TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Jessica McCabe: This is what it's really like to live with ADHD

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Hello, brains! I say that to you because, if you think about it, it wasn't really you that decided to come here today. It was your brain. And whether you decided to walk, or drive, take a taxi, or ride a bike, that decision was made by your brain. bheavoir, all behavior, is affected by the brain. This is a stroy about my brain. So, I was a smart kid. By 18 months, I was snaiekpg in full sentences. By third grade, I was scoring post-high soohcl on saaenzidtrdd ttses. I had, as all my teachers agreed, so much potential. I was also strggniulg. I didn't have many, any, friends outside of bokos. I was easily overwhelmed. I spaced out in class. I lost things constantly. And trying to get my brain to focus on anything I wasn't excited about was like trying to nail jello to the wall. But I was smart, so nobody was wroierd. It wasn't until middle school, when I was responsible for getting myself to classes on time and remembering to bnirg my own homework, that being sramt wasn't enough anymore, and my grades started to seffur. My mom took me to the doctor and, after a comprehensive eavtluoain, I was diagnosed with aoetttnin deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. If you're not familiar with ADHD, it has three primary characteristics: inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Some people with ADHD have more of the invtitatene presentation. Those are the daydreamers, the space cadets. Some have more of the hyperactive-impulsive pttrieseaonn. Those are the kids that usually get diagnosed early. (Laughter) But the most common presentation is a combination of both. (Laughter) My doctor and my parents decided that, given my shniy, new dasongiis, maybe stimulant medication would succeed where spankings and lectures had failed. So I tried it, and it worked. The first time I took my medication, it was like putting on glasses and realizing I could see without snqiuitng. I could fcuos. And without changing anything, my GPA went up a full point. Honestly, it was kind of miraculous. By 14, I had friends that liked me. By 15, I had published my first poem. I got a boyfriend. By 17, I knew I wanted to be a journalist. My local college had a program that would ganaurtee admission to USC. They had a really great journalism pgrraom. So, I signed up at my local college and I started taking classes. I moved in with my boyfriend. Things were going great, until they weren't. I started having trouble making it to class on time. I aced a siastctits course, but I forgot to sign up in time, so I never got the credit. I took ceaslss so I could help my boyfriend with his career, but I completely lost sight of mine. I never made it to USC. By 21, I dropped out of cgloele and moved back home. Over the next ten years, I started and quit, or was fired from, 15 jobs. I reuind my credit. I got married, and was divorced within a year. At this point, I was 32, and I had no idea what I was doing with my life, besides reading self-help books that didn't seem to be hinpleg. What hpeanepd to all that potential? Was I not trying? No! I werkod harder than anyone I knew. I didn't even have time for friends. I was that busy. I had potential, though. So, my failure was clearly my fault. I just hadn't done what I need to do to reach it, and, hntoelsy, I was tried of trying, putting more effort into life than everyone else and falling farther and farther behind. At this point, I could have given up on myself, I could have decided that everyone who'd thought I had potential was wrong. But I didn't, because I knew that it was my behavior that had gotten me here, and behavior is affteecd by the brain, and my brain has ADHD. Looking at my behavior, I knew: even with mtoadeciin, even as an adult, my ADHD was still interfering with my life, and what I needed to know was how and why, and, more importantly, what could I do about it. I started to do some research, and I found a lot of great imfartoonin. I found a lot of bad information too, but that's another talk. But there's good information out there. Websites, pcstdaos, talks, by researchers and medical professionals; books that would have been way more helpful than the self-help books I'd been using that were clearly written for normal - well, there's no normal - neurotypical brinas. A lot of what I found, though, was either seupr technical or seemed like it was written for parents and teachers trying to deal with ADHD kids. There wasn't a lot that seemed intended for us, the people who have ADHD. So, I started a YouTube channel. I had no idea how to start a YouTube channel, but I staertd a YouTube channel. I almost called it "How Not To ADHD," because that was about all I knew at the time. But my brfoyined, Edward, talked me out of it. It turns out lots of polpee need help understanding ADHD, including, maybe especially, those who actually have it. I was no exception. I thought ADHD was kind of the same for everybody. I thought it was mostly about getting distracted. I thought having ADHD was maybe the reason that I was failing at life. And I thought I was what needed to change, in order to be successful. I couldn't be successful and still be me. Spoilers: I was wonrg. So, let's go back for a second, let's go back to what brought us here today: the brain. Understanding the brain you're working with, it turns out, is kind of important, and that's true whether that brain is your employee's, your student's, your kid's, your sningiaifct other's, or your own. ADHD affects between 5 and 8% of the global population, which means, statistically speaking, there's between 37 and 60 of us just in this room. You can't tell who we are just by looking, but it's fun to watch you try. (Laughter) So, at some ponit, you're going to meet someone with ADHD, work with them, give birth to them, or fall in love with them. Chances are you already have. And, at some point, you're going to ask yourself, "What is going on in their brain?!" So, after two years of learning about ADHD and a lifetime of experience with it, after having the honor of cnceonnitg with researchers, and doctors, and ADHD etrxeps, and tens of thousands of ADHD brains all over the wlord, what can I tell you to help you understand ADHD? By the way, many of them helped with this talk. First of all, it's real. It's not bad parenting or lack of discipline. