Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

About Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) is a neurobehavioral disorder that affects three to five percent of American children and adults. AD/HD is usually diagnosed in childhood, and the condition can continue into the adult years. Many individuals with AD/HD are undiagnosed until adulthood.

The common characteristics of AD/HD are impulsivity, inattention, and/or over-activity. Failure to listen to instructions, inability to organize oneself and work tasks, fidgeting with hands and feet, talking too much, inability to stay on task, leaving projects, chores and work tasks unfinished, and having trouble paying attention to and responding to details are the primary symptoms of AD/HD. Although individuals may have both inattention and hyperactivity symptoms, many individuals predominantly display one symptom more than another. There are three subtypes of AD/HD:

AD/HD predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type: The major characteristics are fidgeting, talking excessively, interrupting others when talking, and impatience.
AD/HD predominantly inattentive type: The major characteristics are distractibility, organization problems, failure to give close attention to details, difficulty processing information quickly and accurately, and difficulty following through with instructions.
AD/HD combined type: The individual with combined type meets the criteria for both hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive type.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and the Americans with Disabilities Act

The ADA does not contain a definitive list of medical conditions that constitute disabilities. Instead, the ADA defines a person with a disability as someone who (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more "major life activities," (2) has a record of such an impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment. For more information about how to determine whether a person has a disability under the ADA, see How to Determine Whether a Person Has a Disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA).

Accommodating Employees with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

People with AD/HD may develop some of the limitations discussed below, but seldom develop all of them. Also, the degree of limitation will vary among individuals. There are some general accommodations that explain how people with AD/HD disregard themselves at work.

General: Individuals with AD/HD are often perfectionists and are hard on themselves. They have trouble setting personal boundaries like knowing when to stop working and they set unrealistic expectations for themselves. Someone who takes work home or stays late to finish work is often given more responsibility or a heavier workload because they appear to be able to get their work done. General accommodations include:

• Help identifying strengths instead of focusing on weaknesses
• Reinforcing creativity
• Pointing out any signs that the individual is overworked – not taking vacations, staying at work late frequently, not eating lunch
• Providing an AD/HD coach to suggest ways to increase productivity and maintain a healthy work-life balance

JAN's Accommodation Solutions: Executive Functioning Deficits is a publication detailing accommodations for individuals with limitations related to executive functioning. These ideas may be helpful in determining accommodations. Be aware that not all people with AD/HD will need accommodations to perform their jobs and many others may only need a few accommodations. The following is only a sample of the possibilities available. Numerous other accommodation solutions may exist.

Questions to Consider:

What limitations is the employee experiencing?
How do these limitations affect the employee and the employee’s job performance?
What specific job tasks are problematic as a result of these limitations?
What accommodations are available to reduce or eliminate these problems? Are all possible resources being used to determine possible accommodations?
Once accommodations are in place, would it be useful to meet with the employee to evaluate the effectiveness of the accommodations and to determine whether additional accommodations are needed?
Do supervisory personnel and employees need training?

Key Accommodations:

Hyperactivity/ Impulsivity: For individuals with AD/HD, accommodations for hyperactivity/impulsivity might be beneficial.

Provide structured breaks as a physical outlet
Utilize a job coach to teach/reinforce techniques
Allow the employee to work from home
Review conduct policy with employee
Adjust method of supervision
Use services of EAP
Provide private workspace

Focus/Concentration: For individuals with AD/HD, accommodations minimizing distractions might be improve performance.

Provide a quiet work space
Allow use of noise cancellation or white noise
Work from home if no effective accommodations in office environment
Uninterrupted work time
Taking allotted breaks as needed
Minimizing marginal functions to allow focus on essential job duties

Time management: For individuals with AD/HD, accommodations assisting with staying on task is often helpful

Assign a mentor
Provide to-do lists
Meetings to discuss expectations
Assistance with prioritization
Assistive technology (timers, apps, calendars, etc)

Strategies for the Individual with the disability

Getting to Work on Time: For individuals with AD/HD, getting to work on time can often be difficult.

