ADHD Is Structure Needed

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ADHD Is Structure Needed???

• Created by Kristy LaPorte

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ADHD Facts

• High energy
• Creativity
• Spontaneity
• Humor
• Trouble learning (attention deficit)
• Specific learning dysfunction

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Positives on ADHD

• Many ADHD children become adults who are
  creative, interesting, productive, and
  enthusiastic precisely because of their energy,
  quickness, and ability to move through a
  situation without getting bogged down by details,
  and because of their incredible stamina.
• http//web.ebscohost.com
• STUDENTS WITH ADHD NEED BALANCE OF STRUCTURE AND
  CHOICE IN CLASSROOM

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How Choices Help

• Learning how to make own choices
• Break periods
• Selecting times to do certain activities

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Same Needs, Greater Amounts

• ADHD children do not need better quality work,
  but they need more of it.
• Consistency
• Predictability
• Input
• Work expectations need to be manageable

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ADHD and ADD

• Hard to recognize because they act normal
• Unusual? NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Distractable/daydreamy
• Trying in general

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What is Hard for Children with ADHD?

• Reflecting
• Planning
• Self-monitoring
• Filtering-out distractions
• Controlling ones mood
• Limiting ones activity level
• Impulsivity

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Lesson Learned

• It is important to understand as educators that
  children with ADHD need structure and routine,
  but on the other hand, they need to be given a
  fair amount of independence and choice. This
  means that the teacher needs to be very flexible
  and understandingone who will work with the
  child rather than set up to a no-win battle.

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Lesson Learned Contd

• ADHD students are definitely at risk for spending
  many years at school failing and frustrated, but
  as we come to appreciate their individual styles
  and needs, we WILL become better teachers role
  models.

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What We Can Do

• Write directions down as well as give them orally
• Ask the child to repeat the instructions back to
  the person giving them
• Use pictures and manipulatives iin teaching and
  explaining
• Have a personal code system between the teacher
  or parent and the child for monitoring in-class
  or social behaviors

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What We Can Do Contd

• Play games and do exercises that practice desired
  behaviors
• Provide structure and planned programs that help
  children to organize and monitor their behaviors
• Establish schedules that build in frequent and
  physically active breaks
• Offer choice, and allow for flexibility within
  the structure

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What We Can Do Contd

• Prepare the child for what will happen next
• Understand and tolerate mistakes and use them for
  learning
• Teach goal setting plan for, and monitor,
  realistic steps toward goal achievement
• Be careful not to over stimulate or to
  overexhuast
• Limit possibilities of distraction and diversion

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Source

• Students with ADHD need balance of structure and
  choice in classroom.
• By Randy L. Comfort
• Brown University Child Adolescent Behavior
  Letter Sep94, Vol.10 Issue 9, p1, 3p, 1 chart