My son, who is not formally diagnosed with ADHD, has many of the signs and symptoms especially in gym class. Last year in Kindergaten was very difficult for him. He would run into other kids, not listen to the teacher, and just have poor behavior.In addition his social skills are behind do to the diagnosis of apraxia of speech at age 2 1/2, which is now resolved. I do know that gym class is not one of his strengths and he will perform this way to get out of doing something he doesn’t want to do.
Does any oneone have any tips for the gym class setting, like a behavior plan. Our school has a very limited one and I would like to add to it. Any help would be appreciated.Thankyou.
Re: Behavior in Gym Class
I agree with the other reply… having kids help the person in charge can do a lot. I’m not a teacher, actually, or a parent. I’m a camp counselor, but one of my campers has ADHD. He’s just going into kindergarten in the fall, so the age group is similar. We don’t have gym, per se, but we do have sports activities. I’ve found that he behaves better when he really likes the game, or when we switch between activities. can you look into having him placed in a special gym class of some kind?
I’ve also found that when we play group games he’s more interested if he can have personal attention. I know that school districts do testing to find out if children need “shadows.” If your son is undiagnosed he’s not likely to qualify for a full-day shadow, but perhaps you can work something out to have someone be with him just during gym class, to try and keep him engaged.
You also might ask the teacher to speak to him individually and break the sports down into specific, short tasks. For example, instead of saying “we’re going to play soccer for x amount of time,” have him tell your son to get the ball and kick it towards the goal a certain number of times during the same. This kind of structure isn’t really possible for me at camp, but it might be something you can try for him at school.
Good luck!
Hi, my son had problems in gym too. Too much stimulation with large groups. What worked for us was having the teacher involve him in helping to leading the class. He loves attention, and that got him some in a positive way. It also got him closer to the teacher.