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A squirmy unfocused student is not a student who is going to learn the best they can. By fidgeting in class students with ADHD are able to focus better and absorb more of the information being taught.

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It's important for students with ADHD to not be so fast to dismiss their trains of thought that may not be exactly on topic. Thinking outside of the box is a huge asset of ADHD. Rather than dismissing their, what may be considered, off topic thoughts they should learn to harness them and utilize them to aid their learning.

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You might know will.i.am, the performer, producer and award-winning founder of the Black Eyed Peas, for his music. The hip-hop group has won eight Grammy awards.

But music is only one area in which will.i.am has made a mark. He has a company that creates tech gadgets. He's an inventor. And he runs a foundation that provides education and college scholarships to low-income kids.

What fuels his many pursuits? According to will.i.am, having ADHD is a big factor.

"One thing I learned about ADHD is that it's hard to keep your attention, and you can't sit still and you're always moving and thinking about a whole bunch of things. But those traits work well for me in studios and in meetings about creative ideas," he has said.

But if ADHD has helped him with his musical creativity, will.i.am believes his music helps with his ADHD. It's allowed him, as he puts it, to "keep my attention disorder in order."

It's also taught him a lifelong lesson: "For every obstacle, there's some type of solution."

Growing Up With ADHD, and Lots of Support

Born William James Adams in 1975, will.i.am was raised near Los Angeles by his mother. He remembers what it was like to have ADHD when he was a child. People told him he was "hyper." But there was one voice constantly cheering him on, according to will.i.am: "My mom encouraged me in everything I did."

His mother also helped keep him on track. She sent him to a charter high school and discouraged him from getting involved with local gangs. And she always supported his artistic pursuits. will.i.am was performing with a rap group by the eighth grade. It was the group that would evolve into the Black Eyed Peas.

will.i.am discovered early on the power music had to keep him focused. "It keeps my mind from wandering. I can stay in the music," he has said. "Music brings control to my thoughts."

Creativity and Passion in Many Directions

Music may help will.i.am focus his creative energy. But he still has plenty to spare.

In the last decade, he designed a watch that's also a smartphone. He started a technology company called i.am+ and created a line of camera accessories for the iPhone.

And in 2009, he formed the i.am.angel Foundation. The foundation helps kids who lack resources realize their potential. It funds educational programs that focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math). It prepares kids for college-and provides scholarships as well.

will.i.am speaks honestly about his goal of inspiring young people. "It's just going to keep inspiring me back," he explains.

"I want to do my part," he adds. "I want to invest in America's future."

And he has a message for all young people: "I am here to let you know that you can be anything you want to be."

If you think your child might have ADHD, there are steps you can take. If your child has already been diagnosed, get answers to questions you may have, including questions about ADHD medications. Also, learn about ADHD and emotions.

Any opinions or views of individuals featured on Understood.org are the sole responsibility of the individual, and do not necessarily reflect the views, values, opinions or beliefs of, and are not endorsed by, Understood.

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Celebrity Spotlight: Why will.i.am Says ADHD Fuels His Creativity

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You might know will.i.am, the performer, producer and award-winning founder of the Black Eyed Peas, for his music. The hip-hop group has won eight Grammy awards. But music is only one area in which will.i.am has made a mark. He has a company that creates tech gadgets. He's an inventor.

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Study Tips From College Students With ADHD

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Study Tips From College Students With ADHD

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"I like to make studying into a game to keep myself engaged. When I am engaged I can maintain focus and absorb the information better. I also like silly pneumonic devices or rhymes to help me remember lists."

"I love to make things visual! Once I was studying for a final and covered an entire wall in post-it notes to make a color-coded physical timeline of the information I was studying. It worked great I killed it on my final! I would definitely recommend this strategy when studying anything chronological."

"Sometimes I like to change the words to a song while I'm studying to the content I am studying. It's fun and helps me remember the information. I still remember a song I made to study 8 years ago! Would definitely recommend to other students who have ADHD"

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Eye to Eye is a national art-based mentorship program run by and for people with ADHD/learning differences. College students with ADHD/learning differences are paired with middle school students with ADHD/learning differences. Through weekly art projects they promote grit, metacognition, goal setting, along with more skills to help students better understand their learning and overcome any challenges it may present. Eye to Eye also helps create a community of different learners on college campuses providing invaluable peer-to-peer advice and support.

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Unlocking greatness in the 1 in 5 who learn differently

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Eye To Eye's mission is to develop a coalition of mentoring programs for labeled students with learning disabilities and to empower these individuals to celebrate their differences.

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Try one of these fidgets to promote concentration in the classroom.

1. Tangle fidget (pictured)
2. Fidget cube
3. Fidget spinner
4. Silly putty
5. Spiky sensory balls

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ADDitude magazine describes Focus@Will as an app, "Designed to increase your focus and attention, [it] uses specially engineered audio in which frequencies similar to the human voice are removed."

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Scientifically optimized music to help you focus | Focus@Will

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Focus@Will combines neuroscience + music to boost productivity and tune out distractions!

