In mainstream, school counsellors engages the Nurse Clinician (NC) to interview the student after student settle in the school for at least 6 months across more than 2 or more settings and struggles with academic, social and work functions before the age of 12. Teachers and SEN Officer use the ADHD teacher rating skill and submit to the NC for the Panel at REACH to ascertain child meet the criteria of ADHD.

As for the 3rd activity, I realised that using auditory sense for me is a bad idea. I had to listen to the entire podcast which actually the presenter was explaining his slides of the neurons transmission which I could only imagined and self-visualised. I had to use my prior knowledge to the anatomy and physiology of the brain to make sense to the presentation. I was using my coping mechanism of prior knowledge to the lecture podcast.

Earlier today, I had a parents meeting regarding a student diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD is one of the common profiles in mainstream school and today lesson widen my knowledge of the disorder and understand more about the neuroscience of the ADHD Brain. It made me aware why my student exhibit poor attention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

From Activity 3, it was mentioned that its not about how smart you are when it comes to ADHD. We seen successful people from influential sportsperson like Michael Jordan to famous physician like Albert Einstein with ADHD and able to achieve their personal goals. Mainly its about the support system in the education and family environment to help them to manage their difficulties.

I initially found the first two activities challenging due to the visual simulation and noise, which were VERY distracting. This experience reminded me of how individuals with ADHD often pay too much attention to everything, leading to inconsistent attention. Seeing Katie, the reader/teacher, getting frustrated resonated with me a lot, as I've often witnessed teachers becoming frustrated with children who have ADHD. These children struggle to sustain their attention, which can significantly impact their emotional well-being, but to the teachers, they are frustrated as to why these kids just couldn't understand what have been taught seconds ago.

The third activity, which involved listening to an audio clip, was particularly difficult. The presenter frequently referred to visual elements that I couldn't see, making it hard for me to visualize the content, especially since it was unfamiliar to me. This aligns with the ADHD experience, where individuals often find it challenging to process information in a linear fashion, as they live in a "permanent present" and struggle with planning and organizing tasks.

Another challenge was listening to the 30mins audio clip. I realized that I'm definitely not an auditory learner. It was a frustrating process trying to figure out what was mentioned. I felt so guilty for taking so long to process the information and jotting down key points, especially knowing that my partner Jane was waiting for me. This struggle left to an important learning point: incorporating visuals in teaching is important in making learning more accessible and meaningful, especially for our students with diverse needs.

The ADHD simulator video was especially interesting. It involved answering eight comprehension questions while watching the video, but there were several distractions throughout, making it hard to focus. When the questions came up, I realized I couldn't answer them well, which really put things into perspective. Another video showed a person struggling to concentrate, with constant thoughts running through his mind, even as the teacher repeated important facts.

Through these videos and readings, I now have a much better understanding of the challenges students with ADHD or other attention-related impairments face. Their difficulty in focusing and completing tasks isn’t due to laziness or a lack of effort—it often stems from emotional responses and external distractions.

For another activity, I listened to a 34-minute audio on Neuroscience & the ADHD Brain. It was quite a challenge because I had to visualize what Dr. Jovel Nick was describing about how an ADHD brain functions differently from a typical brain. But it was definitely insightful!

With this newfound knowledge, I now see that ADHD students are not lazy or out of control. With the right strategies, consistent support, extra patience, and giving them more time to process information, they can become more composed, focused, and successful in completing their tasks.

One key takeaway is the variation in ADHD symptoms between males and females. It is evident that using a stereotypical lens in identifying symptoms can lead to misdiagnosis or delays in intervention, particularly for females. Females with ADHD are often overlooked, and this delayed diagnosis can result in more severe issues such as low self-esteem and anxiety. This highlights the importance of increasing awareness and refining diagnostic approaches to ensure early and accurate identification.

The lesson activities provided valuable insights by allowing us to experience the challenges faced by individuals with ADHD. I realized how environmental distractions can significantly impact one's ability to focus. Personally, I acknowledge that I am easily distracted and hence, often engage in scribbling or typing during lectures to maintain focus and for content retention. In my workplace, colleagues seated beside me would notice that I tend to read aloud while replying to emails or working on tasks that require reading. I have come to understand that this is my way of coping with external distractions and minimizing background conversations that divert my attention.

