My absolute favourite speaker of the day was an educational psychologist called Jane Jarvis whose topic was understanding how ADHD affects learning. She provided deep insight into what it feels like to be a child struggling with ADHD plus lots of practical hands-on information that parents and teachers can use. For the rest of the post, I am going to attempt to summarise the notes that I took from her session. ( which are maaaaany……but I will do my best🙅🙌)
I think the most significant thing to understand about ADHD is that it is a real disorder that affects 5-8% of the population. Children that struggle with this disorder find it incredibly difficult to focus on demand and have difficulty sustaining attention over time, especially if lessons are boring or ineffective. Unfortunately, this means that the most challenging time in an ADHD child’s life is their 12 years at the school. Here they are expected to fall into line, obey rules and follow the set structure of the school day even when this, at times, feel incredibly mundane and frustrating for them. I think the best analogy that Dr Jarvis used to explain what these students feel like went like this: “If you compare school years to a race, then you would have to ensure that all ADHD children’s starting point is about 20 metres behind the other children. At the end of the race, these children have essentially worked the hardest to keep up with the race, but they very seldom get any praise, because they are always last.” I love this analogy as it so clearly depicts how frustrating and the exhausting school must be for ADHD students. (And similarly for other children with learning difficulties). As a result, they are left never feeling good enough and can either develop this ‘I don’t care attitude’ or they become the class clown. (It’s easy to distract the attention away from your inadequacies if you are keeping everyone laughing.🙈😲) These children also often have very poor impulse control which also means that they are always in trouble.
One of the gifts and advantages of ADHD is their hyperfocus. When individuals with ADHD hyperfocus on one thing, they tend to block out everything else going on around them
Unfortunately, during this period of hyperfocus, an individual can have a very poor concept of time. As a result, three hours can pass in what seems like only ten minutes to them. (Which can often lead to frustration and anger by family members who have been left waiting😨) In the same respect when these students are doing something that is boring or repetitive and that they have very little interest in the time can literally stagnate for them. (Now ten minutes can seem like 3 hours. 😫) It is for this reason that it is imperative that ADHD children are encouraged to choose subjects that they actually enjoy. While this can obviously be said for most students, it is particularly important with ADHD individuals. If work is boring or repetitive for them then their brain will zone out making it very difficult to complete any work properly. It is also, for this exact reason that so many of these children are always in so much trouble at school and why they never seem to finish any work. The worse swear word in ADHD vocabulary is “do it again”. Pages and pages of repetitive sums that are aimed at teaching students through repetition are the absolute worst thing for an ADHD child. They quite simply cannot concentrate if they perceive something to be repetitive and boring. If however, they find lessons interesting and novel then they are more able to concentrate and their brain is less likely to shut down.
So how can be done to help these children learn and focus better in class or at home?
1. Breaks or variety to help them refocus.
Allow your child to work on two or three things at the same time. Rather than forcing them to complete all their maths homework at once allow them to continue with their English (or any other subject ) and to then go back to the maths later. Give them short activity breaks, ie to do some push-ups or maybe run around the garden quickly. As teachers, we need to become aware and in tune with how these students are feeling in class. A suggestion was made to simply have a blank envelope that you might ask the child to take to another teacher when you feel that they are needing a little energy break. All too often it is the ‘well behaved’ children that don’t need the breaks that are sent on errands for teachers.😩😬😧
2. Allow ADHD children to use fiddle toys and do not make negative comments about how much these children wriggle and squirm constantly in class. Dr Jarvis stressed how this constant movement is simply these children way of trying to keep themselves awake and focused in class. Shaming them for this behaviour is not productive or kind.
(Random story: I will never forget when I was in grade one there was a little boy called Ross and my teacher shouted at him telling him he had ants 🐜🐜🐜🐜in his pants and she was going to tie him to his seat if he didn’t sit still.😱 The whole class laughed and thought this was hilarious…(it must have been because it is a memory that has always stuck in my head). Now that I am older I often wonder how Ross might have felt been being singled out and humiliated in that way….and the chances are it probably didn’t just happen that once.
3. What to consider when doing homework
· Do not allow these children to do their homework in front of the television and make sure that their phones ( and your phone) are away from them or on aeroplane mode. They simply cannot concentrate with continued distractions.
· Encourage them to do a bit of exercise before they do their homework, even if it’s just dancing around to their favorite song or doing some push-ups. (Dr Jarvis did explain the medical significance of why pushups are particularly good for them to do…but I didn’t quite get that part down😱)
· Allow them to start with something that they find relatively fun or easy. Starting with the most difficult work first can often lead to them feeling bogged down and grumpy. Also, for older students give them some ownership to choose a time that they feel they might work best at. ( just because you don’t function well early in the morning doesn’t mean they cant)
· Buy a cheap dairy with pages that can easily be torn out of it. What so often happens is that these children end up copying their homework down under the incorrect date and so when they get home they magically seem to have no homework. 😬Every day they can write their homework on a clean page and then number the order that they would like to complete things in (Starting with the easiest things first). Once each item has been done they can scratch it off the list and once all their homework has been completed then the page can be torn out, scrunched up and thrown away….and they are back to page one.😁 This essentially will help your child to begin to learn basic planning skills which are so needed for ADHD students.
· Use varied materials
As already mentioned variety is the spice of life for children with ADHD. For this reason, the use of varied materials could go a long way to keep them interested and more inspired to learn. The use of coloured paper, wax crayons, scented pens, whiteboards and magic markers, play dough etc are all recommended. For spelling, you could even use fridge magnets on the fridge, or allow them to write on the fridge with a non-permanent marker. 😏( lol I am almost certain that some mums are not going to like that suggestion 😂😂😂) In the ‘ Novel spelling test,’ you could ask your child to test you and then get them to mark your spellings. (Remember to make a few mistakes so as to encourage them to analyse each word correctly.) As I mentioned yesterday children absolutely love the opportunity to play act as the teacher…and if they have a bright red pen to mark your work with then it will make it that much more fun for them.😝
· And finally the use of board games was another suggestion. If your child has words or concepts to learn simply let them write these on small cards. Play a game of snakes and ladders or any other suitable game and only allow the child to move if they can spell the word or define the concept. (Children absolutely love the opportunity to play games with adults and it is definitely something that I include daily in my student’s lessons. )
Ok, I think I’m done. To be honest, the last three hours writing this has literally felt like pulling teeth. 😫😓😶 I was so excited and so fired up to write about the course but tonight the desire seemed to have disappeared. About three times I was ready to just pull the plug….but I eventually decided to just get it down. I suppose the problem is I don’t feel like I have even scratched the surface of how much Dr Jarvis covered or how well she explained all of this. Anyway, its done so hopefully, I have passed on a few helpful ideas. If any parents with ADHD children have any ideas to add of things that have worked for your child, please do.🤗
Have a beautiful day tomorrow. 😘😇🐝🌹
Hyperfocus: The ADHD Phenomenon of Intense Fixation