Monday 5 February 2018

Managing ADHD In The Classroom

By Dennis Ward


It is a bit difficult to note that a child or student is suffering from a disorder that is caused by hyperactivity and impulsiveness. It is thus challenging to manage ADHD in the classroom especially if you are not aware that the kid has the disorder. This disorder is common in children and affects approximately 5 percent of populations. These kids tend to be poor performers because they lack concentration and they have difficulties in making friends.

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 hyperactive or impulsive symptoms include trouble staying in their seats, fidgeting or often squirming, running or climbing inappropriate places. Other signs include one cannot play quietly, excessive talking, very impatient, shouting out answers even before the question is complete, interrupting or intruding the conversations or games of other people and always being on the go among others.

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.

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.

On top of that, teachers must ensure that they organize and structure their lessons well before they go to the classrooms. This is because having a good outline can help the students to understand quickly. More so, these students usually have the good memory of materials that have been meaningfully structured. Therefore, it is upon teachers and tutors to ensure that they organize their lessons well.

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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