Have a routine of putting/keeping things in place
Prepare for the next day’s work the night before
Create checklists for yourself and others
Place sticky notes where you will see them
Turn off distractions – including cell phones
Use a timer or programmable watch to pace self

By Limitation

Attentiveness/Concentration

Disruptive Behavior

Executive Functioning Deficits

Managing Time

Memory Loss

Multitasking

Organizing/Planning/Prioritizing

Social Skills

Stress Intolerance

Situations and Solutions:

The following situations and solutions are real-life examples of accommodations that were made by JAN customers. Because accommodations are made on a case-by-case basis, these examples may not be effective for every workplace but give you an idea about the types of accommodations that are possible.

A delivery person with AD/HD had difficulty with time management.

She spent excessive time making deliveries and would forget to return to the warehouse between daily runs. The employer provided a personal organizer watch that could be programmed to beep and display a written message many times throughout the day. This auditory and written prompt helped the employee move quicker from task to task, and helped remind her to return to the warehouse to gather her next load.

A journalist with AD/HD experienced sensitivity to visual and auditory distractions.

The employer provided the individual with a private, high-wall cubicle workspace in a low-traffic area. The employer added an environmental sound machine to mask office noise.

A part-time college professor with AD/HD was having difficulty planning new courses he had yet to teach when the schedule changed quickly and he was required to do so under tight time constraints.

He asked JAN how that could be accommodated. A consultant at JAN recommended he request that he only be put on the new courses that were firmly scheduled ahead of time in order to give him time to prepare. If he were to teach courses that were suddenly added, he asked that those be ones he had previously taught and planned for.

An employee in a management position has been successful in his position for quite some time but when a new supervisor comes on board, the standards for written communication are more strictly enforced.

The employee, who has AD/HD, has difficulty attending to detail. This includes spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors in his written communications that go out to employees and business partners alike. The employee was accommodated with speech recognition software that allowed him to dictate whatever he needed to write. A playback feature allows him an added layer of oversight. He also requested writing/editing software that he can plug his written materials into so they will be checked over for spelling, grammar, and punctuation an additional time.

A retail employee with AD/HD often forgot the closing and cash-out procedures, which resulted in missed printouts of daily sale reports.

The employer created a numbered checklist that identified each step for proper closing procedures and identified which reports to run from cash registers. This accommodation benefited all employees.

An office worker with AD/HD experienced impulsivity and often interrupted co-workers by entering offices without knocking.

The employer helped identify appropriate techniques for approaching co-workers, such as keeping a daily list of tasks to discuss with others, then emailing or calling to set aside time to talk about work-related projects.

A retail employee with AD/HD often forgot the closing and cash-out procedures, which resulted in missed printouts of daily sales reports.

The employer created a numbered checklist that identified each step for proper closing procedures and identified which reports to run from cash registers. This accommodation benefited all employees.

A social worker with AD/HD had difficulty completing handwritten paperwork in a neat and timely fashion.

The employer created electronic forms for the employee, which allowed him to type responses. The employer arranged computer files labeled by month to help the employee prioritize open cases. The employer also sent e-mail reminders of deadlines.

A teacher with AD/HD experienced disorganization in her classroom due to clutter from many years of teaching.

The employer provided a job coach to help the teacher learn organization techniques, to help separate and store items, and to dispose of previous student work and projects from yesteryear.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

On This Page

About Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and the Americans with Disabilities Act

Accommodating Employees with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

Questions to Consider:

Key Accommodations:

Strategies for the Individual with the disability

Accommodation Ideas:

By Limitation

Attentiveness/Concentration

Disruptive Behavior

Executive Functioning Deficits

Managing Time

Memory Loss

Multitasking

Organizing/Planning/Prioritizing

Social Skills

Stress Intolerance

Situations and Solutions:

JAN Publications & Articles Regarding Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

Publications

Consultants' Corner Articles

Related Disabilities

Articles

Blog Posts

Events Regarding Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

Other Information Regarding Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)

External Links

Organizations