Time blindness is the inability to sense the passing of time and it can make nearly every aspect of a person’s life more difficult. The important thing to understand is that it’s more like a sensory issue, not an intentional disregard for time.
The Attention Deficit Disorder Association describes Time Blindness:
For adults with ADHD, time blindness is the inability to sense how much time has passed and estimate the time needed to get something done. It isn’t an official diagnosis, but it can significantly affect how you plan and carry out your daily activities.
An example of time blindness for an ADHDer is underestimating the time needed to get ready for an appointment, causing you to turn up late. For a non-ADHDer, it’s easier to estimate the amount of time needed to prep and be on time.
Time blindness is a legitimate issue for people with ADHD. It’s not the intentional act of disregarding time or disrespecting someone else’s time.
The ADHD brain is simply wired in a way that changes a person’s ability to estimate and judge time.
https://add.org/adhd-time-blindness/
This means that in the mind of someone with ADHD or ASD, the passing of time is abstract, it has no reference point in their mind. They cannot accurately determine how long it will take to complete a task and so leads to lateness and a perceived “scatter brain” by neurotypicals.
Here are some of the interesting facts I’ve learned about time blindness over the past 6 months.
1 – digital clocks mean nothing. You cannot see the passing of time, and thus to the ADHD brain the time viewed is merely a static fact of what the time is now, not how much time has passed.
2 – a regular clock with a face and hands that move is a much better alternative as it allows the mind to “see” physically the passing of time. I read an article that said a linear clock is possible the best alternative for a person with time blindness as it acurately shows the passing of time in a line. You can see how they work here.
3 – people with ADHD will say a certain task will take x amount of time, but they will not factor in the travel time, or preparation time, and will underestimate their time needed which leads to appointments being missed and work not being finished on time. This is very identifiable in children in schools where tests and exams have time frames, children with ADHD will then need extra time to complete their assignments and exams as allowed in their IEP.
So how do we help our children to overcome the challenge of time blindness?
5 Ways to Help Kids Manage Their Time: From Dr Sharon Saline.
You can think of teaching kids time management as laying the foundation for independence and success. Encouraging your child to think beyond the common Now/Not Now ADHD mentality raises their awareness of how they participate in the world and how their choices affect themselves and others. Task estimation and planning gives them more control while lowering stress and anxiety. Lastly, self-reflection and a growth mindset allows your child to assess progress and fine-tune their approach. These fool-proof strategies can help children of all ages take responsibility for managing their time appropriately.
Expand Now/Not Now Thinking
The best way of moving your child out of Now/Not Now thinking is by reminding them of the recent past and pointing out the near future. This promotes awareness of wider spans of time and encourages kids to consider events outside of their immediate experience. For younger kids, this may involve asking them to recount what they did in school or what they’d like to do with their grandparents during their upcoming visit. Tweens and teens can tell you about a party they went to or a trip to the movies. You can also ask for their help in planning a BBQ or lay out a craft project with multiple phases or components.
Teach Time Estimation Skills
Time estimation will get easier with time and practice. You can help teach your child this vital skill directly by making notes of start and end times of something you do together. Then you can use this information as guidance for estimating an equivalent activity. Some simple examples are timing how long it takes to walk between your home and school or a friend’s house or how long it takes to bake cookies, all the way from ingredient gathering to cooling and clean-up. Discussing how long things take further raises awareness of how long things actually take. So the next time your child tries to convince you that 20 minutes is plenty of time to whip up cupcakes before you leave for a party, you have a reminder that the last baking project took 45 minutes and then work with your child on getting the timing right.
Use Backwards Design
Backwards Design is a means of planning in reverse to get to where you want to be in the future. You work backwards and assign increments of time to the various steps along the way. “I have to be at school by 7:30. It takes me twenty minutes to ride my bike, lock it up and get to homeroom so that puts me at 7:10. Before that, I want to eat breakfast (ten minutes), go to the bathroom, brush my teeth and get dressed (fifteen minutes) which puts me at 6:55 am. Then I have to wake up. Usually I hit the snooze button once or twice which lasts another fifteen minutes. So that means I have to set my alarm for 6:40 if everything goes perfectly. Bleh. Maybe 6:30 is better.”
Show How to Budget Time
When you are not in a rush, sit down with your child and slowly go through the steps necessary for a given sequence of activities such as allocating enough time for homework or practicing piano before dinner. Listen to their estimates of applying time to tasks. Give them feedback about how long things really seem to take them, based on your observations. Talk about creating a cushion of 5-10 minutes for getting somewhere too. Together, set up alarms to alert them about deadlines, ends of gaming, practicing the violin or coming home from a friend’s house.
Remember That Practice Makes Perfect
*Remember that ADHD, like any other diagnosis, needs to be confirmed by a qualified proffessional and this advice is not meant to be medical advice, please always consult your therapist.
