Supporting Student Success

General Strategies

Most students with ADHD spend their time in general education classrooms with consistent support and structure to manage their behavior and reach their academic potential. Students with ADHD are most successful in structured settings, with posted schedules and few distractions (e.g., away from windows and doors but not isolated). They need predictable routines and modeling of good organizational skills. Teachers may sometimes need to alter tasks and instructions to accommodate a short attention span (e.g., decrease task length, divide tasks into small units, modify the mode of delivering instruction, and use peer-assisted learning). Classroom structures (e.g., seating arrangements) may need to be modified to reduce sources of distraction, and extra support may be needed to encourage the student’s active engagement in learning. It is important to remember that students with attention problems do not take in as much information as other students. Thus, educators should monitor these students’ learning to ensure that they are not missing essential skills and knowledge. Clear rules for behavior and conduct and clear, consistently reinforced consequences can be helpful, particularly with impulsive students. It is also helpful if similar strategies are in place in various settings such as at home and in school. Educators must work closely with parents/caregivers to maintain a consistent approach (Additudemag.com, 2023; HelpGuide.org, 2023; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2013).

The following strategies, adapted from the Supporting Minds document by the Ontario Ministry of Education (2013), offers a detailed framework for educators to support students with ADHD through targeted strategies that address their unique needs in executive functioning, attention maintenance, hyperactivity and impulsivity management, and positive behavior reinforcement.

Improving Executive Functioning

Executive functioning skills are crucial for planning, problem-solving, and multitasking. To bolster these skills in students with ADHD, educators can employ the following strategies:

– Simplify Information Processing: Limit the amount of information students need to retain and process at once.
– Direct Academic Skill Instruction: Offer explicit teaching in academic areas requiring improvement.
– Chunk Instructions: Break down instructions into smaller segments, allow for processing time, and repeat as necessary.
– Use Organizational Tools: Implement advance organizers, structured note-taking sheets, manipulatives, and visual aids to enhance understanding.
– Employ Mnemonics: Integrate mnemonic devices to aid memory.
– Peer Tutoring: Facilitate class-wide peer tutoring sessions to promote collaborative learning.

Enhancing Attention

To support students in maintaining focus, the classroom environment and teaching methods should be adapted as follows:

– Structured Environment: Maintain a predictable and orderly classroom.
– Task Breakdown: Segment tasks into manageable portions, gradually increasing complexity.
– Single Task Focus: Assign one task at a time to prevent overwhelm.
– Use of Planners: Encourage the use of planners or journals for homework and task management, ensuring accuracy in recording.
– Checklists: Teach students to utilize checklists for task management and completion.
– Instruction Repetition: Have students repeat instructions to confirm understanding.
– Rewards: Implement a system of encouragement and rewards for maintaining attention and completing tasks.
– Optimal Seating: Position students with attention challenges near the teacher and away from potential distractions.
– Peer-Assisted Learning and Attention Cues: Utilize peer support and cues to keep students focused.
– Adjusted Assessment Conditions: Allow extra time for tests and, if possible, provide a quiet room for test-taking.

Managing Hyperactivity/Impulsivity

To address behaviors associated with hyperactivity and impulsivity, the following approaches can be effective:

– Predictable Routines: Establish a routine and structured classroom environment to minimize uncertainty.
– Activity Breakdown: Similar to enhancing attention, breaking tasks into smaller components can also help manage hyperactivity and impulsivity.
– Fidget Tools: Offer fidget toys to students who need to move or squirm.
– Immediate Consequences: For younger children, ensure immediate feedback follows undesirable behavior to establish clear cause and effect.
– Consistent Discipline: Outline and enforce consequences for inappropriate behavior consistently.
– Strength-Based Activities: Provide tasks that leverage students’ strengths and interests.
– Sensory Engagement: Design activities that engage multiple senses to capture and maintain interest.
– Behavior Monitoring: Implement systems to monitor and manage in-seat and out-of-seat behavior.
– Prosocial Rewards: Acknowledge and reward positive social behavior with attention and tangible rewards.

Reinforcing Positive Behavior

To foster a positive classroom atmosphere and encourage desirable behavior, consider:

– Tangible Rewards: Utilize a system of points, tokens, or stickers to reward specific on-task behaviors.
– Immediate or Scheduled Rewards: Decide whether rewards are given immediately or at a predetermined time.
– Behavior Specificity: Clearly define the behaviors that will be rewarded, focusing on specific actions rather than general good behavior.
– Redemption System: Allow for a system where points can be lost for negative behavior but regained through positive actions.

Learning/Study Strategies

It is often difficult to determine whether academic underachievement results from problems with learning/study skills, attention problems, or both. In many cases, the classroom teacher will need to provide support for both learning problems/study skills and attention problems. In either case, students may need direct support to help them complete assignments successfully and meet age-appropriate learning expectations (Additudemag.com. 2023).

The following strategies, based on the Supporting Minds document from the Ontario Ministry of Education (2013), presents an organized framework for educators. It aims to enhance the study skills of students with ADHD through targeted, behavior-specific strategies. These interventions are designed to address common challenges such as carelessness, lack of focus, procrastination, difficulty following through on instructions, forgetfulness, and susceptibility to distractions, thereby supporting the overall academic development of students with ADHD.

