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IB SEN Tuition Diary -- Drifting Minds, Dazzling Futures: Rethinking ADHD as VAST

Once upon a time, there was a disorder. Or so they said. It was given a name, and that name was ADHD. It had all the makings of a respectable affliction—deficits, dysfunctions, disruptions. Neat little D-words, medical and ominous. But names, like maps, don’t always tell the truth about the terrain.#ADHD #VAST #Neurodiversity #IBSEN #PrivateTutoring #ExecutiveFunction #StrengthBasedLearning

Dr. Edward M. Hallowell and Dr. John J. Ratey argue that what we call ADHD is not a disorder at all. It is a trait, a particular configuration of the mind, neither wholly a gift nor wholly a curse. They call it VAST: Variable Attention Stimulus Trait.#ADHD #VAST #Neurodiversity #IBSEN #PrivateTutoring #ExecutiveFunction #StrengthBasedLearning

It’s not that people with ADHD can’t pay attention—it’s that their attention follows different laws, tides pulled by unseen moons. A classroom lecture may be a desert, but a favourite topic, a high-stakes challenge, a moving target? Suddenly, their focus is a laser. Traditional schooling misreads this shiftiness as a failure rather than what it is: a different kind of hunger.

The problem is not the trait. The problem is a world designed for different kinds of brains.#ADHD #VAST #Neurodiversity #IBSEN #PrivateTutoring #ExecutiveFunction #StrengthBasedLearning

If you’re raising a child with ADHD, you are not raising a broken machine in need of repair. You are raising a wild, bright thing, a mind that lights up unpredictably, that follows threads others don’t see. You are raising a child who, in the wrong hands, might be told they are lazy, careless, slow, when in fact, they are none of these things. ADHD #VAST #Neurodiversity #IBSEN #PrivateTutoring #ExecutiveFunction #StrengthBasedLearning

You will need patience. You will need new tools. You will need to unlearn what you thought you knew about attention, success, discipline.ADHD #VAST #Neurodiversity #IBSEN #PrivateTutoring #ExecutiveFunction #StrengthBasedLearning

📖 🌱 The Gift of ADHD – Dr. Lara Honos-Webb

📖 🔎 Smart but Scattered – Dr. Peg Dawson & Dr. Richard Guare

📖 🎯 Delivered from Distraction – Dr. Edward M. Hallowell & Dr. John J. Ratey

ADHD is not a flaw in the design. It is a different way of seeing, thinking, being. It is a trait that, given the right environment, can become a superpower. But the world is not built for this kind of mind. That’s why it’s up to parents, teachers, and mentors to reshape the world to fit them, rather than the other way around.ADHD #VAST #Neurodiversity #IBSEN #PrivateTutoring #ExecutiveFunction #StrengthBasedLearning

After all, some of the greatest minds in history—Einstein, Da Vinci, Mozart—would have been labeled as problems in the wrong classroom.ADHD #VAST #Neurodiversity #IBSEN #PrivateTutoring #ExecutiveFunction #StrengthBasedLearning

The question isn’t “How do we fix ADHD?”The question is “How do we unlock its potential?”


💬 Need support for your child’s learning? I offer tailored IB & GCSE English tuition for neurodiverse students. Let’s make ADHD a strength, not a struggle.


 
 
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