear that controlling my symptoms would mean the saturated technicolour that life can be would drain into a perfectly pleasant, slightly dull, black and white. Like a rainy-day film without much pace or plot.

Fortunately, finding a balance between the extremes of falling in love with everything, or disconnecting completely, leaves scope.

Depending on when in the day you ask, I might say that ADHD has been a constant, invasive shadow, falling across every aspect of my life.

Ask me again, and I might say it’s been a brilliantly illuminating shaft of sunlight, throwing everything it hits into stark relief. It can be blinding, but more often reveals the perfect, glorious detail that might have been missed.

Life is enhanced, elevated, and made rather lovely. It depends on your perspective. Who wouldn’t want a little bit of that?

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Wishing I could share this family members! Hearing with sensitive ears of even the unspoken word, sends me in self defeating thoughts. Some of my high achieving family can’t understand all that I go though to be heard or being ignored feels. This is my battle at this time. My understanding is that many of us suffering with ADHD also have Dislexia which I experience as well of being Ambedextrious, with Major Depression. Thank you for this article, it that the wrong out of my life, even if a few understand!

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essay topics about adhd

ADHD Essay Topics

  • Essay Topics

essay topics about adhd

10 ADHD Research Topics

  • ADHD and Its Subtypes
  • The Most Common ADHD Symptoms
  • Is ADHD Caused by Genetics, Environment, or Both?
  • ADHD and Structural Changes in the Brain
  • Motivation and ADHD
  • The New Trends in ADHD Treatment
  • Treatment for ADHD Using Behavioral Therapy
  • Natural Solutions for ADHD
  • ADD versus ADHD
  • The Main Difficulties of Living With ADHD
  • What Is ADHD and How Can It Influence Children
  • The Advantages of Physical Activities in Battling the Symptoms of ADHD in Students
  • Exercise and Physical Activity as an ADHD Intervention for Children
  • What Are the Impacts of ADHD in the Classroom
  • Is ADHD Being Diagnosed Too Quickly in Children?
  • The Efficiency of CBT for ADHD
  • Understanding ADHD, Its Effects, Symptoms, and Treatment Methods for Children With ADHD
  • ADHD Stimulant Medication Abuse and Misuse Among Teens in the U.S.
  • ADHD and Anxiety: Increase in Severity if Both Develop
  • The Best Way to Deal With ADHD in Kids
  • An Examination of the Possible Causes and Treatment Strategies for ADHD in Children
  • The Most Effective Way to Manage Your Kid Who Battles with ADHD

 Hot ADHD Topics to Write About

  • ADHD in Children: Response Inhibition
  • Behavioral and Pharmacological Treatment of Kids with ADHD
  • Symptoms of ADHD, Depression, and Anxiety
  • Bioethics in ADHD Intervention
  • How Children’s ADHD Affects Parents’ Relationship Dissolution and Labor Supply
  • The Impacts of Pharmacological Treatment of ADHD on Kids’ Wellbeing
  • ADHD’s Educational Impact on School-Aged Children
  • Differences in Discernment in Youngsters with ADHD
  • The Impacts of ADHD on Kids and Education System
  • Students With ADD/ADHD and Class Arrangement
  • Pros and Cons of Using Psychostimulants to Treat ADHD

 ADHD Research Paper Topics

  • How to Improve Medication Compliance in Children with ADHD
  • Effective Teaching Methods for Students with ADHD
  • Scientists Examine ADHD Treatment for Long Term Management of the Disease
  • Children with ADHD: Should Stimulants Be Prescribed?
  • The Ascent of ADHD and the Investigation of the Medications Recommended for Treatment
  • The Connection Between Smoking During Pregnancy and ADHD
  • Investigating Interventions for Improving Workplace Behavior in Adults with ADHD
  • The Potential of Art and Music in the Treatment of ADHD
  • The Battle Between ADHD Medication and Overdiagnosis
  • The Challenges of Diagnosing ADHD in Children
  • The Destructive Impacts of ADHD Medicine on Children
  • ADHD in Children and Teenagers: Symptoms and Treatment
  • ADD/ADHD in Adults and Its Effect on Education
  • The Experience of Having ADHD
  • Children With ADHD and Thinking Skills
  • The Utilization of Ritalin in Treating ADD and ADHD
  • The Morals Of Giving Kids ADHD Medicine
  • The Significance of Accurately Diagnosing ADHD in Kids
  • The Increase in ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment in the United States
  • The World of Children with ADHD
  • The Utilization of Drug Therapies for ADHD Children

 Research Questions About ADHD

  • What Are the Impacts of ADHD in the Classroom?
  • Does ADHD Have an Impact on Essay Writing?
  • What Are the Three Primary ADHD Symptoms?
  • What Effects Does ADHD Medication Have on the Brain?
  • What Can ADHD Cause?
  • Is ADHD a Real Medical Condition or a Socially Constructed Disorder?
  • How Can Art Benefit Kids With ADHD?
  • What Are the Four Sorts of ADHD?
  • Can Sports Impact Impulse Control in ADHD Children?
  • What Age Does ADHD Reach Its Peak?
  • What Are the Symptoms of Adult ADHD?
  • Should Antihypertensive Medications Be Utilized for Treating ADHD?
  • What Effect Does ADHD Have on Cognitive Development?
  • Is Adult ADHD a Dementia Risk Factor or Phenotypic Mimic?
  • What Is Society’s View of People with ADHD?
  • Can More Training Reduce the Gender Gap in ADHD?
  • How Does Educational Systems Manage ADHD?
  • Are Children With Low Working Memory the Same as Children with ADHD?
  • How Does ADHD Influence Academic Performance?
  • Should Kids With ADHD Be Medicated?
  • How Does Society View Kids With ADHD?
  • What Can We Learn From Research About ADHD Students in Chile?
  • Why Is It Important for Teachers to Understand ADHD?
  • Does DD/ADHD Exist?
  • What Are A Few Difficulties of ADHD?
  • Why Should We Talk About ADHD?
  • Is ADHD Hereditary or Acquired?
  • Can ADHD Lead to Lack of Emotion?
  • Does ADHD Influence Females?
  • Is ADHD a Part of the Autism Spectrum?

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ADHD is my superpower: A personal essay

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A Story About a Kid

In 1989, I was 7 years old and just starting first grade. Early in the school year, my teacher arranged a meeting with my parents and stated that she thought that I might be “slow” because I wasn’t performing in class to the same level as the other kids. She even volunteered to my parents that perhaps a “special” class would be better for me at a different school.

Thankfully, my parents rejected the idea that I was “slow” out of hand, as they knew me at home as a bright, talkative, friendly, and curious kid — taking apart our VHS machines and putting them back together, filming and writing short films that I’d shoot with neighborhood kids, messing around with our new Apple IIgs computer!

The school, however, wanted me to see a psychiatrist and have IQ tests done to figure out what was going on. To this day, I remember going to the office and meeting with the team — and I even remember having a blast doing the IQ tests. I remember I solved the block test so fast that the clinician was caught off guard and I had to tell them that I was done — but I also remember them trying to have me repeat numbers back backwards and I could barely do it!

Being Labeled

The prognosis was that I was high intelligence and had attention-deficit disorder (ADD). They removed the hyperactive part because I wasn’t having the type of behavioral problems like running around the classroom (I’ll cover later why I now proudly identify as hyperactive). A week later, my pediatrician started me on Ritalin and I was told several things that really honestly messed me up.

