How ADHD + Anxiety Made Me a Better Special Ed · Brains That Learn Differently

How ADHD + Anxiety Made Me a Better Special Ed

I’ve spent my entire life with ADHD and anxiety — and honestly, it’s one of the biggest reasons I’m such an effective special education teacher today.

People hear “ADHD + anxiety” and think challenge.

But for me, it became a kind of superpower… just not always in the “cute” way.

Growing up, my anxiety tortured me enough to overcompensate for the ADHD. That meant I was a straight-A student who could memorize literally anything — even stuff that bored me to death (looking directly at you, Social Studies). Ask me today what I learned? Absolutely nothing. Not one single fact. I memorized it, took the test, got the A, and then — poof. Gone. Replaced by whatever random song lyric my brain decided to loop that day.

Teachers always thought I wasn’t paying attention (spoiler: I wasn’t). But I was a master at keeping one layer of my brain cracked open JUST enough to parrot back whatever they said if they called on me. I didn’t understand a damn thing, but I could mimic it well enough that they eventually stopped asking.

I was “good at school” — but I wasn’t actually learning.

I was memorizing.

It wasn’t until I started teaching special education that everything clicked. For the first time in my life, I learned the why behind the things I was taught to just memorize.

Math? I always loved it — but if we’re being honest, I only loved the parts I could memorize. Formulas? Great. Rules that always work? Even better. But nobody ever taught me why they worked. Nobody ever taught me number sense, mental strategies, flexible thinking.

Then I started teaching kids who needed exactly that.

College told us what to do as teachers — but never why.

And the “why” is EVERYTHING in special ed.

Once I started diving into that, it opened a whole new world for me. For the first time, I realized how limiting and outdated the “there is one right way” approach truly is.

Growing up, we were taught:

➡️ Do it THIS way

➡️ Don’t question it

➡️ If you don’t get it, you’re the problem

But that’s not how learning works.

And it’s DEFINITELY not how brains like mine work.

Now I see it so clearly with my own students. If a child isn’t “getting” something, it usually has nothing to do with their intelligence. It has everything to do with how it’s being presented.

Take something simple like 8 + 9.

ADHD-me as a kid would’ve counted up from the biggest number.

Teacher-me today sees TEN different paths to the same answer:

• 8 + 8 = 16 → so 8 + 9 is one more → 17

• Break 8 into 7 and 1 → give the 1 to the 9 → 10 + 7 = 17

• 9 + 9 = 18 → take one away → 17

• etc…

There isn’t one right way.

There are MANY right ways.

And every kid deserves the chance to find the one that fits their brain.

My ADHD lets me understand kids who think differently.

My anxiety makes me hyper-aware, empathetic, and attuned to the child who’s overwhelmed but pretending they’re fine.