Medication is not a cure for ADHD but rather a tool that aids in better intervention. The effectiveness of medication relies heavily on the correct dosage. I have witnessed students who were prescribed lower-than-needed dosages leading to ineffectiveness, as well as students who were given overly strong dosages, leading to difficulties in classroom participation.

It is importance to leverage on the strengths and interests of individuals with ADHD to support their learning journey. ADHD does not mean an inability to commit. When one harnessed the strength effectively, individuals can unlock their full potential.

ADHD in girls can look like this: daydreaming quietly in class, feeling anxious or sad, exhibiting silliness or apparent ditziness, acting shy or inattentive, trouble maintaining friendships, picking at cuticles or skin and/or being a perfectionist.

This is an aha moment for me as I reflect on how I must become more aware of the female students in my class exhibiting ADHD symptoms. Often, I do not see a chatty behaviour combined with the "daydreaming" behaviour as a sign that the girl might have ADHD. This must change. I thought back to my very first school which was an all-girls primary school and remember how some girls were extremely chatty with some showing hyperactivity behaviours but I did not think too much about that then, except to shout at them fiercely. Now, I realise they might have been exhibiting ADHD symptoms!

As ADHD is an invisible disability, it is important to be alert and unlock each child's potential. As Dr Liz said, people with ADHD can go either directions, towards success or towards jail time. If we react in the wrong manner and do not provide the right support to our students with special needs, it is really detrimental to the students as a whole.

Another one of my takeaways was the set of ADHD stimulation videos that I showed my husband and son as well. I hope they can better understand what an ADHD brain goes through with the various videos. For my husband, I hope he will remind himself to be more patient with our son when our son forgets whatever skills that his father has just taught him. For our son, it is really more of self-awareness and learning that he can change his ADHD into a superpower and succeed in life, if he puts his mind to it.

After my son was diagnosed with ADHD recently, I started to notice a lot of my students showing similar symptoms in school so I began to introduce "brain breaks" in my lessons so that my students can exercise, move about, dance happily after a certain learning task. I really believe the "brain breaks" help my students to focus better before and after that learning task (for e.g. finish two pages of the workbook) as they have something to look forward to when they complete for instance, one of the learning objectives. There are tons of YouTube videos entitled "brain breaks for kids" so I highly recommend using this strategy for kids of all ages. Everybody needs to move!

While medication may be able to help individuals with behaviours that affect their daily living by reducing the intensity of the characteristics, I think it is important for parents and teachers to equip children with executive functioning skills from a young age. Developing these skills takes time and practice. Thus, intentionally providing learning experiences and opportunities to reinforce these skills will help every child, regardless of their ADHD condition, cope better when tasked with more complex responsibilities in different environments as they transit across academic levels over time. It reminded me much about the importance of strengthening Tier 1 support as it would benefit all/most students and if the students with ADHD still require further support, more intentional and individualized intervention can be provided to them at Tier 2. As different individuals with ADHD may have different presenting issues, perhaps SEN Officers supporting them (Tier 2 support) should consider their needs, strengths and interests when customising the intervention for it to be more effective. 

“It is time for those in the mental health game to recognize how damaging the deficit-based model is to patients. It is time to replace it with the strength-based model, which doesn’t deny that ADHD carries potentially life-threatening risks, but also seeks out and identifies the talents, interests, and skills upon which the person can build a life of success and joy.”

— Dr. Edward M. Hallowell

This quote in one of the articles my group read left a lasting impression on me. 

As teachers and parents, while we try to intervene and support children with ADHD behaviours by teaching them coping strategies, we should not forget to empathise with them as the ADHD struggles they face daily are involuntary. We could start by recognising their strengths and build on them as we guide them to use the skills learnt to cope with the difficulties - one day at a time.

