“You’re just faking it.”
These words, often thrown carelessly at students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), reflect the harmful misconceptions that cloud the condition. For those with ADHD, this phrase serves as a reminder of the ignorance overshadowing their daily hurdles: not only in school but also in staying focused and emotionally balanced. Behind every seemingly distracted glance and forgotten assignment is a student fighting a constant battle with both the condition itself and the stigma that follows it.
“One [misconception] that I personally face, even with people who are close to me and my friends, is that people tell me that I’m faking it and that it’s not real,” an anonymous student said. “People tell me that I’m doing it to get extra time and help on quizzes and tests, which is really hurtful for me in the moment. They don’t know how it truly feels to have ADHD and what it does to my brain.”
October is ADHD Awareness Month, a time to bring light to this often misunderstood condition. ADHD is one of the most prevalent mental disorders in children, affecting over 7 million children in the U.S. alone. Yet, the daily challenges faced by students with ADHD can go unseen by their peers and teachers.
Contrary to popular belief, ADHD is not a product of poor behavior or habits and is rather rooted in the brain’s chemistry. The condition is largely driven by differences in neurotransmitter activity, particularly dopamine, which controls motivation and reward processing. Dopamine pathways can be underactive in people with ADHD, leading to difficulty in completing dull tasks or maintaining interest, since the brain’s reward pathway is not firing as it should.
“Dopamine reinforces behavior,” upper school learning specialist Kadar Arbuckle said. “When you, for example, get a good grade on your test, you feel good, right? Now, if you put yourself in a scenario where you don’t really gain that same feeling from a grade, that can make that task much more difficult because the motivation to do it is just different.”
When individuals with ADHD experience an activity that generates more dopamine, they begin to hyperfocus, or exhibit an intense fixation for a long period of time. While hyperfocusing allows students to explore their interests, it can also result in neglecting other responsibilities and tasks.
“In a way, [ADHD] is kind of a nice thing to have because it allows me, when I really like something, to focus on it,” the anonymous student said. “I hyperfocus on the topics that I truly love, but with subjects and things that I don’t truly find interesting, it takes a lot of energy and focus for me to get through an assignment that can be really simple and not take a while for others.”
ADHD exists in three main forms: inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive and a mixture of the two. While the hyperactive-impulsive is the one most associated with the condition, the inattentive type often goes unnoticed, as it can be mistaken for daydreaming or absentmindedness. This makes recognizing ADHD especially difficult, as students may be struggling internally while appearing “fine” to those around them.
Neurodiversity Committee co-president Hannah Levanon (12) highlighted public misconceptions about the various types of ADHD.
“People tend to think that ADHD is mainly about being crazy fidgety and extremely distracted, and stereotypically, that’s a very common thing that you’ll see in the media,” Hannah said. “Just because those are the most outwardly facing signs, and just because that’s what might impact someone else the most directly and visibly, doesn’t mean that there aren’t other things that will impact people with ADHD.”
In a school setting, where focusing during classes and lectures is crucial to the learning process, ADHD can be especially challenging to navigate. The structure of the traditional education system, especially at rigorous schools like Harker, often amplifies the difficulties students with ADHD face.
“People will be like, ‘Oh, [ADHD] doesn’t actually affect anything, it doesn’t make you different from anyone else,’” another anonymous student said. “But my processing speed is a lot slower for reading, and I space out and get distracted in long periods of classes. The extra time, which I have an accommodation for, is necessary, otherwise I would not finish any of my tests.”
Not all ADHD looks the same, making it hard to define one set of symptoms. Hannah emphasized that one of her largest struggles is sensory overload, which impacts her homework and studying routine.
“If I have too much sensory input, that makes me extremely uncomfortable,” Hannah said. “At the same time, I need some sensory input to keep my brain a little bit entertained. I find it very difficult to study or do homework if there’s nothing going on in the background, which is why I tend to gravitate towards what others might consider to be distracting music.”
In consideration of these learning differences, certain teachers offer accommodations for those with ADHD. Math teacher Bradley Stoll works to tailor his classroom environment to support students with ADHD.
“If I have any students that have accommodations, we’re always sent their plans, and so I look them over and I make the offer available to them,” Stoll said. “I try and figure out what they want and what would help them out. Some have special seating, so they can sit in the front. Others have extended time on tests, and some are allowed to wear headphones when they’re testing.”
While accommodations are a step in the right direction, they do not erase the societal stigma surrounding ADHD in the classroom. Arbuckle points out that students with anxiety or other mental disorders sometimes receive more empathy from educators than those with ADHD do, as there is a general lack of understanding around ADHD.
“When someone’s really anxious and they’re in front of their teacher in tears, most teachers are going to see that kid and go, ‘I feel for you, you [can] have a few extra days to study for that test,’” Arbuckle said. “Now, when a student with ADHD completely forgets to do a critical thing in school, like bring the essay they’ve been working on for three months, what that usually elicits is, ‘Are you serious?’ And that is something that can add a lot of shame.”
Supporting students with ADHD goes beyond physical changes. In recognition of ADHD Awareness Month, members of the community should treat the condition with the seriousness it deserves and break down the stigma surrounding ADHD.
“I don’t think that ADHD is really well understood at Harker, especially among those who don’t really understand how it tends to impact life and how it presents itself,” Hannah said. “Every single person with ADHD, they’re all going to have very different experiences. The best thing that you can do is ask questions and be willing to listen.”