[obscurette]

I had a discussion regarding this some time ago with my grandchild who has an ADHD diagnosis. She has troubles being in noisy (especially visually) environments, yet she finds my home (relatively large home full of books, music always playing etc) comforting. She explained that all this stuff in my home is interesting for her and speaks with her - "It's you and grandma, it's full of stories". But the very modern and "must be comforting" environment in school full of patterns and pictures drawn on walls etc is just irritating – "There is no stories, just noise".

[kmfrk]

The acoustics of homes with clean walls and floors can also be absolutely miserable.

Some small dining rooms amplify all the worst noises and make it terrible to be in, drains your mental battery like few other things.

[theoreticalmal]

I’m so glad to see someone else who thinks this. Barren walls, vinyl flooring, 5k Kelvin lights, and scented candles everywhere. It’s like the most miserable consumerist environment imaginable.

[thih9]

There was a reason for those popcorn ceilings and carpeted floors (and it clearly wasn't aesthetics).

[mghackerlady]

A good scented candle can really help make a room feel better. Scent in general does that, though. Incense or a fireplace could also work

[nine_k]

Very much so. This is why, wherever I move in, I try to put shelvesn on the walls, hang something non-flat off them, put closets and drawer units so that they form a jagged line. Not only are these things functional, they do away with the terrible reverberations that every sound produces otherwise.

[austin-cheney]

The noise on the walls is comforting to people on the autism spectrum, provided it’s bound by inferred structures. You have to also understand that elementary school education is almost universally female, much more so programming is male dominated. Like software, elementary school education is also a pool for adults on the autism spectrum substantially higher than general population average.

[david_allison]

> Like software, elementary school education is also a pool for adults on the autism spectrum substantially higher than general population average.

Interesting! Do you have a source for this?

[wafflemaker]

Can you write more thoughts or describe some situations?

[austin-cheney]

I am not sure what you are asking for.

[wafflemaker]

My wife is working in preschool and wanted to have some examples to discuss with her. I know plenty of those for overrepresentation of AuDHD spectrum in IT (especially males), but don't know any for schools. Especially since women are often not that obvious.

[austin-cheney]

I don't have statistics. My wife works in elementary special education. Previously to her current assignment to a classroom with assigned students she worked across the entirely of a large school system as adviser.

[mghackerlady]

Anecdotal, but my cousin has ADHD (not the same, but there seems to be significant overlap) and is working on becoming an elementary school teacher

[boringg]

I think they are asking you to expand. It seems that your comment was short and not full of specific examples to draw from.

[singingtoday]

That's such a great insight. Thank you for sharing this.

[mghackerlady]

I have ADHD as well, and this hit the nail on the head. I eventually learned that if I stay in a single environment long enough, it starts to feel less noisy. For example, since I was in my schools alternative program for most of my HS career, I was pretty much in the same classroom every day for ~4 years. Eventually, the stories came to me