I was told that I had a “learning disability” — which, to 7-year-old me, didn’t make any sense since I LOVED learning! I was told that I would take my tests in a special room so that I’d have fewer distractions. So, the other kids would watch me walk out of the classroom and ask why I left the room when tests were happening — and they, too, were informed that I had a learning disability.

As you can imagine, kids aren’t really lining up to be friends with the “disabled” kid, nor did they hold back on playground taunts around the issue.

These were very early days, long before attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was well known, and long before people had really figured out how to talk to kids with neurodiversities . And as a society, we didn’t really have a concept that someone who has a non-typical brain can be highly functional — it was a time when we didn’t know that the world’s richest man was on the autism spectrum !

Growing Past a Label

I chugged my way through elementary school, then high school, then college — getting consistent B’s and C’s. What strikes me, looking back nearly 30 years later, is just how markedly inconsistent my performance was! In highly interactive environments, or, ironically, the classes that were the most demanding, I did very well! In the classes that moved the slowest or required the most amount of repetition, I floundered.

Like, I got a good grade in the AP Biology course with a TON of memorization, but it was so demanding and the topics were so varied and fast-paced that it kept me engaged! On the opposite spectrum, being in basic algebra the teacher would explain the same simple concept over and over, with rote problem practice was torturously hard to stay focused because the work was so simple.

And that’s where we get to the part explaining why I think of my ADHD as a superpower, and why if you have it, or your kids have it, or your spouse has it… the key to dealing with it is understanding how to harness the way our brains work.

Learning to Thrive with ADHD

Disclaimer : What follows is NOT medical advice, nor is it necessarily 100% accurate. This is my personal experience and how I’ve come to understand my brain via working with my therapist and talking with other people with ADHD.

A Warp Speed Brain

To have ADHD means that your brain is an engine that’s constantly running at high speed. It basically never stops wanting to process information at a high rate. The “attention” part is just an observable set of behaviors when an ADHD person is understimulated. This is also part of why I now openly associate as hyperactive — my brain is hyperactive! It’s constantly on warp speed and won’t go any other speed.

For instance, one of the hardest things for me to do is fill out a paper check. It’s simple, it’s obvious, there is nothing to solve, it just needs to be filled out. By the time I have started writing the first stroke of the first character, my mind is thinking about things that I need to think about. I’m considering what to have for dinner, then I’m thinking about a movie I want to see, then I come up with an email to send — all in a second. 

I have to haullll myself out of my alternate universe and back to the task at hand and, like a person hanging on the leash of a horse that’s bolting, I’m struggling to just write out the name of the person who I’m writing the check to! This is why ADHD people tend to have terrible handwriting, we’re not able to just only think about moving the pen, we’re in 1,000 different universes.

On the other hand, this entire blog post was written in less than an hour and all in one sitting. I’m having to think through a thousand aspects all at once. My dialog: “Is this too personal? Maybe you should put a warning about this being a personal discussion? Maybe I shouldn’t share this? Oh, the next section should be about working. Should I keep writing more of these?”

And because there is so much to think through and consider for a public leader like myself to write such a personal post, it’s highly engaging! My engine can run at full speed. I haven’t stood up for the entire hour, and I haven’t engaged in other nervous habits I have like picking things up — I haven’t done any of it! 

This is what’s called hyperfocus, and it’s the part of ADHD that can make us potentially far more productive than our peers. I’ve almost arranged my whole life around making sure that I can get myself into hyperfocus as reliably as possible.

Harnessing What My Brain Is Built For

Slow-moving meetings are very difficult for me, but chatting in 20 different chat rooms at the same time on 20 different subjects is very easy for me — so you’ll much more likely see me in chat rooms than scheduling additional meetings. Knowing what my brain is built for helps me organize my schedule, work, and commitments that I sign up for to make sure that I can be as productive as possible.

If you haven’t seen the movie “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” and you are ADHD or love someone who is, you should immediately go watch it! The first time I saw it, I loved it, but I had no idea that one of its writers was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult , and decided to write a sci-fi movie about an ADHD person! The moment I read that it was about having ADHD my heart exploded. It resonated so much with me and it all made sense.

Practically, the only real action in the movie is a woman who needs to file her taxes. Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s a universe-tripping adventure that is incredibly exciting, but if you even take a step back and look at it, really, she was just trying to do her taxes.

But, she has a superpower of being able to travel into universes and be… everywhere all at once. Which is exactly how it feels to be in my mind — my brain is zooming around the universe and it’s visiting different thoughts and ideas and emotions. And if you can learn how to wield that as a power, albeit one that requires careful handling, you can do things that most people would never be able to do!

Co-workers have often positively noted that I see solutions that others miss and I’m able to find a course of action that takes account of multiple possibilities when the future is uncertain (I call it being quantum brained). Those two attributes have led me to create groundbreaking new technologies and build large teams with great open cultures and help solve problems and think strategically. 

It took me until I was 39 to realize that ADHD isn’t something that I had to overcome to have the career I’ve had — it’s been my superpower .

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How to Remove Hurdles to Writing for Students with ADHD

Half of all kids with adhd struggle with writing, which can make every assignment — from straightforward worksheets to full-length essays — feel like torture. boost your child’s skills with these 18 strategies for school and home..

Chris Zeigler Dendy, M.S.

Studies suggest that more than half of children with attention deficit disorder ( ADHD or ADD ) struggle with writing. These students may have an overflow of creative ideas , but often struggle when it comes to getting these ideas onto paper.

Children with ADHD have a hard time getting started — and following through — on writing assignments because they have difficulty picking essay topics, locating appropriate resources, holding and manipulating information in their memory, organizing and sequencing the material, and getting it down on paper — all before they forget what they wanted to say.

But these hurdles don’t have to stop them from writing. Discuss the following ADHD writing strategies with your child’s teacher so you can work together to ease the difficulties attention deficit children have with writing.

Solutions in the Classroom: Guide the Writing Process

—Set up a note system. Ask the student to write her notes about a topic on individual sticky notes. She can then group the notes together that feature similar ideas so she’ll be able to easily identify the major concepts of the subject from the groupings.

—Start small and build skills. Ask students with ADHD to write a paragraph consisting of only two or three sentences. As their skills improve, the students can start writing several paragraphs at a time.

[ Free Download: 18 Writing Tricks for Students with ADHD ]

—Demonstrate essay writing. With the use of an overhead projector, write a paragraph or an entire essay in front of the class, explaining what you are doing at each step. Students can assist you by contributing sentences as you go. Students with ADHD are often visual learners , and tend to do better when they see the teacher work on a task.

—Give writing prompts. Students with ADHD usually don’t generate as many essay ideas as their peers. Help the children with ADHD increase their options for essay assignments by collecting materials that stimulate choices. Read a poem, tell a story, show pictures in magazines, newspapers, or books.

If the student is still struggling to get started, help him by sitting down and talking about the assignment with him. Review his notes from the brainstorming session and ask, “What are some ways you could write the first sentence?” If he doesn’t have an answer, say, “Here’s an idea. How would you write that in your own words?”

—Encourage colorful description. Students with ADHD often have difficulty “dressing up” their written words. Help them add adjectives and use stronger, more active verbs in sentences.

