SuccessFULL With ADHD

From Brain Rot to Real Talk: Teaching Self-Acceptance to ADHDers Across Generational Gaps with Mr. Lindsay

• Brooke Schnittman MA, PCC, BCC • Season 1 • Episode 102

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Philip Lindsay isn’t just a Special Education math teacher—he’s a Gen Alpha translator, content creator, and a powerful force in connecting with students who learn differently. In this episode of Successful with ADHD, I sit down with Philip to explore his late ADHD diagnosis, his journey from youth pastor to teacher, and how he uses humor, “brain rot” (yes, that’s a real thing!), and intentional connection to empower kids with learning differences.

We dive into how ADHD fuels his content creation, why relational investment is essential in education, and how his approach breaks long-standing stereotypes in the classroom. Philip shares stories that are both hilarious and deeply relatable—especially for educators and parents raising or working with neurodivergent kids. You’ll laugh, reflect, and maybe even find yourself googling Gen Alpha slang after this one!

Philip Lindsay is a Special Ed math teacher whose mission is simple: be helpful. Best known for decoding Gen Alpha slang, going viral on The Today Show, and creating content that bridges students, parents, and teachers—Philip’s mix of humor, heart, and practical insight resonates deeply with all who work with or raise the next generation.

 Episode Highlights:

 [1:06] - Meet Philip Lindsay: Special Ed teacher, Gen Alpha translator, and all-around hilarious human
 [3:00] - Getting diagnosed with ADHD at 27—and why it was such a relief
 [5:06] - Juggling marriage, fatherhood, and a youth pastor role during COVID
 [7:06] - The game-changing power of self-awareness and honest communication in relationships
 [10:00] - Redefining productivity: Embracing ADHD brain rhythms and ditching typical schedules
 [14:33] - Why having a clear “why” makes ADHD a content creation superpower
 [16:56] - Using humor to bridge the gap between teachers, students, and parents
 [26:00] - Trashketball, trust, and transformative teaching strategies
 [30:00] - Debunking the “fun teacher vs. serious teacher” myth
 [33:45] - Breaking down Gen Alpha slang: from “gyat” to “skibidi” and everything in between
 [36:08] - Brain rot explained: How memes and math mix in middle school
 [40:51] - Teaching boundaries: When slang shows up in student writing
 [43:03] - Hawk Tuah and other brain rot creations (you won’t believe this one!)
 [46:36] - Are generations getting better or worse? Philip shares his take
 [48:47] - Final wisdom for parents and educators: Connection over correction

Connect with Philip Lindsay:

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Brooke Schnittman:

How do you think ADHD helps in creating your content?

Philip Lindsay:

Oh, it's the reason why I can't create my content. I think one of the things that my ADHD has put in me, and whatever I don't know how to say that, is everything has to have a why behind it. I need to know and have an explanation for something if I'm going to do it, and if you want me to do something, you're going to have to do the hard work of making sure you can explain the why to me. And that can make me really annoying. Sometimes

Brooke Schnittman:

I know that I get it. If it's not your vision and it's someone else's vision, you need to have the belief.

Philip Lindsay:

And if you can convince me of that I am the best person to have on your team. I won't stop until it gets achieved. That's been a big leverage point for me, and the content that I create, I have a really clear why, and that's why every day I can wake up and be like, it's a side job and it takes extra time outside of my normal job, but it's worth it.

Brooke Schnittman:

Welcome to successful with ADHD. I'm Brooke schnittman, let's get started. Welcome everybody to successful with ADHD. Today, I am joined by Mr. Philip Lindsay, a special education math teacher. Hey, very relatable, as I'm sure you could see he's a comedian. He's a Gen Alpha translator. It's great to have you here. Philip, very excited for today's episode.

Philip Lindsay:

Yeah, thanks for having me on i I'm very excited to be here. I love talking about all things ADHD and what it actually looks like. So,

Brooke Schnittman:

yeah, yeah. So I know you and I were talking when we first got on here, I have two middle schoolers who have ADHD, and they're constantly, well, not as much anymore, but they used to say bra, bruh, yeah. And, and I'm like, Are you saying Brooke, are you saying bra? And is that still, like a thing that people are doing? Or no, it's out.

Philip Lindsay:

It, it's, I mean, it's still in it's like, that's one of the more timeless ones, for sure, yeah? But it's usually, at this point, the only time I usually hear it is, like, in moments of disgust. Like, Bro, why would you, why would you make me write my name on this paper? Like, that kind of, that kind of moment, rude, yeah, how dare you bro. Like, that's, that's about when I that's usually when I hear it. So, oh my gosh, niche there.

Brooke Schnittman:

Okay, so if I hear it like, addressed to me, I know it's not a good thing at that point.

Philip Lindsay:

Come on, mom. Like, what do you do? Yeah? Yeah.

