“Yesterday I go park. Tomorrow, I go park again!”
I remember the joy on my student’s face when she said this. To her, the sentence made perfect sense. She wasn’t “wrong”, she just hadn’t yet placed her verbs along the invisible time map that English grammar demands. For learners with ADHD or dyslexia, this is not simply a grammar mistake. It reflects how they often experience time itself: blurred, uneven, and hard to pin down.
When we teach tenses, we usually assume that all learners carry the same linear sense of past, present, and future. But for many children with learning differences, that assumption does not hold. If the internal timeline feels unreliable, grammar rules won’t easily stick. To support these students, teachers must bring time out of the abstract and into something learners can see, touch, and feel.
Why Time Perception Matters
Differences in time perception, sometimes called time blindness, are well-documented in ADHD. Children and adolescents often struggle to estimate how much time has passed, to anticipate how long tasks will take, or to organise sequences of events (Zheng, Wang, Chiu, & Shum, 2025; Nejati & Yazdani, 2020; Weissenberger, Ptacek, Vnukova, Raboch, & Goetz, 2021). Dyslexic learners may also find sequencing words such as before, after, or later especially challenging (Snowling & Hulme, 2021).
In English language teaching, tense and aspect systems (like the present perfect or future continuous) assume learners already hold a mental timeline that is logical and linear. But for some students, this mental scaffolding is shaky.
A student once told me, “Past and future feel the same, it’s just not now.” That sentence has stayed with me. It shows how, for some learners, tenses are not just new forms to memorise, they are abstract concepts linked to a perception of time that feels slippery. If learners cannot mentally “see” where an event belongs, a rule like We use the past simple for finished actions lands as vague and unhelpful.
Inclusive teaching means externalising time, so learners don’t need to rely on an internal clock alone.
Making Time Visible
Timelines across the classroom A colour-coded timeline stretched across a wall can transform grammar learning. Past events are blue, the present is green, and the future is yellow. Each time a student creates a sentence, the class points together to the correct part of the timeline. Over time, this shared practice builds a communal model of English tense that students can return to again and again.
Gestures and movement Body movement makes invisible concepts tangible. Students step back when describing the past, lean forward when talking about the future, and link their hands when expressing the present perfect. These gestures create physical “memory traces” that reinforce grammar learning (Tellier, 2008; Goldin-Meadow, 2012).
Props and sequential tokens Objects lined up along a desk can serve as mini-timelines. Learners place tokens as they speak: “Yesterday I watched a film” (token left), “Now I am reading” (token centre), “Tomorrow I will go shopping” (token right). This reduces the cognitive load of holding sequences in working memory, because time is made concrete and visible (Sweller, Ayres, & Kalyuga, 2011).
When learners can externalise time in these ways, their guesses about tenses become guided choices, grounded in something they can see and touch.
Making Time Tangible
Rhythm and music
Some students experience time not visually but through rhythm. Past tense endings like –ed can be clapped in a steady beat, while irregular verbs become “rebels” with unexpected rhythms. Research suggests that rhythmic activities can help regulate attention in ADHD, which in turn makes learning more memorable (Weissenberger et al., 2021).
Timers and countdowns
Abstract expressions like for five minutes or in two hours often confuse learners. Linking language to live countdowns makes these ideas concrete. A teacher might say, “In two minutes, the timer will beep,” and let students watch the clock. Grammar becomes anchored in direct sensory experience rather than abstract explanation.
Story chains
Instead of drilling tenses, learners can build a collaborative story across different time frames: “Yesterday I lost my keys. Today I am looking for them. Tomorrow I will find them.” This turns tenses into tools for storytelling, not obstacles to memorisation.
I once tried this with a group of Year 5 students. One boy with ADHD, usually restless, became the “keeper of the story,” ensuring continuity between past, present, and future. What had felt like a barrier to learning suddenly became a playful puzzle.
The Inclusive Payoff
These approaches don’t just support students with ADHD or dyslexia, they benefit everyone. Visual learners grasp grammar more quickly when time is mapped out. Kinesthetic learners remember better when grammar is linked to movement. Whole classes engage more deeply when stories replace drills.
One student used to freeze whenever the Present Perfect came up on a test. But when we worked with timelines and gestures, she suddenly lit up: “It’s like the past and now are holding hands.” That metaphor captured the tense more clearly than any textbook rule.
This is the power of inclusive design. It’s not about “extra help” bolted on for a few students; it’s about better teaching for all. By making abstract ideas concrete, we reduce barriers and build classrooms where every learner can succeed.
Conclusion
When learners experience time differently, grammar lessons are about more than memorising rules. They are about making time itself teachable.
When my student once said, “Yesterday I go park,” I used to hear it only as a mistake. Now, I hear it as an invitation to make time visible, tangible and shared. With timelines, gestures, rhythms and stories, her words become a bridge into discovery.
The next time a learner produces a sentence that seems “wrong,” pause. Ask not just what tense they missed, but how they understand time. That small shift from error-hunting to meaning-making can transform grammar from an obstacle into a doorway. And it may be the difference between a student who fears tenses and one who smiles and says, “It’s like the past and now are holding hands.”
References
Barkley, R. A., Murphy, K. R., & Fischer, M. (2007). ADHD in adults: What the science says. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Goldin-Meadow, S. (2012). Gesture’s role in speaking, learning, and creating language. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 257–283. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-071811-150039
Nejati, V., & Yazdani, S. (2020). Time perception in children with attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Does task matter? A meta-analysis. Child Neuropsychology, 26(7), 900–916. https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2020.1794011
Snowling, M. J., & Hulme, C. (2021). Annual research review: Dyslexia and developmental language disorder—same or different? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 62(5), 484–502. https:// doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13302
Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory. New York, NY: Springer.
Tellier, M. (2008). The effect of gestures on second language memorisation by young children. Gesture, 8(2), 219–235. https:// doi.org/10.1075/gest.8.2.06tel
Weissenberger, S., Ptacek, R., Vnukova, M., Raboch, J., & Goetz, M. (2021). Time perception is a focal symptom of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 678401. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.678401
Zheng, Q., Wang, X., Chiu, K. Y., & Shum, K. K.-M. (2025). Time perception deficits in children and adolescents with ADHD: A meta-analysis. Journal of Attention Disorders, 26(2), 123–135. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054720978549
