Ahhhh… the good old ADHD challenge!<\/p>\n
I wrote about this a while back in regards to PPS<\/a>, and also a bunch about visual learners here<\/a>.<\/p>\n But today let’s assume that your student is in fact a legitimate ADHD candidate, and not something else.<\/p>\n In a nutshell think of it like this…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m not an \u00a0expert in the field of ADHD (though I do have a BSc in Pharmacology and Physiology). However I have taught over 1,500 kids with quite a few with legitimate attention deficit disorder, Asberger’s and\u00a0autism. I’ve also taught both blind and deaf students. All are challenging in different ways, as are people with bad knees and backs, or some other kind of physical disability. The important thing to remember is that we are all people, and in most cases are doing the best we\u00a0can<\/em>. So the first thing is to realize this important point, and to have patience.<\/p>\n ADHD can be severely affected by diet, food coloring and emotion just to name a few things. Most of this we can’t control, but somehow we’re expected to help fix.\u00a0So it’s particularly important that you don’t over-excite an ADHD student<\/strong> as they can take hours to calm down. Similarly try to avoid negative reinforcement with ADHD students<\/strong> as this can send them into a death spiral of negative emotion which results in resentment and unresourcefulness.<\/p>\n I’ve found that ADHD kids perform better with a little encouragement<\/span>. Think about it – for most of the day they’re told, “Just focus!”<\/em> and\u00a0“Concentrate!!!”<\/em>. So I’ll walk by that student in class and whisper to them, “Great job, Max. You look like a black belt when you do it that way.”<\/em><\/p>\n Little things like that seem to pep up their self esteem. They feel better immediately, try harder and focus more.<\/p>\n People have also asked me if I change the way I teach the class when I have ADHD students?<\/p>\n\n
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