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Educators today understand how a student’s behaviors related to ADHD manifest in the classroom much better than their counterparts did 25 years ago. But too many teachers still fail to recognize the academic and social struggles that can plague students with ADHD inside and outside the classroom.

For many students with ADHD, it’s difficult to imagine anything worse than a contemporary classroom: six-hour days filled with expectations of sitting still, following endless instructions, completing tedious tasks, and navigating social situations. It’s not surprising, then, that academic outcomes for some of these students are worse than they are for students without ADHD.

For too long, educators have focused almost exclusively on reducing symptoms (e.g., fidgeting, interrupting, losing focus) in the classroom, but this approach does not necessarily improve a child’s academic outcomes. Evidence-based interventions and supports to reduce specific ADHD-associated impairments and to build adaptive functional skills are needed for long-term academic success — but not always provided in IEPs and 504 Plans. Approaches to improve a student’s social relationships with peers are often left out of such accommodations, but they are equally important to a child’s success.

In this webinar, educators and caregivers will learn:

• How the core features of ADHD are often magnified by the expectations in classrooms, and how this makes it harder for students to experience success in school
• About the limitations of some approaches that focus exclusively on a student’s symptom management and ignore other areas of impairments
• About strategies, supports, and approaches that can help students with ADHD flourish

Have a question for our expert? There will be an opportunity to post questions for the presenter during the live webinar.

Meet the Expert Speaker:

Gregory A. Fabiano, Ph.D., is a professor of Psychology at Florida International University. His interests include evidence-based assessments and treatments for children with ADHD.  He is the author of two books, Interventions for Disruptive Behavior Disorders: Strategies to Support Success; Daily Behavior Report Cards: An Evidence-Based System of Assessment and Intervention. (#CommissionsEarned) Dr. Fabiano is also the developer of a Massive Open Online Course entitled “Everyday Strategies for ADHD” that has been completed by more than 6,500 online students across six continents. A cross-cutting theme throughout his work is developing intervention programs that are effective for children and families within the contexts of their everyday environments. Dr. Fabiano’s work has been continuously funded by federal agencies and foundations since 2006. In 2007, Dr. Fabiano was nominated by the Department of Education and invited to the White House to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the nation’s highest honor for early career investigators.

#CommissionsEarned As an Amazon Associate, ADDitude earns a commission from qualifying purchases made by ADDitude readers on the affiliate links we share.

Certificate of Attendance: For information on how to purchase the certificate of attendance option (cost $10), register for the webinar, then look for instructions in the email you’ll receive one hour after it ends. The certificate of attendance link will also be available here, on the webinar replay page, several hours after the live webinar. ADDitude does not offer CEU credits.

Closed captions available.

As I quietly reflected on how to achieve that, I jotted down a list of essential presentation components: statistics on learning differences, findings from peer-reviewed journals (naturally), quotes from psychologists — anything I thought would make an impact on this group of teachers. Still, for all their compassionate intentions, it was possible they would forget my words by Monday morning.

Then I realized what was missing: the human element. To put yourself in someone else’s shoes is a powerful way to appreciate (or try to appreciate) the lived experience of others. That’s what I wanted the teachers to do.

On the day of the training, I asked the teachers to try some exercises to better understand the top challenges facing their students with learning differences. I still use these and other simulations for educators today.

Simulations for Educators: Activities to Understand Students with ADHD and LDs

To Simulate Difficulty with Focus

For this activity, I have teachers read a short text on a screen and try to retain key points (like names, dates, and places) without taking notes and while loud, distracting noises (traffic, children playing, birds tweeting, and so on) play. The text also disappears off and on the screen during the activity, interrupted by intermittent thought bubbles that display questions like, “I wonder if it’s going to rain later” and “Did I remember to switch off the gas?”

[Get This Free Download: What Every Teacher Should Know About ADHD]

Without warning, the text abruptly disappears from the screen, replaced by a series of questions about the text. The teachers then have a few minutes to answer those questions.

To Simulate Sensory Overload

I ask teachers to take a short quiz in this activity, but the quiz isn’t the main point. The purpose is to gauge how they feel in their environment as they’re taking the quiz and as multiple environmental changes are taking place, unbeknownst to them. These changes are meant to provoke strong sensory responses similar to those experienced by students with sensory processing challenges.

Before starting the quiz, I have teachers sit uncomfortably close to one another (within reason). I also bring in a few extra lamps. During the quiz, I turn up the heating, turn on the extra lamps, keep blinds wide open if there is bright sunlight, type loudly on my keyboard, and shuffle papers. I also start a ticking countdown timer or coordinate ahead of time with the room next door to have them make lots of noise during the quiz.

To Simulate Auditory Processing Difficulties

In this listening exercise, teachers have to write as I read aloud from a passage. (I choose an intermediate-level text). However, embedded into every sentence is a completely made-up, nonsense word. As I read, I do not stop to explain or spell this word. I continue to read as if I’ve said nothing unusual, ignoring the looks of confusion and other reactions from the audience.

[Read: What Is Auditory Processing Disorder? Symptoms, Comorbidities, and Exercises]

To Simulate Visual Strain

Many students with dyslexia experience visual perception issues that affect reading. (Though visual strain is also common in dysgraphia and other learning differences.) Black text against white backgrounds tend to cause most visual strain, even causing letters to appear blurry, distorted, and at different line heights. This is somewhat straightforward to simulate. I have teachers read blurry black text printed on a white sheet of paper, and I ask them to compare that to the experience of reading the same text, but printed in blue and on cream-colored paper. The latter, of course, reduces visual strain.

Put Yourself in Their Shoes: Helping Neurodivergent Students Succeed

Ultimately, a neurotypical person can never truly understand the neurodivergent experience. But, without fail, there is always a tangible shift in the room following these exercises. I know that I’ve hit the mark when I hear “wows” and see heads nodding — or shaking. Teachers will share that the activities made them feel “stupid,” “frustrated,” “uncomfortable,” and “ashamed.” They are instantly curious and eager to know what they can do to avoid making their neurodivergent students feel this way. They want to know how to become inclusive educators who can help all students succeed. They want to enact real change.

