Managing ADHD In The Classroom

By Dennis Ward


Attention, Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is commonly experienced by children from a young age. It affects almost five percent of the population and is the most childhood behavior disorder. ADHD in the classroom can interfere with the performance of the child because of lack of concentration. These kids can also find it very difficult in making and keeping friends thus the teachers have to make sure that they assist the kids to concentrate in class.

The symptoms of this condition can be categorized as the inattentive disorder or hyperactive-impulsive disorder. A child can thus suffer from one of the states or have the combination of the two of them. Symptoms of the inattentive disorder include being distracted easily, problems following instructions, lack of organization of work, unable to complete assignments, making very careless mistakes during school work or overlook details, etc.

The hyperactivity disorder is associated with occasional squirming or fidgeting in class.Unable to stay at a single place for quite some time, cannot be quiet while playing, interrupting other people and intruding in their conversations, being jumpy all the time and climbing places that are inappropriate, answering questions promptly even before the question is read out completely and many other related behaviors.

This disorder thus adversely affects the performance of these students in school because they are very inattentive. More so, these students can be so impulsive to the extent of leaving exams as well as tasks unfinished which explains their low performances. Also, teachers that do not know that these kids are suffering may often punish them because they fail to finish tasks or to disrupt the class.

To assist these children, it is important to let the teachers know that your kid or kids are suffering from this kind of disorder. Therefore, these teachers can make sure that they give very brief or short tasks to the students and ask for immediate feedback. More so, the teachers can break apart long projects so that they become manageable by the children.

Also, the children should be given direct instruction by the teachers. Because of their short attention span, the teachers should attend to the kids face to face as opposed to the other children. This will help the child to concentrate more and finish the tasks or assignments before they start squirming or talking too much. More so, their performance may also improve with time.

Another thing that the teachers should do is to make sure that the lessons are well structured and organized. This will help the kids to identify the important points quickly before being distracted. The students with this condition tend to have better memory if the material is structured in a meaningful way for them. Hence, the teacher should provide a lecture outline before giving the notes to students.

To conclude, the students should also be given rules that are precise and well defined. These rules should be accompanied by visual codes that are specific so that they can easily remember. Many other modes of teaching are available for the teachers to use and assist kids who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to help them fit in a normal classroom setting.




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