How do you actually learn best?

You have sat through a training course and forgotten everything by lunchtime. You have read the same paragraph three times and still could not tell someone what it said. You have listened to clear instructions and then done something completely different.

It is not that you were not paying attention. It is that the information was not delivered in the way your brain needed it.

School taught everyone the same way, whether you learned best by seeing, listening, reading, or doing. Most of us carried that pattern into adulthood without much examination. Then ADHD or AuDHD lands on top of it, and the cost of using the wrong method gets higher.

When you know how your brain takes in information, you stop wasting hours rereading reports that should have been a 10-minute conversation, and you stop nodding through meetings you cannot remember an hour later.

Your brain has preferences

Some people absorb information best when they can see it. Others need to hear it. Some need to read it in their own time. And some need to physically do something before it clicks.

Most people are a blend of all four, with one or two preferences stronger than the others. The blend is what matters.

The four broad styles

Each one has a feel to it, not just a description.

Visual. You remember what you see. Diagrams, colour-coded notes, mind maps, the whiteboard at a meeting. You doodle when you are thinking. Instructions make sense once someone draws them. A long audio brief leaves you blank.

Auditory. You remember what you hear. Conversations, podcasts, things read aloud, explanations. Silent reading is often slower than listening at twice the speed. You replay a conversation in your head to remember a detail, not the email about it.

Reading and writing. You take in information best when it is written and you write about it. Journals, structured notes, bullet lists. Talking about it with someone else can feel slippery until you have written it down. You write the email three times before sending it because writing is how you think.

Kinaesthetic. You learn by doing. Trying, moving, building, touching, taking the thing apart and putting it back together. Sitting still and being talked at rarely makes the information stick. You remember how to do something perfectly once you have done it once. You cannot remember the manual; you can remember the machine.

Most people are a blend. A common ADHD profile is “kinaesthetic with strong visual”: you understand once you have done it, but a diagram on the way in makes it stick faster.

Why this matters more for ADHD or AuDHD

In 26+ years of coaching adults with ADHD or AuDHD, the clients who know their blend stop fighting their own brain.

For an ADHD or AuDHD brain, using the wrong learning method costs more than it does for other people. Your brain is already managing attention regulation, working memory load, sensory input, and energy. If the information format does not match your brain’s preference, you are forcing your brain to do an extra translation step before anything can stick. That extra step is often where ADHD overwhelm and AuDHD shutdown come from.

The reverse is also true. When the format matches, the information goes in and stays. You retain more. You stop losing hours to the same material four times over.

Examples I see often in coaching:

• A visual solicitor sitting in case conferences with no whiteboard and no slides, working twice as hard as the colleagues around her to keep track of who said what.
• An auditory doctor reading dense NICE guidelines instead of having a 10-minute conversation with a peer who has already used them.
• A reading-and-writing business owner whose team passes everything verbally in stand-ups, leaving her blank by Wednesday.
• A kinaesthetic engineer reading the manual instead of opening the box. The manual is fine for the colleague next to him. For him, it is a wall.

In each case, the person is not the problem. The format is.

For AuDHD readers specifically, sensory processing differences amplify all of this. Open-plan offices, fluorescent lighting, background chatter, all of it can override your normal learning preference. Knowing your blend is part of the answer. So is the environment you put yourself in to actually learn.

Practical strategies for each style

Here is a longer set of things you can change about how you work, today. Most people use a blend of two or three styles, so do not feel you have to pick one. Read through all four sections and take what fits.

Stronger visual:

• Ask for the slides before the meeting, not after. Read them ahead so you can sketch your own version while listening.
• Take a photo of any whiteboard, sketch, or diagram you ever encounter. Save them in a single album labelled “memory aids”.
• Colour-code your calendar, your inbox, your tasks. Different colours for different categories, not as decoration but as wayfinding.
• Convert lists to mind maps. Even a hand-drawn one. Your brain pulls patterns out of the spatial layout.
• Sketch the problem before you try to solve it. Rough boxes-and-arrows works.
• Use a wall calendar or year-at-a-glance chart you can see across the room. Digital reminders alone often slide past.
• Replace one reading task this week with a video version (YouTube explainer, recorded lecture, screen-recorded walkthrough).

Stronger auditory:

• Read anything important out loud once. The information goes in twice as quickly when you hear yourself say it.
• Use text-to-speech on your phone for long articles, emails, NHS letters. Listen while you walk.
• Voice-record your thinking when working through a problem. Replay it later. Often the answer is already in the recording.
• Switch to audiobooks and podcasts as your primary learning format. Save reading for when you genuinely want to.
• Ask for a 10-minute call instead of a long email when something is complex. Your processing of it will be cleaner.
• Verbalise tasks aloud before doing them. “I’m opening the file, I’m copying the row.” It sounds odd. It works.
• Use voice notes to capture ideas. Apps like Otter or your phone’s Notes app translate to text automatically.