Simulations for Educators: Next Steps

• Free Download: The Teacher’s Guide to Common Learning Challenges
• Read: “How Teachers Can Initiate and Promote Inclusive Education”
• Read: 7 Surprising Ways ADHD Shows Up in the Classroom

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Adults with severe ADHD symptoms were more likely to be expelled and receive reprimands from teachers as school children compared to adults with less severe or no ADHD symptoms, according to a partial study published this month in the Journal of Attention Disorders.¹

Researchers compared the school experiences and intensity of ADHD symptoms in 1,518 adults from the Czech Republic aged 18 to 65. Participants answered questions from the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) and were grouped according to symptom manifestation, or “ADHD type”: low, medium, and high.

Findings revealed that those with higher ADHD symptoms were “significantly more likely to be expelled, receive notes for bad behavior, disturbing or forgetting, as well as receive reprimands from teachers” as children.

“The results suggest that children with higher ADHD symptomatology are more likely to be forgetful, restless, and misbehave — which then gets written down by their teachers,” researchers said. “The school difficulties were found regardless of age, and students with increased ADHD symptomatology struggled in elementary and lower high school.”

Behavior grades were not significantly different between groups.

“School behavioral problems can have long-term negative consequences on educational and working careers,” researchers said. “Even in places where behavior is not graded, such as in the U.S. school systems, an ADHD diagnosis is associated with a significantly lower grade point average.”

Researchers recommend “early ADHD screening and improved education of teachers and school workers about the association between ADHD and possible school problems.” They also noted the importance of screening for comorbid conditions like anxiety, which can also influence school performance or even be misdiagnosed as ADHD.

“Such raised awareness can positively affect teachers’ approach and, subsequently, their way of evaluating children,” they said.

Sources

¹ Vňuková, M., Děchtěrenko, F., Weissenberger, S., Anders, M., & Ptáček, R. (2022). Childhood School Performance in Adults Diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Attention Disorders, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547221140601

Here are some proven strategies for teachers to develop strong bonds with students:

1. Meet students at the classroom door and greet each by name every day.
2. Talk to students who are struggling. Learn more about them, their families, and their talents.
3. Remember to praise a student when they make even small changes towards improving misbehavior, such as remembering to raise their hand or pausing before blurting out an answer.
4. Behavioral issues may be mitigated by proper ADHD treatment, so consider asking parents to discuss behavioral and academic concerns with their child’s physician. Screening for anxiety and depression also may be warranted. Researchers report that, if medication doses are too low, students with ADHD have trouble paying attention and reaching peak academic performance. A medication adjustment may be needed.

Do This, Not That

Challenge #1. A student blurts out in class.

Don’t do this: Withhold recess. Research has shown that punishing a child by denying their participation in something appealing (and physically exhausting) is counterproductive. Students with ADHD need to be active to release excess energy and refresh their brains.

Do this: Talk privately with the student: “I’m so proud that you almost always know the answer to my questions. But I want to give everyone in class a chance to answer. You can help me by always raising your hand and waiting until I call on you. If you’re worried that you’re going to forget the answer, write it down.”

• Take a picture of the student sitting at their desk with their hand raised. Tape the picture on their desk as a visual reminder to wait for the teacher to call on them.
• Place a small three-color tri-fold flip chart on the student’s desk that they can use to signal you silently. The green card means “I am working fine!” The yellow card means “I need help, but I can keep working.” The red card means “I need help and I can’t keep working.” Respond immediately to the red card.

[Read: School Punishments That Don’t Work – Taking Away Recess]

Challenge #2. A student talks continuously and doesn’t complete classwork.

Don’t do this: Speak sarcastically to them in front of classmates or isolate them by having them stand in the hall or sit far away from peers.

Do this: Talk privately with the student. Review the class rules. Remind them that they need to do their classwork and talk less.

• Send the student an agreed-upon signal as a reminder to stop talking (for example, by tapping your ear).
• While lecturing, walk toward and stand near the student. Most chatterboxes will stop talking upon the teacher’s approach.
• Set up a point system with “OOPS! Cards,” which are neutral (rather than negative) reminders of desired behavior—e.g., to stop talking or to raise your hand. Here’s how it works: The student starts the day with 5 OOPS! Cards and must give one back when they forget to do a desired behavior. The reward for keeping a set number of cards each week might be reading to younger students or allowing them to read morning announcements. Examples of OOPS! Card statements: “Mistakes are the stepping stones to learning,” or “Sorry, I forgot.”

[Read: Positive Reinforcement, Behavior & ADHD – The Science of Reward and Punishment]

Challenge #3. A student doesn’t stay seated during classroom instruction.

Don’t do this: Tell them to sit down and be still. Students with ADHD often learn better while moving their bodies.

Do this: Place the student’s desk at the end of a row so they can fidget or move around without disturbing classmates.

• Build movement activities into the schedule. For example, assign “brain breaks,” when students may stand and stretch their bodies, do jumping jacks, or march around the room to music.
• Assign a fidgety student two seats; one could be a standup desk. So, after language arts, the student moves to their second desk to work on a math assignment.

Challenge #4. A student is argumentative with a teacher.

Don’t do this: Send the student to the principal’s office or yell at them in front of classmates. By continually criticizing a student in front of others, the teacher may unintentionally set up that student for bullying behaviors among their classmates.

Do this: If irritability is unusual for this student, talk with them privately and ask questions, such as, “This is unlike you. What’s wrong?” If the oppositional behavior occurs frequently, talk with the guidance counselor, and review the student’s school records and testing. Undiagnosed learning problems may be contributing to defiance in the classroom.

Challenge #5. A child frequently falls asleep in class. Their work is incomplete, and their grades drop.

Don’t do this: Send the student to the principal’s office.

Do this: Talk with the student privately. Ask why they are sleeping in class and not completing classwork.

• Refer the student to talk with the guidance counselor to determine the cause of this behavior.
• Try the “2 x 10 strategy.” For 10 consecutive days, take two minutes each morning to talk with the student about their family, their weekend, or their special interests. A teacher may discover that the student is working two jobs to help support their family, leading to exhaustion and poor grades.
• Suggest to the family that the student be checked for obstructive breathing disorder or some other condition that could interfere with restful sleep.

Teacher Strategies for Misbehavior: Next Steps

• Read: Strategies to Help ADHD Students, for Teachers
• Download: How Teachers Can Manage Common ADHD Behaviors
• Read: Functional Behavior Assessment – How to Fix School Misbehavior

Chris Dendy is a former educator and school psychologist. She is the author of Teenagers with ADD and ADHD: A Guide for Parents and Teaching Teens with ADD, ADHD, and Executive Function Deficits.

