ADHD Awareness Month is recognised each October to raise awareness of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects one in 20 Australians.
Myths and misinformation that still exist around ADHD continue to create a stigma that can have a negative impact on the lives of those living with the condition. These impacts include challenges in accessing accurate information, timely diagnosis, and effective treatment, as well as ongoing tailored support.
To help highlight some of the issues people with ADHD still face, The Bursar spoke to Sydney-based psychologist Simon Wegman, from Deep Well Psychology to learn about how his own lived experience with ADHD helps inform the support he offers clients.
Lack of diagnosis led to education struggles
School days were a confusing time for Mr Wegman, he says – “and frustrating for my parents, because often people with ADHD can hyperfocus on things that interest them, but struggle with attention for things that don’t”.
“If I liked a subject or got on well with the teacher, I could throw myself into it and would sometimes even top the class. When the interest wasn’t there, it could get to the point that my parents were contacted by the teacher to discuss my distractibility and poor attitude,” he told The Bursar. “Going through my report cards with my parents was always a rollercoaster of emotions. They inevitably ended with a dressing down about consistency and how I was obviously capable but was only bothering to put the effort in half the time. The truth was I was putting way more effort into the subjects I didn’t enjoy, but it was like I was swimming against a current. It was far less effort when a subject resonated with me, because things I was interested in pulled me in like a rip.”
Mr Wegman believes that a general lack of awareness of what was then called ADD (now known as the inattentive presentation of ADHD), because “it was the hyperactive presentation that most people were aware of”.
“I wasn’t the kind of kid that couldn’t sit still or that you couldn’t turn your back on without them carving their initials into someone’s car,” Mr Wegman says. “Like many with predominantly inattentive symptoms, I fell through the cracks.”
After seeing a psychologist when he was around eight years of age, Mr Wegman remembers his parents being told that it wasn’t an issue of intelligence – but says that he was never screened for attentional issues.
“I do wonder how different my education experience would have been if it was diagnosed then. I think one of the biggest differences might have been more understanding from my parents and teachers. It might have helped with my organisation as well. It always felt like an uphill battle to know where I was supposed to be, what was due when, and how to ever be on time for anything,” he told The Bursar.
When he was in Year 12, he remembers arriving late for a double period of English, and the teacher asking him – in front of his entire class – if he was on drugs.
“Ironically, if I was medicated (or given any other additional support), maybe I would have been better able to navigate my way through the education system and have avoided so much ire from my teachers,” he says.
For Mr Wegman, realising he had ADHD was something he discovered for himself a few years ago while studying his Masters of Psychology.
” I was already well into my 30s by that point,” he says. “We were doing an introductory class on ADHD and were going over the symptom list. I raised my hand and said I was confused. ‘Doesn’t everybody have these symptoms?’ The concerned looks from the rest of the room made this a ‘eureka’ moment. I booked an appointment with a psychiatrist and got formally diagnosed a short time later,” he told The Bursar.
Although he was at the tail end of his education at that point, he says the biggest impact the realisation had on him was that it provided a long overdue explanation of why his time in the education system had often felt like “such a struggle”.
“I wasn’t lazy, I wasn’t unwilling, I was having to work extra hard and using compensatory strategies to make up for my neurodivergence. It meant that, even if I didn’t have teachers and parents being hard on me anymore, I was able to show myself some compassion instead of asking myself what the hell was wrong with my brain as I dragged myself through some of the less enjoyable units of my master’s program.”
Today, as a clinical psychologist, Mr Wegman does formal assessments for ADHD and other forms of neurodiversity.
The ADHD assessment process, he says, involves a clinical interview (including with parents/caregivers, in the case of young people), conducting a battery of psychometric tests, getting questionnaires filled in by the client and by observers (parents, teachers, partners, colleagues, etc., depending on life stage), and looking at school report cards, if available.
“All of those data are considered when making a diagnosis, as many things can impact executive functioning, so it’s important to ensure that ADHD is the disorder that best explains the symptoms,” Mr Wegman says. “Medication can be very helpful for those with a diagnosis of ADHD (prescribed by a psychiatrist or paediatrician), while I often work with my clients on behavioural strategies for increasing their organisation and productivity, avoiding procrastination, and achieving their own goals, whether these are related to their education, or any other aspect of their lives.”
To help young students currently going through the school system, Mr Wegman says he wishes primary and secondary teachers, as well as school support staff, could be better educated on ADHD, “so that they can spot students with symptoms and alert parents/caregivers, who may in turn consider having their child assessed”.
“It’s also important for all educators to understand the challenges students with ADHD face so they are not making unfair critical comments, which can impact a student’s self-esteem,” he told The Bursar. “There do tend to be special accommodations available for students with ADHD, such as separate or small group supervision and breaks during exams, but beyond this, the support available tends to vary based on the school or institution. Learning support around organisation and productivity can be very beneficial for those with ADHD but is not always offered.”
