Management Of 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 are either inattentive behaviors or hyperactive-impulsive behaviors. Children can have either of those, and some of them suffer from a combination of both. Some of the inattentive behaviors include making careless school work mistakes and overlooking details, easily distracted, difficulty in following instructions, problems with the organization of tasks, failure to finish school work among others.

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.

These children often perform very poorly because they do not pay attention in class. Also, due to the impulsive behavior, they can leave tasks or assignments and even exams unfinished. They also face so many disciplinary issues especially if the teacher is unaware that the kids have a diagnosis of the inattentive behavior. Therefore, the kids will often be punished due to noise making or disrupting the class or interfering with other children when they are learning.

For these children to be helped in class, the teacher must be aware of their condition and be willing to assist them. For instance, the teacher can make sure that the tasks given to these children are short and brief and require immediate feedback. If the projects are long, they should be broken down into parts that can easily be manageable at specific times.

To add on that, teachers should give direct instructions to the children. Therefore, they should work with kids one on one. Unlike the other children, the concentration span for these children is so low thus teachers must be especially attentive to them. If they are helped in this way, they will improve their performance because they will have more concentration.

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.

Rules that are given to the children with this disorder are supposed to be defined very well. They should also be reinforced often using visual cues and be very specific to help the children to have a higher memory. Many other teaching modes can be employed to assist these students so that their performance in school and even outdoor activities can be improved.




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