How to keep ADHD keep younger less focused children interested and engaged?
Teaching students with ADD or ADHD can be a challenge, however with patience and an effective plan, your student can remain engaged for tuition lessons. Students who exhibit ADD/ADHD’s hallmark symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity can be frustrating. You know the brainpower is there, but they just can’t seem to focus on the material you’re working hard to deliver.
As a tutor, you can work with the student’s parents/guardians to implement practical strategies for learning both inside and outside tuition lessons. You can manage their behaviour to make sure they’re not constantly distracting themselves from learning during the lesson.
As a tutor, your role is to evaluate each child’s individual needs and strengths. Then you can develop strategies that will help students with ADD/ADHD focus, stay on task, and learn to their full capabilities.
Accommodating for students with ADHD can involve bringing a few effective tools such as:
- A positive attitude – A positive and friendly attitude is one of the more important components to getting a positive response from the student
- Comfort the student and assure them you’re their friend to assist them – “Let’s figure out this problem together buddy” can go a long way to helping the student feel more comfortable during the lesson and relieve them of anxiety.
- Instruct clearly that you’re going to be looking for good behaviour and work ethic and when the student acts well – immediately praise the student if they demonstrate positive behaviour/work practice
- Motivate the student – speak to the parents about offering a “reward system” where the student could be allocated a ‘gold star’ or ‘token’ for good behaviour and good work. This helps reinforce the idea that good behaviour is received with praise.
- Deliver information clearly and concisely – repeat if necessary. Try and work on the more complicated material earlier in the lesson, try to have lessons earlier in the afternoon. Use a lot of visual aids to explain the information such as charts, pictures and colour coding.
- Distraction-free work environment – speak to the parents about a quiet area in the house free of distractions for the tuition.
- Tuition organisation folder – Have the student keep a “tuition folder” which can be a two or three-ring binder with all the material from lessons goes into the folder with a date. This allows the student to more effectively organise the math and to study with more efficiency so there is less dishevelment during tuition.
- Make the lessons fun – Summarise key points, try and involve math games and different activities. Most students with ADD/ADHD really enjoy rapid and intense games such as speed pop-quiz games. Take a very short break halfway through the lesson just to stretch and stand up. Change the pace of the lessons, so it doesn’t become too monotone and therefore remains intriguing for the student!