In this episode of If I Were the Minister for Education, I speak with Ronan McGovern about ADHD and its impact in Irish primary and secondary schooling. Ronan outlines his education and career path from Dublin to accounting, King’s Inns, PwC New York and an MBA at Stanford, where a classmate identified ADHD traits and he later received a diagnosis at age 34. He reflects on being held back in school by inattention, note-taking difficulties, a need to move, and negative experiences including corporal punishment, while also recognising teachers who focused on him as an individual. Drawing on work with Stanford’s Neurodiversity Project, he discusses universal design, the overlooked creativity of neurodiverse people, and internships as a practical inclusion strategy. Ronan shares approaches that would have helped him learn Irish: video, rhythm and sound, plus explicit grammar and structure; and recommends voice-to-text supports and mindfulness, alongside early diagnosis and intervention.
00:00 Welcome and Overview
00:47 Meet Ronan McGovern
01:42 Career Path to Stanford
03:39 Late ADHD Diagnosis
05:59 School Years Revisited
10:23 Coping and Sensory Needs
12:27 Universal Design in Schools
14:22 Why Support Lags Behind
16:23 Stanford Research Takeaways
19:06 Creativity and Neurodiversity
21:27 Famous ADHD Role Models
22:35 Why Leaders Stay Quiet
23:27 Famous Neurodiverse Founders
24:36 Learning Irish With ADHD
25:28 Teach Through Sound First
26:26 Grammar Patterns Matter
29:18 Book And Classroom Fixes
30:55 Early Intervention In Schools
32:07 If I Were Minister
33:09 Tech Ideas For Classrooms
35:00 Where To Follow And Wrap Up