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If your child has a negative reputation, then it sounds like this pattern of behavior and exclusion has been going on for some time. It’s troubling to hear you ask how to involve the teacher, because educators should already be part of a team effort to help any child with behavioral challenges.

How to Address Behavioral Challenges

Does your child have an IEP?

Many students with ADHD display symptomatic behaviors, like impulsivity or emotional unpredictability, which make it difficult for them to get along with other kids. If your child’s ADHD is getting in the way of his ability to socialize or learn with other kids, then he should have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) to address this obstacle. If you do not have an IEP, you can request an evaluation from the administrator of special education in your child’s school.

Request a functional behavioral assessment (FBA).

A qualified behavior analyst — usually a professionally trained specialist with a master’s or a doctoral degree — should perform the FBA. Most schools have these specialists on staff. They evaluate, design, and implement individualized plans to help kids with behavior problems.

First, behavior analysts study what’s going on around a child when negative behavior is happening. They are skilled at understanding the purpose, frequency, and duration of the behavior — for example, does it show up in the classroom, the lunchroom, on the bus, or during transitions or unstructured times?

[Get This Free Download: The Daily Report Card for Better Classroom Behavior]

The specialists also analyze what teachers and classmates say and do before, during, and after the behavior occurs. Based on this information, the specialists generate a plan. Since teachers have the most contact with kids, they must participate in creating and implementing the plan.

This approach is very effective at modifying the behavior of children with ADHD in elementary, middle, and high school. When a child’s behaviors improve, their reputations can be re-built. The teacher can influence the reactions of other kids and help them become a positive force in the effort to turn around behavior as well.

How Teachers Can Help Students Who Feel Left Out

Implementing the FBA approach may take some time, but your child’s teacher can make changes in the interim to help your child. Share the following classroom strategies with the teacher to help foster peer acceptance and improve your child’s reputation:

1. Give the child tasks to do in the classroom that are helpful to the rest of the students, such as handing out supplies, passing back completed student assignments, and helping to prepare and serve snacks.

[Read: What Kids Need When Classmates Reject Them]

2. Put students into teams or small learning groups. Ask them to create a set of group behavior rules. To help with ideas, the teacher might suggest some ground rules for respectful listening and mindful sharing. Give students topics to discuss in the group, practicing the rules of respectful communications. At the end of the activity, ask the students to evaluate the effectiveness of the skills they just used. This activity reinforces positive interaction and decreases the opportunity for bullying or ridicule.

3. Find opportunities to showcase the student’s strengths, such as artistic or musical talent. Have the student document class activities. Making, editing, and showing a video is a good way for a student to earn the attention of other kids, but in a positive way. Let the student get the reputation as film producer, or the kid who does the “Joke of the Day” at the start of class — or any role that will help to replace the old, negative reputation.

4. If a “vulnerable” child is doing a presentation in class, invite “honored guests” like the principal, the lunch lady, a group of kids from another class, or a parent to come into class to watch. Sometimes, the presence of an audience helps insensitive kids re-think their behavior.

5. The teacher should also create a classroom environment based on mutual respect and kindness, modeling what that means, and acknowledging and rewarding “polite” behavior when it occurs. Many schools are implementing Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curricula, which are filled with strategies that can help teachers achieve this goal.

Feeling Left Out: Next Steps

• Free Download: Help Your Child’s Peers ‘Get’ ADHD
• Read: My Kid Is “That Kid”
• Read: Resilience Begins with Responsibility – the Power of Service for Kids with ADHD

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For many reasons – from the condition’s not-so-accurate name to its frequent co-occurrence with other conditions – NVLD is widely misunderstood, overlooked, and misdiagnosed. At the same time, NVLD is thought to affect up to 3% of children and teens.¹

NVLD’s symptoms are expansive, affecting students in ways that most teachers may not realize. Nonetheless, children with NVLD need interventions that target all areas affected by the condition.

NVLD: Features and Challenges

To support students with NVLD, teachers must first understand what NVLD is and isn’t, and how the condition might manifest.

NVLD is a proposed neurodevelopmental disorder (meaning it’s not an official diagnosis). It was named as such to distinguish it from language-based verbal learning problems, like dyslexia. Children with NVLD are not nonverbal; in fact, they may have average to strong verbal skills. If anything, a more appropriate name for this condition would be “developmental visual-spatial learning disorder.”

[Could Your Child Have NVLD? Take This Self-Test]

NVLD’s visual-spatial reasoning deficits have been linked with disturbances in the functioning of neural circuits that support visual-spatial processing. These visual-spatial deficits are associated with the following difficulties:

Understanding Part/Whole Relationships

A child with NVLD may…

• …avoid puzzles, LEGOs, and other activities that depend on arranging small pieces into larger parts.
• …have trouble with math concepts, like greater than/less than, fractions, etc.
• …struggle to identify the main idea of the story they’ve read (though they can recount details).
• …show difficulty grasping cause and effect.

Manipulating Objects in Space

Fine- and gross-motor skills deficits are common in NVLD. This can make tying shoes, using scissors, holding a pencil, using utensils, and even balancing the body difficult.

[Read: What Does Nonverbal Learning Disorder Look Like in Children?]

Thinking of objects and position in abstract is also a challenge. Students with NVLD may have difficulty thinking of and identifying geometric shapes and following two-dimensional maps.

Learning Sequences and Patterns

Math is often a difficult subject for students with NVLD as they struggle to learn procedures, like long division, and apply concepts to multi-step problems.

Other Challenges

NVLD is also sometimes associated with difficulties and challenges with the following:

• inattention and executive function
• novel problem-solving (difficulty thinking outside the box)
• sensory processing
• pragmatic language (i.e., the social aspects of language like tone, sarcasm, nuance)
• peer relationships and interactions

In addition, the following conditions commonly co-occur with NVLD:

• attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• anxiety
• developmental coordination disorder

NVLD: Strategies for Teachers

1. Provide Explicit Instruction

Because of possible pragmatic language weaknesses, students with NVLD may have trouble with inference. In these cases, they need clear instruction to understand what is expected of them. Explicit instruction also supports attention and executive functioning in students with ADHD and NVLD.

• Discuss in detail information conveyed in content with high visual-spatial processing demands, like charts, graphs, and other diagrams.
• Tell students exactly what to attend to across all academic tasks. “Check for addition and subtraction errors” is more explicit than, “Double check your work.” For proofreading essays, tell students to ensure that their sentences start with capital letters and end with periods, that they’ve used a comma before introducing quoted material, etc. Checklists work well to help guide a student’s attention, but must not be overly hard to track from a visual-spatial perspective.
• Provide explicit study guides detailing the types of problems that will appear on a test, along with sample problems and answers. For an upcoming history test, for example, students should know that they’ll have to write essays, interpret pictures, and provide short answers.