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder. It's currently the most well-researched mental cinotodin, and there are actually mauaelrbse dnerefcfies in the brain. These differences are larger in children, but, for most people, they never go away. In other words, adults have ADHD too. While rates of ADHD diagnosis are increasing, it's not because of an increase in sugar or tnoclohgey, or lack of spanking; it's not, any more than people donwrnig in swimming pools is because of Nicolas Cage. Correlation does not euaql causation. Those are real numbers. (Laughter) It's from both an increase in understanding that ADHD exists, that girls, adults, and gifted students can have it too, and ironically a lack of understanding that being hyper, mbaiihnesvg, or struggling in school does not mean you have ADHD. ADHD is more serious than I realized. The pmariry characteristics - inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity - don't sound all that serious, and I didn't think that they were, but, in real life, they translate to people getting into more accidents, being more likely to get fired, get divorced, significantly more likely to struggle with addiction. I learned that ADHD is on a spectrum. rsiae your hand if you've ever lost your keys, or spaced out in the middle of a lecture. If you're not raising your hand, I'm going to assume you spaced out in the middle of this one. (Laughter) The thing is, while everyone experiences ADHD symptoms sometimes, an actual diagnosis is based on how many of those symptoms significantly and chlloniacry impair multiple aeptscs of your life. Just like you can get sad and not have depression, you can get distracted and not have ADHD. And just like you can have mild depression or severe depression, ADHD can range from mild to sreeve. I also learned ADHD is a trrieble name for ADHD. It creates a lot of confusion. We don't have a deficit of attention! What we have trouble with is regulating our attention. As ADHD coach Brett tlrnohhil puts it, it's like your brain keeps switching between 30 different channels and somebody else has the remote. Sometimes we have trouble focusing at all, and other times we get stuck on a channel and can't pull ourselves away, which in real life might seem we don't want to do homework because we'd rather play video games, and short, sometimes that's the case. But the truth is there are plenty of times we want to able to focus, we try, and we just can't. Current understanding is that this difficulty has to do with the way our brains produce and metabolize neurotransmitters, like dmoianpe and norepinephrine. I learned ADHD is highly traetblae. sntualmit medication boosts these neurotransmitters, which is why it helps us focus. It's very effective for around 80% of people with ADHD. And I lneaerd that medication isn't enough. ADHD affects much more than our focus. It impairs executive functions like planning, prioritizing, and our ability to sustain effort toward a goal. It affects our ability to rgteuale our emotions, our behavior, our sleep. It's not one program in our brain that works differently; it's the whole operating system. It can affect every aspect of our levis. And there are a ton of stiregates out there that can help. Cognitive behavioral therapy, coaching, even meditation or regular exercise can help make a huge difference understanding your brain. I knew I had turolbe focusing, and I knew my medication helped with that. What I didn't know was that getting overwhelmed all the time had to do with poor wkroing memory, and that making lists helps; or that the reason I ran late all the time wasn't because I didn't care, it's because ADHD'ers have a skweed sense of time, and that using a timer could taech me how long things actually take. Mostly, I expected to learn what I actually learned: that ADHD is real; addressing it is important; and medication is not enough. What I didn't expect to learn: that I wasn't alone; I had an ADHD tribe; what a difference it would make to connect with it. There are people with ADHD in every country, every culture across the globe. Yes, even in fcrnae. (Laughter) And this tribe is awesome. Comparing myself to people with neurotypical brains, I felt really bad about myself. Why couldn't I keep my house cealn or finish a project in time, instead of waiting till the very last second? But seeing the positives in felolw ADHD brains helped me recognize and appreciate my own strengths, ones I couldn't see when I was just staring at my wsaknseees, which is what I'd been doing for decades. But ADHD brains have a lot to offer the world. We tend to be generous, funny, creative. ADHD'ers are 300% more likely to start their own bsesuins. We not only think outside the box; we're often not even aware that there is a box. (Laughter) We may struggle when our brains aren't eaneggd, but ADHD brains are great at tackling tskas that are urgent, working with iedas that are new, wrestling with pmberols that are challenging, and dedicating themselves to ptcroejs that are of personal interest. This yuuotbe career I'd slebmutd into was all of those things. At 32, I was divorced, miserable, and had no idea what I was doing with my life. At 33, I'd started my own business, and was connecting with ADHD experts. By now, at 34, I have a team of volunteers helping with the channel. I'm engaged to this amazing man who helps me produce the cneanhl, works right alongside with me, is doing the slides right now - and, as we diseeovcrd, also has ADHD. (Laughter) I'm working on