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Setting and Meeting Goals at Home
Use your child’s interests as a jumping-off point for setting a goal. You can teach task persistence by encouraging him to save money for a toy or an activity he wants to do.
Create rewards your child can earn quickly. A common mistake is making the child work harder and longer to earn the reward than she’s capable of doing. For young children, a good approach is to schedule 10 minutes of doing homework followed by 10 minutes of playing video games, then gradually increase the amount of time they have to work (or wait).
Assign chores. For kids with ADD/ADHD, the chore may be quick and easy to do, and you may need to supervise him doing it. Time and effort can be increased gradually.
Create incentives to encourage your child to keep working toward the goal. If she is working to save up for a toy, take a picture of the toy and cut it into a jigsaw puzzle. Each time the child gets a step closer to the goal, give her a puzzle piece. When the puzzle is complete, she gets the reward.
Don’t confuse your goals with your child’s. Don’t say to a child who hands in 10 percent of his Spanish homework, “I’d like you to commit to completing every Spanish homework assignment.” Suggest that increasing homework completion in Spanish might be a worthy goal and ask him how much Spanish homework he thinks he can realistically do. Then ask if he’s willing to set a goal for completing Spanish homework, starting low and working his way up.
Set a family goal that everyone can contribute to. Hold a family meeting to discuss a problem that needs to be solved. Get input from all the family members about how to solve the problem, how goal attainment will be monitored, and what the reward might be when the goal is met.
Life Stories About Achieving Goals With ADD/ADHD
The Lessons My ADD/ADHD Son and I Learned on Our Bike Ride Across Iowa
How I Channeled My ADD/ADHD Energy Into Success
"I Knew I Was Smart": ADD/ADHD College Success Story
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