2. Reinforce Parts to Whole Relationships

Take a Whole-Parts-Whole Approach

As students with NVLD may miss the big picture, which can affect learning in virtually all subjects, they need help connecting information they’ve learned to larger concepts. Do not assume that students will be able to draw connections on their own, or that links are obvious.

• When teaching essay writing, for example, reinforce that the topic sentence is the “whole” of a paragraph, that it needs “parts” (supporting evidence) underneath it, and that a concluding sentence must refer again to the whole. Provide model paragraphs and essays and have students practice identifying key components.
• Graphic depictions of these relationships are unlikely to be as helpful for students with NVLD as they are for typically developing students or those with other disorders that do not involve visual-spatial processing problems such as ADHD or language disorder.

Practice in Multiple Directions

Students with NVLD often need practice accessing information from multiple angles to further reinforce how things relate. When reviewing vocabulary words for a quiz, present students with the word and ask them to provide a definition, and vice versa. In foreign language classes, ask students to translate a word to their native language and back.

Develop Metacognition

Students with NVLD may not always know which skills and information to retrieve from their mental toolbox to answer a question, even if they have demonstrated proficiency in that skill already. Training metacognition, an executive function that involves reflecting on one’s own thoughts, can help.

Encourage students to ask themselves questions like, “What do I notice about this problem?” and “What kind of problem is it?” while doing homework or taking a test. That way, they’ll be able to figure out which skills they must call on to successfully tackle future work.

Make the Intangible Tangible

Especially for math and geography, use manipulatives like Cuisenaire rods, 3D models, and globes when teaching visual-spatial concepts to help students understand how things relate to one another.

3. Focus on Strengths

Provide accommodations and modifications as needed to reduce demands on the skills that students with NVLD struggle with the most. (Students, of course, should undergo a comprehensive evaluation to demonstrate that they qualify for supports.)

• Craft questions that test the student’s knowledge, not their disability. Avoid questions that rely too much on spatial working memory, visual-spatial skills, and fine- or gross-motor skills. Refrain from framing homework and test questions in novel ways, e.g., those not seen and practiced previously.
• Provide testing in a separate location to minimize distractions.
• Allow students more time on all tests and assignments. (To recall and apply concepts, double check their own work, make up for distractions, etc.)
• Given motor deficits, allow students to type answers and assignments whenever possible, or dictate responses using speech-to-text software.

NVLD in School: Next Steps

• Free Download: What Learning Disabilities Look Like in the Classroom
• Read: The Best Way to Explain Learning Disabilities to Your Child
• Read: “I’m a Teacher with Nonverbal Learning Disorder. I’m Exactly Who I Needed As a Child.”

The content for this article was derived, in part, from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “Could It Be Nonverbal Learning Disorder? An Overlooked LD in Kids with ADHD” [Video Replay & Podcast #173],” with Amy Margolis, Ph.D., which was broadcast on January 26, 2017.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Sources

¹Margolis, A. E., Broitman, J., Davis, J. M., Alexander, L., Hamilton, A. et al (2020). Estimated Prevalence of Nonverbal Learning Disability Among North American Children and Adolescents. JAMA Network Open, 3(4), e202551. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.2551

Self-regulation challenges, heightened moodiness, social anxieties, and increased academic demands can intensify the pressure bearing down on middle and high school students with ADHD. With deficits in the areas of executive functioning and motivation, many teens become checked out and stressed out, frustrated by the constant struggle to keep up in class. These students appear unmotivated, and unwilling, to do class assignments and homework. Their refrain: Why bother?

This leads caregivers and educators to feel exasperated — unsure how to balance autonomy, support, and accountability for underperformance in their students. They want to motivate them to reach their potential, but they’re unsure how.

In this webinar, caregivers and educators will learn:

• How the biology of ADHD impacts motivation and executive functioning in adolescents and teens
• How to help students adopt self-motivation strategies and lifelong skills to manage their ADHD
• Practical approaches that teens with ADHD can follow to compensate for executive functioning challenges
• How to set goals to develop a teen’s self-confidence, and how to find a niche in which they can be successful and achieve autonomy from adults

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Download or Stream the Podcast Audio

Click the play button below to listen to this episode directly in your browser, click the symbol to download to listen later, or open in your podcasts app: Apple Podcasts; Google Podcasts; Stitcher; Spotify; Amazon Music; iHeartRADIO.

More on Teens with ADHD

• Download: What Are Your Teen’s Weakest Executive Functions?
• Read: Improving Executive Functioning Skills in Teenagers with ADHD
• Read: What Is Executive Function? 7 Deficits Tied to ADHD

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on November 9, 2022, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker

Margaret (Maggie) Sibley, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and researcher at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital. She also has an adjunct appointment at Florida International University, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. She studies executive functioning, motivation, and attention problems in adolescents and young adults.

Maggie is the author of Parent-Teen Therapy for Executive Function Deficits and ADHD: Building Skills and Motivation (#CommissionsEarned). This is a comprehensive guide for professionals. It gives information about how to work with families using a therapy she developed called Supporting Teens’ Autonomy Daily (STAND).

#CommissionsEarned As an Amazon Associate, ADDitude earns a commission from qualifying purchases made by ADDitude readers on the affiliate links we share. However, all products linked in the ADDitude Store have been independently selected by our editors and/or recommended by our readers. Prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

Listener Testimonials

“I appreciate the background information provided before covering strategies. There were many ‘aha’ moments for me.”

“It was simply fantastic! So informative! I took pages of notes and hope to share the highlights with our faculty and RTI team as soon as possible!”

“An incredible presenter. She explained everything so well and offered some great insights and actionable steps! Thank you!”

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ADHD impacts a student’s school experience in more than academic ways. ADHD can mean barging in on peers’ conversations, having outbursts in class, and generally engaging in unexpected behaviors. This can lead to peer rejection wherein students don’t get invited to social events and they don’t have friends at school.

We can change this. In this webinar, Brendan Mahan, M.Ed., M.S., will explain how parents can work collaboratively with their kids to improve their reputations, and how to enlist help from teachers. And teachers will learn strategies for supporting students as they work to rehabilitate their image and better understand the unwritten rules of school.

