Teaching ADHD Students
Teaching ADHD students requires patience and skill. This article will help both parents and teachers working with overly active children by providing steps you can take to effectively overcome the ADHD education barrier.
It is estimated that between 3 and 5 percent of children have ADHD, or approximately 2 million children in the United States. This shows how important teaching skills for ADHD really are.
This means that in a classroom of 25 to 30 children, it is likely that at least one will have ADHD. Unfortunately in many schools, the teachers are not educated about attention deficit disorder and specific techniques they can use.
Children dealing with these issues are not abnormal. They are typically like all other students, with the proper help, of course. As a matter of fact, these students are often very intelligent and have the ability to learn very easily in the proper setting.
Teaching children with attention issues is not a big job, though more demanding than with non adhd children. You may want to read our discussion of how to deal with the issues an ADHD child will face in school.
There are certain teaching techniques for ADHD children you will find helpful. Follow these tips and you can actually make the classroom an enjoyable experience.
Strategies for Teaching ADHD Students:
1. These children require close attention. Provide as much positive attention and recognition as possible. Stand close to an inattentive child and touch him or her on the shoulder as you are teaching.
2. Try providing a seat close to you. Don’t let the child sit near the windows or doors, or objects which can easily distract him.
3. Teaching ADHD children requires keeping them attentive. Use their name instead of other names in sentences. Ask him irrelevant questions, apart from study. Ask for his opinion from time to time. But don’t neglect other students when helping individuals with ADHD.
4. When teaching, don’t give him multiple commands at a time. Let him follow one at a time. For instance, never ask him to open to page 34, paragraph 4, line 6 and now find verbs in it.
Instead ask him all this one by one, when he is done with the previous command then ask him for the next.
5. Help him where he’s stuck. Give him hints to answer.
6. Do not confront him, accuse him, abuse him or make him feel guilty. It is more effective to talk to him one on one with out other students being present.
7. If he has difficulty writing, let him take his tests orally. Teaching ADHD students requires this type of flexibility.
8. Give him equal opportunity of studying and physical activities.
9. When teaching children with ADHD, before every class give them at least ten minutes of break, in which he can walk around.
10. Ask him to explain the answer logically and don't laugh when he is wrong. Don't scold him as well.
11. Use his choice of media to teach him.
12. Add pictures, audios and video aids while teaching as this will keep help keep his attention.
13. Ask for guest speakers to come. This can be senior students, parents, siblings or other teachers to say something about the topic.
14. Do reward him for his accomplishments. And promise rewards for work well done. Don’t forget to fulfill that promise.
ADHD and education can go together by following these techniques. Learning how to teach these children can be rewarding and extremely effective. Work to develop these habits and skills and you will be pleased with the results.
To learn about the best school settings for children with attention issues, read this article on special schools for ADHD students.
Click here for information on a natural treatment that helps ADHD children to be more focused while in school making teaching children with ADHD much easier.
You may also be interested in:
Introduction to ADHD Chidren
Food allergies and ADHD behavior.
Recommended websites:
Helpguide.com on teaching ADHD kids
About.com discussion on teaching ADHD Children