Children and Teens With ADHD

Facts About Children and Teens With ADHD

• A classroom with 30 students will have between one and three children with ADHD.
• Boys are diagnosed with ADHD three times more often than girls.
• Emotional development is 30 percent slower in children with ADHD.
• Fifty percent of children with ADHD experience sleep problems.
• Teens with ADHD have almost four times more traffic citations and car accidents.
• Twenty-one percent of teens with ADHD skip school on a regular basis.
• Thirty-five percent of teens with ADHD drop out before graduating from high school.

Five Tips for Managing ADHD Children in the Classroom

Provided by therapists at Willowbrooke at Tanner, these tips have worked effectively in group settings during therapy and have also been used by educators in the classroom.

1. Incorporate as many “hands-on” activities as possible as part of the teaching method. Children and teens with ADHD tend to focus better with hands-on activities or things that require them to be active. However, limit activities to one at a time. Too many activities can be difficult for the ADHD student to remain focused. 
2. Choose ADHD students as leaders or heads of groups for classroom activities. This will help them maintain focus on themselves and the activity at hand. Sitting them at the front of the class or next to the teacher will help them put distractions behind them.
3. Provide them with with a “doodle pad” and allow the kids to doodle while lectures are taking place. The children are listening and sometimes focus and internalize better when their hands and minds are working at the same time.
4. Allow them to have something in their hands to play with to keep them occupied, like a stress ball, a piece of clay or something else not dangerous to other students or the classroom setting.
5. Make learning kinetic. (Example: During a lesson on math facts, instead of calling on a child who raised his hand, toss a ball to him or her. At the completion of the question, have him or her toss the ball to the next student to answer a question. The constant motion will engage the ADHD kids and help them focus on the activity at hand.)

For more tips or in-service training on working with children with ADHD, call Willowbrooke at Tanner at 770.836.9551 and ask about the experienced child and adolescent therapists in its speakers bureau.