The scenario: You’re an educator and there never seems to be enough time during classes to teach the material thoroughly. You find it difficult to keep students attentive and focused. If phones or other devices are allowed, they always seem to be on, and there always seems to be a reason to open a new tab or perform another Google search, and even when they’re turned off devices seem to have an enticing presence. Yet, if all devices are removed from their desks, the students look elsewhere for distractions. Perhaps they draw pictures or fidget with their pens or erasures. Anything, it seems, is more interesting to your students than the task at hand.
Does this scenario sound familiar? ADHD is a neurological disorder, but it is also a disorder that is affected by the environment in which a person lives. We have created a society that is full of sense stimuli, convenience, and ubiquitous advertisements promising all manner of immediate gratification. And despite all the conveniences of modern technology, no one seems to have any time. The world we live in, full of self-service and push-button routines, is beginning to look and sound like a giant pinball machine. And we wonder why our children have trouble sitting still or listening for hours at a time.
In a New York Times column published in 2014, Richard Friedman, Professor of Clinical Psychology…