reaching out to solochs so that kids don't have to wait until they're 32 to learn about their brains. And I'm doing my very first TEDx talk here with you tdaoy. (crhees) (Applause) But wait! There's more! Wait. (Applause) That did sound like the end of the speech. I'm sorry, it's not. (Laughter) I'm hipaepr and more susecscful than I've ever been in my life. So, what happened? How did I reach my potential? Three things: one, I learned about my brian, my ADHD brain, both on my own and by connecting with others who have it. If you judge a fish by its aitliby to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid, unless it happens to chat with another fish and realizes fish aren't great at climbing teers, and that's okay, there's peltny of ocean. Two, in learning about my brain, I found and stumbled into a job that engages it. If you spend all your time trying to get a fish to able to clmib a tree, you'll never see how far it can swim. It turns out I can be me and still be successful. I just had to find my ocean. Three, I learned strategies for challenges I still face. I have no fish analogy for this one, I'm sorry. (lugtaehr) I guess I learned how to swim. Once you know what your brain's challenges are, you can find solutions to them. Once you look past the srteeyeopts and assumptions about people with ADHD, and dig deeper, you learn what ADHD actually is. It's not people who won't stop fidgeting, or getting distracted. It is brains that are chronically underaroused, trying to get the basic level of stimulation all brains need. It's not about pnctsaiatrnoirg or not caring. It's having executive function defcitis that make it hard to get started. And it's not people being lazy or not trying enough. It's kids and adults struggling to succeed with a brain that doesn't always want to cpotreaoe in a society that wasn't built for them. Society is our user's manual. We learn how our brains and bodies work by watching those around us. And, when yours works differently, it can feel like you're bkoern. So, what I'm trying to do is reach out to these people wherever they are in the world, and tell them, "You are not weird. You are not stupid. You do not need to try harder. You are not a fliead vireosn of normal. You are different, you are biuteufal, and you are not alone." If you don't ADHD yourself, chances are you know somebody who does. They're your employee, your boss, your friend, they're in this room. I hope this talk helps you understand them better. If you do have ADHD, welcome to the tribe. (Applause) (Cheers)

Open Cloze

Hello, brains! I say that to you because, if you think about it, it wasn't really you that decided to come here today. It was your brain. And whether you decided to walk, or drive, take a taxi, or ride a bike, that decision was made by your brain. ________, all behavior, is affected by the brain. This is a _____ about my brain. So, I was a smart kid. By 18 months, I was ________ in full sentences. By third grade, I was scoring post-high ______ on ____________ _____. I had, as all my teachers agreed, so much potential. I was also __________. I didn't have many, any, friends outside of _____. I was easily overwhelmed. I spaced out in class. I lost things constantly. And trying to get my brain to focus on anything I wasn't excited about was like trying to nail jello to the wall. But I was smart, so nobody was _______. It wasn't until middle school, when I was responsible for getting myself to classes on time and remembering to _____ my own homework, that being _____ wasn't enough anymore, and my grades started to ______. My mom took me to the doctor and, after a comprehensive __________, I was diagnosed with _________ deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. If you're not familiar with ADHD, it has three primary characteristics: inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Some people with ADHD have more of the ___________ presentation. Those are the daydreamers, the space cadets. Some have more of the hyperactive-impulsive ____________. Those are the kids that usually get diagnosed early. (Laughter) But the most common presentation is a combination of both. (Laughter) My doctor and my parents decided that, given my _____, new _________, maybe stimulant medication would succeed where spankings and lectures had failed. So I tried it, and it worked. The first time I took my medication, it was like putting on glasses and realizing I could see without _________. I could _____. And without changing anything, my GPA went up a full point. Honestly, it was kind of miraculous. By 14, I had friends that liked me. By 15, I had published my first poem. I got a boyfriend. By 17, I knew I wanted to be a journalist. My local college had a program that would _________ admission to USC. They had a really great journalism _______. So, I signed up at my local college and I started taking classes. I moved in with my boyfriend. Things were going great, until they weren't. I started having trouble making it to class on time. I aced a __________ course, but I forgot to sign up in time, so I never got the credit. I took _______ so I could help my boyfriend with his career, but I completely lost sight of mine. I never made it to USC. By 21, I dropped out of _______ and moved back home. Over the next ten years, I started and quit, or was fired from, 15 jobs. I ______ my credit. I got married, and was divorced within a year. At this point, I was 32, and I had no idea what I was doing with my life, besides reading self-help books that didn't seem to be _______. What ________ to all that potential? Was I not trying? No! I ______ harder than anyone I knew. I didn't even have time for friends. I was that busy. I had potential, though. So, my failure was clearly my fault. I just hadn't done what I need to do to reach it, and, ________, I was _____ of trying, putting more effort into life than everyone else and falling farther and farther behind. At this point, I could have given up on myself, I could have decided