Helping your ADHD Child Succeed at School

It is painful to watch your child begin to unravel when they start their education journey. Sadly, students with ADHD find school a huge challenge. Because of the way their brains are wired, school expectations can be difficult for them to achieve. Additionally, the school setting, navigating friendships and concentrating on the lessons being taught, can also prove to be significant burdens. However, there are some powerful things that you can do to advocate for your ADHDer and to support and help them have a more positive school experience.

CHOOSING AN ADHD FRIENDLY SCHOOL

Whilst there is no ‘perfect’ school, some schools are better equipped to support students with ADHD and to help them thrive. When you are considering schools for your child, it is essential that you visit a number of schools in order to find one that is able to provide a safe and ADHD friendly environment for your child. Developing a clear understanding of your child’s educational, emotional and sensory needs will help you to recognise the right school environment when you find it. Don’t be afraid to ask to be shown around the school, during school hours, and when teaching and learning is happening. Also, ask specific questions to ascertain how the school manages and supports their ADHD students. Further, you need to determine whether or not the school has a positive approach when it comes to supporting students with ADHD. Ultimately, try to find an environment that, corporately, has a growth mindset and encourages their staff to engage in professional learning opportunities to further develop their understanding of neurodiversity.

Some school environment features to look out for when trying to determine if a school will be a good fit for your child include:

• Are lessons conducted in open-plan learning spaces or does each class have its own classroom? (Sensory overwhelm due to large numbers of students/staff in one space)
• Are the walls and doors made from glass? (Visual distraction due to being able to see into other rooms, or corridors)
• Do the classrooms have doors which can be closed? (Sensory overwhelm if classroom noises can’t be contained)
• Are there nooks and crannies where students can ‘hide’? (Increases truancy from class and work avoidance)
• Are student lockers inside the classrooms? (Hinders organisational skill development and affects a teacher’s ability to begin their lesson in a timely fashion)
• Are the walls soundproof? (might affect auditory processing)
• Are there too many posters and colourful displays around the room? (Visual overstimulation)
• Are classrooms tidy and organised? (Sensory overload due to visual clutter)
• Have the desks been strategically arranged by the teacher or does it suggest that the students can move the tables around to suit themselves?
• Is there too much clutter on the whiteboards? (Sensory overwhelm)
• Is there evidence of the teachers using Behaviour/Clip charts? (have a negative impact on self-esteem)
• Do students spend significant amounts of time on devices? (Overstimulation)
• How many students are in the classes? (Increased noise level and distractions and more difficult for the teacher to provide positive reinforcement)
• Is there a well-being room which students can access when required?

Some questions you could consider asking to determine how accommodating a school is for students with ADHD include: 

1. Are students permitted or encouraged to use fidgets?
2. Are students allowed to listen to music with headphones if it helps them to focus?
3. Are students allowed to wear noise cancelling headphones?
4. Does the school have a sensory room?
5. Are students allowed to have brain breaks or go for walks outside of the room if required?
6. What is the school’s approach to teach students with ADHD how to behave more appropriately rather than using punitive measures such as suspension and expulsion?
7. How do teachers manage students who have trouble sitting still?
8. What do teachers do if a student is constantly talking?
9. How do they manage students who call out in class?
10. What positive behaviour strategies are employed to provide encouragement to ADHD students?
11. Do the teachers write the names of ‘naughty’ students on the board as a warning or use clip charts?
12. Do classes line up quietly before entering the classroom?
13. Do teachers wait for the class to be quiet, and until no one is talking, before providing instruction?
14. Do teachers use tokens, bucks, class dojo, merit cards or house points to acknowledge and reward positive behaviour?
15. Do secondary classes have homerooms where all of their learning takes place or do they move to a different room each lesson?
16. In Secondary, are there double periods for English, Mathematics or Humanities?
17. Are lessons longer than 60 minutes?
18. Does the school stream English and Maths classes so that students with the same learning needs are grouped together? (Unfortunately, this has been phased out of schools over the years because it is thought that placing students in a ‘low ability’ class has a negative impact on their self-esteem. In fact, students who struggle in English and Maths suffer a bigger blow to their self-esteem when they look around the classroom and realise that everyone else can do the work and they cannot.)

Students with ADHD often find school difficult because they have weak executive functioning skills as well as sensory challenges. This impacts their ability to concentrate, and to organise themselves ready to learn. Executive functioning also plays a role in memory, and motivation. Additionally, ADHDers often struggle with procrastination and being on time to class. You are the expert on your child and, based on what you see at home, you will be able to provide important information to their teacher about how they encounter tasks. However, the school environment and learning tasks often present different challenges to what is observed at home. Discussing the observations you see at home with your child’s teacher might help them to understand the behaviours they are likely to see in the classroom. Having an open dialogue in order to understand the reasons behind the behaviours, as well as sharing effective strategies, should promote empathy and increase the level of support that your child receives at school.

WORKING WITH YOUR CHILD’S TEACHER

A positive approach to take, at the beginning of the school year, is to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss their learning and sensory needs. It is important that you make an appointment and not try to catch them before or after school when they are probably juggling many different things. The purpose of this meeting is to share important information and to work as a team to determine strategies that will help everyone have a successful year. Remember that teaching is a very difficult job and keep in mind that your child’s teacher is doing the best that they can to support your child; they are possibly just unaware of effective strategies which help students with ADHD.

