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The Importance of Using Social-Emotional Learning to Educate Black and Brown Students with ADD

This sum of a person's experiences forms an individual's reality and consciousness. That sum is the core principle of what is known as social-emotional learning (SEL). SEL helps students cope with their feelings, set goals, accomplish tasks, and build self-efficacy.
Marilyn Simmons Bowe

Marilyn Simmons Bowe

6 Min Read

One fact that remains a constant in today’s world is that we are a sum of our individual experiences. Your experiences are different day to day than Bob’s, who you work side by side with each day on Zoom, or the teen sitting across from you on the subway heading home from basketball practice. Black and Brown youth, teens, and students have vastly different and often amplified experiences than those of other races and certainly from students who do not have ADD/ADHD. This sum of a person’s experiences forms an individual’s reality and consciousness. That sum is the core principle of what is known as social-emotional learning (SEL). SEL helps students cope with their feelings, set goals, accomplish tasks, and build self-efficacy. It is how we interact, emote and learn from each other and is much more important in everyday life than most might realize. 
Below are a few common myths and misconceptions that black and brown students with ADD/ADHD tackle daily:

  • Teachers and educators of Black and Brown students with ADD should remain detached and solely focus on educating the curriculum and lesson plans.
  • The student seems to be able to focus on playing and games for hours but not academics, their ADD/ADHD is not that bad.
  • The student is unresponsive because they are lazy and don’t want to do the work or as a means to obtain negative attention. 
  • All students should be able to separate home life from the classroom once they enter.
  • The cause of the minority students’ lack of focus is poor parental discipline.

Biological studies have determined that if a green plant does not get sunlight, it will not grow or reproduce to the extent that it would if it would have received the much-needed sunlight. This is analogous to a Black or Brown student with ADD not being exposed to the necessary tools for positive psychological development, including Social-Emotional Learning. 
SEL Starter Steps for Black and Brown Students with ADD:

  1. Are you who you are at work and when you are with friends? The answer is no and neither is your student. Get to know who and how the student is in the non-academic sense: What are their likes and dislikes? What are their hobbies and interests outside of the classroom? The overall benefit of this is that it builds trust and gets the Black and Brown student with ADD to “buy-in” to what you present in the academic environment. Find fun and creative ways to incorporate interests into homework and lesson planning.
  2. If there seems to be a learning lull, show genuine concern for what the student might say about their lives outside of the learning environment. What are they bringing into the learning environment, consciously or subconsciously? If you understand more about the happenings in a student’s life, then you are better able to provide support. Do you get upset at work and have a difficult time concentrating due to an argument with your parents or a spouse? Students are no different and those with ADD/ADHD need a bit of extra support. Do not expect them to leave home at the classroom door. 
  3. Allow Black and Brown students with ADD to express their feelings. The overall benefit of this is that Black and Brown students with ADD are often exposed to more scrutiny in their homes and communities because they are often “watched closely so that they don’t get into trouble”. As such, they may lack the confidence to interact with adults or superiors and might often suppress their feelings and can instead come off as unresponsive.
  4. Be flexible when applying the normal “rules of ADD” to Black and Brown students. The overall benefit of this is that, for example, ADD/ADHD with an inattentive presentation, includes symptoms such as the student is easily sidetracked; or forgetful; or doesn’t do homework, or makes careless mistakes. However, for a minority student with ADD, these symptoms could be compounded by and representative of everyday survival. Life situations such as having to assist at a young age in a low-income home with more responsibility regardless of their ADD/ADHD diagnosis. They may not have much energy left when they enter the learning environment. Receiving less coddling and developmental focus due to said responsibilities and/or seeing family members affected by heartbreaking social injustices within their community. Flexibility matters.
  5. Do not compromise when grading assignments. Now, this is not to be confused with the above flexibility…meaning you may need to extend deadlines or spend a little time after class explaining the subject matter. However when it comes to grading – grade as you would normally. When Educators compromise on grades, they are saying to that student that they are willing to accept substandard work because of who and how that student is. Instead of compromising on the assignments Educators should accommodate during the learning process and create new schemas based on SEL.

Benefits From SEL For Black and Brown Students with ADD/ADHD Long Term 

  1. The ability to process their feelings and adjust accordingly without having to “act out” to get attention.
  2. They would be more likely to have more confidence when making decisions rather than displaying inactivity or hesitancy.
  3. They would be more likely to demonstrate empathy because they would not be detached from a situation.
  4. They would be more connected and committed to tasks at hand and therefore persist through difficulties.
  5. They would be more likely to develop self-efficacy.
  6. They will be more equipped to reduce self conduct problems and risk-taking behaviors.

Some might say that SEL is simply implementing feelings within a classroom or babying a student. It is not that black and white. Social-Emotional-Learning engages on a much more personal level. No one loses from just a little bit more love and engagement. Studies show that minority students with ADD/ADHD see increasingly positive results.


About The AuthorDr. Marilyn Simmons Bowe, Ph.D. is based out of Atlanta GA. She not only teaches but works cross-industry as a coach for Social-Emotional learning and in 2010/2011 developed the Camp Achievement Theory assessment that calculates and quantifies social emotional problem areas via an assessment and algorithm. Her writing interests center around educating children of poverty and her dissertation focused on the effects of emotions on academic outcomes, in particular, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning outcomes for African Americans (AA).  Her credentials include ASc, BSc, MSc, PhD and CPC.