Brooke Schnittman:

Also, I used to teach special education math too, so I have a lot in common with you. ADHD myself, so this is going to be a good conversation, a really good conversation. I'm even more excited now, even more so Philip, when did you first discover you had ADHD

Philip Lindsay:

so I'm 30 now. I was diagnosed at the ripe old age of 27

Brooke Schnittman:

so like fresh,

Philip Lindsay:

yes, I lived a lot of life with it under the surface, and which I wish I had in a lot of ways, just kind of Yeah, going through life, wondering why all these things that were so easy for so many people, and all these systems that people were like, this changed my life, and this changed my productivity, and this changed how I interacted with My family, like never worked and and just kind of struggling with, like, Man, am I? Am I just lazy? Do I just have am I just not disciplined, like all of those questions for so many years of my life? But there was Yeah, as things got stacked onto my life, as I got older, so like, going through high school, not too bad, college, holy crap. Marriage, holy holy crap. And then kid triple. It was just, it was just more. As things got added, it became very clear that there's something going on here that's not just like it's not just like a it's not a character flaw. It's, yeah, there's, there's something deeper going on, and how I'm wired and how I can function and and that kind of thing. So that was when I think around probably, so when my son was born, I would have been, I would have been 25 so that's when I first started to, like explore maybe it was going on. And in true ADHD fashion, it took about two years for me to actually kind of pull done it, pull the trigger and act on it and and go get things checked out and and all that stuff. So yeah.

Brooke Schnittman:

Yeah, and that was around covid Now that you had your son, okay? Yes, 2020, right, yeah. Summer of 2020,

Philip Lindsay:

which added a whole other element of having a newborn. And he was actually in the NICU for about two and a half weeks with lung issues. On oxygen for two months. I was working from home, trying to, I was a youth pastor at the time, so trying to run a youth group during covid from home. So there were so many other layers that just kind of went and I was like, Ah, I don't know. I don't know what to do. So that was kind of the, yeah, that was the catalyst for actually pursuing some thoughts and some things that I had definitely thought and wondered about at different moments throughout my life, I could see kind of the trajectory, if that makes sense, and the trajectory kind of scared me. So I was like, I gotta, I gotta kind of do something, because I don't want to be where I can see this might be going. So

Brooke Schnittman:

Right? Because it's one thing to manage yourself, and then no one teaches you how to adult, nope. And then you get married. Well, first, let's college, right? Then you get married. Okay, now you have to be interdependent and attend to her needs while attending to your needs. And then, you know, then you're a youth pastor, so you have a lot of needs that you're collaborating with, and then you have a newborn, and then it's covid, yep, and you're seeing it all, Oh, yeah. There's no escaping it at that point.

Philip Lindsay:

No, no, yeah, no. But that was Yeah. So that was kind of like the that was the beginning of my it wasn't the beginning of my journey, obviously, because I've been journeying through it my whole life, but it was the beginning of my known journey, if, yeah, knowing that that's specifically what I was kind of working through and dealing with.

Brooke Schnittman:

So, yeah, so once you two years later got the diagnosis, yeah. Yeah, what changed for you? Um,

Philip Lindsay:

a lot. The biggest thing that I felt was relief. I felt a lot of relief, just because I am pretty harsh on my time myself at times, just with, like, your perfectionist, yeah, perfectionist, look at that. So just a huge relief of like, okay, there's a reason why I lose my keys and feel extremely frustrated that I can't find them. Like, there's a reason why I feel like whatever has my sole focus is the best it's ever been, but all the other areas in my life that I have to balance seem to kind of fall to the wayside. You know, there's reasons for this, and there's something that I can point to, which gave me a lot of relief, and then it gave me also a more defined approach to how to actually start to manage some things. Prior to the diagnosis, it was really easy to be like, well, you know what? Just you just got to figure it out. You know, trying hard enough. You're not trying hard enough, you're not disciplined enough, you don't have the right systems in place. I had a calendar. I put stuff on my calendar. You know what I mean? There was reminder on my calendar. You had an agenda book in the book, I had a planner. I had I had tried every thing that works for people who are neurotypical, like I had. I tried it all, so it gave me a lot of freedom to be like, Okay, let's have honest conversations, especially with me and my wife. Like, let's have honest conversations about, what are the things that I am really good at, that I can make the best thing in our family. And what are the things that, in all honesty, no matter how hard I try, I will have seasons of good and seasons of not good. Let's be honest about those things. And what are the things, you know, because I don't, I don't think it's a it's not an excuse, right? So what are the things

