ADHD in the classroom

Strategies that are worth giving a try

Remember that not all strategies work with all students, the goal is to find strategies that you can be consistent with and that work for both you and the child.

 Hyperactivity

·      Fidget toys - Let student squeeze a stress ball or something during class time

·      Fitness ball instead of a seat – If a student can’t sit still, give them a chair that can’t stay still either, this is proven to help them stay in their seat and concentrate on what they are doing at the same time.

·      Jobs - Give child a responsibility that involves movement such as the paper passer.

·      Allow student to stand up while reading or to find a comfortable spot in the classroom to read.

·      Mouse Pads - If a child taps a pencil during class, put a mouse pad on the desk so they the tapping won’t make noise.

·      Break Cards - Provide student with “BREAK CARDS.” These cards can be used whenever a student needs to take a break, get a drink, go to the bathroom, or just walk down the hall to clear his or her head. They only get 3 breaks a day so they must use them wisely. Break cards can be dropped off in the “BREAK BOX” without disrupting the class.

·      Kicking Bands - for younger kids, who like to kick their feet, put a moving band (large rubber band) on the legs of the chair so they may kick away without making noise.

·      Reminders - Place the procedures of the classroom on the child’s desk to remind them what is the acceptable behavior.

·      Mechanical pencils – students love to sharpen their pencils, it wastes a good amount of time and gives them a chance to walk around, and by using mechanical pencils they will not need to sharpen them continuously. Also many AD/HD students press down extremely hard on their pencils and break them often.

·      Clip Boards – When a student is writing, but doesn’t need a workbook to go along with what he or she is writing about, they can place paper on a clip board and write on it while lying on the carpet or sitting on the floor.

Organization

·      Binders with dividers and folders – the STAR handbook, or something like it. Always hand out papers pre-hole punched

·      Milk Crate desk - If a child is extremely sloppy and it seems that their desk explodes onto the floor every time they are asked to take out a book, have the child keep their belongings in a milk crate next to their desk.

·      Color Code – Place big colored labels on copybooks that match the folder for each subject.

·      Desk Fairy – Have students tidy up their desks at the end of each day and let them know that the desk fairy comes around on random nights and leaves surprises for students who have a clean desk. As often as you would like to reinforce this you can leave notes, treats, or prizes inside clean desks after the students leave.

·      Post–it notes – Have students keep post-it notes in their desk so they can place one in each book to easily find the page that they are working on. Also they can write important reminders for themselves on them as well as write questions to the teacher on them.

·      Pencil Cases – Most AD/HD students will start the day off with the needed supplies, then somehow it seems that their desk eats their supplies. Instead of sending out a search party and letting it disrupt your lesson, have students keep their supplies in a pencil case that is left out on the desk. This will also keep them from playing in their desk while you are teaching. If they made a mistake and need an eraser, it is right there on their desk in the case and they don’t have to stop working to look for it.

·      2 sets of books – If you teach a subject that involves the student taking home the textbook, it is very helpful to keep a set of books at school then a separate set of books at home.

·      Checklists – Some students need to be reminded daily of routine procedure, for those students I place a laminated checklist on their desk and let them check off what they have done

Following Directions

·      Spoken and Written – Remember that a child may be listening, but could get distracted easily by many things, so writing down what you say will keep the students from getting frustrated when they don’t know what to do or when they do something incorrectly.

·      Break it up – If the instructions involve several steps, most AD/HD students will only remember 1 or 2 steps so as teachers we need to break down projects into small understandable sections. If we give students too many steps at once they may get overwhelmed and give up right away.

·      Repeat – have students repeat the directions back to you.

·      Non-verbal – AD/HD students are very sensitive and if they are not on task pointing that out in front of the class will cause the child to become embarrassed and upset, feeling misunderstood. A much better idea is to walk over and redirect the child quietly.

·      Grab Attention – Don’t expect AD/HD students to pay attention to the directions just because they are important. AD/HD students aren’t thinking about the future and how they will need the instructions, they are much more interested in what the kid out in the hallway is doing so it is up to the teacher to grab the students attention with either a bell, a clap, music, or anything that will.

Easily Distracted

·      Front and Center – If an AD/HD child can see out of the door, then we can’t blame them for looking. We must sit these students up front and away from distractions.

·      Stand Up –Try to include kinesthetic into lessons

·      Earplugs – I speak from experience when I say how hard it is to concentrate with even the smallest of noise. (I find myself having to even turn off the fan when I’m writing because it will break my concentration.)

·      High/Low – Alternating between high and low interest activities keep an AD/HD student from becoming bored and allows for more learning styles to get met.

·      Cubical - I have my students put up two folders to create a private area without distractions.

·      Breaks – By giving students a break during an assignment there is less of a chance that they will become overwhelmed.

·      Snacks – who doesn’t enjoy a snack while they’re working?

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