ADHD & Reading: 10 Tips for Reading and Studying in University & College
Summary
TLDRIn this video, PhD student Sarah shares 10 practical tips for improving reading comprehension and focus, particularly for those with ADHD. She discusses strategies like eliminating distractions, understanding personal energy rhythms, active reading, and prioritizing tasks. Sarah also covers the use of color coding, audio elements, and electronic tools to enhance the reading experience and make it more manageable.
Takeaways
- 😌 Eliminate distractions by creating a conducive reading environment and managing noise levels.
- 📱 Manage phone distractions by turning off notifications or using grayscale mode to reduce the allure of social media.
- 🤔 Learn your body's natural rhythm to identify the most productive times of the day for focused reading.
- 🖊️ Engage in active reading by annotating, highlighting, and using symbols to mark important passages.
- 🚶♂️ Consider embodied reading strategies like reading out loud or moving while reading to improve retention.
- 🎧 Experiment with audio elements like audiobooks or text-to-speech apps to cater to auditory learning preferences.
- 🌈 Use color coding to organize and categorize information thematically, aiding in memory and retrieval.
- 💻 Utilize electronic tricks like adjusting font size or converting text to bullet points for easier reading.
- 📝 Be mindful about note-taking, summarizing key points in your own words after completing a section.
- ⏱️ Implement a time tracking and reward system, like the Pomodoro Technique, to manage focus and motivation.
- 🔝 Prioritize readings by focusing on those most relevant to your research interests or course requirements.
Q & A
What is the main topic of Sarah's video?
-The main topic of Sarah's video is providing tips for people with ADHD to improve their reading skills, particularly for those who struggle with paying attention and retaining information from reading materials.
Why might reading be difficult for individuals with ADHD?
-Reading can be difficult for individuals with ADHD because their minds can easily wander, they may get lost on the page without taking in information, and they often face various distractions that hinder their focus on the text.
What is the first tip Sarah suggests for improving reading focus?
-The first tip Sarah suggests is to eliminate distractions by creating an environment conducive to reading, which includes getting comfortable, minimizing noise, and managing phone usage.
How can one's environment affect their reading productivity?
-One's environment can significantly affect reading productivity by either providing a quiet space that allows for concentration or offering a certain level of noise that helps some individuals focus better.
What does Sarah recommend regarding phone usage while reading?
-Sarah recommends turning off the phone, using airplane mode, or turning social media notifications off to minimize distractions. She also suggests using grayscale mode to make the phone less enticing.
What is active reading and why is it beneficial according to Sarah?
-Active reading involves engaging with the text by highlighting, underlining, and making notes in the margins. It is beneficial as it helps retain information better and can aid in recalling what has been read.
How can understanding one's body's natural rhythm help with reading?
-Understanding one's body's natural rhythm can help with reading by allowing individuals to identify their most productive times of the day and schedule their reading during those periods.
What is embodied reading and how can it assist with retaining information?
-Embodied reading involves using the body, such as following along with a finger or reading out loud, to connect the mind and body during the reading process, which can help with retaining information.
How can audio elements enhance the reading experience for some individuals?
-Audio elements like listening to audiobooks or using text-to-speech apps can enhance the reading experience for auditory learners by providing an alternative way to consume the material.
What role does color play in Sarah's reading strategy?
-Color plays a significant role in Sarah's reading strategy as she uses color coding to organize her thoughts and remember themes better while reading.
Why is it important to be mindful about note-taking while reading?
-Being mindful about note-taking is important because it helps to avoid interrupting the reading flow and ensures that notes are concise, in one's own words, and capture the essential information.
How can a time tracking and reward system benefit someone with ADHD while reading?
-A time tracking and reward system can benefit someone with ADHD by providing structured work intervals with breaks, which can improve focus and time management. Rewards can serve as motivation to maintain productivity.
What does Sarah suggest for prioritizing readings, especially in grad school?
-Sarah suggests prioritizing readings by focusing on those that are most interesting, relevant to one's research, or necessary for assignments. She also recommends skimming or neglecting less important readings.
