English transcript

Why this child can play video games for hours

and cannot do homework for more than a few minutes.

Because the video game provides external, continuous,

100% consequences for interacting with it, and

the homework does nothing. When a problem is

solved on a sheet of paper, nothing happens.

The consequences are delayed. And therein lies

the trouble. So the corollary of this is if

you want to see an ADHD person fail, you put

him in any environment where there are no consequences,

and I guarantee you failure. The work will not

get done. Because the person cannot self-motivate.

And this is not a choice, and this is not willful,

and this is not a child who just could if they

wished wake up tomorrow and smell the coffee

and get busy and do the work. They cannot. This

is an internal, neurogenetic, executive failure.

You can't self-motivate like other people. So

it doesn't matter what your goals are, you won't

get there.