[ How Teens with Learning Differences Can Defeat Writing Challenges ]

—Explain the editing process. Students with ADHD have a hard time writing to length and often produce essays that are too short and lacking in details. Explain how the use of adjectives and adverbs can enhance their composition. Show them how to use a thesaurus, too.

Solutions in the Classroom: Use Accommodations Where Necessary

—Allow enough time. Students with ADHD, especially those with the inattentive subtype, may take longer to process information and should receive extended time to complete assignments.

—Don’t grade early work. Sensitive students are discouraged by negative feedback as they are developing their writing skills. Wait until the paper is finished before assigning it a grade.

—Don’t deduct points for poor handwriting or bad grammar. Unless an assignment is specifically measuring handwriting and grammar skills, when a child is working hard to remember and communicate, let some things slide.

—Use a graphic organizer. A graphic organizer organizes material visually in order to help with memory recall. Distribute pre-printed blank essay forms that students with ADHD can fill in, so they’ll reserve their efforts for the most important task — writing the essay.

—Grade limited essay elements. To encourage writing mastery and avoid overwhelming students, grade only one or two elements at any given time. For example, “This week, I’m grading subject-verb agreement in sentences.” Tighter grading focus channels students’ attention to one or two writing concepts at a time.

Solutions at Home

—Encourage journals. Have your child write down his thoughts about outings to the movies, visits with relatives, or trips to museums. Add some fun to the activity by asking your child to e-mail you his thoughts or text-message you from his cell phone.

—Assist with essay topic selection. Children with ADHD have difficulty narrowing down choices and making decisions. Help your student by listening to all of his ideas and writing down three or four of his strongest topics on cards. Next, review the ideas with him and have him eliminate each topic, one by one – until only the winner is left.

—Brainstorm. Once the topic is identified, ask him for all the ideas he thinks might be related to it. Write the ideas on sticky notes, so he can cluster them together into groupings that will later become paragraphs. He can also cut and paste the ideas into a logical sequence on the computer.

—Stock up on books, movies, games. These materials will introduce new vocabulary words and stimulate thinking. Explore these with your child and ask him questions about them to solicit his views.

—Be your child’s “scribe.” Before your child loses his idea for the great American novel, or for his next English assignment, have him dictate his thoughts to you as you write them out by hand or type them into the computer. As his skills improve over time, he’ll need less of your involvement in this process.

—Go digital. Children with ADHD often write slower than their classmates. Encourage your child to start the writing process on a computer. This way, she’ll keep her work organized and won’t misplace her essay before it’s finished. Also, by working on the computer she can easily rearrange the order of sentences and paragraphs in a second draft.

—Remind your child to proofread. Let your child know that he’ll be able to catch errors if he proofreads his rough draft before handing it in.

High-Tech Writing Helpers for Kids with ADHD

Portable word processor

These battery-operated devices look like a computer keyboard with a small calculator screen. Light and durable, portable word processors can be used at school for note-taking and writing assignments. Back home, files can be transferred to a PC or Mac. Basic models cost about $20.

Speech-recognition software

essay topics about adhd

Word-prediction software

Software such as Co:Writer Solo ($325) helps with spelling and builds vocabulary, providing a drop-down list of words from which a student can choose. It also fills in words to speed composition. Some programs read sentences aloud, so the writer can hear what he has written and catch mistakes as they occur.

Electronic spell-checkers and dictionaries

Enter a word phonetically, and these portable gadgets define the word and provide the correct spelling. Talking devices read the words aloud. Franklin Electronics offers models beginning at about $20.

[ The Common Problems that Lead to Writer’s Block ]

Chris Zeigler Dendy, M.S., is a member of ADDitude’s  ADHD Medical Review Panel .

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Essay Samples on ADHD

Adhd: a study of the hyperactive disorder.

Individuals who possess attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) lack complete concentration, have difficulty staying organized, and have little to no forethought on the actions they commit. Although, there are many contributors to these outcomes: Genes passed through generations, harmful substance intake during pregnancy, mental complications,...

  • Psychological Disorders

Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ADHD is a significant issue all through the world given its early period of the beginning, solid relationship with the resulting beginning and continuity of optional diseases, continuity into adulthood, and solid affiliations with impeded performance all through the life expectancy. The disease in youth...

  • Child Behavior
  • Human Brain

The Impact Of Adhd On Children's Schooling And Education

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a mental health disorder that has evolved throughout history and derives from many factors that influence the final problem. Unlike physical injuries, one cannot physically spot mental illnesses, for it is challenging to identify overall. Nevertheless, empirical research has proven...

  • Childhood Development
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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Adhd In Children

ADHD can be defined as an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. ADHD can be characterized as having symptoms which include but are not limited to inadvertance, impetuous, and hyperactivity (White and Shah, 2010). Although based on many studies it has been proven that people who have...

  • Mental Disorder

The First Signs Of Adhd Disorder In Children

ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a conduct condition that makes concentrating on ordinary solicitations and schedules testing. Individuals with ADHD commonly experience difficulty getting sorted out, remaining centered, making sensible arrangements and thinking before acting. They might be nervous, boisterous and unfit to...

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Impact Of Adhd On A Child's Schooling And Development

Many children with ADHD often show signs from the age of two earlier before school age, and men are more affected compared to women. An analysis is made when most children join the institute after they fail to meet the prospects or perform similarly to...

Research On The Presence Of Inhibitory Control Deficits In Adhd Patients

Inhibitory control is the ability to voluntarily inhibit prepotent attentional or behavioural responses, it is the basis of proper functioning of all the executive functions, as well as it being one of the most used cognitive function (Barkley & Wasserstein, 2000), and the way in...

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Biopsychosocial Perspective On Adhd In Childhood Epilepsy

Introduction Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by at least two unprovoked (or reflex) seizures occurring more than 24 hours apart or one unprovoked (or reflex) seizure and a probability of 60% for the occurrence of further seizures after two unprovoked ones (Fisher et al.,...

  • Child Psychology

Link Between Impatience and Mental Health Issues

Significance/Importance of health problems This paper is to examine whether “ impatient individuals human capital investment patterns are more likely to exhibit dynamic inconsistency than are their patient counterparts’ respondents” (Cadena, Brian C., and Benjamin J. Keys. 2015.) The role of impatience through the human...

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Raising Awareness of ADHD-Having Adults

Until 2000, we didn’t really believe adults had ADHD. It turns out that as people get older, they typically become less hyperactive. Since this is the key symptom that people use to diagnose ADHD – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – we used to believe adults...

Genetic Studies of ADHD and Its Main Symptoms

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a recurrent disorder that affects millions of kids and often extends forward into adulthood. ADHD encompasses a mixture of continuous issues like those of attention-sustaining difficulty, hyperactivity, and impetuous conduct. Kids with ADHD could also experience low self-esteem, turbulent relationships, and poor...

Environmental Factors as the Cause of ADHD

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects millions of children and adolescents worldwide, with a prevalence of approximately 5% in the general population (Schwarz, 2016). The symptomatology of ADHD includes an array of persistent problems, such as difficulties with attention, hyperactivity and impulsive...

The Representation Of Mental Disorders In The Movie "Finding Dory"

From, the beginning of the movie itself we see that Dory experiences from short-term memory also known as “Anterograde Amnesia”. The opening scene of the film highlights Dory as a youthful fish figuring out how to disclose to others about her ailment. The one thing...