Outlines
📚 Introduction to Reading Strategies for ADHD
Sarah, a PhD student in religious studies, introduces her video on tips for people with ADHD to improve reading skills. She acknowledges the challenges faced by those with ADHD, such as difficulty focusing and retaining information when reading, especially for academic materials. Sarah shares her personal experience and strategies she has developed over her academic career to overcome these challenges.
🔕 Eliminating Distractions for Better Reading
The first tip Sarah offers is to eliminate distractions. She advises finding a comfortable and quiet environment, using noise-cancelling headphones if necessary, or choosing a place with a suitable noise level. Sarah also recommends managing phone distractions by turning off notifications or using grayscale mode to reduce the allure of the screen. For those who fidget, she suggests using fidget tools to help maintain focus.
⏰ Understanding Your Body's Natural Rhythm
Sarah emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's natural energy levels and productivity peaks throughout the day. She suggests tracking personal productivity patterns over a week or two to identify the most productive times. Engaging in active reading, such as highlighting and annotating, is also recommended to maintain focus and improve retention. Sarah shares her use of symbols to mark text and the benefits of using technology like iPads for markup.
🎓 Embodied Reading and Audio Elements
Sarah introduces the concept of embodied reading, suggesting strategies like following text with a finger or reading aloud while moving to connect the body with the reading process. She also discusses the benefits of audio elements for auditory learners, such as using audiobooks or text-to-speech apps to complement reading. Sarah shares her personal preference for listening to audiobooks before reading the text to identify key passages.
🖊️ Color Coding and Electronic Reading Tricks
Sarah discusses the use of color coding to organize thoughts and remember information more effectively, especially for academic papers. She also shares electronic reading tricks, such as adjusting font size and converting text into more readable formats like bullet points. Sarah advises on mindful note-taking, summarizing information in one's own words, and using time tracking and reward systems to improve focus and productivity.
📈 Prioritizing Readings for Effective Studying
The final strategy Sarah presents is prioritization. She acknowledges that it's often not feasible to complete all assigned readings, especially for those with ADHD. Sarah suggests focusing on readings that are most relevant or interesting, and using strategies like reading introductions, conclusions, and skimming to get a general overview. She emphasizes the importance of being strategic and recognizing that not all readings need to be fully read.
🌟 Conclusion and Call for Feedback
Sarah concludes the video by empathizing with the struggles of reading with ADHD and offering hope that the strategies shared can make reading more enjoyable. She invites viewers to request topics for future videos, focusing on university and college tips, as well as documenting her own PhD journey with ADHD.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡ADHD
💡Reading Strategies
💡Eliminate Distractions
💡Active Reading
💡Embodied Reading
💡Audio Elements
💡Color Coding
💡Electronic Tricks
💡Note-Taking
💡Time Tracking
💡Prioritization
Highlights
Sarah shares her experience as a PhD student with ADHD and provides reading tips for those who struggle with focus.
Reading can be difficult for those with ADHD, especially if the material is not of high interest.
Eliminating distractions is crucial for creating an environment conducive to reading.
Finding a comfortable spot and managing noise levels can help improve reading focus.
Using noise-cancelling headphones or finding the right noise level can be beneficial for some readers.
Turning off phones or using grayscale mode can reduce the temptation to check them while reading.
Fidgeters can use tools like fidget cubes or rings to help them concentrate on reading.
Understanding your body's natural rhythm can help you become more productive during peak energy times.
Active reading, such as highlighting and annotating, can improve comprehension and retention.
Using symbols to mark important passages can be an effective strategy for active reading.
Embodied reading, like following along with your finger or reading out loud, can help with focus and retention.
Experimenting with audio elements, such as listening to audiobooks, can be helpful for auditory learners.
Using text-to-speech apps can allow you to multitask while getting a general understanding of the material.
Color coding can be an integral part of the reading process, helping to organize thoughts and remember themes.
Electronic tricks like changing font size or bullet points can make reading easier on digital documents.
Being mindful about note-taking and summarizing information in your own words can improve understanding.
