Return to ADDvisor Volume 3 2001 Index

Number 14 July 15, 2001

1. 11 Accommodations Teachers Can Make for Students with AD/HD

2. Resource - Understanding Girls With AD/HD

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11 ACCOMMODATIONS TEACHERS CAN MAKE FOR STUDENTS WITH AD/HD

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With the new school year beginning next month, we are offering a list of accommodations that teachers can make for minimizing the impact of AD/HD on the classroom and your child’s learning. Drs. Nadeau, Littman and Quinn published the following list in their 1999 book, "Understanding Girls With AD/HD." This list is written with girls in mind but many of these accommodations can adapted for boys as well.

Seat the compulsive talker away from her best friends, letting her know that this is not meant to be a punishment , but as a way to support her in getting her work done.

Minimize the transporting of papers to and from school.

Use the Internet - to post homework assignments, list questions or problems for test review, and information for parents.

Reduce the number of questions or assigned problems for students who have slow processing speed. Many students can adequately learn and can demonstrate that learning without completing as many items as have been assigned to the whole class.

Allow re-taking of tests to accommodate the inconsistency of AD/HD performance. The goal of education is to learn and to be able to demonstrate that learning, not to pass or fail a test on a particular day.

Don’t mark off for messiness - while this may be a sign of decreased effort for students without AD/HD, poor handwriting, erasures and general messiness are hallmarks of AD/HD written work. The most constructive solution is the early development of keyboarding skills. It’s much easier to push a key than to copy a letter of the alphabet, and "erasures" on the computer screen are invisdible, allowing the student with AD/HD to eventually produce a neat, legible product.

Give students with AD/HD stronger encouragement to develop keyboarding skills by making daily keyboarding practice a routine for them in the classroom. Fifteen minutes a day with a keyboarding program can help a child to rapidly progress in keyboarding skills.

Recognize that daydreaming is often beyond her control. Draw her back to attention discretely, without teasing or criticizing.

Lecture for shorter periods of time and engage all of your students, AD/HD or not, through more clas discussion and interaction.

Recognize that transitions can be difficult for her. She may have become so involved in one activity that she doesn’t hear you tell the class that it’s time for another subject.

Recognize that a child with AD/HD can appear inconsiderate despite her very real concern for others.

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RESOURCE - UNDERSTANDING GIRLS WITH AD/HD

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In Understanding Girls With AD/HD, Drs. Nadeau, Littman and Quinn offer excellent information to help in diagnosing and treating girls with AD/HD.

CONTACT INFORMATION

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Alan R. Graham, Ph.D. 

Bill Benninger, Ph.D.

ADDvisor.com

Voice: 1-866-ADDvisor

Fax: 847-824-2386

Email: Alan@ADDvisor.com

Bill@ADDvisor.com

Web: www.ADDvisor.com

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