I am a swimming teacher. I currently am instructing an ADHD
child of five years of age.He is in a class of five children. They all have approximately the same level of swimming ability.
I do have difficulty at times with his disability.
Could I please have some advice on motivation and keeping him on task.
Re: Teaching Swimming
Some children with ADHD have fine motor control problems which can show up in learning how to swim. Five years old is a very young age. It’s known that with older children with ADHD that occasionally the right ADHD medicine (defined as a central nervous system alerting agent/stimulant) can sometimes have a temporary yet dramatic impact of their fine motor skills. The weakest mild alerting agent/stimulant which can work for a very, very small subpopulation of those with ADHD (perhaps 3% or so) is coffee/caffeine compounds. Sources: Domeena C. Renshaw, M.D., Anita Uhl Brothers, M.D. For the remainder (97%), Ritalin/other medicines/treatments can work better.
Some children display a subtle motor symptom known as difficulty crossing the midline of the body (meaning that they can have motor difficulty in smoothly getting their entire body to work together in motor harmony as is required to swim well, to ride a bicycle and so on).
This is a hard question. It can be hard to keep ADHD children on task even in a small group setting. Does he stay on task when the task is actually swimming? Is it the oral directions and instructions during which he drifts?
I might have a quiet talk with him and tell him, gently and kindly, how much you need him to pay attention. Then tell him you need to make a few changes to help him do his best in the class. Ask him where he thinks he could best pay attention when you’re talking to the group. Sitting on the wall? Also figure out a signal that you could give him - that the other students won’t know- for when he’s drifting and needs to call himself back. Sometimes the young kids like the “secret” signal thing. It could be anything, touching your head, rubbing your forehead. ADHD children can’t tell, especially when they’re young, that they are drifting.
I’d also be sure not to put him in the middle of the group but keep him on the end of the line or even standing next to you in the water. You could use him as your “demonstration person” and this might help him to stay on task especially if you tell him he’s your special helper.
Be sure to give him lots of praise for when he is going with the flow.
Good luck. He’s lucky to have a swimming teacher who’s willing to go the extra mile to include this child and his challenges in the group.