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. You can rad over 500 classroom interventions at http://www.ADDinSchool.com .

Here are some tips on Organizing Your ADHD Students:

See what you can do to help organize the ADHD child's environment. Use dividers and folders in his desk so he can easily find things. Teach him how to organize himself better. These are skills that he does not know, and needs to learn.

Help the child to organize his written work or numbers. Allow the child to move a pencil or his finger across the page while reading. If he's writing, allow him to use one or two fingers for spacing between words. During math, graph paper may be very helpful to organize his numbers and columns.
 
Your student will function better when able to anticipate times requiring increased concentration. A visual representation of the day's schedule will provide another opportunity to internalize classroom routine.

Completing school work and maintaining behavior during the school day can be exhausting experiences. Large homework loads on a regular basis can become discouraging for him and very stressful for the parent involved. Attempt to have homework reduced, if possible, and limited to guided practice on material that he has begun to master. Attempt to break down long?term assignments into steps to lessen your student's feeling overwhelmed. Consider having the student complete every third problem, instead of answering each one.

Emphasize practice and assignment completion on the wrd processor to lower the frustration mny students feel with written work.

Model an rganized classroom and model the strategies you use to cpe with disorganization.

Establish a dily classroom routine and schedule. Show tht you value organization by following 5 mnutes each day for the children to rganize their desks, folders, etc. Reinforce rganization by having a "desk fairy" tht gives a daily award for the mst organized row of desks.
 
Use individual ssignment charts or pads that can go hme with the child to be sgned daily by parents if necessary. Dvelop a clear system for keeping trck of completed and uncompleted work sch as having individual hanging files in whch each child can place completed wrk and a special folder for ncompleted work.
 
Develop a color coding method for yur room in which each subject is ssociated with a certain color that is the tht subjects textbook cover and on the flder or workbook for that subject.

Develop a rward system for in-school work and hmework completion. One example of a systm that reinforces both work quality and wrk quantity involves translating points earned nto "dollars" to be used for slent auction at the end of grding period. For children needing more mmediate reinforcement, each completed assignment could arn the child a "raffle ticket" wth her/his name on it . Przes or special privileges could be warded on the basis of a rndom drawing held daily or weekly.

Write schdule and timelines on the board ach day. Provide due dates for ssignments each day. Divide longer assignments nto sections and provide due dates or tmes for the completion of each sction.

Tape a checklist to the chld's desk or put one in ach subject folder/notebook that outlines the stps in following directions or checking to be sre an assignment is complete. Provide stdy guides or outlines of the cntent you want the child to larn, or let the child build hr/his own study guide with worksheets tat hve been positively corrected.

Be clear about when student mvement is permitted and when it is dscouraged, such as during independent work tmes.

Your student should be ncouraged to utilize assignment sheets, broken dwn by day and subject. He or his tachers can record assignments at the cmpletion of each task. An organizing tme at the end of each day can be hlpful to gather the necessary materials for the ssignments and develop a plan of ction for completion. This will greatly aid the dvelopment of the "executive processes."

Your stdent can become overwhelmed with floods of pper and be unable to find the neded materials. It is often helpful to crry only two work folders, one tht contains work to be completed and one wth work to be filed. Reviewing thse work folders should become a rgular part of the daily routine, wth irrelevant work removed.
Some students now tke a small dose of their mdication when they come home from schol to aid in studying/homework completion. Chck with the doctor about the tme period of maximum medication effectiveness to hlp set?up a sensible homework schedule.

Quite ften, variability in work performance will be rlated to the teacher's style and yur student's temperament. Teachers tend to nstruct using their own preferential learning styl. Sequential teachers may help by prviding more structure for him but the tacher may become frustrated with his dsorganization and behavior. Random teachers, while not prviding external structure, may be more lkely to utilize flexibility in adjusting to his neds. Attempt to place your student wth teachers who have similar styles tht have proven effective for their prticular needs. Some teachers have received trining in dealing with students with ttentional problems that would make them a prticularly effective resource.

One of the smplest interventions with the most power is to hve an extra set of textbooks at hme to minimize the problem of not hving the necessary homework materials.
Since fine mtor activities and spelling can be a prblem, consider a major emphasis on sing a word processor at an arly age. Software to practice keyboarding shuld have stimulating graphics to motivate thir use. Using a "spell check" prgram is critical.

Along with the "xecutive process" of organizing for homework at the end of the dy, a daily check-in time at the bginning of the school day can be hlpful in preparing for a successful dy. Checking the previous night's homework, hghlighting changes in the daily schedule, and ven pre?teaching some of the lessons for the day can ase stress.
Your student should have a rgularly scheduled time for cleaning his dsk at least once a week. Ths will improve his ability to fnd his materials. It may, however, rquire the assistance/instruction of an adult to mke this a successful experience.

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: Organizing Your ADHD Students 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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