Best topics on ADHD

1. Adhd: A Study Of The Hyperactive Disorder

2. Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

3. The Impact Of Adhd On Children’s Schooling And Education

4. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Adhd In Children

5. The First Signs Of Adhd Disorder In Children

6. Impact Of Adhd On A Child’s Schooling And Development

7. Research On The Presence Of Inhibitory Control Deficits In Adhd Patients

8. Biopsychosocial Perspective On Adhd In Childhood Epilepsy

9. Link Between Impatience and Mental Health Issues

10. Raising Awareness of ADHD-Having Adults

11. Genetic Studies of ADHD and Its Main Symptoms

12. Environmental Factors as the Cause of ADHD

13. The Representation Of Mental Disorders In The Movie “Finding Dory”

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Understanding ADHD: a Comprehensive Analysis

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Published: Jan 30, 2024

Words: 861 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Table of contents

Definition and overview of adhd, causes and risk factors of adhd, symptoms and diagnostic process of adhd, impact and effects of adhd, treatment approaches for adhd, challenges and controversies surrounding adhd, future research and directions, ix. conclusion, references:.

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition). Washington, DC: Author.
  • Biederman, J., & Faraone, S. (2005). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The Lancet, 366(9481), 237-248.
  • Cortese, S., et al. (2018). Enhancing research quality for ADHD interventions: The ADHD Impact Module. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 84, 61-65.
  • Faraone, S. V., & Mick, E. (2010). Molecular genetics of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 33(1), 159-180.
  • Jensen, P. S., et al. (2001). 3-year follow-up of the NIMH MTA study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40(8), 995-1004.

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Abuse and Neglect

Perceptions, reference list.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common illness for children though it can also be found in adults. There are three types of this disorder: the hyperactive-impulsive type (HI), the inattentive type (PI), and the combined type. Notably, the third type is the most common (Mash & Wolfe, 2013). It is possible to analyze the subtypes and the way they affect children through their comparison.

Researchers have singled out several symptoms which show the type of disorder. Children with PI type are easily distracted, cannot focus, become bored easily, miss details, have problems with completing tasks, forget things, daydream, fail to follow instructions and struggle while processing information ( Attention deficit , 2014).

Children with HI type are very talkative, have troubles with sitting still, have difficulty with doing quiet activities, fidget in their seats, dash around, are constantly in motion, can be very impatient, express their emotions overtly, have difficulties with waiting, interrupt different activities ( Attention deficit , 2014). The combined type is assigned to children who have six or more symptoms of each type (HI and PI).

Notably, PI type children are often quiet and obedient while HI children are too active and can fail to follow instructions and obey orders. Another difference is that children with PI tend to have low self-esteem, whereas children diagnosed with HI type often have high self-esteem.

Moreover, children with HI type disorder can be subjected to positive illusory bias. In other words, they may overestimate themselves and think they are performing well, while in reality, they are not high-achievers. It is important to pay attention to the development of proper self-esteem in children as it can negatively affect their development and performance in the future.

On balance, children with ADHD often have difficulties with attention, self-esteem, and, as a result, with their performance.

It is possible to identify four critical steps of investigating child abuse and neglect cases. The first step is to collect information. It can be done through photographs and drawings (Gosselin, 2014). This is an important step as it provides preliminary information on the matter.

The next step is to find out whether the child has already been abused. The third step is to interview people who can have information on the case, and the final step is to visit the home where abuse is allegedly taking place. If one of the steps is implemented inaccurately or skipped, innocent people may be hurt, or the abused child can be deprived of the help he/she needs.

Megan’s Law is the law signed by President Clinton in 1996 ( Megan’s Law by state , 2014). According to this law, information about sex offenders released from custody is available to the public. This is an important law as it helps the public be aware of possible threats and be able to protect their children.

Intergenerational cycle of violence should be a matter of discussion in schools, communities, and the entire society. This information provided can help people understand that their violent behavior has a specific impact on their close ones (partners, siblings, and especially children). It is important to stop violence in families.

There are several phases in the development of partner violence. Each phase is a step to the escalation of violence and final outburst, which is often suicide or murder. At that, each phase can be a good milestone for people to stop and terminate the relationship, which will inevitably lead to dramatic outcomes. Of course, it is necessary to make people aware of the stages so that they could evaluate their relationship properly and make the right choices.

Admittedly, the physical world and the world as we perceive it are two different worlds. When we see an object, we are bound to rely on our senses, and the way neurons translate everything in our brain (Kalat, 2013).

Thus, two different people can perceive the world differently due to their senses or impairments they may have (hearing disorders, poor sight, and so on). It is also possible to mention that a person’s perception depends on the number of cones his/her eyes have. If we had one cone, we could perceive one color and the more cones we would have the more tinges we would see.

Perception is not only a way to see and hear the world, but it is an important tool to remain safe. Pain is one most important stimulus in a person’s life. Pain is a signal about danger sent to the brain from peripheral nociceptors ( Pain perception and transmission , 2014). Pain is important as it helps people identify possible danger and avoid serious harm.

Of course, it is difficult to live even without one sense. Each sense makes our life more comfortable and even helps us survive. However, if I had to choose, I would give away my ability to perceive smells. This is the least important sense for human’s survival. People have forgotten how to use this sense, and I think I would be able to survive without it, though my life would be incomplete without the smell of a beautiful flower or my favorite chocolate.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) . (2014).

Gosselin, D.K. (2014). Heavy hands: An introduction to the crimes of family violence . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kalat, J.W. (2013). Biological psychology . Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Mash, E.J., & Wolfe, D.A. (2013). Abnormal child psychology . Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Megan’s Law by state . (2014). Web.

Pain perception and transmission: Challenges in predicting patient response to opioid therapy . (2014).

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Writing Strategies for Students With ADHD

Here are six challenges and solutions, based on task simplicity and clear instruction, for helping students with ADHD develop their essay-writing skills.

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Too often, students with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) get labeled as "problem students." They often get shuffled into special education programs even if they show no signs of developmental disability. Though these students' brains do work differently, studies prove that it doesn't preclude them from being highly intelligent. That means teachers should pay special attention to help students with ADHD discover their potential and deal with the challenges they face in their learning process.

As essay writing is both the most common and the most complicated assignment for students, writing instruction for students with ADHD requires special efforts. Each step of writing process may present certain difficulties for these young people. Here are some practical solutions for teachers to encourage, motivate, and focus their students on writing process.

1. Difficulty Concentrating on Assignment

Research proves that ADHD doesn’t result in less intelligence, but rather in difficulties controlling emotions, staying motivated, and organizing the thoughts. So a teacher's first task is teaching students focus enough on a writing assignment.

Solution: Give clear, concise instructions.

When assigning an essay or other writing project, be specific and clear about what you expect. Don't leave a lot of room for interpretation. Instead of the assignment "Write about a joyous moment," include instructions in your writing prompt, such as:

  • Think about the last time you felt happy and joyful.
  • Describe the reasons for your happiness.
  • What exactly made you feel joy?
  • What can that feeling be compared to?

Make sure every student knows that he or she should come to you directly with any questions. Plan to take extra time reviewing the instructions with students one to one, writing down short instructions along the way.

2. Difficulty Organizing Thoughts on Paper

Several studies have found that students with ADHD struggle with organizing their thoughts and mental recall. These students can often speak well and explain their thoughts orally, but not in writing.

