From Shame to Strength: Supporting ADHD Students. A Discussion with Karen Costa

Welcome to Season 11! In our opening episode, we sit down with Karen Costa, a faculty development facilitator specializing in online pedagogy, trauma awareness, and course/community design. Our conversation focused on her forthcoming book, An Educator's Guide to ADHD: Designing and Teaching for Student Success, to be published in January 2026. In this conversation, Karen challenges educators to rethink how we frame ADHD in the classroom. In reframing ADHD as a normal variant of the human experience rather than a disorder to be corrected, we can avoid ableist language that undermines our pedagogical aims in the classroom. Karen also shared practical strategies for supporting ADHD students, including offering multiple assignment formats and providing clear task lists and deadlines. Both of these approaches strike a delicate balance between creative freedom and helpful constraints in course design. Throughout our discussion, Karen reminds us that reducing shame in the classroom and celebrating students' diverse strengths may be the most powerful tools we have as educators. Learn more about Karen Costa’s work in her forthcoming book: Costa, K. (2026). An Educator's Guide to ADHD: Designing and Teaching for Student Success. Johns Hopkins University Press. Other materials referenced in this episode include: Costa, K. (2020). 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Educational Videos: A Guide for Online Teachers and Flipped Classes. Routledge.