ADHD Simulation

The activities on this page are designed to help visitors notice how attention, working memory, task initiation, organization, and cognitive load can affect mathematical performance.

In many classrooms, students have to: 

• listen to directions

• remember multiple steps

• ignore distractions

• organize materials

• start independently

• track their progress

• manage time

• check their work

• shift between tasks

• regulate emotions when confused or frustrated

For students with ADHD, these demands can make mathematical tasks feel much harder than they appear on the surface.

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Try solving the puzzle below. 

What This Activity is Designed to Highlight

This activity is designed to create executive functioning demands: sorting information, tracking conditions, filtering redundant clues, revising a plan, and holding possibilities in working memory.

The frustrating part is intentional. Students may understand the task, but still miss information, lose track of directions, or have to restart when an instruction appears late or was only given verbally.

Mathematics requires using executive functions simultaneously. For example, solving a problem may require a student to: 

• remember the goal of the problem

• choose a strategy

• complete steps in order

• hold intermediate results in mind

• avoid copying errors

• notice when something does not make sense

• check the final answer

In classrooms, moments like this are often interpreted as “not paying attention.” A student may appear careless, rushed, distracted, or unmotivated when they are actually overwhelmed by the number of mental tasks happening at once. 

Several classroom tasks require students to multitask, even when we do not think of them in that way. 

For example, a student may be trying to: 

• listen while taking notes

• copy from the board while solving

• follow verbal directions while organizing materials

• participate in a group while tracking their own thinking

• remember homework instructions while packing up

• shift from one problem type to another quickly

ADHD-related barriers can appear in ordinary classroom moments. 

For example, a teacher says: 

• "Finish the warm up, then check your homework with your group, then grab a whiteboard, and once your group is ready, start problem three from yesterday."

A student can understand every individual direction, but still lose track of the sequence. 

Or a worksheet might include: 

• 10 similar problems

• small spacing

• no clear place to begin

A student may delay starting, skip steps, or make "careless errors" because the task structure creates unnecessary executive functioning demands. 

These moments can be easily misread as laziness, carelessness, or defiance. However, from an accessibility perspective, they may be signs of barriers in the task.

• What made these activities difficult besides the mathematics itself?

• Did you notice yourself losing track of directions, steps, or information?

• How much mental effort went into organizing and managing the task?

• Did irrelevant information or competing demands affect your focus?

• Did you feel frustrated when you had to restart or revise your thinking?

• Which activity felt the most overwhelming, and why?

• How might repeated experiences like this affect a student’s confidence or willingness to participate?

• How often do classroom tasks unintentionally measure executive functioning in addition to mathematical understanding?

• How can teachers reduce unnecessary cognitive load without reducing mathematical rigor?

These activities are designed to highlight how classroom design can unintentionally create barriers that are unrelated to mathematics. 

Notice that the redesigned problems kept the mathematics the same while changing how information was presented, organized, and accessed. The goal was not to make the tasks easier, but to reduce unnecessary cognitive load so students could focus more fully on the mathematics itself.

Students with ADHD are fully capable of engaging with mathematics. They should still be asked to:

• reason

• problem-solve

• explain their thinking

• persist through challenge

• communicate ideas

However, students should not have to fight through barriers simply to access the task.

There are many ways teachers can reduce these barriers while still maintaining high expectations. 

Helpful supports may include:

• chunked directions

• visual reminders

• consistent routines

• reduced irrelevant information

• organized workspaces

• flexible pacing 

• movement opportunities

• structured problem-solving supports

• explicit strategies for checking work

• time to process before responding

Our goal isn't to remove challenge, but to make sure the challenge is actually mathematical.