Solution: Get them organized from the start.

Start each project with a simple note system. Give students the freedom to take their own notes and review them together if possible. Have students pay special attention to filing these notes in a large binder, folder, or other method for making storage and retrieval simple.

To help students understand how to organize their written thoughts, teach them mind mapping . A semantic mind map for an essay may include major nouns, verbs, and adjectives, as well as phrases to use in writing each paragraph. Some introductory and transition sentences will also come in handy. Another step after mind mapping is advanced outlining . Begin and end the initial outline with the words "Intro" and "Conclusion" as placeholders. Then have students expand that outline on their own.

3. Difficulty With Sustained Work on a Single Task

ADHD can make it difficult for students to focus on long-term goals, leading to poor attention and concentration when the task requires work for an extended period of time.

Solution: Create small, manageable milestones.

Since accomplishing a five-page essay takes a lot of time, you can chop it into smaller, easier-to-manage pieces that can be worked on in rotation. Each piece may be checked separately if time allows. Treating every issue and section as an independent task will prevent students from feeling overwhelmed as they work toward a larger goal.

4. Difficulty in Meeting Deadlines

Deadlines are the things that discourage students with ADHD, as they work on assignments more slowly than their classmates, are often distracted, and tend to procrastinate.

Solution: Allow for procrastination.

It may sound ridiculous, but build procrastination into the writing process by breaking up the work and allowing for extra research, brainstorming, and other activities which diversify students' work while still focusing on the end result.

5. Spelling Issues

Students with ADHD often have difficulties with writing, especially in terms of spelling. The most common issues are reversing or omitting letters, words, or phrases. Students may spell the same word differently within the same essay. That's why lots of attention should be paid to spelling.

Solution: Encourage spell checkers, dictionaries, and thesaurus.

There are plenty of writing apps and tools available to check spelling and grammar. As a teacher, you can introduce several apps and let students choose which ones work better for writing essays. When checking the submitted papers and grading the work, highlight the spelling mistakes so that students can pay special attention to the misspelled words and remember the correct variant.

6. Final Editing Issues

Students with ADHD may experience problems during the final editing of their work since, by this time, they will have read and reviewed it several times and may not be paying attention to mistakes.

Solution: Teach them to review their writing step by step.

Take an essay template as an example and show students how to revise it. Go through the editing process slowly, explaining the "why" behind certain changes, especially when it comes to grammatical issues. Assign students the task of revising each other's essays so that when they revise their own final draft, they'll know what to pay attention to and what common mistakes to look for.

Addressing the challenges unique to students with ADHD will help these students find ways to handle their condition effectively and even use it to their advantage. Their unique perspective can be channeled into creative writing, finding new solutions to problems, and most of all, finding, reaching, and even exceeding their goals and fulfilling their full potential.

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73 ADHD Research Topics & Essay Examples

📝 adhd research papers examples, 🏆 best adhd essay titles, 🎓 simple research topics about adhd, ❓ adhd research questions.

Definition ADHD is a neurological behavioral disorder that begins in childhood and is characterized by difficulty concentrating and maintaining attention, excessive motor activity (hyperactivity) and incontinence (impulsivity).
Specialty Psychoneurology
History In 1947, pediatricians tried to give a clear clinical rationale for the so-called hyperactive children, who often had problems with their studies. However, the question of the terminology of this state remained unresolved. In 1980, the term attention deficit disorder (ADD) was introduced in the American classification of psychiatric diseases DSM-III, since attention deficit was recognized as the basic symptom of the disorder. The revision of 1987 (DSM-III-R) made a great contribution to the diagnostic criteria and even changed the name of the disease: ADHD тщц stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Symptoms Attention deficit disorder is expressed primarily in hyperactivity and inattention. Hyperactivity is expressed in impulsive behavior. Problems with concentration develop absent-mindedness.
Causes The reasons behind the development of ADHD remain unclear. However, there are several causes that have been established by scientists on the basis of facts, such as genetic predisposition and pathological influence in the brain.
Prevention There are no scientifically supported ADHD prevention methods.
Diagnostic Method Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is diagnosed by a questionnaire, observation of the child’s behavior and examination of the brain using MRI.
Treatment The best treatment option for ADHD is complex – psychological correction in combination with medications.
Duration ADHD always begins in the childhood. The brain is mainly formed before the age of 8 years, but finally only by the age of 25. Therefore, in children, arousal and inhibition often get out of control, in some cases leading to ADHD. Over time, the brain matures and the symptoms of ADHD improve or go away on their own. However, even in an adult, the cognitive, behavioral, and movement disorders that develop as a result of ADHD can persist.
Prognosis With the help of well-tailored medication and psychotherapy, both children and adults with ADHD can live a functional life.
Complications The complications of ADHD, although not damaging for the organism, can affect the quality of life severely. Most common complications include inability to follow instructions, algorithms, for example, fulfill the conditions of a task, resistance to involvement in the process of performing tasks, avoidance of initiative, and daily forgetfulness.
Frequency in Population The worldwide prevalence of adult ADHD is estimated at 2.8 percent, according to a 2016 study. About 6.1 million children (9.4 percent) have ever been diagnosed with ADHD.
Deaths ADHD does not lead to death.
Society Society usually regards ADHD as a “children disease”, so the adults suffering from it often do not get any support and relevant treatment. Moreover, ADHD is often misdiagnosed in both adults and children.
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  • What Are the Teaching Strategies for Children With ADHD?

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The Writing Center of Princeton

  • Writing Help for ADHD Students

Updated 2024.

Typically, students with ADHD produce a wealth of ideas about an essay writing topic. Yet over 60% of students with ADHD struggle to get their ideas down on paper.

For most students with ADHD, writing assignments are torturous.

Because students with ADHD often have trouble separating dominant (main) ideas from less dominant (subordinate) ideas, even starting a writing assignment can be an arduous and anxiety filled experience.

But none of these difficulties needs to keep your ADHD child from writing successfully in school. Use the eight strategies below to help your child write more easily and successfully.

essay topics about adhd

The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ADHD and Graduate Writing

What this handout is about.

This handout outlines how ADHD can contribute to hitting the wall in graduate school. It describes common executive function challenges that grad students with ADHD might experience, along with tips, strategies, and resources for navigating the writing demands of grad school with ADHD.

Challenges for graduate students with ADHD

Many graduate students hit the wall (lose focus, productivity, and direction) when they reach the proposal, thesis, or dissertation phase—when they have a lot of unstructured time and when their external accountability system is gone. Previously successful strategies aren’t working for them anymore, and they aren’t making satisfactory progress on their research.