Brooke Schnittman:

that an explanation? Yeah, what are the Yes, I love that, not an excuse,

Philip Lindsay:

right? What are the things that, even though I struggle with them, you still need me to work at, right, and try and make progress in and so that was, like, one of the biggest things, was it just clarified a lot of like our daily life, a lot of like our relationship with each other as a family, like, how were we going to function and support one another? Really? That's it, support one another and have a full life together. So that's the biggest thing that changed. It also changed. I mean, my self confidence changed a lot. For a long time, I knew, for me, I function best from like the hours of like 9pm to midnight, like that is just when it happens. Unfortunately, I still have to wake up at six o'clock in the morning, give an early rise, and I have to, because that's kind of the way the world's set up. There's not really a it's not very many jobs where it's like, no, I think nine o'clock is a good start time for me, but I had to start being okay with using my time during the day differently and knowing that I'm going to get more done in the three hours at night that I that I feel kind of locked in and focused then trying to, like, limp my way through writing an IEP in 15 minute increments throughout, yeah, like, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna use those 15 minute increments to go take A quick walk, connect with kids, go out to lunch duty, play football, and then I'm just gonna know that, and my wife's gonna know that. That means, if I've got a couple IEPs coming up, I'm gonna take the hours from nine to midnight to crank them out quicker than I would, you know that thing. So I think that that's one of the biggest changes, is it's just allowed me to be okay with when I function best, and set my life up in a way where I can actually function best in those hours, if that makes sense.

Brooke Schnittman:

So you have awareness, you have acceptance. You know how to work with your ADHD brain, but like how, this is pretty good insight for someone who was just diagnosed three years ago. So how did you even recognize to lean into your strengths, to focus on your most optimal hours, to really connect with your family on and fill that cup up too.

Philip Lindsay:

Yes, man, I feel like one of my biggest strengths My whole life has been kind of self reflection and having a good understanding of, like, what's going on on the inside, one of my biggest weaknesses has been communicating that to others. And so I've lived most of my life very self reflective, very understanding of what's going on inside, and have drowned in it most of the time, instead of being able to kind of use the people around me to then make make sense of it. And so the diagnosis, I think, is what then allowed me to actually verbalize it to the people closest in my life. And that's where some of these pieces of advice started to come into play. Like my wife, she's she's brilliant. She can look at a person and kind of know, how are they doing, and so for you, she would, she would always know when I was kind of stuck in a hole, but I could never really verbalize it, because it sounded like a lot of excuses. Is what it sounded like. I've got a really good friend of mine. He's, he's older than me. He's highly successful in, like, the in the financial advising world, who has ADHD, and he's very, very wise when it comes to some of these things. So as soon as I got the diagnosis, I was like, hey, I need help. So he was a big, a big piece of like, okay, well, when do you work best, and can you set your life up well to be able to do it that way? And what does your day look like? Do you actually have the energy in the middle of teaching to try and tackle these tasks and be a good teacher? If not, then why are you trying to do both and trying to give, giving that me that permission to be like I can be a great teacher during the day without trying to shove in the IEP stuff, and I can do the IEP stuff later, and that's not going to change. That's actually gonna make me a better teacher. So people really is where the Insight has come from, and that diagnosis allowing me to actually explain and not feel like it was a deficiency or an excuse, being able to finally verbalize it and have a name for it is what kind of started to bring these pieces together.

Brooke Schnittman:

I love that. And you found your ADHD person, your mentor that has lived and been successful with his ADHD. So you leaned into your people, which is great. You found your community Wonderful, wonderful. Now for the fun stuff, how do you think ADHD helps in creating your content?

Philip Lindsay:

Oh, it's the reason why I can create my content. I am I think one of the things that my ADHD has put in me, in, in whatever I don't know how to say that, is everything has to have a why behind it, like there. I need to know and have an explanation for something if I'm going to do it. And if you want me to do something, unfortunately, you're gonna have to do the hard work of making sure you can explain the why to me, and that can make me really annoying. Sometimes

Brooke Schnittman:

I get it like you. If it's not your vision and it's someone else's vision, you need to have the belief, the opportunity, the urgency, the novelty, the challenge, the excitement, like, tell me, yeah,

Philip Lindsay:

and if you can convince me of that I am the best person to have on your team, also, because I will, I won't stop until it gets achieved, you know. So that's been a big leverage point for me, and the content that I create, I have a really clear why. I have a really clear reason for why I'm doing it, and that's why every day, I can wake up and be like, it's a side job and it takes extra time outside of my normal job, but it's worth it, and that why is that connection between adult and student, whether it's parent, student, teacher and student? When I was in college, I did a project on the next generation, and at that time, it was like Gen Z were the teenagers of the time. And one of the biggest things that I realized in researching Gen Z was that they were the most connected generation, like online technology. Yeah, technology, technologically, but they were the most disconnected, loneliest, yeah, loneliest, interpersonally, right? And so that trend only continues with the next generation. With the alphas, my goal was if I can find a way to leverage what they're already immersed in to create moments of real in person, interaction between them and their teachers and them and their parents. That's the best thing I could do with content. I can use humor to do it. I can use meaningfulness to do it. And so having that really clear, why is, is what has set me up for, I think success and longevity and sustainability, the other big piece. And I said the other big piece, having thought of the other big piece about 30 seconds ago, and it might be gone, but That's it. what was it? It will come back. Maybe, maybe it won't. No, exactly, no, but I love that your why is to connect parents to their kids, and I'm sure your students and their parents are watching you on social media. So how do you balance that piece too? Yeah, it's not super hard, especially in like the town that I live in. I live in a very small town from my years I was a youth pastor here for seven years, most of the kids that I interacted with as a youth pastor, was a fair, fairly large youth group for like, the town size, most of the parents and the students that I had in youth group, a lot of the kids that I now teach, it's their little brother and sister, you know, that kind of thing. So there's already a connection point between me and just the broader community, honestly, which makes that all kind of, kind of easier to manage, because there's already a foundation of, like, I'm not just like a social media influencer. It's like, oh, that's Philip, and he's finding some success in that. And that's really cool. So it's more there was a starting point of relationship. The relationship didn't come through the content, if that makes sense,

