Students who have attention troubles are nothing new in schools across the country. The fact that some children have difficulty in school has always been a part of the educational world. What's new is an increased number of students who have an official ADHD diagnosis. While some families may not share this information with teachers and their district, many choose to put 504 Plans into action and seek additional supports that may be needed in the classroom.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 6 million children in the United States have been diagnosed with ADHD. This makes ADHD one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders and a struggle for children in schools. However, there are treatments, ADHD teaching strategies, and other ways to help students with ADHD.
What Is ADHD?
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders with 8.4% of children and 2.5% of adults diagnosed. It is typically diagnosed in childhood but can last into adulthood. Common symptoms of ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. However, there are ways to improve the symptoms of ADHD including behavioral therapy and medication.
With that in mind, research has shown that medicine alone does not solve all of the issues for most children and students with ADHD. A study by the National Institute of Mental Health found that combination treatment is most effective. This includes medication to help with the hyperactivity and lack of concentration, behavior therapy, and ADHD teaching strategies with special education teachers. The focus of behavior therapy is to work on more subtle social skill concerns and organization which has been shown to help kids with ADHD.
What is Behavioral Therapy?
Behavior therapy is a very structured plan that has rewards and consequences for an individual’s actions. These may be created by a school psychologist. Working as a team, all adults involved with the child would be shown how to use the program. The more reinforcement, the better it will work and become second nature for the child. The goal over time is to show the child different ways to do things within the classroom or at home seeking positive reinforcement and thus eliminating the undesired behavior. How does this help over medication alone? Prescription medication helps with focus and concentration on work. It does not assist with a student’s lack of organization, time management troubles, and sinking self-esteem. Positive reinforcement with behavior therapy can do all of this when all people are willing to reinforce the plan in all parts of the student’s life.
School psychologists need to be willing to work with teachers and parents to create behavior therapy plans. Observation in the classroom and input from home will help you to come up with ideas to use for reward and what may need to be removed if undesired behavior is seen. The key is to come up with things that will catch the attention of the individual child and excite them to get praise and continue to move in that direction. When they hear positive feedback from adults and even other students, they will continue to work toward their goals, even without a concrete reward.
Strategies For Students With ADHD
There are a variety of teaching strategies for students with ADHD. With that in mind, not every child is the same and it is important to find the right strategy for how to help ADHD students.
Provide Visual Reminders
One way teachers can help students with ADHD is by using visual reminders and cues. Unlike a verbal reminder, a visual reminder stays in place and makes it easier for the child to remember.
Increase Active Class Participation
Increasing your active class participation is a great way to help keep the attention of students with ADHD. There are many games and activities for kids with ADHD that you can implement in the classroom to engage your students. For example, instead of having students raise their hands to answer questions, you can have them write on whiteboards, answer questions in unison, or talk with a group.
Encourage Hands-On Learning
Since students can learn in a variety of different ways, it is important to teach in a variety of different styles. Hands-on learning tends to be a more engaging way to learn and can help a child with ADHD stay focused. Teachers can create hands-on learning opportunities by asking kids to act things out, record an assignment on video equipment, and even put together models. Routines can also be how you go about your lessons.
Establish Classroom Routines
Routines are important for ADHD kids as they can make daily functioning more manageable and help them thrive. Hence, having a constant routine in the classroom is another great method to help students stay on task. Easy ways to establish a routine are creating a classroom schedule, using a similar teaching style, and having similar learning activities.
Final Thoughts On Helping Students With ADHD
Overall, there are many ways you can help students with ADHD when you understand what is ADHD and strategies you can use as a teacher. If you’re interested in special education teacher jobs, check our available school jobs and apply today!
A psychologist sent me an email, in rensospe to this blog post. She makes some wonderful points and it is worded so eloquently. I so appreicate her comments: I would make a strong recommendation before assuming that the partner of someone who is having sex addiction problems has co-sex addiction issues. I think this fits for some and not for others. I think it can be very damaging to blame someone who has been victimize by lies and deceit. I have now heard from several therapists who work with individuals with sex addiction and their partners that they use polygraph or private investigators to re-establish safety and trust. At least one therapist told me, that she always uses polygraph because she cannot believe what the sex addict tells her until she gets the results back. So, I don’t think it is scientific or fair to then turn around and say that the spouse should somehow have known. I also think that Shirley P. Glasses work on affairs supports the notion that the tendency to trust a spouse or significant other over time increases and that sometimes partners can lie about affairs quite expertly. So if people can lie about affairs that well, they also can about other types of behavior related to sex addiction. Since I work with trauma a lot, I regularly see the effects of victim blaming with people who have been assaulted in various ways, particularly sexual assault. I think there is a tendency for many people, including therapists, to feel frightened by how easily these things really can happen to any of us and there is a counter-activation (counter-transference) that occurs and there is a risk that therapists can seek some explanation or blame for why clients were victimized. In my experience, clients are willing to look at whatever role their own development and life experience might be effecting their choices in life or their inability to move away from harm, etc., but this needs to be done later in the work and not with the assumption that it necessarily plays a huge role in what happened. With being victimized or betrayed all we can do is reduce risk, not prevent it. That is my humble, or not so humble opinion.