In many ways, hitting the wall is a normal part of the grad school experience, but ADHD, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed, can amplify the challenges of graduate school because success depends heavily on executive functioning. ADHD expert Russell Barkley explains that people with ADHD have difficulty with some dimensions of executive function, including working memory, motivation, planning, and problem solving. For grad students, those difficulties may emerge as these kinds of challenges:

  • Being forgetful and having difficulty keeping things organized.
  • Not remembering anything they’ve read in the last few hours or the last few minutes.
  • Not remembering anything they’ve written or the argument they’ve been developing.
  • Finding it hard to determine a research topic because all topics are appealing.
  • Easily generating lots of new ideas but having difficulty organizing them.
  • Being praised for creativity but struggling with coherence in writing, often not noticing logical leaps in their own writing.
  • Having difficulty breaking larger projects into smaller chunks and/or accurately estimating the time required for each task.
  • Difficulty imposing structure on large blocks of time and finishing anything without externally set deadlines.
  • Spending an inordinate amount of time (like 5 hours) developing the perfect plan for accomplishing tasks (like 3 hours of reading).
  • Having trouble switching tasks—working for hours on one thing (like refining one sentence), often with no awareness of time passing.
  • Conversely, having trouble focusing on a single task–being easily distracted by external or internal competitors for their attention.
  • Being extremely sensitive to or upset by criticism, even when it’s meant to be constructive.
  • Struggling with advisor communications, especially when the advisors don’t have a strict structure, e.g., establishing priorities, setting clear timelines, enforcing deadlines, providing timely feedback, etc.

If you experience these challenges in a way that is persistent and problematic, check out our ADHD resources page and consider talking to our ADHD specialists at the Learning Center to talk through how you can regain or maintain focus and productivity.

Strategies for graduate students with ADHD

Writing a thesis or dissertation is a long, complex process. The list below contains a variety of strategies that have been helpful to grad students with ADHD. Experiment with the suggestions below to find what works best for you.

Reading and researching

Screen reading software allows you to see and hear the words simultaneously. You can control the pace of reading to match your focus. If it’s easier to focus while you’re physically active, try using a screen reader so you can listen to journal articles while you take a walk or a run or while you knit or doodle–or whatever movement helps you focus. Find more information about screen readers and everything they can do on the ARS Technology page .

Citation management systems can help you keep your sources organized. Most systems enable you to enter notes, add tags, save pdfs, and search. Some allow you to annotate pdfs, export to other platforms, or collaborate on projects. See the UNC Health Sciences Library comparison of citation managers to learn more about options and support.

Synthesis matrix is a fancy way of saying “spreadsheet,” but it’s a spreadsheet that helps you keep your notes organized. Set the spreadsheet up with a column for the full citations and additional columns for themes, like “research question,” “subjects,” “theoretical perspective,” or anything that you could productively document. The synthesis matrix allows you to look at all of the notes on a single theme across multiple publications, making it easier for you to analyze and synthesize. It saves you the trouble of shuffling through lots of highlighted articles or random pieces of paper with scribbled notes. See these example matrices on Autism , Culturally Responsive Pedagogy , and Translingualism .

Topic selection

Concept maps (also called mind maps) represent information visually through diagrams, flowcharts, timelines, etc. They can help you document ideas and see relationships you might be interested in pursuing. See examples on the Learning Center’s Concept Map handout . Search the internet for “concept-mapping software” or “mind-mapping software” to see your many choices.

Advisor meetings can help you reign in all of the interesting possibilities and focus on a viable, manageable project. Try to narrow the topics down to 3-5 and discuss them with your advisor. Be ready to explain why each interests you and how you would see the project developing. Work with your advisor to set goals and a check-in schedule to help you stay on track. They can also help you sort what needs to be considered now and what’s beyond the scope of the dissertation—tempting though it may be to include everything possible.

Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Break the dissertation project down into bite-sized pieces so you don’t get overwhelmed by the enormity of the whole project. The pieces can be parts of the text (e.g., the introduction) or the process (e.g., brainstorming or formatting tables). Enlist your advisor, other grad students, or anyone you think might help you figure out manageable chunks to work on, discuss reasonable times for completion, and help you set up accountability systems.

Tame perfectionism and separate the processes . Writers with ADHD will often try to perfect a single sentence before moving on to the next one, to the point that it’s debilitating. Start with drafting for ideas, knowing that you’re going to write a lot of sentences that will change later. Allow the ideas to flow, then set aside times to revise for ideas and to polish the prose.

List questions you could answer as a way of brainstorming and organizing information.

Make a slideshow of your key points for each section, chapter, or the entire dissertation. Hit the highlights without getting mired in the details as you draft the big picture.

Give a presentation to an imaginary (or real) audience to help you flesh out your ideas and try to articulate them coherently. The presentation can be planned or spontaneous as a brainstorming strategy. Give your presentation out loud and use dictation software to capture your thoughts.

Use dictation software to transcribe your speech into words on a screen. If your brain moves faster than your fingers can type, or if you constantly backspace over imperfectly written sentences, dictation software can capture the thoughts as they come to you and preserve all of your phrasings. You can review, organize, and revise later. Any device with a microphone (like your phone) will do the trick. See various speech to text tools on the ARS Technology page .

Turn off the monitor and force yourself to write for five, ten, twenty minutes, or however long it takes to dump your brain onto the screen. If you can’t see the words, you can’t scrutinize and delete them prematurely.

Use the Pomodoro technique . Set a timer for 25 minutes, write as much as you can during that time, take a five-minute break, and then do it again. After four 25-minute segments, take a longer break. The timer puts a helpful limit on the writing session that can motivate you to produce. It also keeps you aware of the passage of time, helping you stay focused and keeping your time more structured.

Sprints or marathons? Some people find it helpful to break down the writing process into smaller tasks and work on a number of tasks in smaller sprints. However, some people with ADHD find managing a number of tasks overwhelming, so for them, a “marathon write” may be a good idea. A marathon write doesn’t have to mean last-minute writing. Try to plan ahead, stock up on food for as many days as you plan to write, and think about how you’ll care for yourself during the long stretch of writing.

Minimize distractions . Turn off the internet, find a suitable place (quiet, ambient noise, etc.), minimize disruptions from other people (family, office mates, etc.), and use noise-canceling headphones or earplugs if they help. If you catch your thoughts wandering, write down whatever is distracting and you can attend to it later when you finish.

Seek feedback for clarity . Mind-wandering is a big asset for people with ADHD as it boosts creativity. Expansive, big-picture thinking is also an asset because it allows you to imagine complex systems. However, these things can also make graduate students with ADHD struggle with maintaining logical coherence. When you ask for feedback, specify logical coherence as a concern so your reader has a focus. If you’d like to look at your logic before you seek feedback, see our 2-minute video on reverse outlining .

Seek feedback for community . Talking to people about your ideas for writing will help you stay connected at a time when it’s easy to fade into a dark hole. Check out this handout on getting feedback .

Time management and accountability

Enlist your advisor . Graduate students with ADHD might worry about the perception that they’re “gaming the system” if they disclose their ADHD. Or they might struggle with an advisor with a more hands-off mentoring style. It will be helpful to be explicit about your neurodiversity and your potential need for a structure. Ask your advisor to clarify the expectations specifically (even quantify them), and work with them to come up with a clear timeline and a regular check-in schedule.

Enlist other mentors . Your advisor may be less understanding and/or may not be able to provide enough structure, or you may think it’s a good idea to have more than one person on your structure team. Look for other mentors on your faculty (inside or outside of your committee), and talk to senior grad students about their strategies.

Pay attention to your body rhythms . When do you feel most creative? Most focused? Most energetic? Or the least creative, focused, energetic? What activities could you engage in during those times? How can you do them consistently?

Think about task vs. time . It can be difficult to estimate how long a task is going to take, so think about setting a time limit for working on something. Set a timer, work for that amount of time, and change tasks when the time is over.

Tame hyperfocus . If you have trouble switching tasks, ask a friend or colleague to “interrupt” you, or figure out a system you can use to interrupt yourself. For example, when you find yourself trying to fix a sentence for 30 minutes, you can call a friend for a brief conversation about another topic. People with ADHD often find this helps them to look at the work from a more objective perspective when they return to it.

