For anyone who has ever played a team sport, drills at practice and coaches gathering players to explain and lay out the workout for the day are a familiar scene.
A teacher explaining a worksheet before handing it out seems like a task many students wouldn’t think twice about. But for many, like Elise Harron, tasks like these and the process of actively listening, understanding and then proceeding proves difficult.
Harron is no stranger to soccer, having played for over a decade in her youth, but she recalled frequent instances when paying attention during practice was challenging.
“A coach would explain a drill, and I would be sitting there thinking I was paying attention, and then he would [say] ‘go in groups and do it.’ I would always [ask] ‘what are we actually supposed to do?’ People [were] always like, ‘do you not listen?’” she said. “I was sitting there listening, but it's just I don't know.”
This past summer, Harron, a sophomore at University of Wisconsin-Madison, was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The diagnosis helped her understand past struggles with attentiveness on the soccer field, she said.
Harron is part of a larger community of students with ADHD on college campuses. A national NIH study in 2022 found that 5.6% of students had ADHD.
At UW-Madison, 1,600 students report having ADHD, according to the McBurney Disability Resource Center, a number McBurney access consultant Noah Gill said has nearly tripled in the past six years.
ADHD is “a developmental disorder marked by persistent symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity that interfere with functioning or development,” according to The National Institute of Mental Health. Symptoms can begin in childhood and are well documented with adolescents. Mental health professionals assist with the diagnosis of the disorder.
After her freshman year, Harron took the Vanderbilt Assessment — a tool designed to evaluate ADHD symptoms — and was diagnosed with ADHD. She worked with Gill to determine her academic needs and accommodations for the school year.
“Some people might say that they daydream in class,” she said. “That's kind of how my whole day is.”
The process involves reporting the diagnosis to McBurney and then deciding on the appropriate accommodations, Gill said.
“With ADHD, we have to think: what's the barrier that the university is creating? Oftentimes it's something like, no matter how hard I try on exams, I continuously zone out. I lose my focus, or I have to reread the exam questions three times, and I run out of time by the end of the exam,” he said. “Then the amount of time we provide on the exam is probably a barrier, and so we'll adjust that to ensure that students have a reasonable chance of finishing it on time.”
For Harron, new testing accommodations have been helpful this fall semester. Last year, people simply moving or getting up during a test would cause her to lose focus and stress. In a smaller testing setting and with breaks, she’s found more success, she said.
Harron also gets breaks every 30 minutes and believes the change of scenery helps reset her mind, move her body and focus. She took one during her first test this semester and was able to utilize her breaks to focus her mind.
“I was trying to think [about] a problem, and my brain just couldn't focus,” Harron said of her testing experience. “But then I took a break and changed the scenery. I went outside and my mind focused, and I just thought about the problem.”
Harron has found success working with others through a process called mirroring, or body-doubling to study. Having someone across the table who is focused and motivated to get their work done inspires the same in you and is a common study method for students with ADHD, she said.
“Say I'm studying with you when you're locked in, I mirror you, and then I'm able to focus,” Harron said.
Accommodations and study strategies are among the more popular tactics used by students with ADHD. In addition to their better-known testing accommodations, McBurney can also work with students to find solutions for studying and help build strong habits.
The organization recommends students use note-taking software that is easy to use to help process big blocks of information which can pose as barriers to students with ADHD, Gill said. McBurney also offers the Study and Learning Skills Program, supervised by Gill, which allows students with disabilities to work one-on-one with a tutor to develop skills such as time management and exam preparation.
UW-Madison also offers a variety of subject-specific Learning Centers, organized places where students can receive specialized support for different subjects. Harron joined the Chemistry Learning Center this semester as she tackles organic chemistry.
University Health Services also offers workshops and small group discussions for students with ADHD to learn more about the disorder and meet other students with ADHD, Gill said.
“Everybody has a right to learn whether they have a disability or not,” Gill said. “We are honored to protect that and to allow students to access education. We need to ensure that students have equal access.”
Understanding the barriers students with ADHD face can help others recognize why providing equal access is so important, according to Gill. He also recognized the rising levels of students with ADHD enrolled through McBurney reflects a community built to support fellow classmates.
“I think as we provide services to more students, they tell their friends, ‘Hey, what you're going through sounds like something that I was struggling with and the McBurney Center helped me, maybe you should check into it,’” Gill said. “Just by nature of networking and students trying to support their friends, the number continues to grow.”
And with increased awareness, stigma surrounding ADHD will decrease, Gill said.
“As a community, I think that this stigma around mental health has been decreasing over time,” explained Gill. “I think that people are starting to recognize these ‘invisible disabilities’ that you can't always see, like ADHD.”