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Top 5 School Accommodations for the ADHD College Student

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Top 5 School Accommodations for the ADHD College Student

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1. Distraction reduced environment for exams
2. Extended time on exams
3. Receiving lecture power points prior to class
4. Extensions on assignments if need be
5. Audio books

Check with your school's disability services to see if you qualify for these accommodations.

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An article on ADHD published by Futurity states, "Nearly one third of students with ADHD, twice the proportion as students with no psychiatric disorder, either drop out or delay high school graduation."

These statistics emphasize the need for students to gain better understanding of their learning as a difference rather than a disability. It is important for students to recognize the unique perspective and many strengths their ADHD provides them with and to learn to utilize them. Gaining this understanding will lead to increase in self-esteem and academic motivation. Helping to gradually decrease the dropout rates of students with ADHD.

For these drop out rates to decrease it is crucial for students with ADHD to acknowledge and utilize their differences rather than conforming to the learning styles of their peers. Most importantly, students should work towards loving the way they learn.

Check out why some students at Temple University love the way they learn:

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Why We Love the Way We Learn - Temple Eye to Eye

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To celebrate Valentine's Day some members of the Temple University chapter of Eye to Eye share why we love our learning differences and ADHD. Music: MIKA - Love Today No copy right infringement intended. All copy rights reserved.

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Many people with ADHD have difficulty with reading. Something that can help with this issue is listening to an audio book or using a text-to-speech software while reading. The mutisensory input this strategy provides helps direct one's attention better than solely an audio or visual presentation of the information. Some of the many useful tools to practice this strategy are Read and Write Gold and Audible.com

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The Eye to Eye Empower app allows students who learn differently to identify allies, strengths, and challenge areas in a fun and engaging way. By having a deeper understanding of their learning and resources students are able to approach school in a way that utilizes their strengths while addressing the challenge areas with the assistance of their identified allies.

The Eye to Eye Empower app is available for download on IOS devices. Learn more about the Empower app:

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‎Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Eye to Eye Empower. Download Eye to Eye Empower and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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Did you know people with ADHD have a super power? It's called hyperfocus! Many people think that ADHD is the inability to focus however, that is not necessarily the case. When a person with ADHD is engaged they are capable of becoming intensely focused on the engaging task, or hyperfocused.

Harness this ability by making studying FUN. By making studying enjoyable and interesting, the ADHD brain is able to focus for longer periods of time. Leading to higher rates of productivity.

Learn more about hyperfocus and how it can be an asset to students with ADHD:

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What is ADHD Hyperfocus?

Hyperfocus refers to an intense fixation on an interest or activity for an extended period of time. People who experience hyperfocus often become so engrossed they block out the world around them. Children and adults with ADHD often exhibit hyperfocus when working intently on things that interest them.

Hyperfocus: How Does It Affect Children and Adults with ADHD?

For children, the object of hyperfocus might be playing a video game or watching TV. Adults might hyperfocus on social media or shopping. But whatever holds the attention, the result is the same: Unless something or someone interrupts, hours drift by as important tasks and relationships fall by the wayside.

"People who think ADHD means having a short attention span misunderstand what ADHD is," says Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D., a psychologist in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the author of ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life (#CommissionsEarned). "A better way to look at it is that people with ADHD have a disregulated attention system."

What Causes the ADHD Brain to Hyperfocus?

Like distractibility, hyperfocus is thought to result from abnormally low levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is particularly active in the brain's frontal lobes. This dopamine deficiency makes it hard to "shift gears" to take up boring-but-necessary tasks.

"Children and adults with ADHD have difficulty shifting attention from one thing to another," says ADHD expert Russell Barkley, Ph.D. "If they're doing something they enjoy or find psychologically rewarding, they'll tend to persist in this behavior after others would normally move on to other things. The brains of people with ADHD are drawn to activities that give instant feedback."
[Free Expert Resource: Secrets of Your ADHD Brain]
In the view of Larry Silver, M.D., a psychiatrist at Georgetown University Medical School in Washington D.C., such intense concentration is actually a coping mechanism.

"It's a way of dealing with distraction," Silver says. "College kids with ADHD tell me they intentionally go into a state of intense focus to get work done. Younger kids do the same thing unconsciously when they're doing something pleasurable, like watching a movie or playing a computer game. Often they aren't even aware that they're focusing so intensely."

Is ADHD Hyperfocus Bad?

There's nothing inherently harmful about hyperfocus. In fact, it can be an asset. Some people with ADD or ADHD, for example, are able to channel their focus on something productive, such as a school- or work-related activity. Others allow themselves to hyperfocus on something as a reward for completing a dull but important task.

"Many scientists, writers, and artists with ADHD have had very successful careers, in large part because of their ability to focus on what they're doing for hours on end," says Nadeau.
[ADHD Directory: Find an ADHD Specialist or Clinic Near You]
But unrestrained intense focus is most often a liability. Left unchecked, it can lead to failure in school, lost productivity on the job, and strained relationships with friends and at home.

" Children with ADHD often gravitate to what's entertaining and exciting, and are averse to doing things they don't want to do," says Joseph Biederman, M.D., head of the Pediatric Psychopharmacology program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "Combine this with poor time management and problems socializing, both of which are typical of kids with ADHD, and the child can end up playing Nintendo alone all weekend long."