Set SMART goals . Check out the handout on setting SMART goals to help you set up a regular research and writing routine.

Set up a reward system . Tie your research or writing goal to an enjoyable reward. Note that it can also be pre-ward – something you do beforehand that will help you feel refreshed and motivated to work.

Find accountability buddies . These can be people you update on your progress or people you meet with to get work done together. Oftentimes, the simple presence of other people is able to motivate and keep us focused. This “body-doubling” strategy is particularly helpful for people with ADHD. Look for events like the Dissertation Boot Camp or IME Writing Wednesdays .

Find virtual accountability partners . There are a number of online platforms to connect you with virtual work partners. See this article on strategies and things to consider.

Use productivity and focus apps . Check out some recommendations among the Learning Center’s ADHD/LD Resources . To find the best options for you, try Googling “Apps for focus and productivity” to find reviews of timers and other focus apps.

Learn more about accountability . See the Learning Center’s Accountability Strategies page for great information and resources.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Barkley, R. (2022, July 11). What is executive function? 7 deficits tied to ADHD . ADDitude: Inside the ADHD Mind. https://www.additudemag.com/7-executive-function-deficits-linked-to-adhd/

Hallowell, E. and Ratey, J. (2021). ADHD 2.0: New science and essential strategies for thriving with distraction—from childhood through adulthood . Random House Books.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Essays on Adhd

Writing an ADHD essay will reveal that the number of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has increased markedly in the last decade. It is most substantial in countries like the US and the UK. For example, almost 10% of US children are diagnosed with ADHD – many ADHD essays share these latest statistics. Authors of essays on ADHD define depression as a neurological, behavioral, and age-related disorder that upsets the mechanisms responsible for attention span, ability to concentrate, and urge control. The disorder is defined as an age-related disorder because it is found in early childhood (before the age of seven). Check samples of essays below for more into. Among the main symptoms of this disorder are short attention span, hyperactivity, mood swings, poor emotion control, restlessness, difficulty with task completion, distractibility. ADHD essay samples you can find here will help make your essay more informative.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a mental condition that causes excessive hyperactivity in a person. Furthermore, the illness is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Most people are unaware that attention deficit disorder has been present for far longer than they think. Hippocrates, who lived from 460 to 370 BC,...

The Family and Their Health The family is made up of a father (47 years old), a mother (40 years old), and four children, two boys (17 and 11 years old) and two girls (6 and 5 years). Everyone in the family is in good health. The eleven-year-old child was diagnosed...

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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD or ADHD) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD or ADHD) is an illness that can have severe effects that can therefore be of great benefit to certain people with the diagnosis. It is one of the most prevalent psychiatric illnesses affecting children, but it affects so many adults (Parekh). The major signs...

ADHD & Self-Control Attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is closely linked with self-control due to the early onset of the disorder and its effects on self-regulation of behavior. Barkley (2005) suggests that ADHD individuals would not have had the ability to develop normal levels of self-control, which may contribute to other...

Related topic to Adhd

Kristin Wilcox Ph.D.

Unlocking the ADHD Brain

Understanding the neurobiology behind adhd behaviors..

Updated September 17, 2024 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

  • What Is ADHD?
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  • An imbalance in brain levels of dopamine and norepinephrine are involved in ADHD symptomology.
  • The prefrontal cortex integrates information from several brain regions influencing executive functioning.
  • Dysregulated emotional responses can lead to ADHD paralysis during stressful, overwhelming situations.

There is a misconception that attention -deficit/hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) can be caused by eating too many sweets or bad parenting . Our kids could do better in school if they just tried harder or were more disciplined. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I have been guilty of saying, “Why can’t you just…” to my ADHD son. Why can’t you just clean your room, start your homework, put your bike away. This was before I understood ADHD as a brain-based disorder. So, what’s going on in a brain that my ADHD son describes as an overstuffed garbage can the lid doesn’t stay on, and everything is falling out all over the floor?

ADHD brains want an increase in dopamine

ADHD occurs in approximately 4 to 7 percent of children in the United States, making it one of the most common neurobiological disorders. Neuroimaging studies suggest a possible difference between the structure and function of the brain in individuals with ADHD compared to those without ADHD, including differences in the size of some brain structures ( Faraone et al., 2021 ; Santos da Silva, 2022 ).

The underlying neurobiology associated with ADHD is thought to result from an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain, likely lower levels of dopamine and norepinephrine (for a review see Santos da Silva, 2022). Brain-imaging studies show dopamine-rich areas of the brain, like the frontal cortex, are affected in ADHD. Further evidence to support the role of dopamine in ADHD is the use of psychomotor stimulants to mediate symptoms. Research on ADHD stimulant medications shows an effect on levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in the prefrontal cortex, the brain region implicated in ADHD.

Dopamine’s action in the brain can affect attention and is involved in novelty-seeking/ risk-taking behaviors. My ADHD son often engages in challenging activities like martial arts, rock climbing, ice hockey, and skiing expert terrain. High-risk activities put the brain on high alert for the fight-or-flight response, leading to a surge of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain and increased focus so you don’t get injured ( Ratey and Hagerman, 2013 ).

It is well known that dopamine is involved in the reward circuit of the brain. ADHD brains are constantly seeking optimal stimulation resulting in a surge of dopamine and rewards for engaging in particular activities. I remember my son’s explanation when he was failing a class in high school: “It’s boring , and I don’t want to do it.” Once I understood his ADHD brain, I couldn’t argue with his answer.

Executive functions and the prefrontal cortex

Executive functioning is a neurological process that guides our behavior by enabling us to pay attention to what is most important at the time. Complex problem-solving involves planning, initiating tasks, time management , organization, and emotional control , all executive function skills that are lagging in individuals with ADHD.

The prefrontal cortex is the brain region involved in executive functioning and is responsible for integrating input from several brain regions, which is critical for goal-directed behavior. ADHD expert, Dr. Russell Barkley explains how these networks are related to executive functions. Understanding ADHD behaviors involves understanding the neurological basis of executive function skills.

Kristin Wilcox

Deficits in executive functioning can make it seem like our ADHD kids are ignoring us or just being lazy. For example, my ADHD son’s idea of organizing is to pile things on the floor, his desk, or any other flat surface. So, it may seem like he is just being lazy, but he struggles with organizational skills because they require complex executive function processes like planning, initiating the task for knowing what needs to be organized, and finding a place for something based on how often it is used. When I set out on the task of helping my son to become more organized, I realized the importance of working with his ADHD brain by enlisting his help to find a solution that works for him. Unlike me, my son will never put something away in a bin and then put the bin on a shelf; that involves executive functioning. The bin will be left open on the floor for weeks. The contents of the bin will be emptied out on the floor and left there for the dog to chew on, or, if stacked on some shelf, the bin and its contents will be forgotten completely.

