Since students with attention deficit disorder (ADD ADHD) and learning disabilities often have problems with short-term memory, it is important to reduce the amount of routine information they must remember. Keep their memory free for the key part of the task — writing the essay.
One way to reduce memory demands is to provide your class with a checklist of the steps required to complete an essay.
For a visual reminder, have each student trace her hand on a piece of paper and then write the name of one part of the essay in each finger: thesis statement, topic sentences for the first, second, and third paragraph, and conclusion.
This article comes from the February/March 2007 issue of ADDitude.
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