Brooke Schnittman:

yes, yeah. So the boundaries were already there.

Philip Lindsay:

The boundaries were already there. And so there was already there was already a understanding of how I interact with parents in general. There's already these things, which I'm very thankful for. So now that the content piece is a part of it, it's, it's pretty cool. And then, like, if I'm in town, like I said, very small town, I can't go out without seeing somebody. There's somebody that I'll see. But the fun, the most fun part, there's a big like, retirement community aspect of our town too. And those people I didn't know as much because that wasn't kind of my group that I was working with. But now, because of social media, I'll go out there'll be this little old lady that's like, oh my gosh, you're so funny. And I'm just like, I love you. So that's another cool aspect of it. But there's, it's not, yeah, there's no unique challenges with that which has been really meaningful and helpful, so wonderful. But I also, I don't know, I avoid a lot of one, because it's not my experience. The district that I work for is really, really good and very highly relationally focused. So I've. Avoid a lot of the like typical, like teacher problems that a lot of teachers deal with in districts that are less than good. And since that's not something that I feel, it's really easy to not. You know, I love my bosses. I love my direct supervisors. My superintendent is phenomenal. Like, there's just so much good here that it's really easy to just focus on the things that are

Brooke Schnittman:

I mean, you're at school right now on a day off, like that says enough,

Philip Lindsay:

yeah, and there's no and it doesn't feel weird. It's not like, yeah, you know.

Brooke Schnittman:

Okay. So you're super relatable to your students. Do you? How do you feel that impacts their learning.

Philip Lindsay:

I think it man, what? I don't think people understand enough about adolescence, which is so weird, because we have like, we have adolescent psychology, and we have experts in the field, and the information is so accessible. And even on social media, there's videos about it, and people will like, as a broader population, like, agree with like, oh yes, these kids have these struggles, and it's hard, and they're going through one of the hardest times in their life. But then when push comes to shove, we don't treat them that way a lot of the times. And so it's this really heavy handed, like kids are dumb and the future is screwed, and like, you know, whatever all that to say. As a teacher, you've got to understand that teaching is way more than just delivering content, especially as a special education teacher working with kids who have learning differences. So like my primary population that I work with are kids with ADHD, kids with dyslexia, dyscalculia, right specific learning disabilities, and OHI, and some some kids on the autism spectrum. So that's my primary population. They're kids who we refer to as a Level A so 90% of their class, their school days, in the Gen Ed curriculum, you would never know that they are struggling with a disability other than externally. Yeah, yes, externally, right?

Brooke Schnittman:

And not to interrupt you, but for those of you who are listening, OHI stands for other health impairment. So that's the ADHD. ADHD falls within that category,

Philip Lindsay:

yes, yeah, yes. But the weight that all kids are carrying around through a school day, especially kids with learning differences, is massive, like I pulled my my group of seventh graders who do, who have been working with now for two years in math. Yesterday, pulled them all into my room. They come in, they're like, sweet. Gonna work on some math. Get ready for the state test. We're not going to do any math today. We're going to work on our mindset going into the state test, and the number of kids who have phrases, statements, sentences that were said to them as first graders, second graders, about their math ability or their reading ability that are still lodged in their brain and in their heart and a part of who they are in seventh grade that's affecting their success. It made me so sad, and they're just like, well, and so I know I'm taking a long time to answer this question, but no, this is gold as a teacher, there are way more, especially working with kids who have learning differences. There are way more roadblocks to their success than just their disability, and a lot of them are rooted in relationship, not good relationship. And so as a teacher, if I can invest relationally, I describe one of the things that I always described with like when I was a youth pastor, especially, I didn't have volunteer teams, relational stock, right? You can only challenge to the level that you invested in, right? And if you have not invested relationally, challenge falls on deaf ears, and challenge comes across as me honestly. But if you've proven to these kids that you care deeply about who they are, you can challenge the heck out of them, and they will respond to it positively. That's my approach. I know that I am going to be able to help these kids the most if I take time to connect with them to the point where they can believe Mr. Lindsay cares about me and Mr. Lindsay cares about my success. So when Mr. Lindsay tells me this is something very important to learn, even though it's hard, I'm going to find that something within me to learn it even though it's hard, if that makes sense,

Brooke Schnittman:

that's gold. That can really apply in any relationship, not just teaching your relationship with your spouse. Uh, parent to child, too. It's that token economy, right? It takes five positives for one negative, yeah, counterbalance it. Gottman. Gottman talks about that. I think that most people understand that, and at the same time they're so stressed, right? Being especially in a middle school, you have hormones, you have you know lots of things going on, right, and they want to connect with their kids, but now they have the state test, like you said, that they are expected to have their children perform at a certain level or else, right? And I just, I can tell you, as a former Special Education middle school teacher, like your job is not easy, so for you to take that time and make it a priority to connect and to have that relatability means so much.

