Support Students with ADD/ADHD

As students file into my classroom each year, I am acutely aware of the diversity in strengths, weaknesses, needs, concerns, and overall individuality each person brings. My goal as a teacher is to understand and begin to build a positive relationship with each individual, and to accomplish this goal as quickly as possible. It’s a certainty that some of these learners will be diagnosed with ADHD, and I always feel an urgency to find support and strategies for each of these kids. Therefore, I am constantly on the lookout for research, resources, and strategies to help me accomplish this goal.

This school year, I discovered Sandra Reif’s book, How to Reach and Teach Children with ADD/ADHD: Practical Techniques, Strategies and Interventions (2005). This book offers many excellent “do now” strategies that immediately impact the success and growth of students with ADHD. I found tips, resources, and support that are easy to implement and great tips for tracking student behavior and academic progress. For me, it was the confidence builder I needed to arm myself with the necessary tools for providing the best learning environment and experiences for my classroom, and the following are a few of these strategies, tips, and techniques I found to be the most helpful.

Common Struggles for ADD and ADHD Learners

For those learners who suffer from ADHD and ADD symptoms, the traditional school setting can be sheer torture. The inattentive and impulsive characteristics displayed by these kids can be misinterpreted as laziness and carelessness, since they are often observed staring off into space, having difficulty following and remembering instructions, not working in group scenarios, being easily distracted, and making careless mistakes—not to mention behaviors such as roaming around the classroom, fidgeting in their seats, having trouble with taking turns, and being accident-prone. Although the pupil is aware of rules and procedures, she/he may have trouble following them, which leads to a slew of other issues. As frustrating as this can be for both teacher and student, it is important to understand that these behaviors are a part of ADD/ADHD, and they are a daily struggle for these kids and their families.

Support Strategies to Maximize Learning

In order to combat these symptoms, Reif suggests tips and strategies that can be easily implemented in instruction and instructional materials in order to help these learners maintain a better focus during class time. One of the ideas for activities that I was able to immediately put to use in my own lessons was using different color and fonts when working on the computer. I often have students color code writing samples, and this suggestion led me to begin having students color code their own writing as a self-evaluation. This also works if you have them use various colored pens to code difficult vocabulary terms. Another idea was to have pupils use a wet paintbrush to spell words on the chalk board. The freshness of this activity engaged the entire class—not only those with ADHD. This was also true with posting exemplars in the classroom. I’ve always shared them during a lesson, but having exemplars posted in the classroom allows students to use them as a reference, and also provided another way for those who need to move around the room to do so without being disruptive. Providing diverse ways for my learners to interact with content is the key to maintaining a positive, proactive learning environment.

Along with simple changes in instructional materials, procedural strategies during instructional time also help in maintaining focus. Try a few of these strategies:

• Provide multi-sensory instructions that include verbal, visual, and graphic cues and well as modeling 

• Avoid multiple-step instructions—break things down into sequential, small, digestible pieces of information

• As directions are being read, have students highlight, circle, or underline key words and phrases that will help them complete the assignment/activity

• Ask students to repeat directions to a buddy

• Train learners to respond to a simple visual cue (i.e., flip the lights on and off, ring a bell, etc.) to stop what they are doing and focus on the teacher prior to moving into a transition time

Support Strategies to Reinforce Positive Behaviors

In addition to instructional changes, Reif (2005) also offers a variety of support strategies to provide both remediation and effective monitoring of students who have been diagnosed with ADHD. One of the sections I find powerful in this book is the “Do's and Don’ts for Teachers and Parents” (pg. 43). Here, Reif addresses some common misconceptions. Understanding that pupils suffering from ADHD are not lazy, but are truly struggling with focusing is the first step in providing help. Validating our students and helping them to understand that they are capable of achieving success in the classroom is possible is the first step. 

Here are some strategies that I found helpful in my own classroom (pg. 115):

• Clearly communicate transitions in the classroom the day of as well as the school day before they occur

• Prepare students for upcoming changes or disruptions in the daily schedule and/or routine 

• Post and clearly communicate rules, procedures, and expectations for all students, and also use verbal reminders

• Use a timer for activities/assignments

• Plan for stretch breaks and brief exercise during instructional or assessment times—especially when pupils are expected to sit and focus for long periods of time

• Reward individuals and/or the whole class for successful transitioning and showing effort to focus during instructional and assessment times

Do you have some tips for helping ADD/ADHD learners experience success in the classroom? Share them with the Lesson Planet Community.

More Lesson Planet Resources

Using a Multi-Sensory Approach,  Multi-Sensory Sight Word Strategies, Multi-Sensory Teaching: Positive and Negative Integers