HANNAH SEARSON, Director of Studies at BartyED, reflects on ADHD symptoms, its implications for learning, and how certain tutoring strategies can help support students with ADHD.
What are some common ADHD symptoms in children?
ADHD is a complex disorder, but we’re finding that more and more students and young people are being diagnosed with it. It impacts a number of different processes in a person, including memory, time management and attention. Most people can present with some signs of ADHD at one point or another – after all, the British National Health Service lists “high energy” as a possible symptom!
When it starts to become an issue is when a preponderance of these symptoms begin to impact a student’s learning or functioning in daily life.
Even if the signs and symptoms as presented are ambiguous, parents can always reach out to a qualified educational psychologist. These professionals will engage the student in a thorough assessment to see firstly if they even have ADHD, and if so, how it is impacting their learning.
What are the causes of ADHD, and how might screen time be connected with this?
Psychologists are still working on this very question! Most agree that there’s a genetic component to ADHD and other neurodivergences, but there’s no single, identifiable cause. For example, parents with ADHD are more likely to have kids with ADHD, but it isn’t a guarantee.
What’s clear though, is that excessive screen time doesn’t help! Even in people without ADHD, Harvard Medical School reports that screen time will impact a child’s creativity, attention span and even sleep. All of this can affect their academic performance.
The solution isn’t to eliminate screen time altogether – it’s simply not realistic in today’s world. But parents should pay close attention to how their child is impacted by their current screen usage, and see whether it can be reduced if you’re noticing negative impacts.
How do you support students with ADHD at BartyED?
Any neurodivergence can make learning more challenging, and we find that our ADHD students tend to “hit a wall” in their studies where their own coping strategies are no longer effective.
We start simple: redirection towards the tasks at hand can be helpful. We’ll also let our students have breaks if needed. Sometimes walking around our Centre or doing jumping jacks in the classroom can be a great way to “reset” and get those neurons firing!
Students with ADHD often feel the need to tell the tutor all about their latest source of fascination – after all, neurodivergent students are capable of incredible focus at times. We encourage the student to write down the topic they want to tell us about on the board, then they know that we’ll definitely come back to that and they can feel free to tell us all about the history of dinosaurs for five minutes at the end of the lesson. It can be a nice reward at the end of hard work!
Do you work with adults with ADHD?
Since we’re in the education rather than psychology space, we don’t tend to work with adults in the workplace, but we are more in demand for university-level support, particularly from neurodivergent students. These students have realised the need to develop study skills, and are finding the process outside of the safe scaffolding of the school environment intimidating. That’s where we can really help.
It’s worth remembering that while neurodiversity will inevitably impact someone who has received a diagnosis, it doesn’t have to hold them back academically. There are strategies and positive learning habits that can support progress and lead to stronger outcomes.
Contact BartyED at enquiries@bartyed.com or 2882 1017.
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This article on ADHD symptoms and causes and how BartyEd can support students with ADHD first appeared in the Autumn 2025 issue of Expat Living magazine. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe so you never miss a copy!