Stronger reading and writing:

• Write things down as you receive them, even when you are trying to listen. The act of writing is how you process.
• Keep a single capture notebook (paper or digital) for everything. Trying to remember without writing is a recipe for losing it.
• Convert verbal instructions into a written checklist immediately. Do not trust your memory of the conversation.
• Send a “here is what I understood” written summary after any important call or meeting. It clarifies things for you and for everyone else.
• Write three versions of the email if you need to. The third one is the one that goes.
• Read the transcripts of podcasts where you can. They are often in the show notes.
• Process emotions and decisions by journaling, not by talking. Choose the format that fits your brain.

Stronger kinaesthetic:

• Build a rough prototype before you read the manual. Your brain will reverse-engineer the instructions afterwards.
• Stand up or walk when you need to think clearly. Sitting still kills your processing power.
• Use a fidget or a quiet doodling tool during meetings. It is not a distraction; it is how your brain stays engaged.
• Take handwritten notes rather than typed. The physical act anchors the information.
• Practice new skills with your hands as soon as possible. Watching a tutorial without trying is a recipe for forgetting.
• Walk while you make important phone calls. Your thinking is clearer when your body is moving.
• Use a whiteboard or chalkboard you can write on while you think. The vertical, large-scale movement helps you process.

One thing to try this week

Pick one. Just one. From whichever side feels strongest to you right now, or whichever you have been most curious about. Try it for seven days and notice the difference.

• Stronger visual: Sketch any new task before you start it. Even a rough boxes-and-arrows version of what you are trying to do. 60 seconds at the top of the task to draw it.
• Stronger auditory: Read every important email or document out loud before responding. Just once. Notice how much more of it lands.
• Stronger reading and writing: Send a written summary after every meeting or important call: “Here is what I understood. Let me know if I have missed anything.” Notice what changes about how the work moves.
• Stronger kinaesthetic: Take your next thinking-heavy task on a walk. A phone call, a brainstorm, a problem you cannot get unstuck. Stand up, get outside, let your body move.

A small pattern over seven days will do more than reading an article about it ever will.

Where I see this make the biggest difference

The same applies to communication. Some people express themselves best by talking. Others need to write it down first. Some show you what they mean by doing it. Understanding this about yourself, and the people around you, changes how you work, how you connect, and how you process when things get overwhelming.

Not because anything external changes. Because you stop fighting your brain.

The moment a client realises they are a hands-on learner who has been forcing themselves to read manuals, or an auditory processor who has been silent in meetings, things shift. They stop blaming themselves for being slow with the format that does not fit. They start asking for the format that does.

That shift is worth more than any single strategy.

A quick way to find your blend

If you want a clearer picture of your own blend, the Learning and Communication Style Quiz is one of the tools inside the ADHD Toolkit Membership. About five minutes for a personalised profile across the four styles, with practical strategies for work and personal life.

It is not a label. It is a map for working with your brain, not against it.

Frequently asked questions

Click on a question to reveal the answer.

I am a mix of all four styles. Does this still apply?

Yes. Most people are a blend, with one or two that dominate. The point is not to label yourself with a single style. It is to notice which formats your brain finds easier so you can lean on them.

Has the “learning styles” model been disproved?

Some research has pushed back on the strict claim that teaching matched to a learning style improves academic outcomes for everyone. That is a different question to “do you personally absorb information more easily in some formats than others?” For most ADHD or AuDHD adults the answer to the second question is a clear yes, and the practical use of knowing your blend is in how you set up your own working life, not how others should teach you.

What about AuDHD?

A meaningful share of the adults I work with are AuDHD. Sensory processing differences interact with learning preferences in ways most general advice misses. The blend often matters more, and so does the environment. Adapting one without the other tends not to stick.

Will knowing my style solve my ADHD?

No, but it removes a hidden tax. It is the difference between working with your brain or against it. You still need rest, regulation, and the rest of the work. Knowing your blend just stops you wasting energy on the wrong format.

How does this fit with coaching?

Coaching builds on this. Once you know how you take in information, we can build routines, tools, and strategies that fit your blend. That is what makes them stick.

Ready to build on this?

The fastest way to know if coaching fits is a free 20-minute Discovery Session on Zoom. We talk through where you are, what you are looking for, and whether coaching makes sense for you right now. No pressure to book anything after.

Book Your Free Discovery Session