Breaking the Mold: Embracing Neurodivergence and Redefining Productivity
Lessons from the Classroom: Productivity isn’t always a natural state for everyone, and those who struggle with ADHD and ASD have the biggest hurdles. It’s time to explore what’s holding us back and redefine our productivity.
Productivity isn’t easy for everyone all the time. While I can be productive and focused, I have gone through these ebb-and-flow cycles: bursts of energy and a sustained ability to get things, followed by a need to crash and unplug.
However, this understanding of varied productivity reached a new level when I entered the classroom many years ago. It didn’t take long to notice students who fidget and talk to others around them. They might have small bursts of work, but they also daydream. Disrupt.
At first glance, these students appear to lack motivation. Some teachers even call them lazy. This lack of doing is so much more profound than that, though, because these students, many of whom have ADHD and possibly ASD (autism spectrum disorder), are so much more. Remembering their faces and sometimes names over more than 15 years of teaching, I soon found another common thread. Intelligence, Energy. And, believe it or not, focus, but mainly with a passion. Most often, it was gaming; for one student, it was everything skateboarding.
These students stand out to me, not because I was annoyed with them as their teacher, but because I admired their zeal for life and energy. I also saw an inner greatness in these students that I felt didn’t need changing. It only required harnessing, and that was not something I could do. They had to do it themselves and needed a path to get them there.
There has been so much in the news about neurodivergence lately. With our current political climate, politicians are fanning the flames that vaccines cause autism and that ADHD is not “a thing.” I am here to offer a different point of view: One that has only been enhanced by all the awesome kids I have been around. These two so-called afflictions are a gift — almost a superpower. Kids with this neurodivergence can do amazing things greater than anyone imagined if they can be themselves and grow.
Too often, we have cookie-cutter molds we expect everyone to fit in. I myself do not fit in this mold, and I don’t want to. Classrooms with lectures, notetaking, and regurgitation are antiquated. That is how teachers taught when I was in school, and Newsflash: I hated it. It bored me. My favorite classes were where I could do experiments and explore and where I could write and be imaginative.
One of the biggest struggles for any neurodivergent person is deadlines. For kids who have these struggles, these deadlines should be flexible while helping them learn strategies to get better at reaching a deadline. Deadlines do not come naturally to someone who loses track of time because they get stuck in their head. It takes time to learn and create habits that improve productivity. We expect 12-year-olds to do this when even adults struggle with it.
While deadlines are helpful, I also believe in flexibility, retakes, and second chances. I am thankful I have been able to give those second chances to students, and I never judge students who don’t turn in work on time or are missing. I have learned that there is always a reason. Sometimes, yes, it is that they are neurodivergent. Other times, a sibling might have cancer, or they might have trauma.
As a society, we expect everyone to fit in this perfect mold, including ourselves. Too often, we don’t give ourselves the flexibility to grow and learn. We don’t realize that we need to develop a skill that we’ve needed to move forward, much like my students struggling with focus in the classroom need skills and strategies to overcome these struggles. We were once those kids. We have just learned to mask and hide it better. Growth isn’t always at a lightning pace, but once you have momentum, you cannot stop.
That is why I have developed the “I Can Do It” system and the concept of growth that can happen naturally. We do not fit in cookie-cutter molds because our complex lives are so multifaceted that juggling it all takes actual skill. It is time we stopped beating ourselves up for not reaching that ideal model of success and enjoyed growing and striving.
If you want to learn more, click the button below to take the quiz and learn more about what is stopping your productivity.
