Teacher Tips: Organizing Your ADHD Students
By
Douglas Cowan, Psy.D.
Thank you to all of our professional educators who dedicate
themselves to our children! We know how difficult it can be working
with ADHD children, so here are your teacher tips for the week,
brought to you by the ADHD Information Library and ADDinSchool.com.
You can read over 500 classroom interventions at
http://www.ADDinSchool.com.
Here are some tips on Organizing Your ADHD Students:
See what you can do to help organize the ADHD child's
environment. Use dividers and folders in his desk so he can easily
find things. Teach him how to organize himself better. These are
skills that he does not know, and needs to learn.
Help the child to organize his written work or numbers. Allow the
child to move a pencil or his finger across the page while reading.
If he's writing, allow him to use one or two fingers for spacing
between words. During math, graph paper may be very helpful to
organize his numbers and columns.
Your student will function better when able to anticipate times
requiring increased concentration. A visual representation of the
day's schedule will provide another opportunity to internalize
classroom routine.
Completing school work and maintaining behavior during the school
day can be exhausting experiences. Large homework loads on a regular
basis can become discouraging for him and very stressful for the
parent involved. Attempt to have homework reduced, if possible, and
limited to guided practice on material that he has begun to master.
Attempt to break down long?term assignments into steps to lessen
your student's feeling overwhelmed. Consider having the student
complete every third problem, instead of answering each one.
Emphasize practice and assignment completion on the word
processor to lower the frustration many students feel with written
work.
Model an organized classroom and model the strategies you use to
cope with disorganization.
Establish a daily classroom routine and schedule. Show that you
value organization by following 5 minutes each day for the children
to organize their desks, folders, etc. Reinforce organization by
having a "desk fairy" that gives a daily award for the most
organized row of desks.
Use individual assignment charts or pads that can go home with the
child to be signed daily by parents if necessary. Develop a clear
system for keeping track of completed and uncompleted work such as
having individual hanging files in which each child can place
completed work and a special folder for uncompleted work.
Develop a color coding method for your room in which each subject is
associated with a certain color that is the that subjects textbook
cover and on the folder or workbook for that subject.
Develop a reward system for in-school work and homework
completion. One example of a system that reinforces both work
quality and work quantity involves translating points earned into
"dollars" to be used for silent auction at the end of grading
period. For children needing more immediate reinforcement, each
completed assignment could earn the child a "raffle ticket" with
her/his name on it . Prizes or special privileges could be awarded
on the basis of a random drawing held daily or weekly.
Write schedule and timelines on the board each day. Provide due
dates for assignments each day. Divide longer assignments into
sections and provide due dates or times for the completion of each
section.
Tape a checklist to the child's desk or put one in each subject
folder/notebook that outlines the steps in following directions or
checking to be sure an assignment is complete. Provide study guides
or outlines of the content you want the child to learn, or let the
child build her/his own study guide with worksheets tat have been
positively corrected.
Be clear about when student movement is permitted and when it is
discouraged, such as during independent work times.
Your student should be encouraged to utilize assignment sheets,
broken down by day and subject. He or his teachers can record
assignments at the completion of each task. An organizing time at
the end of each day can be helpful to gather the necessary materials
for the assignments and develop a plan of action for completion.
This will greatly aid the development of the "executive processes."
Your student can become overwhelmed with floods of paper and be
unable to find the needed materials. It is often helpful to carry
only two work folders, one that contains work to be completed and
one with work to be filed. Reviewing these work folders should
become a regular part of the daily routine, with irrelevant work
removed.
Some students now take a small dose of their medication when they
come home from school to aid in studying/homework completion. Check
with the doctor about the time period of maximum medication
effectiveness to help set?up a sensible homework schedule.
Quite often, variability in work performance will be related to
the teacher's style and your student's temperament. Teachers tend to
instruct using their own preferential learning style. Sequential
teachers may help by providing more structure for him but the
teacher may become frustrated with his disorganization and behavior.
Random teachers, while not providing external structure, may be more
likely to utilize flexibility in adjusting to his needs. Attempt to
place your student with teachers who have similar styles that have
proven effective for their particular needs. Some teachers have
received training in dealing with students with attentional problems
that would make them a particularly effective resource.
One of the simplest interventions with the most power is to have
an extra set of textbooks at home to minimize the problem of not
having the necessary homework materials.
Since fine motor activities and spelling can be a problem, consider
a major emphasis on using a word processor at an early age. Software
to practice keyboarding should have stimulating graphics to motivate
their use. Using a "spell check" program is critical.
Along with the "executive process" of organizing for homework at
the end of the day, a daily check-in time at the beginning of the
school day can be helpful in preparing for a successful day.
Checking the previous night's homework, highlighting changes in the
daily schedule, and even pre?teaching some of the lessons for the
day can ease stress.
Your student should have a regularly scheduled time for cleaning his
desk at least once a week. This will improve his ability to find his
materials. It may, however, require the assistance/instruction of an
adult to make this a successful experience.
Hopefully these will help the ADHD students in your classroom to
be more successful. You can learn more about Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity disorder at the ADHD Information Library.
Douglas Cowan, Psy.D., is a family therapist who has
been working with ADHD children and their families
since 1986. He is the clinical director of the ADHD
Information Library's family of seven web sites,
including
http://www.newideas.net, helping over 350,000
parents and teachers learn more about ADHD each
year. Dr. Cowan also serves on the Medical Advisory
Board of VAXA International of Tampa, FL., is
President of the Board of Directors for KAXL 88.3 FM
in central California, and is President of
NewIdeas.net Incorporated. Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Douglas_Cowan,_Psy.D. |
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