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Sam's daughter, Ruby, has just started High School.
She was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD
Neurodivergent students are in almost every classroom. Many are bright, curious and creative, but school is built for one kind of brain:
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sit still
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listen for long stretches
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follow multi-step instructions
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switch tasks when the bell rings
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manage noise, crowds and social rules all day
What it can look like
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ADHD: daydreaming, losing things, unfinished work, calling out, homework battles, or being 'the class clown'.
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Autism: exhaustion after school, difficulty with group work or changes to routine, distress in noisy spaces, and intense interests
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Girls especially often hold it together at school, then fall apart at home. Teachers may see a quiet, well-behaved student and miss the struggle completely.
Why the move to high school is so hard
Year 7 suddenly brings six or more teachers, a timetable, a locker, moving rooms, more homework and new friendship groups. That puts heavy demands on organisation and social skills, exactly where neurodivergent students find things hardest.
What schools must do.
Under the Disability Standards for Education 2005, Australian schools must make reasonable adjustments so students with disability can take part on the same basis as their classmates. A formal diagnosis isn’t always needed to start. In Victorian government schools, a Student Support Group of parents, teachers and the student can plan those adjustments together.
Ruby, 12 · Year 7 student · ADHD (inattentive)
Ruby is funny, imaginative and kind. She draws comics in the margins of her books, knows everything about octopuses, and is the first to notice when a friend is upset.
In primary school, teachers described her as 'a lovely girl, a bit of a daydreamer'.The daydreaming was hiding more. Ruby often missed instructions, lost her hat every week, and took three hours to do homework that should take thirty minutes, usually ending in tears at the kitchen table.
Because she was quiet and well-behaved at school, no one was worried.
When her Mum Sam was diagnosed, she recognised her own childhood in her daughter.
Ruby was diagnosed with ADHD at 11, just before starting high school.
Starting Year 7 has been hard:
School: she forgets which classroom she needs, leaves books in her locker, and freezes when asked to start an assignment
Home: homework turns into evening-long battles, and she’s exhausted and teary after school from holding it together all day.
Social life: her primary school friends have scattered, and she finds the fast-moving group chats confusing and worrying.
Her strengths: creativity and imagination, deep knowledge of her interests, empathy, humour, and the ability to hyperfocus on things she loves.
What helps:
At school:
A colour-coded timetable on her phone and inside her locker,
Instructions written down as well as spoken,
A teacher she can check in with,
And extra time for assignments
At home:
Short homework blocks with movement breaks,
Sam working beside her (body doubling),
and a calm after-school routine with food and downtime first
Social life: joining the school art club, so she can find friends who share her interests, without having to work out the rules of a whole new group.
For both of them: The Student ADHD Program helps Ruby understand her brain, and helps Sam support her without the homework battles.
What Ruby shows - neurodivergent students aren’t lazy or naughty. They’re working hard in a system that wasn’t designed for them, and small, practical changes at school and home can make a big difference.
