Most people with ADHD and those who know them are aware of an amazing paradox regarding the ability of people with ADHD to concentrate. In most situations people with this disability have difficulty staying focused on anything for more than a few minutes. But there are particular situations where people with ADHD show an almost super human ability to focus.
This is often referred to as ADHD super-focus or hyper-focus. It generally occurs with tasks the person enjoys and which are very constrained. Examples of such tasks are playing video games or building model boats. The level of focus can be so deep that the person may not initially hear another person speaking to them or calling loudly for them. Young people who can’t focus for two minutes on a simple math problem have been known to spend 5+ hours working on a model or playing a video game. When I was growing up I was fascinated by model boats and could spend hours building then (without reading the instructions – that was boring), but would get distracted doing the dishes for 5 minutes.
Unfortunately some people find their ADHD diagnosis can be called into question by parents, teachers and other authority figures. It seems like the person with ADHD is “faking it.” Parents will often think their child is not paying attention, when they really are so immersed in what they are doing that most other stimuli are muted. Also, parents, teachers, and other authority figures can easily think the person in their charge is purposely ignoring them. But it is very possible that this is not the case. The person in question is just using a unique feature of their ADHD brain.
People with ADHD are able to concentrate when there is minimal context switching and they are engaged in an activity that is interesting to them. At times they can become borderline obsessive over the activity. We all focus more easily with things we find interesting. That is no secret. But for people with ADHD there is a much larger difference in their ability to concentrate on something boring than on something interesting. In my experience the ends of this spectrum are stretched so that people report unusually low levels of focus on uninteresting things. And yet they have unusually high levels of focus on things they find interesting especially when those things or activities are strongly compelling for them.
Understanding that this is part of having ADHD is very important for everyone involved. People with ADHD really do not have control over what they are able to concentrate on and what they can’t. It is not their fault. Treatment (medication, therapy, or both) can alleviate the symptoms and narrow that spectrum of concentration (from bored and unfocused to focused).
Keep this in mind the next time you are faced with this paradox. Understanding such finer points of ADHD symptoms can help to avoid misunderstandings and unnecessary tension.
