The Potential For Growth Through Alternative Education: A Conversation With Beyond Blocks Founder Andy Hoang

This ADHD Awareness Month, we spoke to Andy Hoang , the founder of Beyond Blocks, who’s currently on Hatch’s City Bridge Foundation Accelerator programme. He supports children in building their problem-solving skills through programming and computing using Lego robotics.

But what Beyond Blocks embodies in their classes is building problem-solving skills in children from a young age, giving them opportunities to grow in confidence and trust their own ideas, something those with ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions may find challenging in mainstream UK education due to a lack of flexibility around learning styles. 

As someone with ADHD himself, Andy says:

‘Neurodivergence is still massively misunderstood in schools. I’m interested in looking at building little humans who are better at solving problems than if they didn’t come to my lessons. Suddenly, you’ve got them hooked on the good dopamine hit that comes from solving problems. And they use that to solve actual problems, from which they’ll get an actual reward.’

It’s that positive ‘dopamine hit’ that is important here. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter commonly associated with ADHD due to ADHD brains typically having trouble either producing or processing dopamine in the brain, meaning motivation and finding rewards in mundane activities becomes more challenging. But the lessons run by Beyond Blocks are not solely for children with ADHD, the problem-solving aspects of Andy’s classes are transformative for all children in different ways.

As interest-led brains, ADHDers are statistically more likely to start a business in the UK when compared to the general population. However, research suggests the rates at which businesses led by ADHDers grow are stunted because the inattentive and hyperactive traits associated with ADHD can lead to negligence of a business's needs or quick decision-making that may prove too much of a risk. 

However, Hatch is confident these traits can be turned on their heads if ADHD business owners can access and be given the right forms of support longer term, beyond completing a business support programme, whether that's mentorship, coaching or business clinics.

‘For neurodiverse people, entrepreneurship is a great way to go because it’s your hours and your business, and it makes me really responsible for my own output. There is a massive amount of freedom when it comes to running your own business. A lot of office culture is still a lot like being in school. You still have to do quite a lot of work to fit in, and you can find yourself left out.’

Creativity, problem-solving, idea generation, and the ability to think outside the box are common ADHD traits Andy has built into Beyond Blocks.

I think of my brain like a fireworks factory. Imagine there’s a whole bunch of fireworks, and they’re all lined up. If you set fire to them systematically, they go up, and it’s a beautiful display to watch. But I can produce these ideas [fireworks] pretty quickly! When they start coming out too fast, you can’t arrange them in a nice order and set them alight one at a time. Chuck a match on my pile, and they all go up simultaneously.

He says when that match alights, overwhelm becomes difficult to control, often leading to shutdown or meltdown. This can manifest in dissociation from work or leisure activities, burnout for extended periods of time or intense confusion and brain fog. Everyone’s experience of ADHD is different despite facing similar challenges. Andy believes it’s crucial for entrepreneurs with ADHD to consider learning strategies to manage the potential overwhelm from these streams of new ideas and thoughts, therefore enabling them to manifest positively as often as possible. 

As an entrepreneur, I need to have my fireworks in order. Otherwise, they’ll end up in that pile, ready to be set alight, and I can’t afford that as a business owner. Without these analogies and understanding how my brain works, I could end up in a massive meltdown, and if you don’t know why, it can suddenly become very problematic as someone whose income relies on me having those fireworks and setting them off one by one.

I wouldn’t say ADHD is a disorder. I would say it’s inconvenient, but we never talk about it being inconvenient for us. It’s that the people who work with us find it inconvenient. But some of us find it absolutely amazing.

It’s believed over 2.6 million people in the UK have ADHD [Lancet and NICE, 2022], with research suggesting this is significantly higher. Diagnosis rates for neurodivergent conditions, including ADHD, can involve long waiting times through the NHS - meaning it's becoming more of a privilege to access medical support. Coupled with significantly lower diagnosis rates in women and girls, businesses like Beyond Blocks are posing the important question of what alternative education and inclusivity should look like in society to keep neurodivergent children engaged in the classroom.

Andy’s experience with Hatch 

All of Hatch’s business support programmes, including our dedicated Launchpad for Disabled people and neurodivergent people, in partnership with Ares Management Corporation Charitable Foundation, are continuously under review to see what extra accommodations we can make to build inclusive, neurodiverse cohorts. It’s something that helped draw Andy to our support. He says:

One of the things that tipped me into signing up [for the Hatch Accelerator], was that it came across as really accessible and it had considered neurodivergences.

When they asked if there is anything they could do to support me, I said I would probably turn my camera off and walk around, and they were totally okay with that. Then I thought oh, they might actually have thought of us. The programme has lived up to that expectation overall!

Not knowing what you need until you already have it

We asked Andy what he’d like to see regarding entrepreneurial support for ADHDers. Our conversation led to thinking about how often it’s challenging to know what support you need until it's in front of you. Hatch’s recent audits alongside social enterprise Diversity and Ability led to a now public Accessible Recruitment guide, looking into experiences from across Hatch’s community for what accommodations should be made and how we can accommodate them into our systems and programmes to further support Disabled and neurodivergent people, including ADHDers.

Centralised resources were a great suggestion from Andy. That there should be an onus on the experts, in this case entrepreneurial support organisations like Hatch Enterprise, to provide resources they think are helpful for business owners with ADHD they think could be key to ensuring those on any business support programme aren’t at a disadvantage because they haven’t yet found the resources that could relate to their needs and provide significant support.

Support available for ADHD entrepreneurs

Trello is Andy’s go-to project management software. He also works alongside a Virtual Assistant (VA) who can support him periodically to organise these thoughts into an actionable timeframe whilst not losing any of his ideas, simply allowing each one to be dealt with by priority and necessity for his business to continue running whilst innovation happens in the background. A VA can also help those with ADHD keep accountable for their work as business owners without a set work schedule. 

Andy’s VA advised him to apply for Access To Work (ATW), a free government scheme that allows self-employed people to access the same access support adjustments that people in traditional workplaces can. 

You do not need a formal diagnosis to access ATW services. 

Online support for Access To Work: 

Send It To Alex - Provide support to neurodivergent people with the application process of Access To Work, including the forms, and understanding the accommodations that may be suitable for you as a business owner and what you’re eligible to apply for before you start. 

Some accommodations through Access To Work traditionally given to ADHDers: 

• A dictaphone
• Mind mapping software 
• A work coach or virtual assistant
• An adjustable standing desk and further work setup accommodations
• Assistive technology
• Flexible working hours support

Here is a small list of resources for ADHD business owners to consider: 

• Researching Access To Work and your eligibility to bring in extra support in the areas you find challenging to give you more space to (hyper)focus on the things you want within your business! 
• Consider your learning styles and whether extra mentoring would help you offload ideas and gain specialist advice in a more engaging way. 
• The Mini ADHD Coach: Entrepreneurship & ADHD
• Mind mapping or ‘brainstorming’ software to dump those ideas: Miro, Mindview
• Project management tools: Trello, Monday.com or Notion
• Creating organised to-do lists using software like Canva. Consider these sections instead of one long to-do list: 1) Five-minute or less tasks 2) Must do 3) Could do 4) To come back to later 5) To dump or delegate to others.

Find out more about the incredible work of Beyond Blocks here.