I teach a special education resource room. I have several second grade students with ADHD that make odd noises. These noises are like sound effects but don’t seem to be caused by anything. Other students and teachers are beginning to notice the noises. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help the students not make these noises so that they “fit in” with their peers?
Thanks!
Re: noises
As a person with very sensitive hearing in certain ranges and being easily distracted by noises, I can see that this could be a problem.
It can also be a big problem in integrating socially outside school and in going into mainstream classes.
There is always the old-fashioned approach of speaking to the students directly and honestly. Of course telling kids not to make noise will get you judged as horribly autocratic and old-fashioned, but unless they really are uncontrollable tics you can get a lot of results with Pavlovian conditioning, otherwise called nagging. You have to be prepared to put in the time and effort and not give up.
Re: noises
Vocal tics, tardive dyskinesia, and Tourette’s syndrome could be an explanation. All three are caused by the damage psycho stimulants do to brains.
Are the kids even aware they are doing them? They may be so stoned out on Ritalin that they are in La La Land and perhaps unaware they are even making vocalizations.
They probabaly should not be in a class if they are so disruptive. Other accomodations should be made if as Steve suggests it is a medical problem.
If it is a medical problem as a teacher you should not be expected to solve it. I would suggest as Steve has that before a behavioral approach is taken the exact cause of the vocalizations need to be determined.
If they are making the same sounds on a fairly regular basis it probably is not a behavior problem and therfore out of your realm of expertise. It is a situation that sounds troublesome so I would suggest you have your school psychologist observe the situation in class. In the meantime look for a pattern. My guess is that it is happening at a particular time of day possibly when the drugs are peaking or waning
Are they taking stimulants? If so, they may be experiencing vocal tics, a side effect of stimulant medication. In that case, it is involuntary and there is nothing you can do except to reduce or eliminate the medication. Otherwise, I would think that standard behavior management strategies, such as reinforcement charts, etc, should be effective. However, I think you do have to be careful to decide how much of an issue it is. Sometimes it’s just a way to keep focused on their work, like sticking their tongue out or tapping a finger on the desk. So before you do anything else, I’d check to see if they are taking stimulants, and then consider carefully if this is important enough to develop a behavior plan.
Hope that is helpful!