Adults with ADHD tell stories of missing meetings or deadlines because they got so absorbed in something that they lost track of time. In one extraordinary case history, cited by Nadeau, a woman with ADHD was so focused on a project that she failed to notice that her house had caught fire. "It was only when firemen came through the house, searching for anyone left inside, that she looked up and realized what was going on," says Nadeau.

Hyperfocus In Children: Can It Be Trained?

If a child with ADHD tends to get lost in a favorite activity, parents or teachers should first take steps to limit the amount of time the child is allowed to spend on the activity.

"Even if a child is on ADHD medication, playing Nintendo will always be more attractive than studying for a math test," says Biederman. "So the child should be allowed to play it only in doses - not at the expense of an entire day."

"If you have a child who hyperfocuses on a favorite activity, you'll need to counter this tendency by being extra-vigilant about limiting the time spent on the activity and about being careful to stick to his schedule," says Carol Brady, Ph.D., a Houston psychologist. "It can also help to make an agreement with your child ahead of time about when the activity can be done, and when it can't."

Then, it's essential to develop a system to help your kids redirect their focus. When the time comes to conclude the activity, Brady recommends being a bit flexible and, if possible, waiting for a natural break - the conclusion of a TV show, for example.

But it's not enough to give the child a time limit and expect her to stop. "I tell parents they'll need to do something to break the 'trance' their child is in," says Silver, "such as tapping him on the shoulder, waving a hand in front of his face, or standing between him and the television or computer screen." Unless you do, he says, the child may not even realize that you are trying to get his attention.

"These children aren't being disobedient," says Nadeau. "Their brains just aren't registering what you're saying. That's why the interruption should never be done angrily, and why you should allow a few minutes for the shift in attention to occur. It's almost like pulling someone out of a dream."

To help smooth this process, Nadeau recommends taking the time to educate your child about the way his or her brain works. "Your child needs to understand why it's hard for her to stop doing something she's really into," she says. "The child also needs to know that, because of this, teachers and parents may have to intervene from time to time to stop an activity."

How Can I Train My ADHD Hyperfocus?

For adults with ADHD, managing bouts of hyperfocus requires setting up external cues to redirect their attention. "This sort of intense focus isn't something you can just buck up and talk yourself out of," says Barkley.

Nadeau, who has ADHD herself, often experiences hyperfocus when she tackles a writing project. So she sets a timer to remind herself of appointments she needs to keep or phone calls she needs to make. Computer messages, designed to pop up on the screen at preset times, can also be useful. So is enlisting the help of a spouse or co-worker. "I worked with one man who got so absorbed in his work that he trained a colleague to come and pull him out of his office for meetings," says Nadeau.

Another of Nadeau's patients was in the habit of working on his computer after dinner. "He would completely zone out," says Nadeau, "to the point where his wife would go to bed and he wouldn't even notice. He'd just keep working until two or three in the morning." Exasperated, the man's wife began literally pulling the plug on his computer when bedtime arrived. "It was the only way to get his attention," says Nadeau.

Trigger ADHD Hyperfocus By Making Boring Tasks More Compelling

Ultimately, the best way to deal with hyperfocus is not to fight it but to harness it. "If school or work can be made stimulating, it will grab focus in the same way," says Nadeau.

"Kids with ADHD are demanding a higher standard of teaching," says William Sears, M.D., associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine. "A child with ADHD gets bored quickly when he's asked to memorize a bunch of history dates. But if he helps write a play on the subject and then performs in it, he's going to shine."

The same is true for adults. "A job that provides public accountability, along with more immediate and enjoyable consequences, can be ideal for those with ADHD," says Barkley. "Perhaps this is why 35 percent of people with ADHD are self-employed by the time they're in their thirties - a figure far higher than the norm."

The Upside of ADHD Hyperfocus

Once you learn to turn hyperfocus to your favor, it can be a built-in advantage. Stories abound about individuals with ADHD who can concentrate intently for long stretches of time on complex projects.

"When I used to direct TV commercials, I could never get myself to sit down and do an expense report," says Frank Coppola, of New York City, an ADHD coach who himself has ADHD. "But on the set, I'd have nine things going on simultaneously, and I could focus on all of them without any problem."

"I coach baseball," notes Sears, "and I always put kids with ADHD in as pitchers and catchers. As pitchers, their ability to hyperfocus helps them focus on the target, and as catchers, it heightens their awareness of the batter. Kids with ADHD make great hockey goalies for the same reason. When the puck's at the other end of the rink, they're looking around, distracted - but as soon as the puck comes down the rink toward them, they click in to hyperfocus and become very alert."
[Read This Next: Hyperfocus - a Blessing & a Curse]
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Hyperfocus: The ADHD Phenomenon of Intense Fixation

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Hyperfocus, a common - but confusing - symptom of ADHD, is the ability to zero in intensely on an interesting project or activity for hours at a time. It is the opposite of distractibility, and it is common among both children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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ADHD brains have difficulty with organization, time management, and modulating focus. Check out these helpful tips to make that daunting to-do list more approachable

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How to Homework: Top 10 Tips for ADHD Success