that everyone who'd thought I had potential was wrong. But I didn't, because I knew that it was my behavior that had gotten me here, and behavior is ________ by the brain, and my brain has ADHD. Looking at my behavior, I knew: even with __________, even as an adult, my ADHD was still interfering with my life, and what I needed to know was how and why, and, more importantly, what could I do about it. I started to do some research, and I found a lot of great ___________. I found a lot of bad information too, but that's another talk. But there's good information out there. Websites, ________, talks, by researchers and medical professionals; books that would have been way more helpful than the self-help books I'd been using that were clearly written for normal - well, there's no normal - neurotypical ______. A lot of what I found, though, was either _____ technical or seemed like it was written for parents and teachers trying to deal with ADHD kids. There wasn't a lot that seemed intended for us, the people who have ADHD. So, I started a YouTube channel. I had no idea how to start a YouTube channel, but I _______ a YouTube channel. I almost called it "How Not To ADHD," because that was about all I knew at the time. But my _________, Edward, talked me out of it. It turns out lots of ______ need help understanding ADHD, including, maybe especially, those who actually have it. I was no exception. I thought ADHD was kind of the same for everybody. I thought it was mostly about getting distracted. I thought having ADHD was maybe the reason that I was failing at life. And I thought I was what needed to change, in order to be successful. I couldn't be successful and still be me. Spoilers: I was _____. So, let's go back for a second, let's go back to what brought us here today: the brain. Understanding the brain you're working with, it turns out, is kind of important, and that's true whether that brain is your employee's, your student's, your kid's, your ___________ other's, or your own. ADHD affects between 5 and 8% of the global population, which means, statistically speaking, there's between 37 and 60 of us just in this room. You can't tell who we are just by looking, but it's fun to watch you try. (Laughter) So, at some _____, you're going to meet someone with ADHD, work with them, give birth to them, or fall in love with them. Chances are you already have. And, at some point, you're going to ask yourself, "What is going on in their brain?!" So, after two years of learning about ADHD and a lifetime of experience with it, after having the honor of __________ with researchers, and doctors, and ADHD _______, and tens of thousands of ADHD brains all over the _____, what can I tell you to help you understand ADHD? By the way, many of them helped with this talk. First of all, it's real. It's not bad parenting or lack of discipline. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder. It's currently the most well-researched mental _________, and there are actually __________ ___________ in the brain. These differences are larger in children, but, for most people, they never go away. In other words, adults have ADHD too. While rates of ADHD diagnosis are increasing, it's not because of an increase in sugar or __________, or lack of spanking; it's not, any more than people ________ in swimming pools is because of Nicolas Cage. Correlation does not _____ causation. Those are real numbers. (Laughter) It's from both an increase in understanding that ADHD exists, that girls, adults, and gifted students can have it too, and ironically a lack of understanding that being hyper, ___________, or struggling in school does not mean you have ADHD. ADHD is more serious than I realized. The _______ characteristics - inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity - don't sound all that serious, and I didn't think that they were, but, in real life, they translate to people getting into more accidents, being more likely to get fired, get divorced, significantly more likely to struggle with addiction. I learned that ADHD is on a spectrum. _____ your hand if you've ever lost your keys, or spaced out in the middle of a lecture. If you're not raising your hand, I'm going to assume you spaced out in the middle of this one. (Laughter) The thing is, while everyone experiences ADHD symptoms sometimes, an actual diagnosis is based on how many of those symptoms significantly and ___________ impair multiple _______ of your life. Just like you can get sad and not have depression, you can get distracted and not have ADHD. And just like you can have mild depression or severe depression, ADHD can range from mild to ______. I also learned ADHD is a ________ name for ADHD. It creates a lot of confusion. We don't have a deficit of attention! What we have trouble with is regulating our attention. As ADHD coach Brett _________ puts it, it's like your brain keeps switching between 30 different channels and somebody else has the remote. Sometimes we have trouble focusing at all, and other times we get stuck on a channel and can't pull ourselves away, which in real life might seem we don't want to do homework because we'd rather play video games, and short, sometimes that's the case. But the truth is there are plenty of times we want to able to focus, we try, and we just can't. Current understanding is that this difficulty has to do with the way our brains produce and metabolize neurotransmitters, like ________ and norepinephrine. I learned ADHD is highly _________. _________ medication boosts these neurotransmitters, which is why it helps us focus. It's very effective for around 80% of people with ADHD. And I _______ that medication isn't enough. ADHD affects much more than our focus. It impairs executive functions like planning, prioritizing, and our ability to sustain effort toward a goal. It affects our ability to ________ our emotions, our behavior, our sleep. It's not one program in our brain that works differently; it's the whole operating system. It can