Typing & Writing Challenges for Adults with ADHD

For many people with ADHD, typing out an email, finishing a report, or even writing a casual text can feel way harder than it “should” be.

We might stare at a blank screen for 20 minutes, retype the same sentence five different ways, or lose steam halfway through a thought.

Then once we do start typing or writing our thoughts out, we often find ourselves plagued with typos, fat fingers, and chicken scratch handwriting.

The struggle isn’t laziness, carelessness, or a lack of ideas. In fact, ADHDers often have too many ideas—but organizing them, getting them down in a clear way, and following through to the finish line is where it gets tricky.

Criticism & Comparison Starts Early

At a young age, our handwriting and typing speed/accuracy is often put under a microscope. Leading to a lot of embarrassment and frustration when our words-per-minute doesn’t match our peers who DON'T struggle with the ADHD symptoms we discuss in this blog.

This early pattern of criticism and comparison creates a lasting impact:

• We internalize the belief that we're not enough or always behind

• We become hyper-aware of how others perceive us—fueling Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)

• We may mask or overcompensate to avoid further judgment

Even in adulthood, these early messages echo. We compare our productivity, emotional control, or communication style to others and come up short—not because we’re incapable, but because we were conditioned to believe we should be different.

Umm... What Was I Saying?

Working memory is what helps us hold onto an idea long enough to work with it. With ADHD, working memory tends to be weaker, which means:

• We might forget the sentence we were just about to write

• We start a paragraph, then forget where we were going with it

• Complex thoughts fall apart mid-way through typing

This can make writing feel disjointed, frustrating, and like we're constantly "losing our place" inside our own brains.

Brain-Body Disconnect

ADHD brains have poor proprioception: Our body’s sense of movement and spatial awareness. This desynchronization makes it more difficult to write neatly and type quickly without errors.

With ADHD, proprioceptive challenges can show up as:

• Bumping into furniture or people

• Misjudging how much force to use when writing, grabbing, or moving

• Fidgeting, leaning, or seeking pressure (like deep hugs or wrapping in blankets) to “feel grounded”

A Perfectionist's Job is Never Complete

ADHDers often deal with perfectionism and Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), which can make writing even more stressful and lead to more mistakes. We may:

• Overthink how our message will be received

• Fear sounding “dumb,” “too much,” or not polished enough

• Avoid pressing send or delay completing something out of fear of criticism

What Can We Do About Typing and Writing Struggles with ADHD as Adults?

• Speech-to-text: Get your thoughts out before they’re lost by using any text-to-speech software.

  • Most smartphones have a microphone button in the keyboard

  • For desktop, Google Docs (free) under Tools > Voice Typing

• Accommodations: Make note taking easier and faster so we can be less concerned about writing quickly enough.

  • Slant board

  • Request the outline or slides

  • Use abbreviations, symbols, color coding, and paraphrasing

  • Find a partner to compare notes with after

• To Improve Skills: Writing lines over and over isn’t going to do anything but frustrate us. To improve typing or writing skills, it MUST be an activity you can get into like low-pressure daily journaling, writing a short story, or a pen pal.

• Save & Reuse Templates: If you write emails, reports, or social posts often, make templates or outlines you can plug into:

  • “Hi [Name], Just wanted to follow up on…”

  • “[Main idea]. Here are 3 points that support it…”

This reduces decision fatigue, time spent typing, and helps you stay consistent.

Find your next methods to calm the chaos of life with ADHD using my # 1 Best Selling book/workbook, "Activate Your ADHD Potential"

TTYL ;)

Coach Brooke