The lesson was both memorable and intense for me. Listening to a 30-minute podcast without visuals was quite challenging—it really tested my willpower. The different accents and the technical terminology related to neuroscience were frustrating, but as a committed student, I felt it was my responsibility to complete the task to the best of my ability. After 20 minutes, I felt angry and frustrated, unable to fully grasp the content, so I decided to upload the podcast to OneNote for its transcription feature. What a relief it was to read through the transcript—it brought back the joy of learning. I couldn't help but think about my former students dealing with ADHD. In that moment, I deeply empathized with their struggles and vulnerability—their strong desire to succeed, yet feeling defeated by the lack of effective coping mechanisms or strategies. I also felt their pain of sitting through hours of lessons, unable to grasp the content. My heart ached for them. I know that after this lesson with Dr. Liz, my perspective on students with ADHD has shifted. The following message is engraved in my heart: ADHD is often misunderstood as 'naughty' or daydreaming, but it's important to recognize that individuals with ADHD can't control these behaviors. Instead of focusing on these challenges, educators should focus on the strengths of the individual. By viewing ADHD on a spectrum, the goal is to support these individuals in moving towards more successful outcomes, while viewing them through a different, more empathetic lens.

It is just as interesting to note that ADHD was recognised by some doctors as early as 1902 and the understanding of it remained so as late as 1980. That understanding was basically of behaviour problems of little boys which included not being able to keep still. After 1980, the understanding of the term ADHD expanded.

Some common challenges of people with ADHD includes problems with working memory, control of their actions(e.g slowing down when they need to and speeding up when they have to) and regulation of sleep/emotion/alertness.

On top of that, I was intrigued to hear that ADHD is hereditary and either mother or father of the person with ADHD, would have it.

My other A-HA moment was the explanation of low Norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter linked to dopamine which helps control the brain's reward and pleasure center, in people with ADHD. The ADHD brain has impaired neurotransmitter activity in 4 functional regions of the brain.

1) Frontal Cortex: linked to attention, executive function, organisation

2) Limbic system: regulates emotions and attention

3) basal ganglia: linked to inattention and impulsivity.

4) Reticular activating system: linked to inattention, impulsivity, hyperactivity.

Throughout the lesson, I was actively applying what i was reading and seeing in my mind. I was visualizing my students, past and present who had ADHD and the approach the schools had towards them. I now feel that the approach to assist these students can be significantly improved. I also feel that society as a whole, which includes, parents, siblings, relatives, teachers, SEN Os, admin staff, after-school care staff, all have a role to play in deciding how a child with ADHD grows and learns skills which are necessary for him/her to be contributing members of society.

The ADHD simulation also caused some stress in me as there were so many distractions and I did not know what to focus on. It pains me to realise that people with ADHD have to deal with this in their daily lives, and it makes me realise why others say that people with ADHD are "easily angry" or have "anger management issues". Being in their shoes for that short simulation, I was already very frustrated, what's more for them, who are constantly facing it.

I like learning about strategies on how to help people with ADHD, and I find that these are strategies that we can use in our daily lives as well. Sometimes, the easiest way to help someone is to put yourself in their shoes and think about how we would like to be helped.

Strategies mentioned such as using a timer, and putting on high energy music to rev ourselves up are simple things that we can easily do. I find myself agreeing with these strategies as they would help anyone, with or without ADHD.

I hear many people saying "boys are like that, they are active" when it comes to diagnosing a child with ADHD. Also for girls, it is said that girls tend to "daydream" and "chat more", hence it is harder to diagnose girls for ADHD. However, I wonder how we can differentiate and allow the parents to understand that it is more than hyperactivity or the above-mentioned signs.

Again, there are many success stories of people with ADHD so I do hope that people with ADHD do not give up just because of their diagnosis. Rather than looking at their diagnosis/ weaknesses, we should focus on their strengths.

Another matter that hit me was  the mind jumping from one thought to another. Now I understand why conversations with someone who has ADHD might feel disjointed and could be all over the place. It is not that they're being rude or not paying attention, it ss simply how their brains are wired.

It is worth noting that unlike how the teacher was losing her patient in the video and kept saying “ I told you this for so many times, are you not listening?” it is crucial to avoid quick judgments. We often assume people are intentionally disengaged when, in reality, they might be struggling with something we can't see.

