Teaching Children With ADHD To Read - A Teacher's Experience

Teaching Children With ADHD To Read

Nicole has had many children with ADHD in her classrooms, and in addition, she has been a nanny for a wonderful little boy with ADHD. She has had unusual success with these children and she offers those suggestions, not only for teachers, but parents as well: 

1. These children seem to focus best in an organized, structured environment with clear expectations and rules that have consistent consequences and rewards.
2. These kids seem to follow directions best when there are no more than three to five steps to follow.
3. I always offer a warning before enforcing a consequence.
4. I always have specific places in my classroom for different activities, so there is a lot of structured movement for the children, and they know what to expect when they are in a specific area. For example, there is a spot where they can snack, a place where they can read, and a place where they can do homework.
5. I also have specific tasks associated with specific times during the day and evening. The kids know what to expect at a certain time, and they like that type of predictability and schedule. 
6. I try to give these children lots of tasks to do for me that give them a sense of importance and responsibility. It is very empowering for them to have chores with which they are trusted, like taking care of the class pet or taking notes to the office.
7. These children love the opportunity to earn rewards, like an allowance for doing specific chores in the home, or stickers for completing their homework. I spend a lot of money on little prizes that they can earn with "good behavior points"!
8. These children love fun and they love to be motivated. I create a lot of activities that are hands-on for them, as well as ones that are of high interest to a particular child. This takes a lot of extra work, but the children seem to thrive on it, so the time is well spent. 
9. These children need breaks when they are asked to do activities that are tedious. Sometimes, activities have to be modified for them because they simply can't sit still long enough to do what the other children in class are doing. 
10. Most of all, be patient with ADHD kids. I try to communicate with them more intensely than the other children. I also try to keep good communication between all the adults who are working with the child and the parents, so that he is making progress rather than becoming discouraged or embarrassed by his learning style. Teaching Children With ADHD To Read

Danielle makes this point to reinforce the items on her sister's list: "ADHD kids are always being told by adults, especially teachers, to 'sit down and pay attention,' but do they understand how hard this is to do - how hard it is to sit through a 30-minute video? You get in trouble when you yell out answers in class, regardless of whether the answer is correct, because the teacher considers your social actions inappropriate. Sometimes you just want to dig a hole in the ground and disappear, you're so embarrassed." 

Dr. Bill Maier suggested that parents have a dialogue with their child's teacher that goes somewhat like this: "l know my child is having difficulties in your classroom and can sometimes be disruptive. I'm hoping we can work together to help my child succeed academically and socially. If you will communicate with me on a regular task. I'm willing to follow through with consequences at home. I will do my best to provide rewards for positive classroom behavior and negative consequences for disruptive behavior."

He adds, "Most teachers will appreciate your attitude and your offer to help. My wife is a second grade teacher and typically has one or two ADHD children in her classroom each year. She is able to help these children best when their parents are involved and willing to cooperate in the educational process. 

On the other hand, if your son's or daughter's teacher is completely uncooperative, refuses to acknowledge your child's ADHD, and simply sees him or her as a 'bad seed,' I would recommend an immediate conference with the principal and the school psychologist." Teaching Children With ADHD To Read

Diane: In one of her engineering courses at Dartmouth, Danielle was on a team that was given the assignment to build a car. The professor had constructed an obstacle course, and the grade for the class was based upon whether the car was able to negotiate the course. One of the difficulties was building a car that could negotiate the curves in the valleys on the course, and Danielle's team was finding that task particularly daunting. Danielle, because of her ability to think creatively, came up with the idea of building the car to go over the hills rather than through the valleys. Their car passed with flying colors!

Dennis: I've always been easily distracted. It's really difficult for me to concentrate on just one thing - I love juggling a lot of things all at once. But I'm a prime example of what happens when you give kids with ADHD a chance. I know I have always thought differently from others - I knew that from my first year in school. But I have a lot of gifts, and one of them is speaking. I talk to thousands of people every year and make them laugh, just like I made my teachers laugh. I champion the underdog, even when I do it with humor, because I know how it feels to be different and to struggle.

When people come and hear me speak, I want the words of encouragement I bring to give hope to the hurting and point them to God, who was my source of encouragement when things looked the bleakest when I was a kid in school.

So do you want to learn more about ADHD? You can get Teaching Children With ADHD To Read right now and learn the tricks inside to handle your ADHD kids.