ADHD Experts Podcast: Episode 576

Title: Beat The Clock: Time Estimation and Management Help for Students with ADHD
Date: September 23, 2025
Host: Annie Rogers (on behalf of Attitude Mag)
Guest Expert: Beverly Holden Johns, learning and behavior consultant, author, and president of the Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois

Episode Overview

This episode centers on practical strategies for helping students with ADHD manage time and improve their executive functioning. Beverly Holden Johns shares expert insights into why time management is so challenging for ADHD learners, offers tools and step-by-step methodologies for parents and educators, and answers listener questions on overcoming specific hurdles such as procrastination, anxiety, perfectionism, routine resistance, and building accountability. The tone is empathetic, highly practical, and focused on real-life application.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Time Management: Why It’s Hard for ADHD Learners

• Early Anecdote on Individual Approaches (02:36–06:07)
  Beverly opens with a personal story about her own passive-aggressive time habits as a child, contrasting her methods with her mother’s more anxious, early-bird style.

  • Quote: “No one approach is going to work with all of our children. And sometimes what we do is we say, well, it works for me and it should work for my child. No, remember my mother and me, what worked for her didn’t work for me.” (06:02, Beverly)

• Why Time Management Matters (07:21–09:40)
  It affects teacher relationships (“teacher-pleaser behaviors”), trust, friendships, job performance, and life decisions. Beverly stresses the importance of “seize the moment” and “work ahead” as core lessons to teach.

• The Uniqueness Principle (06:07–07:04)
  Encourage experimentation with different organizational systems (daily/weekly/monthly calendars), since preferences vary greatly.

2. Foundational Strategies: Tools, Timers & Systems

• Organizational Tools Are Individual (10:45–12:25)
  Assignment notebooks, calendars, and planning tools need to fit each child. Encourage flexibility and avoid one-size-fits-all solutions.

• Use of Timers (13:03–14:58)
  Beverly recommends visual timers like the Time Timer but cautions, “We have to be very careful with children who have anxiety because a timer may make them more anxious.” (13:58, Beverly)

• Teaching Time, Not Just Accommodating (14:26–15:26)
  “If we just give extended timelines and we don’t at the same time have a goal in the IEP to teach them time management strategies, it doesn’t work.” (14:41, Beverly)

3. Cognitive Roadblocks to Time Management

• Cognitive Overload & Multitasking (17:20–19:11)
  Simplify tasks, remove distractions, encourage one-task focus, and value movement/doodling for focus during lectures.

• Rejection Sensitivity (19:17–20:35)
  High anxiety about failing or disappointing is rampant. “When you’ve got a child and that child is not wanting to do something, ask yourself, are they afraid of being rejected?” (19:39, Beverly)

• Auditory Processing Challenges (20:53–21:54)
  Step directions may need to remain one at a time, even as students age.

• Procrastination (22:12–23:34)
  Don’t expect kids to start independently—help with the first step, and create a pleasant work environment (treats, sensory tools).

• Cathartic Dumping (24:17–26:24)
  Kids need to offload daily frustrations before productive work can happen: “Until he dumped what was bothering him, we were not going to have a happy day doing academics.” (26:14, Beverly)

4. Time Blindness and Task Initiation

• Explaining Time Blindness (29:11–30:26)
  The inability to sense/estimate how much time has passed is multifactorial, involving concentration, memory, and planning.

• Strategies to Start a Task: Behavior Momentum (34:33–36:03)
  Have students do easy, quickly-successful tasks before facing a tough one to build confidence and momentum.

• Time Estimation Games (38:41–40:07)
  Make a game out of guessing and measuring how long tasks take (“Beat the Clock”); make regular practice of it.

  • Quote: “Oh, Andrew, I bet that task will take you 10 minutes to do. And you know what? Andrew would get it done in three because he wanted to prove me wrong.” (38:51, Beverly)

5. Tools for Home and School

• Breaking Down Assignments (41:03–41:40, 41:57–43:31)
  Divide large tasks into bite-sized sections (even using “traveling assignments” around the house for novelty and movement). Use “mindful moments”—brief, regular pauses—to help maintain attention.

• Picking the Right Clock (41:48–42:07)
  Use analog clocks to help children see the passage of time, as digital clocks only provide a snapshot.

• Use of Proofreading Checklists
  Rushing through work is common; creating a step-by-step checklist ensures a more thoughtful, error-checked result.