In this webinar, you will learn:

• How ADHD can affect a student’s behavior in the classroom, and ultimately, their reputation at school
• Strategies to help your student avoid negative behaviors that can lead to peer rejection
• How parents can approach teachers to enlist their help in ending peer rejection and loneliness at school
• Approaches educators can use to help turn around a student’s negative reputation at school
• Easy-to-understand steps that students can take to end the emotional outbursts and other behaviors that lead to peer rejection at school

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Download or Stream the Podcast Audio

Click the play button below to listen to this episode directly in your browser, click the symbol to download to listen later, or open in your podcasts app: Apple Podcasts; Google Podcasts; Stitcher; Spotify; Amazon Music; iHeartRADIO.

More on Teens with ADHD

• Download: The Ages & Stages of ADHD
  
• Read: Social Smarts: The Teen Years
  
• Read: Period of Adjustment
  

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on November 1, 2022, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker:

Brendan Mahan, M.Ed., M.S., an internationally recognized ADHD/Executive Function coach, a highly engaging, sought-after speaker, and the host of the ADHD Essentials Podcast. A former teacher, mental health counselor, and principal, Brendan helps individuals, families, schools, and businesses manage the challenges of ADHD and neurodiversity through an approach that blends education, collaborative problem-solving, and accountability with compassion, humor, a focus on strengths and growth, and his trademark “Wall of Awful” model. Contact him at brendan@ADHDessentials.com.

Listener Testimonials

“Brendan is an amazing speaker; loved that it was succinct but so much value!”

“This webinar was extremely useful as a parent, therapist, and consultant!”

“Brendan was a very engaging speaker with great ideas for schools.”

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Brain Balance is an integrative cognitive development program designed to help kids with ADHD, Learning Differences, Anxiety & beyond. An exploratory study with Harvard’s McLean Hospital found the Brain Balance Program to be as effective as low-dose stimulant medication in alleviating ADHD symptoms in children. Visit brainbalance.com to learn more about Brain Balance today.

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2e is a term used to describe “twice-exceptional” students who are academically gifted and also living with ADHD or another diagnosis like autism or learning differences. 2e students are undeniably bright, but often plagued by inconsistent performance at school due to other interfering symptoms. These students seldom receive special-education services, or they are considered “lazy” because they excel in some areas yet appear to lack the motivation to excel in others. The secret to unlocking greatness in a 2e student is recognizing their areas of giftedness by making work more challenging, while simultaneously identifying their areas of greatest need and inserting helpful accommodations and supports accordingly. Understandably, this can be difficult for parents or teachers.

In this webinar you will learn:

• How Lisa Dieker and her 2e son identified his greatest skills as well as the challenges that stood in his path
• Techniques, ideas, and approaches that teachers can use to help students identified as 2e to strive and thrive in the classroom
• How to ensure future pathways to college and careers among gifted students while effectively addressing areas of challenge
• How parents can partner with educators to ensure success from preschool to college

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Download or Stream the Podcast Audio

Click the play button below to listen to this episode directly in your browser, click the symbol to download to listen later, or open in your podcasts app: Apple Podcasts; Google Podcasts; Stitcher; Spotify; Amazon Music; iHeartRADIO.

More on 2e Students and ADHD

• Download: Overcoming Common Learning Challenges
• Read: Unlocking the Potential of Gifted Kids with ADHD
• Read: “Twice Exceptional Is a Cruel Double-Edged Sword”

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on September 27, 2022, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker

Dr. Lisa Dieker is a Pegasus Professor and Lockheed Martin Eminent Scholar in the College of Community Innovation and Education at University of Central Florida (UCF). She serves as the director of the UCF/Lockheed Martin Mathematics and Science Academy, program coordinator for the Ph.D. program in special education, and co-director of the UCF Center for Research in Education Simulation Technology. Her research focuses on harnessing the power of teachers working across disciplines in inclusive settings in teacher education, special education, and simulation. She is leading work in creating artificial intelligence agents to support students with disabilities in inclusive settings. She holds three patents in simulation and education.

Joshua Dieker is beginning a new position in a management role for Trek Bikes in Leesburg, Virginia. Prior to this, he was the customer experience manager at Summit Ropes in Sterling, Virginia. He is an avid sportsman and enjoys biking, rock climbing, and camping. Joshua received a bachelor’s degree in recreation and management from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 2018. In college, he competed as a gymnast and was a four-time NCAA qualifier, Collegiate All-American, and Academic-All American athlete. He also was the Florida state all around gymnastic champion and won a medal at the Junior Olympics. He is diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, dyslexia, and dysgraphia. He just completed a term serving as an ambassador for the Tourette Syndrome Association.

Webinar Sponsor

The sponsor of this ADDitude webinar is…

Brain Balance is an integrative cognitive development program designed to help kids with ADHD, Learning Differences, Anxiety & beyond. An exploratory study with Harvard’s McLean Hospital found the Brain Balance Program to be as effective as low-dose stimulant medication in alleviating ADHD symptoms in children. Visit brainbalance.com to learn more about Brain Balance today.

ADDitude thanks our sponsors for supporting our webinars. Sponsorship has no influence on speaker selection or webinar content.

Follow ADDitude’s full ADHD Experts Podcast in your podcasts app:
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Forget the old adage about giving your teacher an apple. We have better strategies to win over teachers — and they don’t involve fruit.

#1 Find Common Ground

Play detective and look around the teacher’s room for clues about his interests, then use those as conversation starters. For instance, is there a “Stranger Things” toy figure on a bookshelf? Ask him about it. Who is his favorite character in the show?

Similarly, a poster of a sports team on a wall or a piece of clothing with a team’s logo can invite questions or conversation about the latest game or upcoming season. Do pictures of family members adorn the teacher’s desk? Ask about them, or about the activities depicted in the photos. Efforts to connect with your teacher on a more personal level will help you get to know each other better, and greatly improve your relationship with him regardless of test scores.

#2 Ask for Help

Resist the urge to talk in class. Do your homework. Pay attention to the areas in which you struggle and ask for help when needed. Make sure that you have the proper accommodations detailed in your IEP or 504 Plan. Showing the teacher that you’re motivated and invested in her class will help you to gain her support. Your teacher wants to help you to succeed, especially if you demonstrate that you’re serious about your work.