Using a time tracking and reward system, like the Pomodoro Technique, can help with focus and productivity.
Prioritizing readings is essential, especially in grad school where the volume of material can be overwhelming.
Skimming and focusing on introductions, conclusions, and first paragraphs can give a broad overview when time is limited.
Strategic reading is necessary for managing the workload in higher education, especially for those with ADHD.
Transcripts
hello my name is sarah i'm a phd student
nearing the end of my second year in a
religious studies program and today i
wanted to make a video on tips for
people with adhd for reading or really
just tips for people who struggle with
paying attention to reading struggle
with kind of taking it in
anything like that if you have
difficulties reading especially
university or college materials
hopefully this video will have something
helpful in it for you because as those
of us with adhd know reading can often
be very difficult especially if it's not
something that we're super interested in
our minds can wander our eyes might get
lost just going down the page without
really taking anything in
there are a lot of distractions that you
know might keep us from being focused on
what we're reading there's just a lot
going on with the adhd brain that can
that can make reading difficult
the good news is that there are
strategies that we can use to become
better readers there are certain things
that we can do that can help us to stay
more focused and actually take things in
remember things better and just overall
be better readers and better students so
hopefully this video will be helpful for
some of that
personally i have made it through
multiple social sciences and humanities
degrees including in in english which
required a lot of reading so i
have had to definitely come up with
certain strategies for myself to help me
get through those and
this was before i was diagnosed with
adhd i've only been diagnosed for
about a year and a half now so i was
unmedicated for most of my university
and graduate studies journey and
medication can certainly help with
paying attention and focusing on
readings but there are also other
techniques tools strategies that we can
use so that's what i'm going to get into
here i have 10 of my top strategies for
reading with with adhd or again just for
people who have trouble with reading and
staying focused on these things
so my first tip might be kind of obvious
but it is to eliminate distractions so
make sure that you're in an environment
that will be conducive to reading make
sure that there are
minimal distractions around you so first
of all get comfy find a comfy spot so
you won't be distracted by any
discomforts make sure that you have
eliminated any noises that might be
bothering you so whether this is you
know going into a quiet place or getting
noise cancelling headphones also if
you're a person who needs noise around
you to work then consider that right so
maybe you want to work in a louder
section of the library or a coffee shop
or something like that or have the tv on
in the background a large part of
learning how to become a better reader
and a better student is finding out what
works for you really and and what is
kind of most helpful for you to to be
doing these readings so
part of that is finding the environment
that works for you and what level of
noise you need to to be able to work
because i know some people can't work in
complete silence they find that too
distracting so figure out what works for
you and make sure that your environment
is suited to that it's probably going to
be helpful to do something with your
phone as well so turn it off turn it on
airplane mode turn social media
notifications off i am constantly
distracted by notifications so i try to
get a minimal amount of those on my
phone when i can you can also put your
phone onto a thing called like grayscale
mode so it eliminates the color from it
so if everything is in these like just
black and white gray kind of tones it's
less enticing for us to kind of go on it
and become distracted by our phones
anything like this that will help you
not want to
just reach for your phone every time
that you have finished a sentence or
something also if you're a fidgeter like
me i highly recommend having something
around to help with that so like a
fidget cube for example or fidget rings
fidget necklaces i always wear something
like that because i find it just helps
me immensely when i am reading i am
constantly wanting to fidget with
something so having something like that
on hand is super helpful so my second
productivity tip for you is to learn
your body's natural rhythm so everyone
has different energy levels that
fluctuate differently throughout the day
and it can be really helpful to learn
about your own and learn about how your
levels rise and dip throughout the day
and whether that's you know a consistent
thing or whether it kind of changes
daily
learning about your own
energy levels will be really helpful for
increasing your productivity so i know
that a lot of people with adhd find that
they are more alert and energetic and
awake at night more like in the evening
so they tend to be more productive then
and for me personally it's like around
three to five that's kind of when my
energy peaks throughout the day so
that's when i try to get the hardest
work done so if i have really difficult
readings i'll do them during that time
of the day
in order to learn about your own energy
