Episode 1: Exercise No. 6 vs ADHD = Total Disaster
Monday, 08/09/2025
The Magic of ADHD Through Iris’s Eyes
ADHD isn’t just difficulty. It’s the ability to see the world differently: birds that talk, clouds that dance, mathematical functions that come alive. Iris is discovering that she doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s enough to try, to laugh at her scribbles, and to enjoy the moment.
Survival Kit for Kids
- Use humor and imagination to face math.
- Try drawing little clouds or doodles next to your exercises to organize your thoughts.
- Don’t be afraid of mistakes — they’re part of the process.
Tips for Parents
- Encourage kids to see things from different perspectives.
- Embrace mistakes and creativity, not just perfection.
- Help children organize their time, but with flexibility.
What is that bird outside the window waiting for, I wonder? It chirps with its orange beak in different voices and tones. It’s a whole choir all by itself!
It also has a trendy, jet-black, glossy body like vinyl fabric, and clever little eyes the same color as its beak… What a sweet creature! Oh—there it goes, flying off toward the clouds. And wow, how beautiful the clouds are today. Snow-white, clean, fluffy. How lucky these birds and clouds are!
Dad has a book by a famous painter, Magritte. He paints wonderful surreal paintings with exactly this kind of
happy sky and clouds. Today is Dad’s birthday, and I still haven’t bought his present and—
“Iris Toutoudaki! Are you done with your exercises, or are you daydreaming?” the teacher says sternly, looking
straight at me.
Oh, the exercises… Right! I’m taking a math test on the chapter about functions… How many exercises were there?
Three or four? Four… I finished the first one, but what happened after that? How did I end up talking to the black
bird and the clouds? And Dad’s present…
I just wanted to finish the exercises! I know how to solve them — I’m really good at functions…
I’m starting to panic. What time is it? I won’t make it. My paper fills up with numbers, scribbles, and parentheses staring blankly at me. Magritte’s clouds suddenly make noise — they want me to look at them again. No, no, not the clouds again! Focus!
The f(x) f(x) f(x) seems to be dancing, slipping away from me again and again. I pinned it down! Yes! I solved
the second exercise, too.
Its solution was easy, but I’m not sure anyone will understand what I wrote. They’ll probably only see some black
scribbles — the same ones I barely managed to see myself before the teacher snatched the paper away from me.
“Time’s up!” a voice says. Ugh… That voice is the story of my life — this voice saying “time’s up” and those black, glossy scribbles flying before my eyes like the black bird outside the window.
Two exercises out of four. Well… at least it’s not a total failure.
All the kids gather and talk about the test. They’re all discussing one exercise that gave them trouble. Exercise
number 6. Wait, how? There were only four exercises!
Great. Fantastic. I did it again. The last page had two more exercises on the back. I never saw them!
Final score: one correct exercise and one correctly… scribbled, out of six.
Okay, maybe this is the ultimate failure.