ADHD Tips for Parents
and Teachers
Frank Garrett & Kristin Wright
Professors in UVU School of Education
“Children with ADHD generally have deficits in
executive function: The ability to think and plan
ahead, organize, control impulses, and complete
tasks. We have to take over as the executive and
provide guidance. It is important to remember that
the child with ADHD who is ignoring, annoying or
embarrassing you is not acting willfully. Kids with
ADHD want to sit quietly; they want to make their
rooms tidy and organized; but they don’t know what
to do. They don’t know how to make these things
happen.” Helpguide.org
ADHD affects others
Parents
Peers
ADHD
Educators
Siblings
In order to meet the challenges
of raising a child with ADHD,
you must be able to master a
combination of compassion and
consistency.
Here are 7 tips for parents to
provide love and structure
for a child or teenager who
is learning to manage ADHD.
Tip 1: Stay positive and
healthy yourself
Keep things in perspective.
Don’t sweat the small stuff and be willing to make
some compromises.
Believe in your child.
Take care of yourself
Seek support
Take breaks
Tip 2: Establish
structure and stick to it
Follow a routine.
Use clocks and timers.
Simplify your child’s schedule.
Create a quiet place.
Do your best to be neat and organized.
Keep them busy: especially on physical activities
Tip 3: Set clear
expectations and rules
Children with ADHD need consistent rules that they
can understand and follow.
Children with ADHD respond well to organized
systems of rewards and consequences. Stick to the
rules and follow through.
Often they receive criticism. Be on the lookout for
good behavior-praise it.
Use rewards and consequences that are meaningful
to the child or adolescent.
Tip 4: Encourage
movement and play
Engage in physical play to burn off energy.
Decrease television and technology time.
Eliminate caffeine.
Create a buffer time to lower down activity level for
an hour before bedtime.
Use lavender and other aromas in their room.
Use relaxation tapes as background noise.
Tip 5: Help your child
eat right.
Eating small meals more often help with ADHD.
Get rid of the junk foods in the home.
Put fatty and sugary foods off-limit when eating out.
Turn off television shows riddled with junk-food ads.
Give your child a daily vitamin-and-mineral
supplements.
Tip 6: Teach your child
how to make friends
They often have difficulty with simple social
interactions.
They are intelligent and creative. Speak gently but
honestly.
Make time and space to play and reward good play.
Role-play various scenarios and invite one or two
friends at a time.
Have zero tolerance for hitting, pushing and yelling.
Tip 7: Provide frequent
feedback
Establish routines . ADHD kids are bored with them,
but they need them.
Create a reward system that is something they want
and enjoy. It does not have to cost money.
Focus on the positive. Tell them when they are doing
something well.
Plan for problems. Talk them out.
Teaching Students with
ADHD
You are a teacher. You know these kids.
Think of what the school setting requires children to do.
Sit still. Listen quietly. Pay attention. Follow instructions.
Concentrate.
Students with ADHD pay the price for their problems in
low self-esteem, teasing from peers, scolding and
punishment, low grades.
You take complaints from parents because kids are being
cheated of your instruction and you can’t reach the child.
What teachers can do to
help
You need lots of patience, consistency and creativity.
Successful programs integrate three components:
(1) Accommodations: what you can do to make
learning easier.
(2) Instruction: methods you use
(3) Intervention: How to head off behaviors, use
warning signals
Classroom
Accommodations
Seating: Away from windows and doors.
Information delivery: Give instructions one at a time
and work on most difficult materials.
Student work: Create a quiet area free of
distractions. Worksheets and test with fewer items.
Reduce timed tests. Do most of the work on
computer. Accept late work and give partial credit.
Divide long-term projects into segments and assign a
completion goal for each segment.
Organization
Have the student keep a notebook, a
3 ringed binder or three pocket
assignment notebook insert for
homework, completed assignments
and “mail” to parents. Make sure
things go into the binder.
Teaching Techniques
Starting a lesson: Signal the start of a lesson with a cue,
timer.
List the activities of the lesson on the board.
Tell students what they are going to learn and what your
expectations are and the materials they need. Tell them
the purpose of the lesson and activities.
Establish eye contact.
Conduct the lesson in a variety of ways. Be enthusiastic.
Involve students in lesson with their responses.
Techniques
Keep instructions simple and structured.
Have a study buddy who is willing & able to assist and redirect
Vary the pace and include many activities that are rapid and intense.
Use props, charts, and other visual aids.
Have a cue set like a touch on a shoulder, a sticky note.
Allow frequent breaks. Use squeeze toys or tap something quietly.
Try not to ask them to perform a task or answer a question that may be
difficult. (especially in front of others)
End the lesson and summarize key points.
Techniques &
Accommodations
Circulate around the room to check for understanding & on task behavior
Get to know their specific struggles, strengths, learning styles, and how
they like to show you what they have learned. (computer, orally, art, music,
skit or drama)
Provide students with study guides for tests of what you need them to
know.
If you give an assignment, have three different students repeat it and then
have the class say it in unison and put it on the board. Try to always have
direction in writing.
Be specific about what is to be taken home. Check to see they take it home.
More Accommodations
Remember you can differentiate their assignments –
shorten it, make it easier, give them more time,
provide simpler materials on their level, work in pairs
or groups, how they present what they know.
Testing Accommodations: More time, quiet area or
room, shortened test, different test, re-test, takehome test, provide study guides, study in
pairs/groups, open book/notes, provide word bank
Provide students with a copy of your notes, outlines,
power points.
Creative Techniques:
“Make learning fun!”
Play games with material to be learned
Draw pictures; Use visual art for academic purposes
Invent silly acronyms. Make up a song or phrase.
Read to children
Make predictions or bets
Act out a story – use drama for academics
Productive physical movement learning activities
“Doing” Matters
“I hear – I forget
I see – I remember
I do – I understand”
A Chinese Proverb
The “Fairness Rule”
Since I give different work to students based on their
need, I tell ALL students this:
“Fairness does not mean
everyone gets the same.
It means that everyone gets
what they NEED.”
A change in attitude -
ours
We have to teach the children we have – not the children
we used to have, not the children we want, not the
children of our dreams.
Parents are sending us the best kids they have. Do you
really think they’re keeping the good or better ones at
home?
Sometimes your classroom is the most stable
environment that some kids have.
Look at ADHD as a “gift”, and what you do for this child
will make all the difference in his/her success in life.
“Life isn’t how you survive
the storm; it’s about how
you danced in the rain”
Gordon B. Hinckley