[Read: 3 Back-to-School Assignments for Parents]

#3 Be Accountable

When you make a mistake, take responsibility, and do your best to fix it. This will show your teacher that you value your relationship with him. If the mistake calls for an apology, offer one. Then let the teacher know how you plan to fix the problem, such as cleaning up a mess, requesting to have your seat moved away from distracting classmates, or asking to rewrite an essay. Quickly owning your mistakes and seeking to do better will show your teacher that you are respectful and engaged.

#4 Value the Work

Teachers spend a lot of time outside of class working on the lessons they deliver in class. Showing that you are interested in, and learning from, their lessons can go a long way in getting them to like you. That means participating in class and doing your best to be attentive, to turn in your assignments on time, and to attend extra help sessions when needed. Teachers like and respect students who are serious about their work and who make an effort to do well.

For an added bonus, tell your teacher when you’re enjoying her class. Having a good relationship with your teacher will make your time in school easier and more satisfying.

ADHD at School: Next Steps

• Download: What Every Teacher Should Know About ADHD
• Read: Working with Teachers on ADHD Accommodations
• Listen: Meet the Teacher: How to Build Relationships This School Year

Brendan Mahan is an ADHD coach at www.ADHDessentials.com, and host of the ADHD Essentials Podcast.

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“Within the first month of school, my son’s first grade teacher noticed that he needed support. She began using 504 Plan-level interventions, like emailing us a summary of his work each week, and written expectations for the week ahead. Whenever the class had a substitute, this teacher’s absence was felt. As a ‘missed diagnosis’ kid myself, I was constantly in trouble with my teachers. I told her she was the best teacher I ever had, too.” — Heather, New Jersey

“After a horrible experience in second grade, Mrs. Gallardo’s third grade class was a game changer for my son. She showered him with unconditional love and respect, and she showed him that he could use his brain to do amazing things. The way he still talks about her is a testament to her impact as an educator.” — Molly, Texas

[Download: 10 Teaching Strategies that Help Students with ADHD]

“Mr. Munn was my first male teacher and my first positive male role model. He made school interesting and challenging and gave us some control over what we learned and how we did assignments. I had believed I was stupid, but he helped me see that wasn’t true.” — Michael, Michigan

“My son’s third grade teacher, Ms. Castiglia, was the first teacher who didn’t punish my child for things he could not control. Instead, she gave him actual tools to help him control his body and his impulses during class.” — Lana, New Jersey

“When I told my son’s fifth grade teacher that I suspected he had inattentive ADHD, she immediately agreed and told me how to get a 504 Plan with only three weeks left in elementary school. He really needed the extra time he got in middle school.” — Marie, Florida

“My daughter’s fourth grade teacher was amazing because she was patient and understanding and helped my girl not feel like she was an exception.” — An ADDitude Reader

[Read: “How Teachers Can Initiate and Promote Inclusive Education”]

“My daughter started ADHD medication in second grade, and her teacher was amazing. I made feedback slips that he would send home every day, highlighting her three areas of struggle. It helped so much! He said she became a model student. His positive influence in her life is still felt today.” — Jeannette, Florida

“The teacher who made the biggest impact on my life was my seventh grade history/PE teacher. During a time of low self-esteem, she took me under her wing, made me feel accepted, and helped me believe I could do great things.” — Deanna, Texas

“Mitzi Mitchell was the fourth grade teacher who listened to my concerns about my child instead of writing me off as just another parent who didn’t want to admit that her child was a bad-mannered, lazy kid. She guided me toward testing and the accommodations that are helping my daughter learn and flourish at the same level as her peers.” — Leigh, Tennessee

Supporting Students with ADHD: Next Steps

• Download: Explaining ADHD to Teachers
• Read: Be That Teacher Who Breaks Through
• Read: Ideas to Help Every Child Shine

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

These scenarios can be daunting and anxiety-provoking—and very similar to the Herculean task of following a teacher’s complex verbal instructions when you have ADHD, dyslexia, or other learning challenges.

To help all of your students successfully follow your directions, use these proven teacher strategies.

Follow Directions for Written Assignments

With independent work tasks, directions should be presented with as much visual clarity as possible to make it easy for students to decipher the main components.

For elementary school students:

• Use a larger 14-point font size.
• Highlight key words and phrases in bold and italics. This helps students focus on the most important components of the task.

[Download: 11 Focus Fixes for the Classroom]

For middle school students:

• Number each step of the assignment. This lets students see how many components are involved in the task, and can help them to plan ahead for how to complete the task.
• Offer a worksheet or an organized answer sheet, with workspace allotted for each numbered step. This sets up students to begin working immediately.

For high school students:

• Give students a checklist or chart that they can use to cross off the sub-steps as they complete them. This teaches kids to track their progress, which is an important skill for college-bound students.
• Include concrete expectations in assignment directions. For example, how many words or paragraphs are expected in an essay? This can be easily adjusted for students who may be at different points in their writing progress.

[Read: How to Remove Hurdles to Writing for Students with ADHD]

Follow Directions for Classroom Projects and Tasks

Understanding and following verbal directions requires several executive functions skills–shifting and sustaining focus, selecting what’s important, and engaging working memory, among others.

For elementary school students:

• Teachers should model for students their thinking about how to start the task: “Let’s see, I need to research Emperor Penguins. What are some good websites I should explore? First, I’ll make a list…”
• Break down multi-step tasks into individual ones. This makes it easier for students to comprehend.
• Include visual cues to remind them of the tasks. Draw a quick image on the white board as a non-verbal reminder that they can reference.

For middle school students:

• Use “first,” “second,” “next,” “last” language to help them order and conceptualize directions that include multiple components.
• Have students repeat back the steps to help them encode the directions into their working memory.

For high school students:

• Instruct students to close their laptops and put away their phones before you give them directions.
• Use the steps outlined in the middle school section above for additional help.

So, the next time you’re about to give directions, recall the frustration and lost hours you experienced putting together that do-it-yourself office desk, and try to save your students from the same fate.

Follow Directions with ADHD: Next Steps

• Download: A Teachers’ Guide to Executive Dysfunction in Students with ADHD
  
• Read: 12 Ways to Make Instructions Sink In
  
• Read: Following Instructions: Communicating with Teachers in High School
  

Ezra Werb, M.Ed., is an educational therapist and author of Teach for Attention! A Tool Belt of Strategies for Engaging Students with Attention Challenges. (#CommissionsEarned)

#CommissionsEarned As an Amazon Associate, ADDitude earns a commission from qualifying purchases made by ADDitude readers on the affiliate links we share. However, all products linked in the ADDitude Store have been independently selected by our editors and/or recommended by our readers. Prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Positive reinforcement inspires more consistent motivation and better learning outcomes for children with ADHD, who are more sensitive to rewards and punishments than are their neurotypical peers. Research shows that positive reinforcement (rewards for achievements) changes the brain at the cellular level; it also shows that children with ADHD are more likely to become frustrated and give up when they don’t receive anticipated rewards for completing a difficult task.

