Function, Visualization, and Mathematical Thinking among College Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

For many people, AD[H]D is not a disorder but a trait, a way of being in the world. When it impairs their lives, then it becomes a disorder. But once they learn to manage its disorderly aspects, they can take full advantage of the many talents and gifts embedded in this sparkling kind of mind. (Halloway & Ratey, 2005, p. 4) According to the American Psychiatric Association (2000), between 3 % and 7 % all of school age children have ADHD. Since the enactment of the American Disabilities Act of 1990, elementary and secondary schools have become more efficient at identifying and ad-dressing the needs of students with ADHD (Gordon & Keiser, 1998). In turn, increasing numbers of young adults with ADHD are enrolling in universities across the nation (Javorsky & Gussin, 1994; Wolf, 2001). It is estimated that between 4 % and 6 % of all college students in the U.S. have some form of ADHD (DuPaul et al., 2001; Heiligenstein, Conyers, Berns, & Smith, 1998; Weyandt, Linterman, & Rice, 1995), and it is expected that these numbers will continue to rise (Wolf, 2001). It is now known that symptoms of ADHD do impact the academic success of students a