Philip Lindsay:

Yeah, it's hard at the beginning to know if it's going to work, but it works. And and I my career as a youth pastor, there was same, the same version of it, and I watched it work on an emotional level. So I think that set me up well to be able to take that risk, if that makes sense. But once again, I have a district who wants us to take those risks, who sees the value in it, and they don't just say it, they, they, they back it up. Like, I've had my principal walk in while we're playing trash, get ball, and all the desks are shoved to the side of the room, and it's loud, and she walks in because it's loud, and she's like, pass it to me. And I've, you know what I mean, like, so that's so yeah, because she knows and trusts that I'm also doing my job and teaching the content, teaching it really well, because it shows there's data that's showing that it works. You know what? I mean, you can't just have fun and not be good at your job. You got to do both

Brooke Schnittman:

totally so you trust the fact that, like, if your administrator is going to walk in and you're playing trash basketball, that they're going to support you, because you know that they practice what they preach, their social, emotional learning, and you have the data to back it up.

Philip Lindsay:

Yep, absolutely, yeah.

Brooke Schnittman:

There's nothing better than administration that supports their teachers. Really supports them, yes, from the top down, yeah, yeah, that's wonderful, wonderful. So thank you for that. So has there been any challenges? Do you think it seems like there haven't, but any challenges in being the fun teacher?

Philip Lindsay:

No, no, but it's, it's how you set it up, too, though, if you set yourself up as the fun teacher, it's going to come back and it's going to bite you. But if you set yourself up as the teacher who cares about the full child, that's where success is found. So like the first couple weeks of school, we do fun things, but the biggest message that my kids hear from me is I believe in you. My job is that you would grow, and if we work together as a team, you will grow. There's fun infused into it, but there's also accountability and boundaries infused into it, and that's okay. That's been my favorite thing about my content creation is there's this false narrative out there, and I've heard it my whole life, where I'm generally a goofy person. I'm generally goofy, loud, impulsive with my words, and, you know, I get it impulsive with my actions, different things like that. And then there will be moments of meaningfulness or seriousness that I really thoroughly enjoy and love to engage in. And I've heard this comment my whole life, of, oh, wow, I didn't know you could get so deep, or I didn't know you could be so serious. And it's like, why is that a one or the other kind of thing in our culture? Like you either have to be like the super serious, somber person, that's the philosopher, or you're the goofball. Why can't right? It's so polarized. Yeah, why can't you be a philosophizing goose goofball? Like, that's That's me, and so that's what one of the things I love about the content creation is I can show that a person can be both things. I can make a funny skit about the ridiculousness of middle school, and I can make a meaningful skit about some of the internal things that students are struggling with. So I don't know why did I start saying that?

Brooke Schnittman:

Well, because I was asking about the fun teacher. So I think that kind of went down this natural,

Philip Lindsay:

yes, you know explanation, if you, as a teacher, believe you can only, only either be the fun teacher. Teacher or the like teacher with good classroom management. That's a false like dichotomy that you're kind of believing you can do both you can set things up and set up a system that allows you every kid that walks into my room, even when I get them, we do these intervention sessions, these sessions, and so I get, I get new kids for eight days at a time, and even kids that walk into my room having never had me, there is this expectation that they are going to be pushed and challenged, and that what I'm supposed to do as a teacher is going to happen. And they don't. They don't push the boundary. They walk in and they know, oh, we might have a little bit of fun at some point, but I know I've got to put an effort if we're going to ever get to that point, right? Yeah. And it's a paradigm or a pendulum that you've got to kind of you, sometimes you're a little bit too far this way, so you got to swing it back a little. And sometimes you're over here, so you swing it back a little, but you just got to be aware. But that's where that self reflection and you as a teacher, right? So like not many people with ADHD, have that metacognition. It's a skill that needs to be practiced, right? But you have that you pause, you pivot, you see the big picture. Yes, yes. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. All right. So talk to me about, like, your favorite or funniest Gen a slang terms out there right now. Okay, so this one's a little bit old. Now I'm by old in Gen Alpha world. That's like a week ago, a week ago, but the one that started this whole thing for me that made me realize, ooh, maybe adults don't know the words that they're saying and what they mean was gyat, which is g y, a T, what it means is a big butt. So like it comes from, if you see a big butt, you would say gyat, damn right, oh, like, God damn. And so GIA is like an expression that turned into a noun, and so now it's just like descriptive of a big butt. And so anyway, that's the word the first week of school. Two school years ago, two falls ago, we do these things called social contracts, where the kids and the teacher come up with words that they're going to agree to abide by as kind of the classroom culture, right? And I was, I'm a co teacher too, so I'm in gen ed classes. Gonna ask you that, yeah, yeah, I'm in gen ed classes. So I popping into some different gen ed classes, just kind of bopping around, and I see every time I walk in, there's a kid. Doesn't matter, there's at least one kid that goes, Mr. Lindsay, look guy. And I'm like, why is that so funny? Like Guillaume was on all of these social contracts. And the reason it made it on the social contract is because the kids said that it stood for, get your act together. And so it's like, oh, it's a great thing to put on a social contract, get your act together. But as soon, like every single time I walked into a classroom, there was a kid like giggling about it, and I was like, this is not this cannot be what they're saying. It is, get your act together. Is not funny. So like, what's the what is going on here? And that started my deep dive into understanding just like the Tiktok internet culture and some of the words flying around, some of the memes and all that stuff. So that is one of my favorites. Mainly, I mean big butts funny, but also mainly because it's what kind of started things