affect every aspect of our _____. And there are a ton of __________ out there that can help. Cognitive behavioral therapy, coaching, even meditation or regular exercise can help make a huge difference understanding your brain. I knew I had _______ focusing, and I knew my medication helped with that. What I didn't know was that getting overwhelmed all the time had to do with poor _______ memory, and that making lists helps; or that the reason I ran late all the time wasn't because I didn't care, it's because ADHD'ers have a ______ sense of time, and that using a timer could _____ me how long things actually take. Mostly, I expected to learn what I actually learned: that ADHD is real; addressing it is important; and medication is not enough. What I didn't expect to learn: that I wasn't alone; I had an ADHD tribe; what a difference it would make to connect with it. There are people with ADHD in every country, every culture across the globe. Yes, even in ______. (Laughter) And this tribe is awesome. Comparing myself to people with neurotypical brains, I felt really bad about myself. Why couldn't I keep my house _____ or finish a project in time, instead of waiting till the very last second? But seeing the positives in ______ ADHD brains helped me recognize and appreciate my own strengths, ones I couldn't see when I was just staring at my __________, which is what I'd been doing for decades. But ADHD brains have a lot to offer the world. We tend to be generous, funny, creative. ADHD'ers are 300% more likely to start their own ________. We not only think outside the box; we're often not even aware that there is a box. (Laughter) We may struggle when our brains aren't _______, but ADHD brains are great at tackling _____ that are urgent, working with _____ that are new, wrestling with ________ that are challenging, and dedicating themselves to ________ that are of personal interest. This _______ career I'd ________ into was all of those things. At 32, I was divorced, miserable, and had no idea what I was doing with my life. At 33, I'd started my own business, and was connecting with ADHD experts. By now, at 34, I have a team of volunteers helping with the channel. I'm engaged to this amazing man who helps me produce the _______, works right alongside with me, is doing the slides right now - and, as we __________, also has ADHD. (Laughter) I'm working on reaching out to _______ so that kids don't have to wait until they're 32 to learn about their brains. And I'm doing my very first TEDx talk here with you _____. (______) (Applause) But wait! There's more! Wait. (Applause) That did sound like the end of the speech. I'm sorry, it's not. (Laughter) I'm _______ and more __________ than I've ever been in my life. So, what happened? How did I reach my potential? Three things: one, I learned about my _____, my ADHD brain, both on my own and by connecting with others who have it. If you judge a fish by its _______ to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid, unless it happens to chat with another fish and realizes fish aren't great at climbing _____, and that's okay, there's ______ of ocean. Two, in learning about my brain, I found and stumbled into a job that engages it. If you spend all your time trying to get a fish to able to _____ a tree, you'll never see how far it can swim. It turns out I can be me and still be successful. I just had to find my ocean. Three, I learned strategies for challenges I still face. I have no fish analogy for this one, I'm sorry. (________) I guess I learned how to swim. Once you know what your brain's challenges are, you can find solutions to them. Once you look past the ___________ and assumptions about people with ADHD, and dig deeper, you learn what ADHD actually is. It's not people who won't stop fidgeting, or getting distracted. It is brains that are chronically underaroused, trying to get the basic level of stimulation all brains need. It's not about _______________ or not caring. It's having executive function ________ that make it hard to get started. And it's not people being lazy or not trying enough. It's kids and adults struggling to succeed with a brain that doesn't always want to _________ in a society that wasn't built for them. Society is our user's manual. We learn how our brains and bodies work by watching those around us. And, when yours works differently, it can feel like you're ______. So, what I'm trying to do is reach out to these people wherever they are in the world, and tell them, "You are not weird. You are not stupid. You do not need to try harder. You are not a ______ _______ of normal. You are different, you are _________, and you are not alone." If you don't ADHD yourself, chances are you know somebody who does. They're your employee, your boss, your friend, they're in this room. I hope this talk helps you understand them better. If you do have ADHD, welcome to the tribe. (Applause) (Cheers)

Solution

experts
evaluation
stumbled
shiny
presentation
ability
plenty
schools
france
information
raise
today
suffer
cheers
program
beautiful
severe
teach
super
attention
honestly
tasks
tired
skewed
strategies
clean
affected
version
chronically
successful
differences
dopamine
statistics
treatable
happened
stimulant
climb
tests
problems
trees
classes
discovered
ruined
significant
started
squinting
speaking
broken
boyfriend
struggling
people
worried
guarantee
drowning
deficits
failed
worked
procrastinating
wrong
brains
happier
engaged
projects
diagnosis
condition
world
cooperate
story
books
inattentive
primary
connecting
standardized
equal
point
business
behavior
medication
working
focus
stereotypes
aspects
technology
brain
lives
weaknesses
ideas
college
bring
thornhill
trouble
measurable
youtube
podcasts
fellow
learned
smart
school
regulate
channel
helping
laughter
terrible
misbehaving

Original Text

