From reckless behavior to unfinished homework and erratic focus, countless challenges emerge daily in the special education classroom, especially while teaching students with ADHD. As educational therapists and teachers, we can’t assume that kids with ADHD will work dutifully at their desks for an entire day without getting distracted.
However, educators must emotionally and physically regulate children with ADHD to fully participate in lessons and classroom therapy activities. Today, we want to share our top tried-and-tested strategies that work effectively for students with ADHD. Regardless of the challenges your students face, these seven expert-approved accommodations can recenter their focus back to learning.
Tip #1: Use a Stopwatch
To students with ADHD, classroom activities seem never to end, so they can grow restless and bored as time elapses. We suggest using a handheld stopwatch or timer to time all classroom activities from snack breaks to independent reading time. By reminding the class of the exact amount of time left, educators can help their students stay focused and busy.
Tip #2: Create Tape Boundaries
If your students with ADHD sit in a shared space, consider using colorful masking tape to divide the space and create visible boundaries. A visual reminder can prevent distractions and quarrels among students who have difficulty staying focused and keeping their hands to themselves.
Tip #3: Make Privacy Shields
These essential DIY classroom resources can be purchased or easily created by horizontally cutting a tri-fold poster in half. Because some students with ADHD struggle to focus on their work instead of their classmates, privacy shields are an excellent way to prevent kids from cheating and getting distracted during independent work or computer time and exams.
Tip #4: Allow Flexible Work Locations
Rather than forcing fidgety children with ADHD to remain seated at their desks during lessons and work times, allow them to freely move around the classroom and work with a clipboard in various locations, such as a stool, rug, or rocking chair. Give students permission to kneel, stand, or work in the position that they are most comfortable in, and move them away from other students who might be a distraction.
Tip #5: Get Moving!
If children with ADHD can’t restrain their energy, one useful tip is to take them outdoors and let them run a few laps, practice yoga, do jumping jacks or push-ups, or use exercise resistance bands. A quick workout with simple exercises is a superb way to release children’s pent-up energy and focus on learning.
Tip #6: Provide Fidget Items
To increase students’ concentration and focus, provide them with a fidget toy to keep their hands active in a non-disruptive, quiet way. Instead of tapping their pencils, throwing things, bothering classmates, or kicking beneath the table, children with ADHD can use their fidget toy to release pent-up energy and stress. Fidget toys can include any of these inexpensive objects (and more):
- Rubber balls
- Stress balls
- Bean bags
- Squeezy toys
- Ponytail holders
- Kneaded erasers
- Corks
- Magnetic disks
Tip #7: Replan Seating Arrangements
By rearranging how and where kids with ADHD sit, you can help them focus while minimizing disruptions during instruction time. Assign particularly impulsive and jittery students to a carefully planned classroom spot, such as the corner of a rug or the seat closest to the door. Such strategically arranged seating charts can provide children with extra space to move around or leave the classroom if they want to take a break.
In conclusion, we hope that these seven accommodations will help educational therapists physically and emotionally regulate their students with ADHD. Through refocusing students’ attention back to learning with practical strategies, school professionals can ensure that children stay focused, minimize disruptions, manage their energy–and ultimately prepare for a lifetime of future success!
Educational therapists, what classroom accommodations have you tried using with your students with ADHD? Please let us know in the comments below!
Want to receive activities and apps in your inbox monthly? Visit txsource.com/newsletter.
Looking for a new therapy or teaching job? Check out our current vacancies: https://jobs.txsource.com.