People with ADHD Can Learn to Focus
A guest post by Liz Adams, Ph.D., Minnesota Neuropsychology
Focus is like a wave with its own momentum that is part of a larger process. It ebbs and flows. It can carry you if you catch it at the right moment. People with ADHD have focus but have a hard time seeing the wave and riding it in certain circumstances.
The "inattentive" part of ADHD is best understood as a problem with assigning, sustaining, and regulating focus. The deficit is not in the amount of focus but instead in the individual's ability to direct that focus toward a designated task and in the specified time frame. Many people with ADHD have high levels of focus and can “hyper-focus" on areas or tasks of interest.
People with ADHD have difficulty directing attention, initiating the task, sustaining task persistence, filtering distractions, and re-engaging with the task after interruption. Limited tolerance for designated tasks can lead to a narrow engagement window, resulting in difficulty focusing on a task one perceives as too easy, too hard, or uninteresting.
Treatment for ADHD includes a variety of strategies that help the individual develop their capacity to assign, sustain, and regulate their focus on a given task.
Overcoming any overwhelming task starts with acknowledging the power of the task and how big it seems to you. Then, adopt a belief of competence and confidence in your ability to complete the task or find support when needed.
Break the task into small, manageable steps which you can complete. Each small success will motivate you to conquer the next small step.
An evaluation can help to pinpoint where children and adults with ADHD struggle the most and get them started in the right direction of finding help.
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