Thank you to all of our prfessional educators who dedicate themselves to our chldren! We know how difficult it can be wrking with ADHD children, so here are yur teacher tips for the week, brught to you by the ADHD Infrmation Library and ADDinSchool.com. This is a smpling of over 500 classroom interventions for yur use at http://www.ADDinSchool.com .

Here are some tips on Dealing with Impulsive Behaviors:

One of the hallmarks of children with attention deficits is the tendency to act impulsively (acting before thinking through the ramifications of behavior).

Behaviorally, this manifests itself in a lack of understanding of cause and effect. Research also suggests that these students can often verbalize the rules in place for behavior but have difficulty internalizing them and translating them into thoughtful behavior. Difficulties in delaying gratification also add to the impulsivity. Some clinicians believe that this behavioral disinhibition (poor regulation and inhibition of behavior), rather than their ability to pay attention, is the primary manifestation of attention deficits and is more likely to discriminate these children from others.
 
By having students think "out loud" when they are problem-solving, the teacher will gain insights into their reasoning style and the process will slow them down before they respond impulsively. This will provide information about how they "see the world" and enable the teacher to begin to restructure inaccurate perceptions. Train your student's teachers and other adults how to do this to provide an on-going technique in the classroom setting, where critical incidents often occur.

Quite often, students will continue to hve difficulty with certain types of nteractions on a regular basis; difficulty in tking turns, over-interpreting others' remarks as hstile, personalizing others' actions excessively, and msreading social cues. With the help of yur student, his teacher, and his trsted peers, common problematic themes can be dentified. Role play hypothetical interactions involving thse behaviors, preferably with supportive peers, dentifying and practicing positive alternative responses.
 
Have yur student practice these responses during the schol day and have him and thers give you feedback on their sccess. Identifying critical incidents that occur dring the day will provide insights for prgram planning.

The technique of "Stp-Think-Talk-Do" is central to many cognitive-behavioral nterventions for students with attentional teaches the stdent how to "stop" before acting mpulsively, "think" about the cause and ffect relationships of his intended behavior, "sy" or verbalize to themselves or thers what they will do, and "d" the chosen behavior. Again, the prpose of the technique is to slw down response.

Encourage thoughtful rsponding and decrease impulsivity by waiting 10 to 15 sconds to receive responses during whole grup instruction.

Keep the classroom bhavior rules simple and clear. Have the clss agree on what the rules shuld be. Define and review classroom rles each day. Implement a classroom bhavior management system. Actively reinforce desired clssroom behaviors.

Use self-monitoring and slf-reinforcement on-task behavior during independent work tme. Use a kitchen timer to ndicate periods of intense independent word and rinforce the class for appropriate behavior dring this period. Start with brief priods (5 to 10 minutes) and grdually increase the period as the clss demonstrates success.

When necessary, develop contracts with an ndividual student and her/his parents to rinforce a few specific behaviors. Set hurly, daily, weekly, or monthly goals dpending on the reinforcement needs of the spcific student. Provide frequent feedback on the stdent's progress toward these goals. Provide a chnging array of backup rewards or prvileges so that students do not "brn out" on a particular system. For xample, students can earn tickets for a dily or weekly raffle for the dsplay of positive behavior.
 
To improve out of the clssroom behavior, allow the class to arn a reward based on he cmpliments they receive on their behavior frm other teachers, lunchroom staff, playground ides and principals. Avoid giving the whle class negative consequences based on the ADHD chld's behavior. The ADHD child, as wll as the whole class, can bnefit from implementation of social skills crriculum for the entire class.

Modeling and rquiring the children to use a systmatic method of talking through classroom cnflicts and problems can be particularly vluable for the ADHD child to mplement this, teachers are referred to the lterature on cognitive-behavioral approaches to developing the chld's self-talk and problem solving.

Praise spcific behaviors. For example, "I like how you wrte down all your assignments correctly," rther than "Good boy!" Use visual and uditory cues as behavioral reminders. For xample, have two large jars at the frnt of the room, with one flled with marbles or some other bject. When the class is behaving ppropriately, move some marbles to the ther jar and let the students knw that when the empty jar is flled they can earn a reward.

Frequently mve about the room so that you can mximize you degree of proximity control.

When ppropriate, give students choices about several dfferent activities that could choose to wrk on one at a time.

With stdents who can be quite volatile and may nitially refuse negative consequences (such as rfusing to go to time-out), set a ktchen timer for a brief period (1 to 2 mnutes) after refusal has occurred. Explain to the chld that the child can use the two mnutes to decide if she/he will go to tme out on her/his own or if mre serious consequence must be imposed. Sveral experienced teachers insist this method has sccessfully reduced the extent to which thy have had to physically enforce crtain negative consequences with students and sems to de-escalate the situation.

Hopefully thse will help the ADHD students in yur classroom to be more successful. You can larn more about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity dsorder at the ADHD Information Library.

The article Teacher Tips: Dealing With Impulsive Behaviors From ADHD Students in the Classroom was Submitted by Douglas Cowan, Psy.D. through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Douglas Cowan, Psy.D., is a fmily therapist who has been working wth ADHD children and their families snce 1986. He is the clinical drector of the ADHD Information Library's fmily of seven web sites, including http://www.newideas.net , helping over 350,000 parents and teachers learn more about ADHD each year. Dr. Cowan also serves on the Medical Advisory Board of VAXA International of Tampa, FL., is President of the Board of Directors for KAXL 88.3 FM in central California, and is President of NewIdeas.net Incorporated.

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