Possibly the most significant information you should consider providing your child’s teacher is about the role of positive reinforcement and dopamine in ADHD. Explain how you have noticed that, when you catch your child doing the right thing, and provide positive reinforcement such as praise, a thumbs up or a tangible reward, it increases dopamine in your child’s brain and helps them to function more effectively. It is also important for the teacher to understand that, because students with ADHD have lower than normal dopamine levels, they crave dopamine and will try to obtain it by drawing any sort of attention to themselves (positive or negative). It is important that teachers ‘flick the switch’ on this and don’t provide attention (dopamine) when your child is demonstrating inappropriate behaviour. Rather, they should try to ignore attention seeking behaviours as much as possible, and provide positive reinforcement when your child is behaving appropriately. Essentially, ADHD students should only be given attention when they are demonstrating positive behaviour (unless they are doing something that puts themselves or other students at risk of injury). Teachers often find this extremely difficult so please be gentle and mindful that they are trying to do their best to help support your child.

The following are some important things to keep in mind to ensure your meeting is a positive and productive one:

• Thank them for their time in meeting with you and acknowledge that they must have a very busy schedule
• Be polite and respectful. Try not to get upset or angry if they say things you find difficult to hear. Thank them for letting you know and explain that this is the reason you want to partner with them so that everybody has a good year.
• Thank them for everything they are doing to support your child and acknowledge their efforts to reach and teach your child.
• Listen to what they share about how your child is going and try not to be too harsh or critical about their teaching style.
• Ask the teacher how familiar they are with ADHD and whether they have taught other ADHD students in the past. Also, explain that ADHD affects kids in different ways.
• Explain how ADHD affects your child and describe what they are most likely going to see in their class. Also, explain the reason for these behaviours.
• Provide a copy of your child’s IEP, EHCP or 504 plan and discuss the relevant accommodations.
• Share strategies that have work (or not worked) for other teachers.
• Ask what strategies they have seen work with other ADHD students.
• Demonstrate that you want to partner with them to support your child by asking what you can do to help.
• Explain how well your child responds to positive reinforcement and brainstorm together ways that this can be done as a team (phone calls, emails, behaviour checklists, merits etc…)
• Determine the best way to stay in touch; email or phone conversation?

Another fantastic idea is to write a letter to your child’s teacher. Introduce your child by explaining their likes and dislikes, interests, and anything they would like their teacher to know about what they find challenging at school.  It can also include suggestions of ways that the teacher can support them in class. Older students should be encouraged to write this letter themselves.

Strategies that have proven to work for students with ADHD include:

• Organisation-
  • teach them to have a ‘home’ for everything. 
  • Purchase a pencil-case with everything they need at school inside it. 
  • Zippered folders for each subject are a terrific way for them to remember their required materials for each class because they only need to remember to grab one thing out of their locker.
• Concentration- because ADHDers struggle to focus on things that they have little interest in, the use of novelty, praise, short activities, brain breaks increase the chance that these students will be able to concentrate on their learning tasks.
• Focus- due to the fact that students with ADHD learn best when they are moving, fidgets (such as hand rollers) help their brain to concentrate. Listening to music (using headphones or earbuds) may also help ADHD students to focus on their learning tasks. 
• Memory- encourage and reward them when they write things down in their diary or phone.
• Sensory challenges-
  • provide them with noise cancelling headphones to decrease noise sensitivity,
  • suggest the teacher keeps the front walls of the classroom clear of distracting visual displays to limit overwhelm, 
  • provide weighted lap pads or vests, 
  • Allow the usage of wiggle cushions to provide… 
  • seat them away from doors or windows,,, 
  • recommend the creation of a ´chill-out’ zone for times when they feel overstimulated.
• Procrastination- use ‘Now, then’ strategy to break tasks up into small bits and reward along the way.
• Punctuality- provide praise and reward them when they arrive to class on time.
• Motivation- provide incentives and praise (until it becomes intrinsic).

Other effective strategies that benefit ADHD learners include:

• Allowing them to complete tasks which are relevant to them and they find interesting; that engage their attention; projects where they can develop their literacy and numeracy skills while researching their own topic of interest.
• Using a green pen (rather than red) when correcting work to reduce the emotional response that red ink triggers in many students.
• Ticks- students with ADHD love getting green ticks on their work; each tick triggers dopamine in their brain and helps them to keep working.
• Use a ‘Behaviour Checklist’- a card which reminds the student of their 3 target behaviours. The student scores their ability to demonstrate these behaviours each lesson and the teacher provides positive reinforcement when they achieve their goals.
• Provide small, step by step instructions; avoid giving too much detail about a task or the number of tasks that must be completed to reduce overwhelm and procrastination.
• Explain to your child’s teacher how difficult it is for them to complete HW. This provides the opportunity for them to exercise, attend music lessons or sport rather than completing extra schoolwork.

Schools can be challenging places for everyone; not just our beautifully creative neurodivergent kids. It is incredibly difficult for educators to meet the needs of each of their students. So, working with your child’s teacher should create a ‘safe’ learning environment for all. Collaboration will always produce the best results.