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ADHD and the Magic of Learning Styles
By Dana Rayburn, Adult ADD Coach

ADDed Success Is The Monthly Online Ezine for Adults with ADHD from ADHD Coach Dana Rayburn.

Welcome to ADDed Success,

Have you ever wondered what the deal is with ADHD and learning?

Think about it. Those of us with ADHD tend to be smart people. And, we're interested in just about everything. Then why do you suppose two of the major steps of learning, paying attention and remembering, are so hard for us to do?

Well, wonder no more. Over the next few months I'm devoting ADDed Success to sharing my favorite learning tool with you. When you use this tool you'll be amazed at what you can do to make learning easier. Read on to discover the magic of learning styles.

Now, on to the good stuff!

Discover the Magic of Learning Styles
Imagine this. You read a fascinating magazine article. Yet a few hours later you try to tell a friend what you've read only to find you've forgotten most of the details.

If you have ADHD you probably know first-hand how frustrating this can be. Luckily, you don't have to be at the whim of your brain.

Let's replay the scenario. Except this time, since you're a faithful reader of ADDed Success, you know about learning styles and can change the outcome of the situation.

Imagine you read the same fascinating article. Yet, as you read, you use a couple of tricks to supercharge your learning style. Later, when you talk to your friend, you remember what you've read and easily share all the juicy details.

When you have ADHD it's often hard to learn. It can be a struggle to get information into your brain and too darn easy to forget.

It's no surprise; school children aren't the only people who need to learn. Activities you do everyday, such as listening to a speaker, watching a TV show or reading a magazine, demand the ability to take in information and later recall it.

Fortunately, you can use a nifty tool called learning styles to help you learn. When you discover and artfully manage your most effective learning styles, you'll live more effortlessly with ADHD.

A note before we dive into the details. The world is bursting with research on learning styles (also called learning modalities). Since my purpose is to help people with ADHD succeed, I have bypassed what I see as unnecessary complexities of this topic. This is my unconventional, unscientific approach to using learning styles with ADHD.

Okay. Are you ready to dig in?

What are learning styles? Learning styles are the sensory pathways through which people receive and store information. In other words, learning styles are how we get information into our brains so we can make sense of it and remember it.

You'll typically see learning styles divided into three categories: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Yet I find people with ADHD respond better to the following five styles:

• Visual (learning by seeing)
  
• Auditory (learning by hearing)
  
• Kinesthetic (learning by doing or by feeling emotion)
  
• Verbal (learning by talking)
  
• Cognitive (learning by thinking)
  

The Last Word

Before I became a coach, I'd been exposed to the idea of learning styles, but I didn't think they were very useful. It wasn't until my training to be an ADHD coach that I made the connection between using my learning styles and managing my ADHD.

Actually, I'd been using my learning styles for years to improve my life without knowing what I was doing.

In my freshman year of college, I transformed from a lifetime as a C student to an honors student by figuring out what I needed to do to get good grades on tests. I started taking notes during class and rewriting them to prepare for tests. I found I could memorize lists of definitions by singing them to the tunes of my favorite songs.

As a young driver, I frequently experienced near-miss car accidents. The cars in front of me would stop, and I wouldn't notice until the last moment. When I was 20, just by chance, I bought a car with a manual transmission. It took me a while before I realized my tendency towards near-miss car accidents had stopped.

What do you think my primary learning style is?

To Your ADDed Success,
Dana