And when I had homework, I had to write it down in a very specific, fiddly way: date at the top, underline in red pen, write the subject name, underline that in red pen, then write down the assignment.

With one glance at the board, I knew instantly whether homework was being assigned in a given class. I wrote my homework in a dedicated homework book, which they checked at the end of the day. Thanks to these strategies, I went from the kid who couldn’t remember a permission slip to the girl who always had her homework (or made a conscious decision not to complete it). The best ones saved my life, and got me into the college I wanted.

I had (and have) primarily inattentive ADHD, but no one knew it, so I was on my own to make sense of peculiar brain and devise workarounds to survive in school.Īs I grew up and moved into Catholic middle and high school, several strategies emerged that helped me manage my neurodiversity. Once, my math teacher swore I’d spent the class period making my fancy erasers talk to each other, but really, I’d just arranged them in interesting patterns over and over. Thanks to my lackluster focus and attention, I made “careless mistakes” that dropped my As down to A-s time and time again. I sat in the back of the room, reading novels under my desk or staring out the window or drawing quietly when I should have been taking notes - and earning good marks nonetheless.

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