Brooke Schnittman:

that was like our badonk dunks, right? They don't say that anymore.

Philip Lindsay:

Yeah, they don't. I do every once in a while, but so that's one of my favorite ones. People got really tired of skippity, but I really kind of liked it because it took on so it has such a history, like where it started and how it turned into what it did was I really liked that nerded out on that a little bit. So I like that one.

Brooke Schnittman:

Do you ever hear these kids, like, just belching it out, like screaming it like, skippity, yeah, yeah. Yeah, my stepson used to be like LeBron James,

Philip Lindsay:

so that's that's one of the ones that's going back around, is LeBron. But no, the song goes like, that's it. I thought we were done with that. No, the memes will always come back around. Now the interesting thing is, and this is the intriguing part to me, there's words, slang words that mean things, but then a lot of it is just memes like that are just being repeated, like, oh my gosh, is that hyper pigmentation, or the six, seven thing? Of. Them, or wait, what is a 670 it doesn't mean anything. It's just part of a meme thing. It's part of a meme, and they just, it's like six seven. But then, because it's a number, do you remember 21

Brooke Schnittman:

no, 21

Philip Lindsay:

Okay, so it was like same kind of thing, but since it's a number, they basically found tons of different ways to ask questions where the answer is a number and then the answer is always six, seven, and as way more opportunities than like an English class, it's like, what's nine times 367, no, it's not like, stop it. It's not

Brooke Schnittman:

so you put do you put Gen Alpha stuff in your word problems. As a math teacher,

Philip Lindsay:

I have actually experimented with brain rock math lessons a little bit on YouTube. I did one. I've got like five or six more scripted out, but I have filmed them for kind of like a longer form, like actually helpful math lesson, but in the form of brain rot. So yeah, I do, I do word problems with brain rot.

Brooke Schnittman:

And what is brain rot?

Philip Lindsay:

Brain rot is just the general umbrella and category that Gen Alpha lingo falls under, because most of it comes from memes, and most of it comes from online, internet culture, which is rotting your brain and so self, admittedly, they call their own slang brain rot.

Brooke Schnittman:

So lovely, lovely. So I used to be a co teacher too. Do you tend? And this is no disrespect to you know, the general education teacher that you work with, and I'm sure you work with multiple ones, since you're pushing in, you said four different ones. So you know, the kids are great. They might not know that you're the special education teacher, right, like you are co but do you ever feel like they gravitate more towards you, or you know, you have that challenge when you're in that environment with a teacher who might have been there for longer, who's a little bit older. Sorry, I know this is a challenging question.

Philip Lindsay:

No, no, that's a great question. The best thing about my co teachers, honestly, most of them are, like, my work mom, like, we've got that, like, dynamic with me, and so it's a it's pretty fun. And there's even, but there's times where it's like, Philip, stop it. Like I walked into like, you're one of the students. Like, Oh no, no, one of my co teachers, but it's so fun. It makes it so fun, and it makes it and I think they thoroughly enjoy it. Listening. If you don't thoroughly enjoy it, don't tell me.

Brooke Schnittman:

But I have rejection sensitivity, please, please, please. You love me, right?

