Teaching reading to kids with ADHD

Teach them work first and reward second…you need a HUGE bag of tricks, with movement, sensory integration, music, lots of incentives, stickers, even the old play money works wonders when an auction comes at the end of the week, teach them how to master their commander… You can’t be boring, I think the best teacher of an ADD kid is someone who has the same problem and can think like they do…Put it this way…I have an inside track….I am constantly heading them off at the pass when I catch them checking out… :wink: Plus if I am bored you can bet they are bored too.

Ok, since my husband is from Topeka and went to KSU, I’ll answer.

Here’s my tip.

While you teach your active student to segment and blend, let him move. For example,

I recommend that you read Jacqueline Stordy’s book, “The LCP [long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids] Connection: The Remarkable Nutritional Treatment for ADHD, Dyslexia, and Dyspraxia.”

There is more and more evidence on essential fatty acid deficiency and these disorders. EFAs can make a significant difference and make it much easier to teach reading. You can get a sneak preview of the subject matter by going to www.drstordy. com.

You may also want to explore the vision connection. At least some children are diagnosed with ADHD (I won’t hazard a guess at the percentage) when they actually have vision problems. There is research about the prevalence in eye convergence problems in children with ADHD. Children diagnosed with ADHD need to be screened by a developmental optometrist. They may need eye exercises to correct their vision deficits which will make learning to read easier. If children have tracking problems, skip words, lose their place, etc. they should definitely be screened.

I am a reading tutor and I also agree with the above comments about multisensory approaches and letting students be active as they learn. I have some children take a jumping jack break in the middle of a session as well! I also try to figure out what will motivate/engage a particular child. One of my students loves math. I intersperse lessons with math puzzles (rewards after covering X amount of reading material). Of course he has to read the math puzzles too but he loves them. He will stay on task and work in order to do another puzzle!

Hi. I am student myself and just did an assignment on what different strategies one could use to help students with ADHD. Here are some good ones that I found on helping children who have difficulty reading.
 Announce readings as well as assignments well in advance.
 Offer to read written material aloud, when necessary.
 Read aloud material that is written on the chalkboard and on the overhead transparencies.
 Review relevant material, preview the material to be presented, present the new material then summarize the material just presented.
 Suggest that the students use both visual and auditory senses when reading the text.
 Rely less on textbooks. Reading for students with learning disabilities may be slow and deliberate, and comprehension may be impaired for the student, particularly when dealing with large quantities of material. Comprehension and speed usually dramatically increase with the addition of auditory input.
 Spend more time on building background for the reading selections and creating a mental scheme for the organization of the text.
 Encourage students to practice using technical words in exchanges among peers.

Here is the website where most of these strategies were taken from. Take a look because there many more great strategies that can be found:
http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/learning.html

Hi,

I have been using a successful, concrete, multisensory, pencil-and-paper decoding method that involves the learner. I have used it with many students who have problems with ADHD. It works with any text, any level, and is very much applied phonics. Email me at [email protected] if you would like to know more. Anita

StudentGuest — the vast majority of your suggestions are not ways to teach reading, but ways to avoid reading. There is a big difference. Support is good, but learning is even better.

I also am willing to send my notes, no strings attached, to anyone who asks (please respect copyright, only request.) I’ll be sending out another batch of copies this weekend if all goes well.

Email me at [email protected]

Though the suggestions given might be good for subject areas (like science and social science) while the student is receiving appropriate remediation for reading using explicit and systematic multisensory phonetic approach.

We know how to teach reading now. We should be teaching it.

Studentguest should read Sally Shaywitz book “Overcoming Dyslexia”.

—des

My son has inattentive ADHD. A reading program that was very successful for him is Phono-Graphix. You can find information on it at: www.readamerica.net

Some other things for the general ed classroom:

A big one for my son:

Present instructions both orally and in a written format. Unobtrusively walk by the student’s desk shortly after starting an assignment to make sure they understood the directions.

My son’s third grade teacher even kept pencils in cups that were color-coded per subject. When the class did math, EVERYONE would get a blue pencil; for science, the red pencils would be handed out, etc. She used to laugh and say she’d sometimes forget what they were working on, and the colors helped HER stay focused, too. :-)

Lil