levels and to maximize them for
productivity you can track your
productivity for a week or two and just
kind of note when you feel like you are
getting the most work done then figure
out if there's kind of a pattern that
emerges out of that
my next tip is to engage in active
reading so this has been one of the most
helpful things for me for becoming a
better reader and overall becoming a
better student is to actively engage
with the text as i'm reading so this
includes things like highlighting things
underlying things writing things in the
margin as you're going along making
little notes to yourself as i'm reading
i i always have a pen or highlighter or
both in my hands i am constantly
annotating the documents making marks on
them i also use a system of various
symbols as i'm reading to mark out
important passages so a star beside
something means that it's important and
arrow means that it's kind of important
and then like three stars beside a
passage will mean that i want to
use this passage as a quote somewhere i
think it's a really good passage and i
would want to put it somewhere so this
is a really helpful technique especially
if you're going to be like writing a
paper or an assignment on this reading
often what i'll do especially if i'm
reading a really difficult
text i will
write down the most important things on
that page or on like every couple of
pages at the top just to remind myself
of kind of what i actually read there
because i do tend to forget really
easily
what i read like i can't just kind of
think back to a reading and remember
what it was about usually i'll have to
like actually go back and look at those
annotations and kind of see what i've
said the most important thing is and
then that will trigger my memory and
i'll be able to remember it that way so
this just helps me to not forget
what i've read like five minutes after
i've read it so having an ipad is
especially helpful for this because you
can use a program like goodnotes or
something to easily markup pdfs but you
can also print things out and mark them
up like that or
write in books like i like to do some
people do think that that is ruining
books and they don't like to do that so
in that case i would recommend using
like sticky notes or something my next
step is to consider embodied reading so
to take the body into account when
reading so there is no separation
between mind and body they are
inextricably connected and the body is
always involved in the reading process
it's never just the intellect but the
body is always involved in anything that
involves reading learning skill
development anything like that the body
is involved even if we think it's kind
of just going on all in the brain so in
order to take advantage of this you can
use your body in the reading process so
one strategy for doing this would be to
follow along with your finger as you're
reading for example in order to help you
keep your place and kind of help you
make that
mind-body connection and hopefully help
you retain that information better
you can also get up and walk around as
you read or read while you are cycling
on a bike at the gym or on a treadmill
walking something like that just get up
and you know involve your body in the
process more so you can even read out
loud as you're walking around and kind
of match it to the rhythm of your body
especially if you need to memorize
something that you're reading if it's
going to be for like a test or something
like that
then
walking around and kind of matching it
to the rhythm and kind of having that
connection again between mind and body
might be really helpful for retaining
information
another reading strategy that you might
want to try is to experiment with audio
elements in your reading and this is
going to be especially helpful if you
are like an auditory learner so again
this is where it's really important to
kind of get to know yourself get to know
what kind of learner you are how you
learn best so if you learn from like
lectures and verbal things and oral
speaking better you think than reading
then it might be helpful to read things
out loud to yourself for one or to use
certain kind of audio devices to help
you with your reading so like audible
for example audiobooks so instead of
reading the books you can listen to them
if they are available on like these
these websites like audible and things
um there's also the audiobook bay which
is
you know i'm not necessarily
recommending that you pirate things but
i'm just saying that there are a lot of
free audiobooks there if you do
want to check that out so when i was a
student in english if i had to do a
project on a book or i was using a
particular book for an essay or just any
book that i thought was really important
i would read it and listen to the
audiobook as well because i found that
like having those two different ways of
taking in that information
was really helpful for me so i tend to
listen to the audiobook first and then
that's where i can identify really
important and helpful
passages and things and then go back and
read the actual text and just having
both of those methods i find is
personally really helpful for me there
are also a variety of text-to-speech
apps that you can use some are better
than others so if you have like a pdf
document or anything else that you need
to read and you'd rather listen to it
you can put it through one of these
text-to-speech apps i use natural reader
i find that it's helpful for me when i
need to be doing readings that maybe
