Turn the Paige, ADHD Coaching & Education for the Unique Mind

When people hear the phrase “social skills,” they often assume it’s about manners, effort, or simply knowing the right thing to do.

But for many people with ADHD, social awareness can also be impacted by executive functioning.

Think about everything happening during a conversation:

• listening to the other person
• remembering what they just said
• monitoring your own thoughts
• resisting the urge to interrupt
• noticing facial expressions and body language
• figuring out when it’s your turn to talk
• staying on topic

That’s a LOT of information for the brain to manage in real time.

And when attention, working memory, impulse control, or self-monitoring are affected, social interactions can become more challenging.

The good news?

Social awareness is a skill.

And like most skills, it can be practiced, strengthened, and improved over time.

For some people, working with an executive functioning coach, ADHD coach, therapist, speech-language pathologist, social worker, or other trained professional can be helpful in building greater self-awareness, recognizing social cues, navigating conversations, and developing strategies that work with their brain instead of against it.

The goal isn’t to change who someone is.

The goal is to better understand how their brain works so they can connect with others more intentionally and confidently.

Sources & References:

Faraone, Stephen V., et al. “The World Federation of ADHD International Consensus Statement: 208 Evidence-Based Conclusions About the Disorder.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 128, 2021, pp. 789–818.

This is for educational purposes only.

If ADHD waiting mode has ever taken over your day, you’re absolutely NOT alone.

While “waiting mode” isn’t an official clinical term, many people with ADHD describe feeling unable to fully engage in other activities before an upcoming appointment, event, deadline, or commitment.

One theory is that the brain is working overtime to make sure the important thing doesn’t get forgotten.

For people with ADHD, challenges with time awareness, prospective memory (remembering to do things in the future), planning, and task switching can make upcoming events feel mentally “louder” than they actually are.

As a result, the brain may stay hyper-focused on not missing the appointment instead of engaging in the present moment.

A few strategies that may help:

• Set multiple alarms (e.g., 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 10 minutes, even 5 minutes before)
• Put appointments in your calendar immediately
• Create a “safe task list” of things you can start and stop easily
• Schedule appointments earlier in the day when possible

Personally, I’ve found that once my brain trusts that a system will remind me, it’s much easier to let go of the appointment and focus on what’s in front of me.

Sources & References:

Barkley, Russell A. Taking Charge of Adult ADHD. Guilford Press, 2021.

Brown, Thomas E. Smart but Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD. Jossey-Bass, 2014.

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed., text rev., American Psychiatric Publishing, 2022.

This is for educational purposes only.

One thing I find especially interesting about body doubling is that it challenges a common misconception about ADHD.

Most people assume that if someone knows what needs to be done, they should be able to just do it.

But ADHD is often less about knowledge and more about access.

Many people with ADHD know exactly what needs to be done. The challenge is accessing the executive functioning needed to get started and stay with it.

That’s one reason body doubling has generated so much interest among researchers.

The presence of another person may provide enough external structure, accountability, and support to make task initiation and follow-through more accessible.

In other words, body doubling doesn’t change the task.

It may change how accessible the task feels to the ADHD brain.

If you’re curious about trying it, one of my favorite resources is Focusmate. It’s a website for virtual body doubling that pairs you with another person for a scheduled work session.

I’ve used it and know many who find it incredibly helpful for getting started on tasks they were struggling to begin!

Sources & References:

Tan, V., et al. “A Roadmap of Mixed Reality Body Doubling for Adults with ADHD.” arXiv, 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.07851

Ara, Z., et al. “You Are Not Alone: Designing Body Doubling for ADHD in Virtual Reality.” arXiv, 2025. https://arxiv.org/

This is educational purposes only.

So if researchers and clinicians have been talking about emotional dysregulation in ADHD for years… why does this newer research matter so much?

Because emotional dysregulation has historically been viewed as something secondary to ADHD instead of something potentially central to it.

For a long time, ADHD conversations focused much more heavily on visible symptoms like hyperactivity, distractibility, and inattention.

The newer 2026 study getting attention did NOT officially establish a new diagnostic “type” of ADHD.

What researchers actually did was use brain imaging, behavior patterns, and neurochemical data to look at differences within ADHD presentations more closely (Pan et al., 2026).

One of the strongest findings was that people with ADHD who experienced more severe emotional dysregulation also showed distinct differences in brain regions involved in emotional control and impulse regulation.

In other words, the study continues strengthening the idea that emotional dysregulation may be neurologically connected to ADHD itself… not simply a separate personality issue or character flaw.

And I think that distinction matters a LOT.

Because for as long as I can remember, I’ve been told I was “too sensitive” or felt things “too deeply.” I know so many other people with ADHD have had similar experiences.

Realizing there may have been neurological factors contributing to those experiences completely changes the conversation.

Sources & References:

Pan, N., et al. “Mapping ADHD Heterogeneity and Biotypes by Integrating Brain Structure, Function, and Neurochemistry.” JAMA Psychiatry, 2026. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2845158

Shaw, Philip, et al. “Emotion Dysregulation in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.” American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 171, no. 3, 2014, pp. 276–293. https://psychiatryonline.orgdoi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.1307096

This is Educational purposes only.