Addressing Carelessness and Inattention to Detail

Students with ADHD may rush through assignments, leading to careless errors or missed details. To counteract this:

– Enhance Task Appeal: Make uninteresting tasks more engaging to reduce avoidance behaviors.
– Use Finished Examples: Provide clear examples of completed assignments to set explicit expectations.
– Visual Reminders: Offer visual aids, such as sequence charts, to outline critical steps and keep attention on important details.

Enhancing Focus and Engagement

For students struggling to maintain focus on tasks:

– Increase Engagement Opportunities: Utilize peer tutoring and response cards to keep students actively involved.
– Promote Active Learning: Encourage participation through discussions, group activities, and leveraging the student’s unique talents or interests.

Overcoming Procrastination

Procrastination can significantly hinder a student’s ability to start and complete tasks:

– Clarify Task Steps: Discuss and plan the task’s steps with the student to ensure understanding.
– Prompt Action: Assist the student in initiating tasks and provide a structured start to help overcome inertia.
– Time Management Skills: Teach students to estimate task durations, track actual time spent, and recognize when they are off-task, incorporating breaks as needed.

Following Instructions

When students have difficulty executing instructions:

– Targeted Instructional Strategies: Employ small-group or peer-assisted learning for more focused instruction.
– Simplify and Visualize Instructions: Break down instructions into simpler steps, use concrete examples, and provide visual cues to guide task completion.
– Organizational Tools: Instruct on the use of calendars and assignment planners to organize tasks and deadlines.

Managing Forgetfulness

Forgetfulness can be addressed by:

– Visual Reminders: Use visual aids to remind students of key steps and necessary materials for tasks.

Minimizing Distractions

To help students who are easily distracted:

– Visual Checklists: Implement checklists to focus attention on academic tasks.
– Feedback Opportunities: Increase engagement through response cards, small-group work, and computer-assisted learning to provide constant feedback and minimize distractions.

Co-teaching

As with all students who have disabilities, the best placement for students with ADHD should be determined individually. Although full inclusion in general education might be appropriate for some students with ADHD, for others with more severe ADHD and coexisting conditions, educators need to understand that implementing the supports highlighted in this section can be challenging in the general education setting. When students receive special education services, co-teaching is a way to receive those services within the general education classroom rather than sending students to a separate classroom or school. Co-teaching is a classroom strategy that gives teachers “more hands” to meet the needs of students with ADHD and implement the strategies shared in this section. The video below briefly overviews five co-teaching models: Station Teaching, Parallel Teaching, Alternative Teaching, Team Teaching, and One Teach/One Assist (Hannahan et al., 2019).

Video: Co-Teaching Explained (01:05)

Note. From the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education, Inc. (2021).

Functional Behavioral Assessment

Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is an essential assessment for educators to use with students who have EBD (we discuss this in Chapter 7) and students with many other types of disabilities when they have behavior problems. Therefore, FBA is often beneficial in educational programming for students with ADHD. FBA involves determining the consequences and antecedents and setting events that maintain inappropriate behaviors. For instance, common functions of inappropriate behavior for students with ADHD include avoiding tasks/schoolwork that is not enjoyable and gaining attention from peers or adults.  A combination of FBA and contingency-based self-management techniques has proven highly successful. Contingency-based self-management involves having students keep track of their behavior and then receiving consequences, often in the form of rewards based on their behavior (Hallahan et al., 2019).

For example, take Angel, a fourth grader. Her FBA showed the function of calling out and gesturing at her peers as rooted in gaining peer attention. Her peers would then laugh or return the comments/gestures to her. In addition to supporting Angel in finding times and ways to get attention from her peers that were not disruptive to the classroom, her teacher also gave her a special notebook to keep at her desk. She journaled about times when she was tempted to call out or make gestures but did not. She also kept track of topics that she wanted to talk about with her peers when the time was right. When Angel met the predetermined criterion (one that she and her teacher came up with), she could have extra free time with a small group of peers.

Social Skills, Psychological, and Counseling Services

Students with ADHD may have IEPs that include social skills, psychological, or counseling services that are part of their function-based intervention. The sessions should address the functions identified in the FBA (Hallahan et al., 2019). For example, a special educator or mental health professional may do one-to-one or target small group instruction with Angel around self-management skills to support her. When this occurs, the general education teachers need to know about the skill being worked on to support the student in practicing the skill across settings. Depending on the students’ age or grade level, one way to design these types of social skills lessons is by reading and having students curate books/stories in which the characters model good social skills. An extension of this is the reader’s theater . Still another is through programs that link an older student or adult from their community as a partner to the student at risk for behavior problems (Hallahan et al., 2019). This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 7.

Final Thoughts

There is little doubt that ADHD can be a lifelong struggle. An asset-based lens that builds off the unique strengths of students with ADHD is essential: with the appropriate combination of medical, educational, and psychological support, most adults with ADHD lead fulfilling lives. Now that there is an awareness that ADHD often continues into adulthood, more research will focus on adult treatment and support. With this research should come an even more positive outlook for those with ADHD, their caregivers, families, and educators.