Best Practices for Teaching Students with ADHD

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The challenges facing children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in schools have been garnering national attention with an increased focus on inclusion and support. With ADHD impacting an estimated 7 million children across the country between the age of 3-17, it’s nearly inevitable that teachers will encounter it during their careers.

However, that doesn’t mean everyone has the strategies it takes to create an effective classroom management plan. These students may face significant obstacles when it comes to time management, focus, and behavior regulation, and every child will have a different experience that varies with age, development, and available support.

That’s why educators around the country have made it a priority to add ADHD content to professional development requirements. Courses like ADHD Unmasked - Recognizing and Reshaping Girls’ Learning Experiences give teachers the tools they need to identify and support young people with ADHD in schools.

Today, teaching students with ADHD has become an everyday expectation for education professionals. Here are some best practices and strategies you can implement throughout your career to include children of any age with ADHD in your classroom.

Organization

ADHD is primarily a condition that affects executive function, meaning that a student will have trouble regulating their mental processes and behaviors. Because of this, children with ADHD tend to need a lot of support to stay engaged in activities, manage sequential tasks, and meet classroom behavioral standards.

Developing a routine with a familiar sequence of events is extremely helpful for students with ADHD. Routines reinforce classroom expectations and promote organization when they approach their day. Effective strategies teachers can use include:

• Chunking tasks. Break down multi-step processes into manageable sequences.
• Positive reinforcement. This helps everyone be successful—especially your students with ADHD.
• It’s often helpful to see instructions as well as hear them.

Creating materials that support organizational habits and step-by-step thinking can help teachers get out in front of potential challenges, such as:

• Color coding homework and instructions.
• Creating concept maps.
• Include helpful pneumonics in classroom management plans to support recall.

Consider Ways to Encourage Attention

Because students with ADHD struggle to control their attention and focus, many classroom issues evolve from extended lessons that require sustained concentration. Critically, inattentiveness doesn’t necessarily result in the classic disruptive behavior associated with ADHD. In many cases, students may be sitting quietly but missing large amounts of information, which contributes to decreased rates of social and academic functioning.

It’s important to know that students with ADHD aren’t making a conscious decision to not pay attention, and there are many ways to help them stay locked in when working through instructions or tasks that can be beneficial to everyone.

• Outline expectations at the outset of activities
• Break down directions into manageable milestones
• Offer frequent prompts or reminders
• Limit environmental distractions
• Include opportunities for physical movement

Structure the Experience of Time

People with ADHD often have difficulty with time perception, which can make it hard to manage time-related tasks in the classroom. Also known as "time blindness", the inability to regulate attention makes it especially difficult to conceptualize the amount of time it takes to prepare for tasks and perform them.

Because of this, teaching students with ADHD often revolves around reinforcing time management skills. Timers can be useful tools that help keep everyone on task and understand the progression of activities. Alarms are also effective, particularly for students who struggle with hyperfixation. Finally, you can also provide proactive reminders that time limits are about to expire.

Implement Pauses for Thought

Another complication of reduced executive function is the loss of processing time. In the classroom, this can be counterproductive and incredibly disruptive for the other students.

One way to counteract a lack of information processing with your students is by instituting “thinking time.” A simple version could be a mandatory five-second pause before anyone answers a question. This allows students to avoid impulsive responses and builds in the processing time students with ADHD often need.

Clear Communication

Communication that feels direct for most students can seem overwhelming and complex for children with ADHD. There are several strategies teachers can use to make it easier for all their students to process and follow verbal instructions.

• Address students by name and maintain eye contact while speaking.
• Keep directions short and to the point.
• Consider wording instructions using when/then. For example: “When you complete the drawing, then place it in the basket.”

Build in Brain Breaks

It’s hard for many students—especially younger ones—to sit for long periods of time. Structuring opportunities for physical movement, mindfulness exercises, or sensory activities can give them a chance to regroup during extended activities.

More active experiences, like stretching, burns off excess mental and physical energy and curbs hyperactive tendencies. For older students, it can be as simple as allowing them to walk around or get a drink of water. Relaxing brain breaks like deep breathing can help calm students and allow their minds to settle enough to shift focus when at risk of feeling overwhelmed.

Enhance Your Routine When Teaching Students with ADHD

Classrooms will continue to be more inviting spaces for neurodiverse people, and teachers have better strategies than ever for helping students with ADHD enjoy a successful educational experience.

Premiere is committed to making teaching students with ADHD a rewarding and empowering opportunity for everyone by equipping educators with the knowledge and skills they need. ADHD Unmasked - Recognizing and Reshaping Girls’ Learning Experiences, created by Megan Arbour Ph.D., RN, CNM, CNE, delivers powerful strategies for identifying, supporting, and engaging with students who may be struggling with ADHD.

All content by Premiere is developed by industry experts and makes it easy to meet your professional obligations, develop your career, and give all your students an unforgettable classroom experience.