Teaching Strategies

My best strategy is a small class size and lessons that are highly intriguing and do allow for some movement.

Check out the book “The ADD/ADHD Checklist, an easy reference for parents and teachers” by Sandra Rief. It is an excellent book that I’ve given to my son’s teachers with numerous practical ideas for both parents and teachers.

Here’s a link for a brief excerpt:

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/teaching_techniques/rief_checklists.html

JulieinSC

I am in class as I write. My ADD student, R, is 14. He is fine and fairly well behaved in class until his buddy, A, arrives. Then, he wants to put on a show and impress his buddy A. He starts with the little things here and there: saying something mildly disrespectful to the teacher. Then he uses profanity. Then he goofs around verbally.

The problem is this kid has been thrown out of school after school and class after class. All of our students have. (some of our kids are on county probation with a probation officer and everything).

I need some kind of a non verbal system so that I can cue him that his behavior is off task, disrespectful, etcetera, because I am reinforcing his behavior each and every time that I yell or scold or reprimand him, actually both of them (A and R). They are fine separately, but together it is volatile.

As a mother of a child with ADD I think my child responds best with a teacher that allows for hands on learning (ie: science labs), learning involving games of a competitive nature, and learning games that involve movement (getting them out of their seat sometimes). The teachers that allow for this are my child’s favorites,and where he learned the most during the school day. Teachers that assign independant reading and paperwork, or make kids watch movies in class, or only allow for passive listening, are the dreaded teachers (including those that are strict about how homework is to be done, with little latitude).

John,
Where are your supports? How about calling the school social worker or psychologist to give you suggestions?

My first approach would be to talk with R, (how large in your class? why can’t you separate them?)

If R is fine when A is not present, tell him that. Point out to him that you notice a remarkable change in him when A comes in the room. (how is A when R is not there?) Ask him why that is? Then ask him if he thinks you should tolerate it? ….. If he says no, you’ve got an open door. If he says yes, ask him why? Ask him why should you allow R to disrupt the classroom experience for everybody and what’s the deal with being disrespectful and the profanities?

I point out to my students that I do not speak disrespectfully to them and I never use profanities. Why do they when I don’t?

Then and only then would I tell him that the next time it happens, I’m not going to tell. I’m just going to point it out. The next time it happens I’d turn to A and say directly, “:this is what I mean. This is what we were talking about. Can you control this or not?”

Good luck whatever you do.

I teach in a resource room and have many ADHD students. I do a lot of hands on activities and break many of my lesson up into smaller parts. I also use sign language with my students. During a lesson, if a student begins to get off task or distracted, I use the sign for ‘attend’ to make them aware of their behavior. For my students who wonder the room and can’t sit still, I allow them to stand next to their desk to do their work. I put tape around their desk to create a box. They can get out of their desk during instuction/desk work, but they cannot leave the taped area. This works great for me! We also review the rules for listening every day and they are required to maintain eye-contact with me when I’m talking to them. This helps my students focus on me rather thatn the things around them. Talking slowly also helps. If you want more specifics, let me know! Hope this helps.

Great, Jill, thanks for those ideas! You sound like a cool teacher!

Yes, I would like more specifics. My student, Rudy, is notorious at our small school for having difficulties. (This entire school is kids that have had difficulties with the conventional schools…this is what they call “alternative education” here, it’s only three classrooms in the entire school).

He loves to come in and be a “show,” that is, say stuff that impresses the other knuckleheads with how cool he is (he’s 14) “I want some smoke,” “I used to bang” (gang banging), “I want to drink a 40” (forty ounce beer) and all kinds of trash. One of his classmates is 16, one is 18 and one is 12 (you can tell we have a unique school). We are trying hard to keep him in school and not be expelling, suspending, etcetera. The school and the town have a lot of problems with gang activity.

He is also fond of mocking me, the teacher, mispronouncing my name and so forth…the principal is right next door, but I wish to deal with him on my own and in my own manner. I can tell that he likes me somewhat, at least I am not one more teacher that yells, scolds, and kicks him out of class. I am sure he has had that experience many times.

What I do now is I am rewarding them with “bucks” (Monopoly money) which they can use on Fridays to buy little prizes, like a bag of chips or a little toy. So, I can also take their money as a “fine” for misbehavior.

His misbehavior is definitely the ADD kind, he just seems to let little statements pop out almost of their own volition, but never really does anything bad. He also seems like the kind of kid that does not do drugs or drink, but wants to impress other peers with his knowledge about drugs and alcohol. He is actually a healthy skateboarder, and not a druggie at all, I suspect. He is quite proud of his skating accomplishments. He made the statement on Friday, when I said “school is…,” that “school is a place where you come to learn respect.”

He has a 3.9 reading level, according to testing. He gets very little work done in the course of our two hour class. Two hours is a long class for him. The principal is very supportive of all our challenged kids, and she is convinced that two hours is just about his limit.

What kind of specifics would you like?