Philip Lindsay:

One of my co teachers has, she has, she is, well, they all have really good classroom management, honestly, which I think is why it works. But one of them has, like, just very, very good classroom management. The mix of kids this year is very good at coming in doing what they're supposed to. Like, they're just, they're on it. And I walked in the other day and I was talking to my co teacher, and I was like, Man, why are these kids so lame? Like, there's nobody to like, there's nobody to, like, get off task in here. And she's like, No. And I was like, I'm gonna go try. And so I literally, and she was okay. She's like, Yeah, go try. Let's spice things up a little bit. And so I literally, like, roamed the room, like, knocking a kid's water bottle over Stop it, half closing their Chromebook screen, like hitting control. My gosh, so I don't know, I'm a menace, but

Brooke Schnittman:

no, but it's nice to like not be so serious in a class that can be so difficult for kids, especially with dysgraphia,

Philip Lindsay:

yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah. And so the cool thing is, we, and I've worked with all of them now for at least two years, some of them for three so that's not what it was like. So you loop with them, okay? And so we've now gotten to the point where we have enough of a relationship, we've built a relationship between each other to where some of those things can kind of happen. And the other big thing that's that we've learned how to do really well is the the ADHD, oh, I've got a thought kind of thing, like they're teaching. It's their turn to be up at the board, and something pops into my mind, parking lot. Yeah, they and I credit them a lot for this. They have learned what I look like when I've got a thought, and it's happened enough that they know, okay, To be helpful and beneficial for kids, and they'll say, Mr. this is. Lindsay, you you got anything to add on that? Like, they'll nice, like they've, we've built that relationship where they can kind of now read me and know that, oh, I've got something like that was not in the plan, but it's off the cuff a little bit, but it usually leads to some, some good connections for kids.

Brooke Schnittman:

So works, but it works, yeah, I love that. Do you find and you're you're in math, so it's probably not as clear as in an ELA class or social studies, but there is still writing in math. Yes. Do you notice that the slang is being used in their writing. And then, of course, for state tests, there's a little bit of a problem, right?

Philip Lindsay:

I think most of them, and that's the thing that I think about this next generation. Everybody kind of has this, like, Doom. Not everybody, a lot of people that I encounter online have this, like, Doomsday approach and thought process, but they, weirdly, in some ways, they have no boundaries. They have no like, the things that they will ask you about, I would never have asked my teachers. Like they have no boundaries in some areas, but then in some other areas, like they have an understood boundary of like, okay, it's an academic piece of writing. They didn't give me permission to use brain rot. I'm not going to. But there's other moments where you can be like and feel free to use all the brain rot. You want to answer this question. I love that. I mean, they pick up on some natural boundaries without it being explicitly told to them. So we haven't run into that a bunch. But then there's there's okay, there's times where you give them permission to and the stuff that they produce is hilarious. Like there was a I can't wait to hear this little enrichment that somebody did listen eight day enrichment while we were doing our reteach. And she wanted them to do a creative writing like flip book, story, children's book, and they were allowed to use brain raw if they wanted to. Are you familiar with Hawk to a that one? Yeah, the girl that spit, yeah. So one kid, one No, no, no. Two girls. One partnership created a book called hawk. One Hawk to a hawk. Red, Hawk, blue.

Brooke Schnittman:

Dr Sue sing the hawk to

Philip Lindsay:

assist it and it was a Red Hawk and a blue hawk. And there was two of them.

Brooke Schnittman:

I'm dying inside,

Philip Lindsay:

some spitting involved. So

Brooke Schnittman:

insanity. But for all you parents listening right now, do not transfer with your kids.

Philip Lindsay:

And so there was like, but they also so subtly, did it that if you did not know, then you did not know. It's just the Red Hawk, blue Hawker, yeah, yeah. It was unbelievable. Oh, my gosh, yeah.

Brooke Schnittman:

What did you do that? There was no show and tell with that.

Philip Lindsay:

It got confiscated, and then the admin and a couple teachers had a good read and laughed about it. But

Brooke Schnittman:

oh my gosh, that goes, that goes in your future book once you retire. So good, so good, so good. Okay, so like when it's a free for all, right? When you can rot, brain rot, no, there's no boundaries, right? Let it go. Oh, my God, this is so much fun. I have some fan favorite questions that I asked the community who knows you very well, like, Please rapid fire me questions. So okay, is the coffee actually jello? How do you never spill it?

Philip Lindsay:

What coffee? No, I'm kidding. I won't pull that move. I won't troll them anymore. It's very real. It's real coffee. I have lived, and this is very ADHD specific. I have lived my life like this. I talk with my hands. I i i The number of times I'm sitting in a restaurant and my wife's like, watch out. Somebody's walking by because I'm telling a story. And I'm like, this so like, I have just and it's scientific. It's centripetal force, like you can take a bucket and flip it upside down, so if you find the right rhythm with the coffee, you're gonna be fine. So I don't know,

Brooke Schnittman:

and you know, I haven't seen that one, so now I have to go do a deep dive into your Instagram.

Philip Lindsay:

It's only when I'm defining words, so anytime. I'm defining a word specifically, I'll have a cup of coffee filled to the brim and I'll just fling my arms around, like, but some people like myself wouldn't even notice that somebody's doing that. So you might have

Brooke Schnittman:

Yeah, I was really, yeah, probably I was really focused on, like, what is this wearing mean that I've never heard before, right? That secondary focus was not there.

