Speech and ADHD
Despite its reputation, the extent of ADHD's effects doesn't stop at inattentiveness and trouble focusing. Managing executive dysfunction means understanding that it also alters everything from planning and coordination to sleep and communication. The latter of which is essential to self-expression, maintaining relationships, and everyday life. ADHD affects communication all the way down to the basics. Simple sentence formation can even become a challenge. If you find yourself stumbling over words, never quite able to get out precisely what you intend to say, you're not alone. Trouble forming comprehensive sentences is a widely experienced phenomenon in the world of ADHD.
These vocal missteps can appear as mumbling, skipping words, or spitting out nonsensical sentences to keep up the pace of conversation. It can feel entirely frustrating, like you're speaking with typos! The good news is it's not you; it's absolutely your ADHD. The frontal lobe plays a heavy role in speech production, a part of the brain that's smaller in those with executive dysfunction and experiences less blood flow. Studies show that individuals with ADHD are more at risk for an articulation disorder and typically have lower vocal quality and fluency. One specific study even found that ADHD could be detected based on speech patterns alone. The number of pauses and filler words is significantly higher in conversations where executive dysfunction is at play.
While you shouldn't blame yourself for this struggle to communicate, the need to speak is constant and shouldn't have to be frustrating. It's impossible to restructure your brain, but the one thing you can do is slow down. Making a conscious effort to speak at a more measured, deliberate pace can go a long way for your speech quality. It can feel strange at first, but once you mentally trick yourself into speaking slower, you'll notice vast differences. At the very least, give yourself a break! Know that this difficulty with words has nothing to do with intellect or abilities. It's just another small, often unmentioned side effect of ADHD that we need to significantly increase awareness of.
