Newslink April marketing special

Conference 2024 Telford: Full report
Session 4: Julia Malkin MBE
ADHD and the L-test:
Understanding neurodiversity
Dr Julia Malkin MBE is a long-time
supporter of MSA GB events and a
well-known face within the driving
instruction community. She is best known
for teaching, and helping others to teach,
autistic learners, those with ADHD, and
other neurodivergent differences.
Julia used her slot at Conference to
explain the different ways that ADHD can
affect pupils. The support they need varies.
Some people need to take things slowly
and others could need all tasks to be broken
down into more manageable chunks that
can be more easily processed.
There were some interesting takeaways
from her presentation. It is believed that
around three per cent of the UK population
have one of the three types of ADHD, and
65 per cent of people with this condition
are undiagnosed.
These are, as a group, a throwback to our
ancestors’ most successful hunters: as Julia
put it, “when there were hunter-gatherers
thousands of years ago, those with ADHD
traits were always on the go. They were
scanning their environment for predators
and prey, seeing changes around them
faster, the tribe’s best hunters.”
That agile ‘constantly on’ brain remains
with us today. But our modern world, with
its ‘sit still, stay quiet’ behavioural norms,
makes people with ADHD have constant
struggles. While the condition can be
challenging to manage, it does not prevent
those with ADHD from learning to drive.
Types of ADHD
There are three types of ADHD. The first
type is Impulsive ADHD, driven by activity
and constantly being on the go. Commonly
diagnosed in childhood and in boys, this
condition manifests today in teens and
adults as restlessness, fidgeting, problems
with focus and concentration. In extreme
cases it can cause recklessness due to its
impulsive traits. In the past, it was known as
‘hyperactivity’ and results in children being
always told they were naughty.
“We were the naughty kids at school,”
Julia said in the presentation. “We were
those always being told off for not being
able to sit still, stay still, and shut up. Many
of us were told to stand in the corridor. I
was sent to the Head! I was diagnosed
hyperactive when I was six, and was
drugged with Valium so deeply that it took
three hours to walk four streets home from
school.”
Some people with the condition can
interrupt, others have problems listening,
and many can’t stand waiting, so situations
involving queues of traffic can present
problems.
Some of them, as Julia puts it, “could
impulsively touch all the controls, anything
within reach; others will be watching
through the windscreen, spotting changes
in the environment, such as a boy with a
ball; their mind is always on the go and this
makes them lose concentration.”
This is why it is exhausting having this
type of ADHD.
Another type of ADHD is Inattentive
ADHD – commonly diagnosed in girls and in
adults. People with this type can struggle
to concentrate on a task. This constant
need to focus our attention on a task or
person drains their energy quickly, and the
loss of energy can lead to them ‘zoning out’
to recharge – at school these were “the
daydreamers, always looking out of the
window, and losing attention on the task
and the teacher.”
This type is not so impulsive, but they
can be distracted, especially when they
have concentrated on sitting down or
thinking for long periods. They can lose
confidence when, after much effort and
energy is spent on concentration, they
eventually try to do a task and cannot do it
correctly.
24 NEWSLINK n APRIL 2024