Hello, brains! I say that to you because, if you think about it, it wasn't really you that decided to come here today. It was your brain. And whether you decided to walk, or drive, take a taxi, or ride a bike, that decision was made by your brain. Behavior, all behavior, is affected by the brain. This is a story about my brain. So, I was a smart kid. By 18 months, I was speaking in full sentences. By third grade, I was scoring post-high school on standardized tests. I had, as all my teachers agreed, so much potential. I was also struggling. I didn't have many, any, friends outside of books. I was easily overwhelmed. I spaced out in class. I lost things constantly. And trying to get my brain to focus on anything I wasn't excited about was like trying to nail jello to the wall. But I was smart, so nobody was worried. It wasn't until middle school, when I was responsible for getting myself to classes on time and remembering to bring my own homework, that being smart wasn't enough anymore, and my grades started to suffer. My mom took me to the doctor and, after a comprehensive evaluation, I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. If you're not familiar with ADHD, it has three primary characteristics: inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Some people with ADHD have more of the inattentive presentation. Those are the daydreamers, the space cadets. Some have more of the hyperactive-impulsive presentation. Those are the kids that usually get diagnosed early. (Laughter) But the most common presentation is a combination of both. (Laughter) My doctor and my parents decided that, given my shiny, new diagnosis, maybe stimulant medication would succeed where spankings and lectures had failed. So I tried it, and it worked. The first time I took my medication, it was like putting on glasses and realizing I could see without squinting. I could focus. And without changing anything, my GPA went up a full point. Honestly, it was kind of miraculous. By 14, I had friends that liked me. By 15, I had published my first poem. I got a boyfriend. By 17, I knew I wanted to be a journalist. My local college had a program that would guarantee admission to USC. They had a really great journalism program. So, I signed up at my local college and I started taking classes. I moved in with my boyfriend. Things were going great, until they weren't. I started having trouble making it to class on time. I aced a statistics course, but I forgot to sign up in time, so I never got the credit. I took classes so I could help my boyfriend with his career, but I completely lost sight of mine. I never made it to USC. By 21, I dropped out of college and moved back home. Over the next ten years, I started and quit, or was fired from, 15 jobs. I ruined my credit. I got married, and was divorced within a year. At this point, I was 32, and I had no idea what I was doing with my life, besides reading self-help books that didn't seem to be helping. What happened to all that potential? Was I not trying? No! I worked harder than anyone I knew. I didn't even have time for friends. I was that busy. I had potential, though. So, my failure was clearly my fault. I just hadn't done what I need to do to reach it, and, honestly, I was tired of trying, putting more effort into life than everyone else and falling farther and farther behind. At this point, I could have given up on myself, I could have decided that everyone who'd thought I had potential was wrong. But I didn't, because I knew that it was my behavior that had gotten me here, and behavior is affected by the brain, and my brain has ADHD. Looking at my behavior, I knew: even with medication, even as an adult, my ADHD was still interfering with my life, and what I needed to know was how and why, and, more importantly, what could I do about it. I started to do some research, and I found a lot of great information. I found a lot of bad information too, but that's another talk. But there's good information out there. Websites, podcasts, talks, by researchers and medical professionals; books that would have been way more helpful than the self-help books I'd been using that were clearly written for normal - well, there's no normal - neurotypical brains. A lot of what I found, though, was either super technical or seemed like it was written for parents and teachers trying to deal with ADHD kids. There wasn't a lot that seemed intended for us, the people who have ADHD. So, I started a YouTube channel. I had no idea how to start a YouTube channel, but I started a YouTube channel. I almost called it "How Not To ADHD," because that was about all I knew at the time. But my boyfriend, Edward, talked me out of it. It turns out lots of people need help understanding ADHD, including, maybe especially, those who actually have it. I was no exception. I thought ADHD was kind of the same for everybody. I thought it was mostly about getting distracted. I thought having ADHD was maybe the reason that I was failing at life. And I thought I was what needed to change, in order to be successful. I couldn't be successful and still be me. Spoilers: I was wrong. So, let's go back for a second, let's go back to what brought us here today: the brain. Understanding the brain you're working with, it turns out, is kind of important, and that's true whether that brain is your employee's, your student's, your kid's, your significant other's, or your own. ADHD affects between 5 and 8% of the global population, which means, statistically speaking, there's between 37 and 60 of us just in this room. You can't tell who we are just by looking, but it's fun to watch you try. (Laughter) So, at some point, you're going to meet someone with ADHD, work with them, give birth to them, or fall in love with them. Chances are you already have. And, at some point, you're going to ask yourself, "What is going on in their brain?!" So, after two years of learning about ADHD and a lifetime of experience with it, after having the honor of connecting with researchers, and doctors, and ADHD experts, and tens of thousands of ADHD brains all over the world, what can I tell you to help you understand ADHD? By the way, many of them helped with this talk. First of all, it's real. It's not bad parenting or lack of discipline. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder. It's currently the most well-researched mental condition, and there are actually measurable differences in the brain. These differences are larger in children, but, for most people, they never go away. In other words, adults have ADHD too. While rates of ADHD diagnosis are increasing, it's not because of an increase in sugar or technology, or lack of spanking; it's not, any more than people drowning in swimming pools is because of Nicolas Cage. Correlation does not equal causation. Those are real numbers. (Laughter) It's from both an increase in understanding that ADHD exists, that girls, adults, and gifted students can have it too, and ironically a lack of understanding that being hyper, misbehaving, or struggling in school does not mean you have ADHD. ADHD is more serious than I realized. The primary characteristics - inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity - don't sound all that serious, and I didn't think that they were, but, in real life, they translate to people getting into more accidents, being more likely to get fired, get divorced, significantly more likely to struggle with addiction. I learned that ADHD is on a spectrum. Raise your hand if you've ever lost your keys, or spaced out in the middle of a lecture. If you're not raising your hand, I'm going to assume you spaced out in the middle of this one. (Laughter) The thing is, while everyone experiences ADHD symptoms sometimes, an actual diagnosis is based on how many of those symptoms significantly and chronically impair multiple aspects of your life. Just like you can get sad and not have depression, you can get distracted and not have ADHD. And just like you can have mild depression or severe depression, ADHD can range from mild to severe. I also learned ADHD is a terrible name for ADHD. It creates a lot of confusion. We don't have a deficit of attention! What we have trouble with is regulating our attention. As ADHD coach Brett Thornhill puts it, it's like your brain keeps switching between 30 different channels and somebody else has the remote. Sometimes we have trouble focusing at all, and other times we get stuck on a channel and can't pull ourselves away, which in real life might seem we don't want to do homework because we'd rather play video games, and short, sometimes that's the case. But the truth is there are plenty of times we want to able to focus, we try, and we just can't. Current understanding is that this difficulty has to do with the way our brains produce and metabolize neurotransmitters, like dopamine and norepinephrine. I learned ADHD is highly treatable. Stimulant medication boosts these neurotransmitters, which is why it helps us focus. It's very effective for around 80% of people with ADHD. And I learned that medication isn't enough. ADHD affects much more than our focus. It impairs executive functions like planning, prioritizing, and our ability to sustain effort toward a goal. It affects our ability to regulate our emotions, our behavior, our sleep. It's not one program in our brain that works differently; it's the whole operating system. It can affect every aspect of our lives. And there are a ton of strategies out there that can help. Cognitive behavioral therapy, coaching, even meditation or regular exercise can help make a huge difference understanding your brain. I knew I had trouble focusing, and I knew my medication helped with that. What I didn't know was that getting overwhelmed all the time had to do with poor working memory, and that making lists helps; or that the reason I ran late all the time wasn't because I didn't care, it's because ADHD'ers have a skewed sense of time, and that using a timer could teach me how long things actually take. Mostly, I expected to learn what I actually learned: that ADHD is real; addressing it is important; and medication is not enough. What I didn't expect to learn: that I wasn't alone; I had an ADHD tribe; what a difference it would make to connect with it. There are people with ADHD in every country, every culture across the globe. Yes, even in France. (Laughter) And this tribe is awesome. Comparing myself to people with neurotypical brains, I felt really bad about myself. Why couldn't I keep my house clean or finish a project in time, instead of waiting till the very last second? But seeing the positives in fellow ADHD brains helped me recognize and appreciate my own strengths, ones I couldn't see when I was just staring at my weaknesses, which is what I'd been doing for decades. But ADHD brains have a lot to offer the world. We tend to be generous, funny, creative. ADHD'ers are 300% more likely to start their own business. We not only think outside the box; we're often not even aware that there is a box. (Laughter) We may struggle when our brains aren't engaged, but ADHD brains are great at tackling tasks that are urgent, working with ideas that are new, wrestling with problems that are challenging, and dedicating themselves to projects that are of personal interest. This YouTube career I'd stumbled into was all of those things. At 32, I was divorced, miserable, and had no idea what I was doing with my life. At 33, I'd started my own business, and was connecting with ADHD experts. By now, at 34, I have a team of volunteers helping with the channel. I'm engaged to this amazing man who helps me produce the channel, works right alongside with me, is doing the slides right now - and, as we discovered, also has ADHD. (Laughter) I'm working on reaching out to schools so that kids don't have to wait until they're 32 to learn about their brains. And I'm doing my very first TEDx talk here with you today. (Cheers) (Applause) But wait! There's more! Wait. (Applause) That did sound like the end of the speech. I'm sorry, it's not. (Laughter) I'm happier and more successful than I've ever been in my life. So, what happened? How