On the otherhand, Dr. Joel Nick’s research was also insightful. Hearing the audio recording of his findings really brought the science behind ADHD to life, although it was tough to imagine how the areas of the brain in his discussions were, I had to pull a photo of areas of brain from google and continue listening. It was fascinating how ADHD affects information processing, impacting focus, impulse control, and emotional regulation. One intriguing question he posed was about kids being able to focus on video games but not schoolwork.  The idea of a disconnect in signal transmission within the brain helps explain why someone with ADHD might struggle to stop playing a game, and switch back to studying. It is not a matter of willpower, but a disconnection in the flow from one circuit that affects our impulses to another, it is mainly a difference in brain function.

While ADHD is an invisible disability that is often misunderstood and easily misjudged, I am hoping that many more will learn to be more emphatic especially for the sturggles human eyes  can't see and human mind can't comprehend fully.

I found the website "Unlocking ADHD" exceptionally interesting, because of how it started. I think that it is remarkable that Moonlake Lee wants to use her and her daughter's past experiences to help similar individuals who are feeling helpless about their diagnosis. It is also a good page for people who simply want to know more, or use the self assessment tool provided to gauge if they need to seek professional help. The website incorporates a user-friendly interface for people to use easily! It would be great if there were more awareness about ADHD, as it is a hidden disability with not much information.. If not for the simulation activities, I would not have known that ADHD individuals go through so much trouble in their daily life 😫

I learnt some new facts; that ADHD can be passed down through generations, the list of other conditions that can be 'look-alikes' for ADHD.

For students that I taught, the inattention component is less observed generally compared to the hyperactivity/impulsivity. Hence there can be a misconception that a person with ADHD must appear fidgety, hyperactive, impulsive. Now that there is more awareness of the condition, I am glad those who are presenting predominantly 'inattentive' are also quickly identified. Previously these students may be written off as lazy, unmotivated, dreamy etc. As in other learning conditions or disabilities, I fully subscribe and believe in the strengths-based approach when working with students with ADHD. The struggles and challenges these students face are enormous, and constant..and teachers are often worn out managing them. Collaboration with experts (SENO, psychologists), parents and teachers are key in designing a holistic plan for them. Knowing their interests, strengths, what they are good at is the first step. Establishing trust is also impt as most enter secondary school with a limiting mindset especially if they are in the 'lower' academic streams - academic failure is quite a common experience. I am glad to observe some students with ADHD growing out of some disruptive habits as they enter Upper Sec due to their consistent practice of strategies - whether behavioural or communications. Strengthening protective factors within school does contribute to their wellbeing and hence resilience. They must know that they are good in 'something'. As for my students with ADHD who are still work-in- progress even at 16 yrs old or 17, I will always remind them the 'bicycle brakes' in their mind are within their control.

People with ADHD can excel at things they care about, which is why many are entrepreneurs. However, they often struggle with organization and sticking to a plan, like following through with tasks. Sleep can also be an issue because their minds are constantly racing, and they may have trouble managing emotions, holding onto their feelings and getting stuck on frustrating things.

Working memory can be fuzzy too—they might remember something one moment but forget it the next. Being in constant motion is also common. Socially, they might struggle with relationships, which is why some people with ADHD have challenges working closely with others.

Interestingly, some famous people like Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Michael Phelps, and Justin Timberlake have ADHD too.

Instead of seeing ADHD as a problem, with the right strategies, people with ADHD can turn these challenges into strengths, almost like a superpower.

Activity 1 – The video was overwhelming. I had difficulties trying to figure out what to focus on. I felt like a failure as I was only able to get 2 answers correct.  

Activity 3 - In the first task, I had selected to attempt the audio task (podcast). It was a challenging to learn from the podcast as I had to rely on auditory abilities alone to make sense of the content. It was tough having to learn without the use of visuals. Thankfully there was the option to stop and restart the podcast so that notes could be taken, and diagrams could be drawn so that I could make better sense of the content learnt.

To sum it up, what I had experienced was, I believe a tiny fraction of what an individual with ADHD experiences in a day at school. Adaptations to teaching are a necessity for these individuals to learn and experience a sense of success in what they do. This experience had also granted me the opportunity to be in the shoes of one with ADHD and has indeed humbled me as an educator.