Parent Strategies
Help with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorders

Tips on Classroom Help for Children with ADHD
By Dr. Miriam Cherkes-Julkowski
Educational consultant, diagnostician and author,
Rethinking Attention Deficit Disorders

There are a number of reasons why kids with ADHD have significant difficulty in school. They don’t have ready access to the persistent mental effort required for the rote learning of facts, figures and procedural rules — a substantial part of the standard school curriculum.

Their variability in attention (the signature characteristic of ADHD) reflects variations in what is required of them during the school day.

To help a child with ADHD in the classroom:

• Support and appeal to a student’s strengths and interests.

• Negotiate projects with input from the student.

• Provide real problems to solve (requiring experimentation, allowing for making mistakes).

• Aim for insight rather than strategies and learning rules.

• Go large, not small, to arrive at the “big picture”; avoid focusing on task analysis and small steps.

Find more of Dr. Cherkes-Julkowski’s tips on helping students with ADHD — and a comparison of ADHD students with gifted students — in the Smart Kids with LD New Member Information Kit, free when you Join Smart Kids!