like aren't so important but i need to
get like the general gist of them i will
use this to to read those pdf documents
and i can do other things while these
are being read to me so like i can do
the dishes or do other chores or
something and that way i feel like i'm
getting something else done while also
doing my schoolwork so it's killing two
birds with one stone really although i
do have to say that the robotic voice
from text to speech apps can be really
annoying especially if you have issues
with like sensory or like auditory
things kind of bother you
it might not be for you the next
strategy that i have is colors so color
cording is an integral part of my
reading process i use different like
color coding
methods and systems for different
classes for different papers
highlighting different themes grouping
things together based on theme or based
on where i want to put them in the paper
things like that as i'm reading using
these colors to kind of organize my
thoughts in that way is super super
helpful and i find that it helps me to
not only organize things for when i need
to go back and like write a paper or do
an assignment or something but it just
helps me remember things more too
because i will remember things in terms
of these themes that i've kind of
categorized them into at the graduate
level especially there will be a lot of
overlapping themes in your work for
courses or for papers or whatever it is
as you're kind of narrowing down what
your research is going to be on so for
me where i'm at now i pretty much have
this like one legend of of colors that i
use for everything i i have these like
core themes that correspond to certain
colors that i will always be using as
i'm highlighting things or using sticky
notes or pens or whatever and again if
you are writing a paper that will be
using these things that you're reading
or an assignment or anything
it is super super helpful to already
have things organized by theme future
you will thank you the next tip is to
use certain electronic tricks when
you're reading so i find that sometimes
when i'm reading
a document especially like a pdf an
article or something my eyes will often
tend to like skip across the page and
sometimes i find that i'm not actually
taking in what i'm reading or i'm
reading like the same sentence over and
over and over again so if you have the
document that you're supposed to be
reading in like electronic form
that you can copy and paste and actually
take
the information out of that and put it
into a word document then you can kind
of play around with that and make it
easier to read so you can make it a
bigger font for example or you can
separate paragraphs up into sentences
and make them into bullet points and i
find that that can be really helpful for
reading especially when you're grappling
with like really heavy themes um really
like a lot of theory things like that
things that are hard to read if you are
breaking it up into these bullet points
and dividing it like that it makes it a
lot easier for your brain and your eyes
to to process and to kind of make sense
of if it's not all just clumped together
in this one big paragraph
also just enlarging the font size on
your device can also be helpful so if
you're reading it on like a tablet or a
computer just enlarge the font size and
that can be also really helpful for kind
of processing the information
the next tip i have is to make sure that
you're being mindful about note-taking
so this is something that i also really
need to work on is to be more mindful
about note-taking so
it's not very helpful i find to take
notes as you're going along necessarily
and to just kind of like interrupt your
reading to to be taking notes like every
few seconds i find that what works for
me is to take notes in the margins as
i'm going along to annotate as i'm going
along and then after i finished a
chapter or the article or whatever it is
then at the end of that to take better
notes more kind of structured notes in a
in a different notebook or on on the
computer or something like that and to
make sure that i am putting them in my
own words for one so that i can help
myself remember things better in in my
own voice and i'm not just like copying
and pasting from the article and also
summarizing things so being more mindful
about not just taking like tons and tons
of notes which is something that i tend
to do but really just summarizing things
making them concise putting them in
brief terms that i will remember but
that's still getting out the important
information so this is something that i
definitely need to to work on more
something else that can be really
helpful is using a time tracking and
reward system so people with adhd we
know that we have trouble staying
focused and also with time management so
using some kind of time tracking system
while you're reading can be very
effective and useful so you can use the
pomodoro method for instance so this is
the method where you
work for 25 minutes and then take a five
minute break and usually you'll set like
a timer or something to alert you when
the time is up and of course you can
adjust those times to
whatever works for you right so if
you're someone who likes to work for
longer stretches of time and then take a
break
this can be really helpful as well um so
personally i like to work for about like
45 minutes to an hour and then take like
a longer break so like 10 or 15 minutes
but it completely is up to you how long
you want to be working for how long you
