Jan 20
In this podcast, Tracy talks about the 10 things she wishes every teacher knew about their ADHD students. She decided to do a podcast on this subject because she noticed that many women in her Facebook group really struggled in school and are still struggling in school despite the fact that they are clearly bright. Tracy believes that if you can understand how your brain works, then you can start to identify your strengths and build hacks using those strengths. She believes that most ADHD students spend too much time focusing on their weaknesses. Tracy talks about the one thing that is most indicitive of success for people with ADHD and what successful people with ADHD say is much harder to deal with than the actual ADHD traits or symptoms. Learn what kind of educators make the best teachers for students with ADHD. Are ADHD students smart? Discover what strengths are associated with ADHD. Do you know about Discover the seven intellectual domains and which ones school teaches to. Hint: there are only two. Learn what the ADHD brain is wired for, and why it’s so important that students care about what they’re studying. Tracy talks about why she thinks ADHD is misnamed and why memorizing things that the ADHD student doesn’t care about is so difficult for him/her. Learn how we actually learn best. Discover why these students need to buy-in to a strategy or plan in order to be successful with it. Hear what Tracy thinks is the most useless comment that a teacher can make on a progress report about an ADHD student and why positive emotion is so important to all students but especially those with ADHD. Learn what happens to students who rebel against school and the education system. Discover the three ways that ADHD students can learn and why structure and consistency is so important for them. Tracy talks about positive illusory bias and how it affects ADHD students and why self-control is so much harder for these students. Discover the number one strength of most ADHD students and what the one common denominator tends to be for ADHD students who perform to their potential.
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"I really believe that the more they struggle, the more they are exceptional in one of those other intelligences."
- Tracy Otsuka
"I also don't believe that ADHD is a disorder. I just think it's a difference in brain wiring. It's the environment that's the problem."
- Tracy Otsuka
"We're creatives. We're the ones that are saying or thinking, let's make it better, we can do this, or we can change that. And the establishment hates that about us."
- Tracy Otsuka
- Tracy emphasizes the importance of having at least one supportive adult in a child's life to help them succeed, as a lack of belief and recognition of strengths can lead to negative self-concept and mental health issues.
- Tracy shares her experiences as a parent of an ADHD child and how their nonlinear brains can be both a strength and a challenge in the classroom.
- Tracy emphasizes the importance of connecting new information to existing knowledge and making lessons relevant to students' lives to improve learning outcomes.
[11:53 - 24:46] ADHD Students' Needs and Strengths
- Tracy highlights the challenges faced by ADHD students in traditional learning environments and the need for creative and personalized approaches to teaching.
- Tracy explains that self-control is not learned, but rather an inherent trait for children with ADHD, making it easier for educators to understand and be patient with them.
- ADHD brains think non-linearly, making them highly creative but also struggling with organizational tools, and each brain is unique, requiring trial and error to find what works best.
[24:46 - 34:35] ADHD, Self-Concept, Motivation, and Education
- Tracy emphasizes the importance of understanding and challenging ADHD students to help them reach their full potential.
- Tracy recommends the book "Dreamers, Discoverers, and Dynamos" by Lucy Joe Palladino for educators to learn how to support bright, bored, and underperforming students.
- Tracy discusses the connection between ADHD and creativity, highlighting the Edison trait children's openness to multiple sensory experiences and their daring imagination.
