This is my 16th year teaching, and I tried something this grading period that I had never tried before with one of my ADHD 5th graders. This young man is constantly in and out of his seat, tapping his pencil, slamming his books, wadding and unwadding papers, and basically disturbing most of those who sit near him. I found that the friendly “back to task” reminders last for about 2 minutes UNTIL two weeks ago. His class had a new student to enroll at that time. After a couple of days, it was easy to see that the student was very far behind in what our U.S. History class was doing. I assigned my very active young man as the new student’s peer tutor. What a difference! The new student keeps my ADHD student organized and motivated, while my ADHD student helps keep the new student caught up and reviewed. Both students grades have improved tremendously and the icing on the cake is that both students now have a “best friend”!
Re: It Worked!
My daughter has been this way since preschool. She’s happy helping other students or the teacher in any way. The teachers that have followed my advice and assigned her “important” tasks to do in her free time have adored her and she has done wonderful those years. The teachers that refused had major issues with her and would call me several times during the school year to tell me I needed to do something about her disruptions.
It sounds like you made a great match there!
peer helpers
I think using the a peer helper is great for a child with ADHD. Many of these children have poor social skills so this strategy will help with that as well. The only thing I would watch for is make sure these two students don’t get frustrated with each other as many children get frustrated in dealing with the constant activity of an ADHD child. Low frustration tolerance is often a symtom of ADHD as well so the ADHD child may get have difficulty in dealing with a student who is slower to understand (catch on) than they are.
I also think it is great to see a teacher with a lot of experience still trying something new!!! :D
These kids like to be busy and they like to feel important. You made him feel like he has something special to contribute. What a great intervention!