want to take breaks for and to kind of
work that into your reading so this is
helpful because it gives you those brain
breaks that are super necessary when
working and reading for long stretches
of time and you can also implement like
a reward system into this as well so
like after working for an hour or after
working for like 30 minutes or something
you can treat yourself with like a piece
of chocolate or a cup of tea or some
coffee or something like that just
giving yourself these little rewards to
motivate you to keep going and to
motivate you to work throughout that
time if you're using the pomodoro method
there are like physical devices that you
can buy that are specifically made for
this so like little alarm systems that
will work for this there are also like a
ton of apps out there that you can use
for this i personally like the study
bunny app because i think it's
absolutely adorable you have this little
bunny character who's studying along
with you and as you're working you will
accumulate coins that you can use in the
app to buy little outfits for the bunny
little like cat companions or
backgrounds all sorts of cute little
things so i really like it because it's
fun and it also means that when i look
at my phone i see this like study bunny
app on it and i feel guilty for
closing that and opening up another app
or something so it keeps me off social
media it reminds me to
stay focused on whatever it is that i'm
working on and my final strategy is
prioritization so really thinking about
prioritizing what is important for you
to be reading so in university and
college there are often a lot of
assigned readings depending on what
field you're in and while it's expected
or hoped that you will do all these
readings and of course it would be great
if we could all do all of the readings
all of the time this is often just not
possible especially for those of us with
adhd we really need to learn how to
prioritize and to figure out what's
important what we really need to be
reading and what we can maybe skim or
neglect
and this is especially true in grad
school there is a ton of reading that
you will need to do in a lot of grad
programs and it's just impossible to do
it all sometimes so for me when i was
taking courses i would average about
400 to 500 assigned pages of reading
every week and that is something that
some people can do and that's fantastic
and kudos to them but i can't there's
just no way that's happening so i really
had to learn how to prioritize and
figure out what i needed to actually get
done to do well in my courses and to do
well on papers and things like that and
also learning to prioritize readings
that were important to my own research
and the things that i want to be
focusing on down the line and this is
something that i would recommend for
people in university and college
programs in general when you have a lot
of assigned readings prioritize the ones
that you find the most interesting
things that are relevant to your
research interests things that you think
will help you with papers down the line
or projects down the line things that
you find interesting and things that are
actually going to keep you wanting to
read and engaged in the readings and
engaged in the materials prioritize
reading those first if you can sometimes
there are other things that you won't
necessarily be interested in that you do
have to read but
that's just how it is sometimes so
there's a trick that's typically used by
grad students who don't necessarily have
time to do all of the readings so with
an article this would be to read the
introduction the conclusion and then the
first paragraph of every section and
then just skim the rest so this way you
can get like a good overview of the
article and you can have something to
say about it like in class if you're
discussing it in class or something then
with a full book it's often recommended
to just kind of read the introduction
and the conclusion and the like
introducting uh paragraph and concluding
paragraph of every chapter so again you
get like a broad overview of the book
and then skim the rest if there are
particularly interesting chapters read
those so again you'll have some
knowledge of the topic and can discuss
it in class or wherever if need be but
you don't necessarily have to read the
whole thing i don't think that i know
anyone including people without adhd who
actually do all of the readings in grad
school i think that that's an anomaly
almost um
you pretty much have to use certain
strategies to get by basically because
otherwise
there would just be
no time left in the day for anything
else really so especially for people
with adhd it is important to be able to
prioritize and to recognize that you
don't necessarily have to do all of the
readings as long as you are strategic
about it so those are the top 10 tips
that i have for reading with adhd if
this is something that you struggle with
i feel you i know it's rough but
there are various things that we can do
to make it better and to just make
reading a more enjoyable experience so
hopefully something in this was helpful
for you whether you have adhd or not and
please let me know of any videos that
you would like to see on this channel i
focus on kind of university
college tips and things like that along
with the the vlogs that i do kind of
documenting my own journey doing a phd
with adhd so thank you so much for
watching and i will see you in the next
one
[Music]
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