Yes, punishment may keep a child with ADHD on task in the short term. But studies show that punishment, or the anticipation of punishment, may carry serious long-term consequences if the child’s emotional regulation skills are weak.

Given these findings, how might educators and caregivers more effectively approach motivation and behavior modification for children with ADHD? In this webinar, you will learn:

• How to respond when a child’s task persistence drops away and she begins to respond impulsively or become emotional
• How to use positive reinforcement when a child is learning a new skill or task that requires much effort
• How to introduce strategies that will build a child’s stamina for waiting
• How to use reinforcement to help children as they transition from one activity or setting to another
• How to match homework demands to a child’s capacity, and how to reward effort when the work is challenging

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Download or Stream the Podcast Audio

Click the play button below to listen to this episode directly in your browser, click the symbol to download to listen later, or open in your podcasts app: Apple Podcasts; Google Podcasts; Stitcher; Spotify; Amazon Music; iHeartRADIO.

More on Positive Reinforcement and ADHD

• Download: ADHD Discipline Strategies
• Read: Children with ADHD Need Positive Reinforcement (& Other Interventions That Work)
• Read: The Thing Kids with ADHD Crave the Most Is…

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on September 8, 2022, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker:

Gail Tripp, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University in Japan. She focuses on the learning and motivational processing of children with ADHD and implications for treatment. In a recent study, she examined predictors of academic achievement in children with ADHD.

Webinar Sponsor

The sponsor of this ADDitude webinar is….

Equazen^® Pro is a clinically proven nutritional medical food, designed to help improve focus, attention, academic performance and balance mood for those with ADHD.^† In fact, clinical studies have shown Equazen^® Pro can improve ADHD symptoms in as little as 12 weeks. Now is the perfect time to start supporting your child’s mind and get them ready for back-to-school.

ADDitude thanks our sponsors for supporting our webinars. Sponsorship has no influence on speaker selection or webinar content.

Follow ADDitude’s full ADHD Experts Podcast in your podcasts app:
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Educators are in a unique position to support vulnerable students, especially those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other learning differences. Trauma-informed teaching strategies consider how prolonged exposure to stress and traumatic events affect the developing brain, and how that exposure manifests as unique challenges with school behavior and performance.

Here are a few simple yet effective trauma-informed teaching approaches that promote learning, reduce stress, and help all students.

How Teachers Can Help Students Under Stress

Support Working Memory

Stress undermines working memory.¹ The effects of stress on working memory might be greater on students with ADHD and/or learning differences, which are also associated with working memory deficits.

Use the following working memory scaffolding strategies to support students:

[Get This Free Download: 5 Academic Challenges Rooted in ADHD Executive Dysfunction]

• Simplify your language. Avoid over-explaining, using parenthetical phrases, or verbally listing multi-step or convoluted instructions.

• Externalize information. Lighten the load on working memory with visual aids. Here are some ideas:
  • Write instructions on the board, especially to supplement verbal instruction
  • Provide lesson outlines to help students follow along
  • Hang posters around the classroom that help with brainstorming and problem-solving (e.g., the long division process, multiplication tables, the parts of an essay, commonly misspelled words)
  • Use visual timers (e.g., the Time Timer) to help students “see” the passage of time and prioritize their tasks

• Maintain routines. Predictability and consistency promote calm, while habits save students from having to call on working memory. Avoid varying classroom procedures in the name of novelty, as it may have a counter-productive effect.

Bring Mindfulness and Calm to the Classroom

Mindfulness aims to shrink down the world to the here and now in order to calm the mind and body. Use it to end a state of heightened arousal (such as fear and anxiety) by doing the following:

[Read: 10 Mindfulness Exercises for Stronger School Focus]

• Take a mindful minute. Find a moment during the school day – like before a quiz or after lunch – to do a mindfulness activity with the class. Breathing exercises, like box breathing, are simple but effective. Have students breathe in for a count of three, hold for a count of three, exhale for a count of three, then hold the empty breath for a count of three.

• Designate a “cool-down” spot where students can go if they need to reclaim some calm.

• Encourage students to create a “cool-down” kit. Ask students to bring about three items from home (nothing of high value) that can soothe them in school. It could be a piece of fabric with a soothing texture, a bar of soap with a calming fragrance , a photograph, a fidget, etc. Have them use the kit for a few minutes before a test or another demanding activity.

Adjust Instruction

When teaching a collectively stressed classroom or a single student who has experienced acute stress, alter your expectations accordingly.

• Grant students more time to complete assignments or divide assignments into smaller segments.
• Allow movement breaks.
• Cut down on the quantity of work (but not quality), or plan for shorter work periods.
• Allow students to weave their interests into assignments and projects.
• Use multiple modalities to reinforce learning.
• Design the day’s structure to align with students’ productivity patterns. Avoid giving tests in the morning, for example, if students struggle with focus and attention at that time.
• Make accommodations and interventions universal to avoid singling out a student. For example, check the entire class’s agenda, not just one student’s, for accuracy in copying down the homework off the board.

Trauma-Informed Teaching and Students with ADHD: Next Steps

• Free Download: 6 Ways to Develop Emotional Control at School
• Read: Childhood Trauma Happens More Than You Think It Does. How Do We Treat It?
• Read: How Do You Reassure Your Child When You’re Scared, Too?

The content for this article was derived, in part, from the ADDitude Mental Health Out Loud episode titled, “How Stress and Trauma Affect Brain Development” [Video Replay and Podcast #407] with Cheryl Chase, Ph.D., which was broadcast live on June 23, 2022.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Sources

¹ de Veld, D. M., Riksen-Walraven, J. M., & de Weerth, C. (2014). Acute psychosocial stress and children’s memory. Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 17(4), 305–313. https://doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2014.919446

Surprising Sign of ADHD #1: Difficulty with Transitions

The teacher gives a two-minute warning to the class that independent reading time is about to end. But when the teacher announces it is time to move on to science, the student does not stop reading.

