ADHD: 10 tips to help them at home and at school
Well-directed ADHD is a skill, not a disadvantage. The school is our natural ally, not our enemy. To educate is to use the strengths to compensate for the weaknesses. Children with ADHD are sincere, sociable, enthusiastic and generous.
A structured environment, with simple instructions, rigid schedules, a place and time for everything, is the most appropriate framework to get these guys out.
Practical advice to help children with ADHD at home and school
6 tips to implement at home:
Children with ADHD need to follow a structure that helps them. You have to create schedules and lists and respect them. Creating work routines is the best way to counteract the natural disorder of these temperaments.
- You have to help them organize them. Teach them to check that they have all the material at hand before they start doing homework. It is good that they have a desk with a place to put everything. Have your pencil, your rubber, your pencil sharpener, etc. in a fixed place where they should leave it, it is necessary to remind them, once the work is finished.
- Prepare the things of the school the night before for the next day, as many tools as the uniform.
- These children have difficulty starting. They do a thousand things instead of what they have to do. You have to insist and do not let them get distracted from what is important, be it homework, pick up the room, take a bath, etc. This helps them prioritize.
- Put a lot of emphasis on presentation, order, letter, cleanliness ... because they tend to be little careful with the details. Have them repeat as many times as necessary, until they learn that they finish earlier by doing things slowly and well than fast and badly.
- Divide a long work into several small subgoals, defined in advance. Make small pauses between one and another, to walk a little move, etc.
- The sport, with its precise rules, schedules, and energy discharge is a wonderful educational tool for all children and for ADHD in particular.
6 tips to help children with ADHD at school:
- Sit children where there are less visual stimuli: in the front row, away from windows and doors.- Children with ADHD often have difficulty interpreting facial and body language so they do not realize that their behavior is unprofitable: it is better to verbalize not only make gestures: "now we are going to work in silence".
- Because of their tendency to be distracted, Many times they interpret bad instructions which makes them not fulfill their tasks and jobs as expected from them. A good way to see if they have understood what they have to do is to ask them to repeat the instructions, in this way the teacher makes sure they have understood correctly.
- When you notice that the child starts to move in the chair, Ask him to do a task that involves movement, take something somewhere, distribute papers, etc. In this way it burns a little energy without interrupting the class.
- Positive reinforcement even from the smallest advances works very well. Instead of pointing out what they do wrong all the time, look for the things they do best to stimulate them and make this behavior become the norm.
- Create a secret signal to call or let the child know that he is misbehaving or distracting, without drawing attention to him. For example, give the desk a soft touch with your knuckles. That touch of attention centers the child but does not put a negative focus on him.
Nita Aspiazu Psychologist