did I reach my potential? Three things: one, I learned about my brain, my ADHD brain, both on my own and by connecting with others who have it. If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid, unless it happens to chat with another fish and realizes fish aren't great at climbing trees, and that's okay, there's plenty of ocean. Two, in learning about my brain, I found and stumbled into a job that engages it. If you spend all your time trying to get a fish to able to climb a tree, you'll never see how far it can swim. It turns out I can be me and still be successful. I just had to find my ocean. Three, I learned strategies for challenges I still face. I have no fish analogy for this one, I'm sorry. (Laughter) I guess I learned how to swim. Once you know what your brain's challenges are, you can find solutions to them. Once you look past the stereotypes and assumptions about people with ADHD, and dig deeper, you learn what ADHD actually is. It's not people who won't stop fidgeting, or getting distracted. It is brains that are chronically underaroused, trying to get the basic level of stimulation all brains need. It's not about procrastinating or not caring. It's having executive function deficits that make it hard to get started. And it's not people being lazy or not trying enough. It's kids and adults struggling to succeed with a brain that doesn't always want to cooperate in a society that wasn't built for them. Society is our user's manual. We learn how our brains and bodies work by watching those around us. And, when yours works differently, it can feel like you're broken. So, what I'm trying to do is reach out to these people wherever they are in the world, and tell them, "You are not weird. You are not stupid. You do not need to try harder. You are not a failed version of normal. You are different, you are beautiful, and you are not alone." If you don't ADHD yourself, chances are you know somebody who does. They're your employee, your boss, your friend, they're in this room. I hope this talk helps you understand them better. If you do have ADHD, welcome to the tribe. (Applause) (Cheers)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
adhd brains	4
stimulant medication	2
local college	2
youtube channel	2
adhd affects	2
learned adhd	2

Important Words

ability
accidents
aced
actual
addiction
addressing
adhd
admission
adult
adults
affect
affected
affects
agreed
amazing
analogy
anymore
applause
aspect
aspects
assume
assumptions
attention
aware
awesome
bad
based
basic
beautiful
behavior
behavioral
believing
bike
birth
bodies
books
boosts
boss
box
boyfriend
brain
brains
brett
bring
broken
brought
built
business
busy
cadets
cage
called
care
career
caring
case
causation
challenges
challenging
chances
change
changing
channel
channels
characteristics
chat
cheers
children
chronically
class
classes
clean
climb
climbing
coach
coaching
cognitive
college
combination
common
comparing
completely
comprehensive
condition
confusion
connect
connecting
constantly
cooperate
correlation
country
creates
creative
credit
culture
current
daydreamers
deal
decades
decided
decision
dedicating
deeper
deficit
deficits
depression
diagnosed
diagnosis
difference
differences
differently
difficulty
dig
discipline
discovered
disorder
distracted
divorced
doctor
doctors
dopamine
drive
dropped
drowning
early
easily
edward
effective
effort
emotions
employee
engaged
engages
equal
evaluation
exception
excited
executive
exercise
exists
expect
expected
experience
experiences
experts
face
failed
failing
failure
fall
falling
familiar
fault
feel
fellow
felt
fidgeting
find
finish
fired
fish
focus
focusing
forgot
france
friend
friends
full
fun
function
functions
funny
games
generous
gifted
girls
give
glasses
global
globe
goal
good
gpa
grade
grades
great
guarantee
guess
hand
happened
happier
hard
harder
helped
helpful
helping
helps
highly
home
homework
honestly
honor
hope
house
huge
hyper
hyperactivity
idea
ideas
impair
impairs
important
importantly
impulsivity
inattention
inattentive
including
increase
increasing
information
intended
interest
interfering
ironically
jello
job
jobs
journalism
journalist
judge
keys
kid
kids
kind
knew
lack
larger
late
laughter
lazy
learn
learned
learning
lecture
lectures
level
life
lifetime
lists
live
lives
local
long
lost
lot
lots
love
making
man
manual
married
means
measurable
medical
medication
meditation
meet
memory
mental
metabolize
middle
mild
miraculous
misbehaving
miserable
mom
months
moved
multiple
nail
needed
neurodevelopmental
neurotransmitters
neurotypical
nicolas
norepinephrine
normal
numbers
ocean
offer
operating
order
overwhelmed
parenting
parents
people
personal
planning
play
plenty
podcasts
poem
point
pools
poor
population
positives
potential
presentation
primary
prioritizing
problems
procrastinating
produce
program
project
projects
published
pull
puts
putting
quit
raise
raising
ran
range
rates
reach
reaching
reading
real
realized
realizes
realizing
reason
recognize
regular
regulate
regulating
remembering
remote
research
researchers
responsible
ride
room
ruined
sad
school
schools
scoring
sense
sentences
severe
shiny
short
sight
sign
signed
significant
significantly
skewed
sleep
slides
smart
society
solutions
sound
space
spaced
spankings
speaking
spectrum
speech
spend
squinting
standardized
staring
start
started
statistically
statistics
stereotypes
stimulant
stimulation
stop
story
strategies
strengths
struggle
struggling
stuck
students
stumbled
stupid
succeed
successful
suffer
sugar
super
sustain
swim
swimming
switching
symptoms
system
tackling
talk
talked
talks
tasks
taxi
teach
teachers
team
technical
technology
tedx
ten
tend
tens
terrible
tests
therapy
thornhill
thought
thousands
time
timer
times
tired
today
ton
translate
treatable
tree
trees
tribe
trouble
true
truth
turns
underaroused
understand
understanding
urgent
usc
version
video
volunteers
wait
waiting
walk
wall
wanted
watch
watching
weaknesses
websites
weird
words
work
worked
working
works
world
worried
wrestling
written
wrong
year
years
youtube