• Learning Environment Matters
  The workspace should be sensory-friendly, comfortable, and consistent.

6. Parent/Teacher Q&A Highlights

Q1: Holding Teens Accountable for Wasting Time (42:12–44:37)

• Advice: Don’t nag; reinforce small positives; allow natural consequences and focus on gradual behavioral change.
  • Quote: “You’re not going to change the child’s behavior overnight. So you’re going to start looking for any glimmer of positivity and you’re going to reinforce any glimmer of that.” (43:14, Beverly)

Q2: Helping Kids Learn Time Estimation (46:44–48:40)

• Gamify the Process: Use fun, real-life scenarios (e.g., a trip to the ice cream shop) to estimate and check time for each step, reflecting together on any surprises or roadblocks.

Q3: Letting Teens be Late—Implementing Natural Consequences (48:40–51:13)

• Sometimes, the lesson only sticks through experience. Afterward, focus on “execute and repair”: review what happened, where things broke down, and what could be done differently next time.
  • Quote: “They learned the hard way…How can we repair that? So let’s look at what happened here. Where do we think it broke down?” (49:37, Beverly)

Q4: Perfectionism and Anxiety Over Assignments (51:55–56:48)

• Give permission to be “good enough,” reinforce what’s been done well, and gradually work toward reasonable timeframes.
  • Quote: “Sometimes [children] are so fixated on it being perfect, and it’s not going to be perfect. We all wish we were, but it’s giving them permission to finish it.” (53:14, Beverly)
  • High anxiety, avoidance, and perfectionist paralysis all often relate to underlying rejection sensitivity—focus on building confidence incrementally.

Q5: Avoidance and Rushing (57:35–59:00)

• For kids who avoid or rush through work, reward any sign of engagement, however small (“the minute he raised that head up and picked up the pencil…I was over there saying, oh, thank you. You just let me know how I can help you do this assignment”). Avoid tools that increase anxiety.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On building positive momentum:
  “We have to continually look and change our focus because a lot of our students are what I call reinforcement deserts. Nobody ever says anything nice to them. And we got to be able to find something that we can grab a hold of.” (44:56, Beverly)

• On reflection and growth:
  “What did you learn from that? And what can you do the next time to make sure you repair it? Reflection. I mean, good teachers reflect all the time.” (50:30, Beverly)

• On the essential mindset for caregivers:
  “Every negative statement that we make hurts the child. We really have to be careful…Was I building my child up? Was I looking for everything I could possibly find to be sure that I was a builder?” (56:58, Beverly)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:36 – Beverly’s time management “true confession” story and the individualization lesson
• 07:21 – Why time management matters for kids’ social and academic life
• 13:03 – Visual timers; caution for anxious students
• 17:20 – Cognitive overload and simplifying tasks; multitasking myths
• 19:17 – Rejection sensitivity and anxiety
• 22:12 – Strategies against procrastination and making a pleasant work environment
• 29:11 – Explaining time blindness; time estimation as a multidimensional skill
• 34:33 – “Behavior Momentum” strategy for task initiation
• 38:41 – “Beat the Clock” time estimation games
• 41:03 – Breaking down assignments (“traveling assignments”) and workspace tips
• 42:12 – Parental Q&A on accountability, natural consequences, and the power of positivity
• 46:44 – Gamifying time estimation for kids, handling roadblocks
• 48:40 – Execute and repair: guiding teens through learning from lateness/failure
• 51:55 – Addressing perfectionism and anxiety around assignments: incremental reinforcement
• 57:35 – Strategies for work avoidance and rushing

Tone, Style, and Final Takeaways

The episode is encouraging, realistic, and unapologetically individualized—there is no single magic system, but rather a toolkit of strategies and perspectives. Beverly’s advice is equal parts practical (“break big tasks into small ones, use visual timers, make a game of time estimation”) and empathetic (“build positive momentum, reinforce glimmers of progress, and model flexibility”).

Core message: Help students with ADHD develop their own relationship to time and tasks by modeling, reinforcing positives, and allowing space for learning from mistakes—not from shame or punishment, but from patient, reflective, and creative support.

Episode Resource:
For slides and further resources mentioned, visit Attitude Mag - Episode 576.
Podcast: ADHD Experts Podcast – available on all major podcast platforms.