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Solutions in the Classroom
-- Know your students. Be mindful of how ADHD student's minds tend to wander. Know also that they can easily lose their places in a lesson because of slow language processing skills.
-- Make eye contact. When giving specific directions to an ADHD student, establish eye contact. You may need to pause in your sentence until the student's eyes meet yours.
-- Make it brief. When giving instructions, be specific and brief. If possible, provide instructions personally to the child, not to the entire room.
-- Use visuals. Write instructions or directions on the board in colored chalk to highlight the important topic or specific assignment. Insist that students copy the assignment word for word. Then check what the ADHD student has written.
-- Provide instructions in writing. One teacher's ADHD student assured him she'd written the assignments, but then wasn't sure what to do when she got home. The teacher found that the child had written "Reading Assignment" but had failed to write down which chapters to read and what questions to answer. After that, the teacher always provided a typed list of instructions.
-- Quiz them on assignments. When giving verbal directions, reinforce them. It's helpful and fun to ask three students, from different parts of the room, to repeat the assignment. This method gives the ADHD student more than one opportunity to "tune in" to the directions.
-- Use your voice. Raise or lower your voice in a dramatic fashion to catch the attention of a student who may have tuned out temporarily.
-- Try technology. Digital audio recorders can help children store several minutes of information that can be played back immediately — useful for dictating homework assignments and other reminders throughout the school day.
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Slide 2
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