The Explanation

ADHD is best seen as a medical disorder affecting a child’s overall self-management skills, frequently referred to as executive functioning. These skills let us manage things in life — our goals, projects, time, emotions, or social situations — and they can manifest as forgetfulness, poor focus, or weak impulse control when they’re not working properly.

Kids with ADHD over-focus on what’s captivating, can’t focus when effort is unnatural but necessary, and can’t transition because switching attention is part of managing these skills well. A student who keeps reading after it’s time to move on can come across as misbehaving. But if a child can’t shift attention easily, he might not even register that a teacher is speaking while he’s focused on his book.

The Solution

Give students an advance warning of five minutes. Help them come to a good stopping point. You might suggest that they “pause” rather than stop, reminding them that they can come back to the current task later. Then start the next task with them individually, when possible.

[Free Download: The Ultimate ADHD Toolkit for Parents and Teachers]

Surprising Sign of ADHD #2: Struggling to Follow Instructions

A teacher says it’s time for math. This means students must put aside other tasks to get out a pencil, a piece of paper, and their math book, and open the book to the correct page. A student appears to be ignoring the teacher’s instructions by moving slowly or not at all.

The Explanation

Tied tightly to executive dysfunction, ADHD can be reframed as a disorder of organization, planning, and time management. Getting ready for math requires a student to first hear the instruction and then transition attention out of one activity to another.

They also need to know the location of their supplies, avoid distractions during each step, return their attention to the teacher, and do all that quickly enough to keep up and get settled in time to absorb the lesson. This is a strain on ADHD brains.

The Solution

Avoid telling the student how to start the next activity before finishing the current one. Some students with ADHD have short-term working memory deficits, so trying to remember everything can feel overwhelming. Also:

• Recognize that planning skills aren’t acquired automatically by some people, who need repeated explicit instruction.
• Meet with them privately or assign partners to check progress. Make your daily activities as predictable as possible.
• Post your day’s schedule prominently.
• Write down the step-by-step directions for doing the task.
• Provide a visual sequence of the task to be completed

[Self-Test: Could My Child Have a Learning Disability?]

Surprising Sign of ADHD #3: Social Rejection

A student seems to be disliked by her peers. She is socially isolated, eats alone, and doesn’t join other kids in school activities.

The Explanation

While often unintentional, ADHD’s behavioral symptoms can annoy peers. ADHD impairs communication when it causes kids to miss details in a conversation, or struggle to organize their thoughts quickly, which is a working memory-related task. To others, it can seem like the child isn’t listening or isn’t interested in the conversation.

The Solution

Just as we teach academic skills, we should teach social skills. Privately, we should reinforce when we see students with ADHD acting appropriately. We also must teach neurotypical students to be tolerant of others, stressing that all students have individual needs and we must help them as much as we can. When we see students engaging in those random acts of kindness, we should recognize them.

Surprising Sign of ADHD #4: Disruptiveness

Long after the rest of the class has complied with the teacher’s signal for quiet, a student is unable to stop talking and is seen as disruptive.

The Explanation

Being overly talkative is common with ADHD, as is distractedly missing cues and struggling to shift attention. Children rarely learn to change these kinds of behaviors through discussion and/or consequences. They cannot simply choose not to have an ADHD symptom, and they often start feeling bad about themselves when they require so much redirection.

The Solution

We need to teach students ways to regulate their emotions before they need them, not when they are in the middle of a crisis. Breathing techniques and mindfulness activities can be helpful. If we teach them in advance, then we can provide a quiet reminder when the child needs it.

Surprising Sign of ADHD #5: Missing Materials

A student chronically forgets her materials — a pencil and workbook, her homework when it’s due, and other assignments.

The Explanation

Forgetfulness is a symptom of ADHD. Repeatedly marking down grades for an ADHD symptom doesn’t help anyone much — a student with ADHD can’t magically conjure motivation because ADHD is a planning disorder. That means a student who has ADHD lags behind in the executive function skills that would help her devise solutions to overcome her challenges.

The Solution

Talk to the student privately. Brainstorm together. Can she bring in a box of pencils to be kept in your classroom as her personal stash? Provide her with a checklist of what to bring to class that she can carry as a reminder. Give her the responsibility of collecting everyone’s assignments in class as a reward for turning in her assignments on time.

[Download: A Guide to Building Foundational Executive Functions]

Surprising Sign of ADHD #6: Reading Skill Stagnation

A student who doesn’t seem to have a learning disability isn’t progressing in reading.

The Explanation

For fluent reading, we first must decode words effortlessly, which obviously requires language and background knowledge. And then, as new research has confirmed, we need strong attention and executive function to manage all the information we’re consuming. These are the three components, broadly speaking, of strong reading skills.

Kids with ADHD often struggle with reading because of inattention and executive dysfunction, as well as lost instructional time in general. They also may avoid reading until they find it easy because avoiding effort and failure are common with ADHD as well. That’s particularly true without strong screen time limits at home.

The Solution

Many children with ADHD also have a learning disability, such as a more specific impairment in decoding or comprehension. As such, there should be a low threshold for requesting educational testing for students with ADHD. If academic concerns persist, don’t assume this is caused by their ADHD symptoms alone.

Surprising Sign of ADHD #7: “Wasted” Potential

A gifted student seems to have lots of potential in school but doesn’t appear to study or try very hard.

The Explanation

A student may successfully coast for a few years, then hit a brick wall when they are unable to manage time, study, or prepare effectively — usually in middle or high school. The skill of studying relies on long-term thinking, creating a plan, and sticking to a plan; many students with ADHD fail to understand the why of studying, much less how.

The Solution

Juggling an intense workload with poor organizational skills can send a student’s stress level through the roof. Writing and other assignments may take far longer than expected, even though the end product may be brilliant.

Even when a student is gifted, he may shut down if he feels overwhelmed. Therefore, we must break assignments into small steps, encourage the student to set earlier deadlines than what may be required, and provide him with tools that can make the assignment easier to complete. Appropriate accommodations can be life-changing for students, even when their grades are good.

ADHD in the Classroom: Next Steps

• Watch: A Parent’s Guide to Problem Solving School Behavior Struggles
• Free Download: Help Your Child Love School in 22 Steps
• Read: Back to School Prep: 10 Talks to Have for a Great School Year

Mark Bertin, M.D., is a developmental pediatrician and author of Mindful Parenting for ADHD. Beverley Holden Johns is president of the Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois and the author or co-author of 23 books on special education. Kathy Kuhl helps parents of students who learn differently at LearnDifferently.com.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.