Posted by alexandra_k on August 31, 2014, at 19:17:45
In reply to Re: back to school tomorrow » alexandra_k, posted by 10derheart on August 31, 2014, at 11:59:01
ADD is one of those things that I really don't know very much about. I did know someone in the US who had it pretty severely, though. She really wasn't capable of driving when her medication pooped out (2x per day as it did just before she was due for another dose / due to sleep). She simply couldn't focus on the road. That was when I understood that she simply couldn't control her attentional focus at times. I mean... She surely wasn't trying to kill the both of us by not focusing on the cars on the road...
And she was a good student... Picked up a bunch of scholarships for school... She's doing law now at a top institution in fact. When I met her we were both doing a course in cognitive neuroscience and so I got to study with her a bit... She used to have one of those alarm clocks with proper bells and a solid ring to it. And she would set it for 20 minute bursts. She'd also set it for things like... As a reminder to let the dog in in 5 minutes, or to check the pot on the stove in 2 minutes...
To start with I was fairly dubious about studying for 20 minutes then having a break for 20 minutes... But it really seemed to work quite well. The idea being... That with practice... You get better at both getting into something... And switching tracks... The alarm clock was crucial. And we'd watch tv or play computer games or make food or whatever for the time in between... It actually worked quite well...
Her mother was a High School teacher. So... I think she got a LOT of support when she was young... Got taught a lot of the strategies by her mother researching various things to help her... Rather than school accommodations, I mean. I'm having a bit of a job with school accommodations, too. I don't think I need the 'standard' ones. A separate exam room. More time for exams. None of those seem particularly useful / relevant. They have been a good source of... Understanding.. For me, though. Something like that. And I feel like things are fairly precarious with me sometimes (most especially with respect to labs) and it is important to me to have something set in place so I can say when I'm about at the end of my rope before I get there...
I guess you don't know what your school might have available untill you ask... They might have graduate students who have study tips or something... Supports like that. I think that the 20 minute burst thing was really ingenious for bypassing the whole procrastination / perfectionism thing. It is a strategy I started using for writing my thesis... The idea of 6 focused 20 minute bursts per day... That that was a decent days worth of work... Honestly... People write books and theses that way... If you have an hour to study... 20 minutes work... 20 minutes reward... 20 minutes faffing about to set up etc etc...
That being said... That is partly why I wanted to bail on philosophy... I didn't enjoy the stress of writing... And I felt all perfectionistic and agitated about it, too. Horrible horrible feeling. There probably are strategies I could have tried to get through that, to have made it easier. Supports would have helped. I do regret not asking for help... I thought it was just me... Suffered in silence and felt awful ashamed of it... More supports now than there used to be. Graduate students have writing groups where they meet for an hour in order to get out -- 20 minutes worth of work.
I hear you on the logistics of needing to stay full time. That is often the way. Sounds like you ARE doing great, though. Just very stressful... As it is. Honestly. I'm on break now... But fairly stressed about everything I've got to do... Anyway... Hang in there...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1070265
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20140828/msgs/1070582.html