From the Middle School High School Principal

 Being an Inclusive School and the upsides of ADHD

The International School of Aberdeen is the only non-selective inclusive independent school in Aberdeen.  Whenever a school makes a strong choice about its identity, the obvious question is 'why would you do that?' I want to talk a little about why we make that choice as part of our identity and talk specifically about ADHD and the sometimes under recognised upsides of ADHD.

Recognition of human variability often goes in three stages

Stage One: my gosh, there are some people who might be different to me/the 'norm'.  I wonder if they actually do exist - it's probably a made up condition.

With experience and contact with these people this changes to

Stage Two: aren't they exotic, I see them as fundamentally different to me, and I objectify these 'exotic people' 'other races' 'disabled people' as if their difference was their identity.

Slowly as thinking becomes more empathetic, humane and rich this changes to 

Stage Three: people are all one, but they are also all different in 100 ways, maybe a thousand ways.  We give names to some of these differences (like ability to regulate attention, or 'race' when certain peoples live for so long together that they share some features), but we don't really give names to others (ability to put together a good outfit that coordinates and create rapport at parties).  Essentially our job as humans is to embrace each other in all our richness and compassion, as otherwise we are a version of the very thing that fascists love to do: treat some 'groups' of people as not worthy, or not belonging in our community.

The International School of Aberdeen as a community sits in the compassionate stage three.  That is why we are non-selective and inclusive.  We strongly believe that having a community where some children find academics easy and will go on to Oxford and Cambridge or MIT etc. but perhaps find other things hard, and some children might find academic learning and the academic environment challenging, but thrive in outdoor settings, or are socially a driving force in their year group, makes us stronger, richer and more humane.   Equally many children might find school hard, but have exceptional levels of insight and intelligence and also go to top universities - but perhaps find the process of school hard.  We would no more exclude them deliberately, or 'select', than we would for shoe size or ability to choose the right shirt for an informal evening party.  So that is why we are not selective - because we do not think it's the right thing to do.

The reality is that actually even in the most 'selective' schools,  there will be variety in children - because that is what humans are - varied, as I wrote about in the post on the Universal Design.  But if you avoid naming that you are inclusive and instead put up a note saying you are 'selective' it means you probably find it very hard to meet the needs of the variety of learners you actually have, as you have said that you do not do that.   It is a complex bind, that ultimately causes considerable trauma.

 I have worked at highly selective schools, in fact probably one of the most selective in the world at one stage in my career - and the thing that kept striking me was that yes, there were very high levels of achievement with perhaps 80 children per grade level going on to Oxford, Cambridge and Ivy Leagues, but there were also absurdly high levels of self harm and anorexia - not just in the children whose needs were not meet in such a competitive environment, but that insecurity and sense of threat spread to even the children who were ostensibly doing well.   And besides, those very motivated learners would have done just as well in an inclusive, but kinder, environment like ISA. Part of the reason I left was a feeling that I would never want my own children to experience such an environment.

Much of our inclusive work nowadays in schools includes supporting children with ADHD.  In the past children with ADHD would have just been quietly failed by schools or excluded and written off as 'naughty' without a real understanding of what was going on.  I am not a psychiatrist, so am wary of pronouncing on ADHD, as those in Stage One so often do - normally to question if it really exists.   And I am also wary of making it an 'exotic' characteristic like people do in Stage Two, as really we are all varied, and stereotyping people with ADHD as interesting 'other' is also not really helpful.  But at the same time, I want to recognise some common patterns in learners with ADHD.

School is, for now, a deeply ableist environment - that is designed for neuro-typical kids with an average range ability to regulate attention - and even they find it hard.  For a child with ADHD it is often painfully boring, constraining and colourless.  We obviously work hard on relationships, validation and support so that learners with ADHD build up the ability to self regulate and make progress in their learning.  To a certain extent this is still trying to make the learner fit school, rather than the school fit the learner - but we are investing heavily in terms of time, relationships and money, into reworking our structures and learning spaces to be aligned to universal design for learning.  This will benefit all learners, but particularly children with ADHD.  We also have and are building a concept based approach, with lots of opportunities to make learning active, meaningful and relevant - which significantly helps engagement and motivation.  But still too often school can create barriers which children with ADHD struggle with and so some of their obvious strengths are hidden.

So I just want to pay tribute to some of the qualities of people with ADHD from my experience - not that all people with ADHD are the same in any way - but there are perhaps traits that seem to be more common.

• They are often brave - both to stick up for others and principles and when it comes to things like extreme sports or high risk activities.  Often the moment more conventional learners (like me) begin to withdraw - they shine at their best.
• Learners with ADHD often have very high levels of personal perception of the qualities of those around them, and can 'read' people very well.
• Learners with ADHD can often be highly aware of their emotions - sometimes this is so intense it is overwhelming, but it also makes them very perceptive.
• Learners with ADHD are often intensely social, and basically 'light up' any social group they join - that can be hard for teachers sometimes! but outside of school they can be the social glue that holds groups together and ensures everyone is having a good time
• Learners with ADHD are often highly creative
• Learners with ADHD are often very funny - and many comedians have ADHD

What struck me most moving to set up the Green School in New Zealand, was that of the global nomads who came to enrol their children because they had effectively 'retired' at 30 after a series of successful businesses the majority of these entrepreneurs within the first day of meeting them, mentioned they had ADHD.  The drive and 'hyper focus' that comes with ADHD can often be a force of nature.  One told me that in his first day at work, he sold more units than any other sales person in the history of the company... and then realised he had forgotten to complete the paper work!  In his first year, he made 73 million dollars, and bought out the company.   What he needed were colleagues with complementary skills - like those who really enjoyed book keeping.  And that's the point.  When we are in an inclusive community we can use everyone's strengths and achieve things that we simply would not be able to do together.  We are inclusive because it is the right thing to do - but it is also the smart thing to do.

To find out more about AHDH in an informal way, this YouTube channel is widely respected and represents a good range of opinions and insights into having the condition