NARRAGANSETT, RI — September 2026 — As Middlebridge School faculty prepared to welcome students back to campus for the 2026–2027 school year, professional development included a deeper look at a challenge familiar to many families of students with ADHD: what happens when a student appears to be doing just fine, but is working extraordinarily hard simply to keep up?
“Every year in admissions, I hear from families who hoped that smaller classes would be enough,” said Shannon McCarthy Leventhal, Director of Admissions at Middlebridge School. “But ADHD is much more complex than class size. A student can look attentive while struggling to process what is happening in the classroom. Homework can pile up without executive function scaffolding. Or a bright, conscientious student can spend six hours perfecting one paper while falling behind in three other classes.”
During faculty professional development, Middlebridge educators revisited common misconceptions surrounding ADHD and the ways symptoms can be misinterpreted as character traits: a student who struggles with task initiation may be labeled “lazy”; working-memory challenges can look like carelessness; time blindness can be mistaken for irresponsibility; and overwhelm or avoidance can be interpreted as a lack of motivation.
For students who mask their challenges particularly well, those misunderstandings can persist even when they are earning good grades.“
Students with ADHD are incredibly bright and capable, and many become remarkably skilled at compensating,” Leventhal said. “Masking, perfectionism, hyperfocus, anxiety, and sheer effort can make a student appear successful while hiding how difficult school has actually become.”
At Middlebridge, a boarding and day school in Narragansett, Rhode Island, designed specifically for students with learning differences, faculty professional development focuses on understanding not only what students struggle with, but why. That understanding allows educators to replace assumptions about motivation or effort with explicit instruction, executive function support, individualized strategies, and opportunities for students to better understand their own learning profiles.
The distinction is an important one for families considering whether a traditional educational environment remains the right fit.“
Can students with ADHD succeed in public schools and competitive private schools? Absolutely,” Leventhal said. “But success shouldn’t require a student to expend all of their energy simply surviving school.”
When students are surrounded by educators who understand ADHD and learning differences, the goal changes from helping them compensate for an environment that does not naturally fit the way they learn to giving them the skills, strategies, and confidence to become increasingly independent learners.“
At Middlebridge, we want students to understand themselves as learners,” Leventhal added. “When the adults around them recognize what is actually happening beneath the surface, students can spend less energy masking and compensating and more energy learning, growing, taking risks, and discovering what they’re capable of.”
Because for students with ADHD, the goal shouldn’t simply be getting through school. It should be learning how to thrive.
About Middlebridge School:
Middlebridge School is a coeducational boarding, day, and postgraduate school in Narragansett, Rhode Island, serving students with learning differences in grades 8–12 and at the postgraduate level. Guided by its motto, “Belong and Become,” Middlebridge combines individualized academics, emotional intelligence, and experiential learning to help students build confidence, independence, and meaningful futures.