What Can I Do For My ADHD Affected Child When At School

At school, a child needs to listen to what the teacher speaks with concentration, remember things, and perform activities successfully. However, this is difficult for a child who is having ADHD. Further, his/her actions or response will be without any prior thinking.
Actually, you cannot predict the behavior of such a child; he/she might do something today, but might not be able to the same the next day. So, such a child needs special care and attention to help in coping up with such a behavior. The ideal things for your child at school are:

• Regularity
• Praise not too much, but do so frequently
• Working with someone on similar academic and maturity levels
• Seat available ahead of the class facing the wall or with positive roles besides it that helps in being less distractive

Help for Medications at School

If your doctor prescribes medicines to be taken at such time that makes it necessary to take them in school, speak to the class teacher and ask for an arrangement for the same. Ask him/her for the following:

• Reminding the child to take the medicines with the accurate dose
• Giving medicines in private such as in the school office or first-aid room, instead of giving in front of the other children

Children tend to forget their medicines and often feel uncomfortable when they notice that other students are watching them taking medicines. Therefore, avoid giving them medicines in public due to a feeling of being different from their peers.

For any updates related to medications, you should always inform the school about it.

Problems in the Classroom and their Remedies

Following are a few common problems that your child with ADHD faces at school along with some practical solutions. Out of these solutions, some of them need to be discussed with your child’s class teacher.

Excessive Talking

If your child is small, he/she is likely to talk too much in the classroom. This talking can be in a group or when teacher asks something to the entire class. However, this tendency reduces, as he/she becomes older. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem by asking the teacher to:

• Set a timer, for instance, when there is a turn to talk.
• Instruct all the students in the class that they can tell only one option or one sentence before they speak or answer the question.
• Ask all the students in the class to lift one of their hands up if they wish to say something.

Interruptive

Interrupting too much in between when the teacher is talking is at is peak during the primary school. However, like talking too much, this also fades out once your child becomes older. If the child is taking stimulant medication, he/she is more vulnerable to interruption. The teacher should verify whether the child has taken the medication or not. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Make your child learn about some tips that he should follow when he/she has forgotten the instructions, such as ask another child softly and put his hand up and wait to speak before the answers him/her.
• The teacher should remind all the students in the class about the rules of interruption. Avoid pin pointing the child during this. Talk to the child personally and make him understand about the same.
• Implement a reward system that is apparent to the child such as possessing a booklet of cards with four faces of different colors. Here, the first face is smiling, second one is normal, the third one is unhappy, and the last card looks cross. Tell the child that if you can make it until the session’s end without the red face, you will receive a star. Otherwise, the child knows what will happen.
• Come up with a secret signaling rule with the class teacher that is not understood by the remaining students in the class. For instance, the teacher rubs the nose to remind the child to come on the right track.

Inattentive

Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Have an eye contact while talking.
• Ask questions to grab the attention.
• Give short instructions by dividing them into small chunks.
• Ask the child to follow one instruction at a time and admire once it is done. Then, ask him/her to do the next.
• Ask your child to repeat what you just told him/her to do, which will ensure that you child has understood what is to be done.
• Speak again if the child is fidgeting.
• Try to give instructions in written rather than only giving it orally. This can be done through writing them on a blackboard or whiteboard along with the items required and other visual aids.
• Teach your child to be organized by making a list of what is to be done and then assigning the priority to each of them.

Problems Related to Homework

Homework issues include not doing the homework at all, forgetting about it, or doing it partly. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Request the school to provide a diary to note the daily homework so that you are aware of the homework.
• Remind the child of the homework using the diary.
• Schedule the homework for your child by dividing into smaller lots and allotting time for each of it.
• Decide on homework session – fixed time, do a small chunk of homework, break, do the next chunk
• Avoid any kind of force, as this will worsen the matter only.
• Ensure that your child does the homework in a calm place with fresh air and no distracters, such as TV or radio.
• Motivate your child and show interest in the homework.
• Avoid enforcing completeness if the child has tried hard to complete the homework but fails to complete it. This is because the performance is not the same always with children having ADHD, so he/she might complete it in no time tomorrow.

Learning and Peer Difficulties

A child having such difficulties needs help from not only parents, but teachers, therapist, and Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO). Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Ensure that the child studies in a calm room.
• Train your child on using charts.
• Explain the child using visual aids.
• Provide instructions one-by-one.
• Sit with your child on computer and ask him to read, write, and play.

Peer difficulties include acting silly, overreacting, fighting, or fear of teasing and bullying. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Teach your child to maintain a playtime diary. He/She needs to write about play, reactions, performance, problems, and alternatives to the displayed behavior.
• If your child is in primary, tell him/her to count 10 before responding in a difficult situation or simply walk away and speak to the class teacher.
• Arrange for a ‘Circle time’. Here, for around 40 minutes, children settle themselves in a circle and discuss about the matters to understand each other views in the presence of a teacher. This is actually effective not only for children with ADHD, but also for children with autism.
• If your child is in the secondary school, opt for role-playing.

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