50 Tips for Managing Attention Deficit Disorder in the Classroom - Managing Attention Deficit Disorder in the Classroom

Written by Drs. Ned Hallowell and John Ratey

1. If the child appears to have difficulty with social skills and appropriate behaviours. It would be very useful to analyze just what skills are lacking and then teach or coach the child in these skills. There are some very good resources about specific ADHD coaching on adders.org
2. Make a game out of things. Motivation improves ADD.
3. Pay particular attention to who sits next to who.
4. Your life will be much easier if you can keep the child engaged and motivated. Time spent planning activities to make them as engaging as possible will be repaid many times over.
5. Give as much responsibility as possible to the child.
6. Try a home-to-school-to-home positive contact book.
7. The development of self-assessment and self-reporting is crucial to the development of internal limit setting. For instance the use of daily reporting sheets can be very effective. More effective still if the child sets the behaviours to be monitored. The child decides if they have achieved the set behaves. Usually I ask the child to get the teacher to initial if they agree or disagree with the child's perception of their own behaviour. This should be done in a clinical fashion if the teacher disagrees but with lots of praise if the child has achieved targets and is correct in their perceptions.
8. Suddenly given these children unstructured time can be a recipe for disharmony. Let them know well in advance when unstructured time will be so they can plan out what to do and how to fill the time.
9. Give as much praise as you are humanly able.
10. Develop active listening skills by encouraging children to take notes of not only what they hear but the ideas they have and their thinking around an issue.
11. Give serious consideration to the use of alternative methods of recording.
12. Get the full attention of the class before starting to teach.
13. Try and arrange for students to have a study partner or be part of a study group. Get the children in the group to exchange telephone numbers and other contact information. This will enable the child to clarify points that they may have missed quickly and easily. It will also allow other members of the group to benefit from their energy and enthusiasm.
14. Explain and normalize the treatment the child receives to avoid stigma. Be prepared to sit down with the whole class and explain in language they understand about how people are all different and that a lot of children have problems of one sort or another and then explain about how ADHD symptoms can show in a child and how the rest of the class can help that child to fully integrate with their peers. Peer relationships are often very difficult so it is essential for the child's self esteem and general well being to help them to fit in with their peers and for them to be accepted by their class mates.
15. Review with parents often. Avoid the pattern of just meeting around problems or crises, celebrate success. It is very nice on occasions for parent to receive a phone call from school to let them know when their child has had a good day. They often sit at home or work dreading that phone call to say that their child is in trouble again at school. This is also very good for the child and their self esteem as when they get home the parents can give spontaneous praise and tell them how wonderful it was that their teacher had phoned them today to tell them how well the child has done.
16. Read aloud at home and in class as much as possible. Use story telling. To help the child build up a sense of sequence. Help the child build the skill of staying on one task.
17. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
18. Vigorous exercise helps work off excess energy, it helps focus attention, it stimulates certain hormones and neurochemicals that are beneficial, and it is fun. Make sure the exercise is fun, so the child will continue to do it for the rest of his or her life.
19. With older children, their learning will be enhanced considerably if they have a good idea of what will be learnt that day.
20. Be on the lookout for things to enjoy about the child. The energy and dynamism they have can be very beneficial to their group/class. Try and pick up on their talents and nurture these. As they have taken many of life's knocks they tend to be resilient, always bouncing back because of this they can be generous of spirit, and glad to help out.

About the authors: Drs. Hallowell and Ratey are experts in ADHD in children and have written many books on the subject including "Driven To Distraction."

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