As someone who works closely with children, I’ve seen firsthand how time blindness can impact those with ADHD. Time blindness is a symptom that leads to difficulty in perceiving and managing time, which can significantly affect daily activities. Understanding what time blindness is and how to manage it can make a substantial difference in your child’s life. In this guide, we’ll explore the causes of ADHD time blindness and offer strategies to cope with it.
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What is ADHD Time Blindness?
Most neurotypical people can estimate how much time has elapsed. Time blindness is when someone cannot sense how much time has passed or remember when certain things happened. Anyone can experience time blindness, but it’s especially prevalent in people with neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and autism.
Read more: What Is ADHD Masking?
Causes and Symptoms of ADHD Time Blindness
Time blindness is typically a result of difficulties with executive function skills, affecting someone’s ability to process sensory information. Sensory inputs like light levels and temperature changes that indicate the passage of time are difficult for people with autism and ADHD to process. Symptoms of time blindness can include:
- Poor time management
- Procrastination
- Boredom
- Losing track of time
- Being distracted
- Impulsivity
- A poor internal clock
These symptoms can heavily disrupt your child’s day flow if left untreated. Some ways that your child can display this disruption include:
- Being unable to remain organized at school
- Getting distracted when moving from one task to another
- Missing essential deadlines like school projects
- Incorrectly judging how long tasks will take, such as homework
- Struggling to complete schoolwork
- Being accused of being lazy
- Feeling like a disappointment to parents and teachers
How to Help Your Child Cope With ADHD Time Blindness
There are a few things you or your child can do to help combat the effects. You and your child can work through time blindness by:
1. Identifying Areas of Impact
It’s important to observe the specific areas in your child’s life where they commonly experience time blindness, such as during school lessons or social activities. Once you’ve identified these areas, you can concentrate on finding effective strategies for each episode of time blindness.
When your child becomes overwhelmed during activities, it’s helpful to assist them in processing their emotions to prevent sensory overload. Introducing buffer time during or between activities can be beneficial in reducing the feeling of being overstimulated. This buffer time provides your child with a much-needed break, allowing them to effectively manage their time without feeling overwhelmed.
Read more: Kids Time Blindness Test
2. Recognizing and Avoiding Time-Sucking Activities
Neurotypical people have no problem realizing when time is running away from them. It’s a natural, innate ability they have. Neurodivergent people with ADHD or autism may often get lost in whatever they’re doing and not notice that hours have passed.
Identifying these time-sucking activities is the first step to managing your time when partaking in any. For example, if listening to podcasts or music is a time-sucking activity, set your playlist to turn off in an hour on its own (often a feature for night mode).
3. Using Technology
Living in a world of technology allows us to employ tools like apps and alarms to help combat the effects of ADHD time blindness. If your child is battling to remember things, have them make setting alarms part of their daily routine. Set as many alarms as your child needs if one isn’t enough.
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4. Develop a Time Management System for ADHD Time Blindness
Developing and using time management systems can help your child cope better with any time blindness episodes. Teaching your child these early coping mechanisms can help them better manage this symptom throughout their life. Use tools like Bullet Journals, alarms, and other tools to help remind you to switch tasks.
There are no one-size fits all situations when it comes to managing time blindness. However, knowing how it affects your child is essential to help them develop coping skills to last throughout their life. If left unmanaged, it can jeopardize relationships, work, and more in later years.
Try Goally For Your Child With ADHD
Goally helps kids with ADHD stay focused and build skills. Unlike a Kindle or an iPad that kids get easily distracted on, Goally has no YouTube, no social media, no web browser, and especially no ads.
Goally uses game play as a points-based motivator for your kiddo with ADHD and helps them learn emotional regulation skills. It’s simple to set up and has an expert-informed design.
Understanding time blindness is crucial if you have a neurodivergent child or a child with ADHD. Embracing a supportive approach can greatly benefit your child, as blaming them for being lazy when time blindness is a sensory issue they cannot fully control is counterproductive. Instead, guiding your child to develop good habits can empower them to manage their time responsibly and effectively.
Resources:
- CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
- ADDitude Magazine
- American Academy of Pediatrics
FAQs about Time Blindness
What is time blindness?
Time blindness is a difficulty in perceiving and managing time, often leading to challenges in meeting deadlines and keeping track of schedules.
What causes time blindness?
It is commonly associated with ADHD and other neurological conditions, where the brain struggles with executive functions like time management.
How does time blindness affect daily life?
Individuals may frequently be late, miss appointments, or have trouble planning tasks, leading to frustration and stress.
Can time blindness be treated?
While there is no cure, strategies like using reminders, alarms, and structured routines can help manage its effects.
Is time blindness the same as procrastination?
No, time blindness is a neurological issue affecting one's perception of time, whereas procrastination is the act of delaying tasks intentionally.
This post was originally published on 12/09/2022. It was updated on 07/25/2024
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