Philip Lindsay:

It's not AI, it's not yellow. I've had kids ask if it's real, and teachers ask if it's real, and so I've walked down the middle of the hallway with a cup of coffee filled to the brim just to prove it at school.

Brooke Schnittman:

Amazing, amazing. So someone asked, How is each generation getting worse or better? I don't know.

Philip Lindsay:

Oh, each generation getting worse or better. I don't know if it's a worse or better thing. I think it's a unique struggles and unique strength thing. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. Framing it in that way, like, like, as a I'm a younger millennial, we had our struggles and our unique challenges that we had to face growing up that shaped who we are today. Like that's going to be the same thing, like we had totally I was in first grade when 911 happened. I remember 911 that that as a generation, shaped our upbringing and made us pretty security minded, it's just a natural result. So that led to some weaknesses in us, and that led to some strengths in us, right? So Exactly, yeah, I think the bigger, more important question is not, how are they getting worse or better? It's really being a student of the culture, so you understand the things that are actually shaping them, so that you can, if there is a point of weakness, you can have an accurate and effective plan for helping them grow in that, I think, is what it comes down to.

Brooke Schnittman:

I love that, and I think you've answered this already, but what's one way you relate to middle or high school students? What's What's one way to that I relate. I

Philip Lindsay:

mean, I just beat myself honestly, but I think the brain rot is a good, funny icebreaker. And then I tell a lot of stories too. I talk about what things were like when I was younger and like in a humorous way, and how we're all not that different. And they say I was like, you think skivities, like the the birthplace of brain rot, then you obviously didn't grow up watching Salad Fingers on YouTube, like, which, I don't know if you're familiar, I don't know what Salad Fingers are. I'm like,

Brooke Schnittman:

the older millennium, yeah. So like, we, you know, you think you know brand I watched Family Guy,

Philip Lindsay:

so exactly right. So we're all we're not all that different. And that's true. There are unique differences, but based on, like I said with the last question, the cultural things that shape us, but I mess with them a lot, little pranks, a lot. Like, I don't know if I should say this publicly. Yeah, I'll say this publicly. If a kid's being and it's only kids that I know really well for kids being annoying, it's like, stop talking. And they're like, why? It's like, well, if you don't stop talking, I'm gonna pick him up and throw him at you. Like, it's just like, little things like that. And they're just like,

Brooke Schnittman:

but you relate to them, right? So they know that you're not being serious.

Philip Lindsay:

Yeah, exactly. And that's something, but that's something a middle schooler would say. It's like, yeah, keep doing that and I'm gonna throw him at you. It's like, that's right, preposterous and it's absurd, but it's funny.

Brooke Schnittman:

Yeah, yeah. So you're relatable. So one piece of advice that you would leave parents, adults who are not Gen a, who are not Gen Z. Here today,

Philip Lindsay:

your kids, your students, they want so badly to connect. They want to feel safe enough to share things that kind of are on the inside, like deep, deeply rooted in there. And as the child, it's not their responsibility to create that space. Put it that way, they are figuring it out. And as the adult in the relationship, you need to be the one that kind of takes the initiative to create that space. And if you have spent a lot of years that you kind of regret not creating that space. It's gonna take some time to get to that space where you can have those meaningful conversations, and that's okay. The other thing I would say is your words are very powerful, especially at a young age, and they will shape things that they believe about themselves for a long time. So choose your words carefully, and if you don't be the example in the model of going back and and taking care of that when you when you make a mistake, so Oh, so real. And I resonate with that so much.

Brooke Schnittman:

Thank you, Philip, your humor, your heart. I can tell you, bring it in everything that you do. So for those of you who are listening and want to follow you, where can people find you? They can find me, everywhere. Pretty much, I've got Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, for you older millennials and Gen Xers out there.

Philip Lindsay:

I'm also on YouTube. YouTube is in the future. Will be more informative, type stuff, Teaching Math to kids with disabilities, brain math lessons. Eventually, my goal is to have a full series on creating a classroom culture or a home culture of connection between adults and adolescents. So that's all in the works. Could be a year from now. It could be 10 years from now, but eventually, that's what YouTube will mainly house. But yeah, you can just find me, Mr. Lindsay will pretty much pull me up anywhere Lindsay with an A, yes, yes, yes, yes, if you throw a special education on the end of it, it also kind of narrow the search. If there's, there's some fake accounts out there, but you can,

Brooke Schnittman:

you should be imposters. Well, thank you again for being unsuccessful with ADHD, it's a pleasure for those of you listening, thanks for tuning in and like share and leave a review. Awesome. Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode of successful with ADHD. I hope it helps you on your journey, and if you need any additional support for you or a loved one with ADHD, feel free to reach out to us at coaching with brooke.com, and all social media platforms at coaching with Brooke. And remember, it's Brooke with an E. Thanks again for listening. See you next time you.

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