How to improve attention at home/school with ADHD Kids
May 27th, 2009
A common complaint from parents with ADHD kids and teachers that teach ADHD kids is, “I can’t seem to keep his attention no matter what I do.” As most people are aware, the brain functioning of a child with ADHD is different than that of a child who has not been diagnosed with ADHD. Sustaining attention for any task for any length of time usually takes monumental effort. Your child’s teacher is crucial as is the role of the parent in improving or increasing level of attention. Here are some tricks to increasing level of attentiveness in a child with ADHD. First of all, when you ask a question either as a parent or as a teacher, pause before you ask for an answer. For a teacher, they should look at all of the students and then call on someone to answer a specific question. This slows the pace down and gives the ADHD child time to regroup and get back on track with the discussion at hand if their mind has been wandering. If you see the ADHD child is clearly not paying attention, call out their name or work out a nonverbal way to cue them back in. For example, I suggest that you tap the child on the shoulder or walk by their desk to get their attention. When other students in the class answer a question, a good practice would be to have all of the other students look at the child who is answering the question. In school, keep your students guessing, this makes the material alot more interesting and we know that interesting material keeps everyone’s attention. For example, when telling a story or when instructing, say to the class, “you will never guess what happened next”. Liven things up a bit. For older children, make them keep a timer or some form of record-keeping instrument for self-monitoring purposes. If a test is given, make them monitor how long it takes them to do it. This will enable them to stay on track much easier! A very good trick for teachers to use is to have the ADHD child repeat back the instructions given or homework assignments, this ensures that the information was processed and the ADHD child was not tuning you out. Remember a child does not learn if they are not listening to the teacher and are in their own “little world.”
Posted in ADHD
Some good tips! However, in some countries tapping a student on the shoulder might not be appropriate. A good alternative is tapping on the child’s desk as you “roam” the room. To get the whole class attention at the beginning of a class you can also do things like flick the light switch. It is guaranteed to draw attention without having to raise your voice.
P.S. I am a special ed teacher who now teaches undergraduate teachers about ways to include students with disabilities into their classrooms.
Kara,
Thoughtful and careful instructions… nothing like a little predictable structure to help out focus and attention problems.
Follow you now on twitter, thanks so much for connecting there. We have many colleagues on the same path.
If you have a moment do listen to my CorePsych Radio program on the usefulness of measuring and precisely correcting neurotransmitter precursors – a way to diminish/support the use of psych meds. With psych meds the philosophy is rapidly, with NFB and other interventions becoming good meds management ‘and’ what else?
Chuck
Dr. Parker,
Thanks for the comments. I will listen in as you suggested. Just got back from the book expo in New York. Looking forward to your updates as well as to your radio program.