The brain’s protective response: Fight, flight, freeze, or fib

We are all familiar with the fight, flight, or freeze response when our brain perceives a threat. We fight back, run away, or play dead in the face of fear . The limbic system of the brain plays a critical role in assessing dangerous situations and our emotional response to them during these times of stress . When individuals with ADHD, who have difficulty controlling their emotions, feel overwhelmed, they can have a heightened fight, flight, freeze response leading to ADHD paralysis or ADHD shutdown. In other words, they become stuck when their automatic, emotional brain can’t be regulated by their executive function brain. This can manifest in ways like procrastination , ignoring, a lack of motivation or activation, or indecision when presented with too many choices. Neurotypical individuals struggle with these behaviors as well, but for those with ADHD, it’s more challenging to move forward and overcome the feeling of overwhelm due to lagging executive functioning skills.

essay topics about adhd

Another self-preservation behavior you may observe in your ADHD child is lying . Fibbing has been recently added to the fight, flight, freeze behaviors observed in the face of a threat. Lying can protect your child from feeling like they are a disappointment (e.g., when they do poorly in school), help your child avoid negative consequences (e.g., angry parents), and delay feelings of low self-esteem (e.g., they don’t feel like a failure).

The key to understanding ADHD behaviors is to understand the unique ADHD brain. So, when your child justifies a failing grade or not completing their chores with “It was boring, and I didn’t want to do it,” now you know why.

Kristin Wilcox Ph.D.

Kristin Wilcox, Ph.D. , is the author of Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain . She has studied ADHD medications and drug abuse behavior at Emory University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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It’s increasingly common for someone to be diagnosed with a condition such as ADHD or autism as an adult. A diagnosis often brings relief, but it can also come with as many questions as answers.

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COMMENTS

  1. 162 ADHD Essay Topics & Examples

    Whether you are looking for an ADHD topic for an argumentative essay, a research paper, or a dissertation, our article will be helpful. We've collected top ADHD essay examples, research paper titles, and essay topics on ADHD. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts. 185 writers online.

  2. 123 ADHD Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

    123 ADHD Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects children and adults alike. It is characterized by symptoms such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention. Writing an essay on ADHD can be a challenging task, especially when it comes to choosing a topic.

  3. 125 ADHD Essay Topics & Research Titles at StudyCorgi

    These essay examples and topics on ADHD were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you're using them to write your assignment.

  4. Adhd Essays

    Essay Title 3: ADHD in Adulthood: Challenges, Coping Strategies, and Stigma. Thesis Statement: This research essay examines the often overlooked topic of ADHD in adults, discussing the challenges faced, coping mechanisms employed, and the impact of societal stigma on individuals with adult ADHD. Outline: Introduction; ADHD Persisting into ...

  5. How to Tackle an Essay (an ADHD-friendly Guide)

    Step 2: Review the rubric. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what the assignment is asking you to include and to focus on. If you don't have an understanding of it, it's better to find out in advance rather than the night before the assignment is due. The rubric is your anchor and serves as a good guide to know "when you can be ...

  6. ADHD Essay Topics

    Hot ADHD Topics to Write About. ADHD in Children: Response Inhibition. Behavioral and Pharmacological Treatment of Kids with ADHD. Symptoms of ADHD, Depression, and Anxiety. Bioethics in ADHD Intervention. How Children's ADHD Affects Parents' Relationship Dissolution and Labor Supply. The Impacts of Pharmacological Treatment of ADHD on Kids ...

  7. How to Write a College Essay About ADHD

    Key Takeaway. When writing a college essay about ADHD, consider three approaches: using ADHD to understand trends and show growth, highlighting the positive aspects of ADHD, or emphasizing how ADHD enhances your empathy. Choose an approach that lets you discuss an important part of your life while showcasing your strengths and creating a ...

  8. My Battle with ADHD: Personal Essay

    Breaking Barriers: My Battle with ADHD. In a prize-winning essay about overcoming obstacles, a child with attention deficit disorder explains the effects of ADHD on his life. From enlisting the help of family members to keeping a journal, this is how Jack Prey manages his diagnosis. By Jack Prey Verified Updated on May 15, 2020.

  9. Thanks for the Memories: An Essay on Life with ADHD

    Having ADHD, energy, resourcefulness, and optimism fuel me, but mental chaos can overwhelm me, and I grind to a halt. Staring into space, dulled and unable to move without huge effort, the desire for order becomes as overwhelming as it is hopelessly unattainable. It can last a few minutes, or occasionally all day.

  10. ADHD Essay Topics

    10 ADHD Research Topics

  11. ADHD is my superpower: A personal essay

    A Warp Speed Brain. To have ADHD means that your brain is an engine that's constantly running at high speed. It basically never stops wanting to process information at a high rate. The "attention" part is just an observable set of behaviors when an ADHD person is understimulated. This is also part of why I now openly associate as ...

  12. ADHD Essay Writing Help: 18 Strategies for Better School Writing

    Studies suggest that more than half of children with attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) struggle with writing.These students may have an overflow of creative ideas, but often struggle when it comes to getting these ideas onto paper.. Children with ADHD have a hard time getting started — and following through — on writing assignments because they have difficulty picking essay topics ...

  13. Adhd Essays: Samples & Topics

    The First Signs Of Adhd Disorder In Children. 6. Impact Of Adhd On A Child's Schooling And Development. 7. Research On The Presence Of Inhibitory Control Deficits In Adhd Patients. 8. Biopsychosocial Perspective On Adhd In Childhood Epilepsy. 9. Link Between Impatience and Mental Health Issues. 10. Raising Awareness of ADHD-Having Adults. 11.

  14. Understanding ADHD: a Comprehensive Analysis

    It is characterized by symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and poor decision-making, all of which can significantly impact an individual's academic, social, and emotional well-being. This essay will provide a comprehensive analysis of ADHD, including its causes, symptoms, effects, and treatment options.

  15. Psychology: Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder Essay

    Table of Contents. Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common illness for children though it can also be found in adults. There are three types of this disorder: the hyperactive-impulsive type (HI), the inattentive type (PI), and the combined type. Notably, the third type is the most common (Mash & Wolfe, 2013).

  16. Writing Strategies for Students With ADHD

    Here are some practical solutions for teachers to encourage, motivate, and focus their students on writing process. 1. Difficulty Concentrating on Assignment. Research proves that ADHD doesn't result in less intelligence, but rather in difficulties controlling emotions, staying motivated, and organizing the thoughts.

  17. ADHD Essay Topics & Examples of Essays on ADHD

    The paper describes Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, controversy about the existence of ADHD, and presents additional evidence on the existence of ADHD. The patient is a 15-year-old Hispanic male diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He reports increased hyperactivity, problems with concentration, and anxiety.

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  19. Writing Help for ADHD Students

    Because ADHD students often have hard time elaborating (adding detail), after the first draft is written, review the draft with your child. While reviewing the draft, help your child add more detailed explanations to the ideas and evidence she has used in her essay. While working with your child, don't grade or negatively evaluate your student.

  20. Adhd Essay

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    Knowledge of ADHD, including symptoms, behaviors, prognosis, and treatment, varies among teachers ... I would start by asking him to tell me one fact about his essay's topic. I found that he ...

  23. Free Essays on Adhd, Examples, Topics, Outlines

    Authors of essays on ADHD define depression as a neurological, behavioral, and age-related disorder that upsets the mechanisms responsible for attention span, ability to concentrate, and urge control. The disorder is defined as an age-related disorder because it is found in early childhood (before the age of seven).

  24. Unlocking the ADHD Brain

    It's increasingly common for someone to be diagnosed with a condition such as ADHD or autism as an adult. A diagnosis often brings relief, but it can also come with as many questions as answers.