Looking for tips for teaching ADHD child

[8Arrows4theLord]

I am teaching a 1-2 gr. Sunday school class and have 2 ADHD children in the class. I have very little experience with this specific issue. I hope to be able to help these children enjoy the class. Does anyone have some great tried and true tips on how to work with children with this difficulty? Any and all advice will be very welcome.

Thanks!!

 

[PeterPan]

Are the children having behaviors? Honestly, not all kids with ADHD have behaviors in Sunday School. It really depends on their mix. In general, I would make sure that as you teach you are appealing to a broad variety of modalities. Have things that are kinesthetic, things that are visual, etc. Many ADHD kids are going to be visual or kinesthetic or a mixture. If you still use a flannelgraph, that's one way. I used to try to bring in objects to pass around to go with the lessons.

 

Many churches now do this, but it's good practice to have two workers/adults in the room. That way one can handle behaviors and redirecting while the other teaches. If the dc are actually having behaviors, then you'll want to talk with their parents about how they want the behaviors handled and not assume. Your church may also have a policy. In general, your role will be positive reinforcement, lots of praise, and redirecting. Usually they'll say to lavish praise in a ratio like 3:1 or 6:1. You can also "tomato stake" challenging kids or give them jobs. (hand out papers, hold the flannelgraph figures, etc.) It's counterintuitive, but giving jobs and responsibility *can* help them feel more connected and help them attend more to what is going on. It also gives you more chances to praise and reinforce the desired behavior. :)

 

Structure, clear expectations, that will be your friend. Tell them the plan, let it be consistent every time. Alternate easy and hard. Work from less preferred to more preferred, saving something motivating for the end to end on a positive note.

 

It's lots of basics you probably already do, but you can make it extra intentional so that you know it's there. 

 

Some kids with ADHD will have more challenging behaviors. They might have issues with body in the group, noticing how people feel about their actions, etc. If you're dealing with harder situations like that, that's a referral or an ask for support. I actually had that happen, where the dc had serious "body in the group" issues, and at that point we asked the parents what they wanted and followed their instructions. There are Social Thinking materials they can use to help the dc understand expected behaviors, but it's just way outside the scope of Sunday School. Also, some kids at this age with an ADHD label later go on to have other labels (autism, auditory processing disorder, etc.), so unfortunately you could be seeing any range of behaviors right now, things the parents may or may not have even gotten complete answers for. Makes it hard for EVERYBODY, sigh.

 

I would ask about snacks they can/can't have before you give snacks, because some parents keep their kids off food colorings, etc. that affect behavior. You might find, if the kids are on meds, that they do better at a certain point as they kick in. Some kids' meds take as much as 2 hours to kick in (yeah, for real), So they might be barely kicking in when SS starts. Some kids will have issues with transitions or anxiety. If you see they're having issues with the transitions, you can smooth them by making a visual schedule or making the plan more clear, giving plenty of warning before changes. Structure and a clear plan, no surprises, can also reduce anxiety. They might need extra help to clean up toys, etc.

 

Hmm, anything else? What are you seeing and what questions do you have? 

[kbutton]

More specifically than structure, I would say build a routine, and then provide visual reinforcement for the routine. Provide good transitions, teach what to do during transition (how you want them to walk down the hall, etc. if that applies), and realize the hardest behaviors might occur then. Pause to let kids catch up--don't be starting one thing while someone is finishing up another unless you have shown them how that is supposed to go and have given them practice. One of my kids is a slow processor, and he truly responds to things on a time delay. It's like watching the sloths on Zootopia, lol! 

 

Within the routine, then you can vary activities--if you have a game at some point, it doesn't have to be the same game, but you probably want to do things in the same order each week. Some kids will want to have the same game each week, and some will not. 

 

Provide a little time to socialize--the kids who need to get someone's attention will have a chance to do so in a good way, lol! 

 

Be specific about classroom rules, but keep them simple. You might want to actually explain what you consider sharing. I would seriously look at whether the kids are able to be collaborative or not and adjust rules around that. For instance, my son went to a Montessori preschool, and there were rules about sharing. You couldn't just butt into someone's work and insist they share--you had to ask to join, and it was okay for the person with the work to say no. They actually had defined spaces for work--some work was on a tray, and if it wasn't, you could get a placemat/rug to put it on. You could ask people to join your work, but that space was how they taught kids to be respectful of each other. I think kids in first to second grade are still learning this even though sharing is much more appropriate then than in preschool. But kids with ADHD are often still learning to self-regulate, transition, share, give people personal space, etc. later than other kids. If you make it a classroom support, then it's not singling anyone out. There may be ways you can use floor tape and other supports to give them cues for what is okay and what is not or how much room there should be between people to be respectful (for bench seating, for instance).

 

Don't be surprised if instead of bonging off the walls, the kids with ADHD are controlling or rigid. There are lots of things that fall under the ADHD umbrella. I know many people with ADHD, and they all have different strong and weak points. Almost all tend to have problems with being in sync with a group though--they might be the kids who really don't get that they should walk in a straight line so that they aren't tripping someone, or they might not realize that everyone has moved on. (Hence the transition suggestions) Anyway, some kids cope with this asynchrony by being silly or making things even more disorganized to be funny (or mocking rules, etc.), some get anxious and avoidant, some get controlling, rigid, and tattletale. I am sure there are other presentations. But don't expect them all to be disorganized in the same ways.

 

Otherwise, what OhElizabeth said. :-) 

[8Arrows4theLord]

Thanks for some tips. I've had 3 weeks now with my class. I started a song time (with motions) as a transition, which seems to be working well, and have been keeping to a schedule. The one child still is literally running into the walls and making laps around the table during class though. I'd like to figure out some ideas for the Bible story time. That's when the running starts. The child is ok during the rest of the class, because they are doing things. But I don't know how to change the story time. I found a story book with good pictures, but am at a loss on what else to do. The child is also off the meds for the summer.

[nature girl]

Could you give him a coloring page to do during story time? Or ask him to draw a picture related to the story while you're reading? Just having an activity will help to keep his mind engaged.

[HomeAgain]

Acting out the story can help immensely for this age.  Give them parts before you tell the story so they know what to listen for, keep the explanation short, and have them reenact it as you give more information.  Or read a few lines as narrator, and let them play-act. 
If that's not possible, you could use the key-word technique.  Pick 4-5 repeating words in the text and teach the ASL sign or a made up sign (like rather than finger spelling "Noah", you could sign a long beard) at the beginning.  As you read, put emphasis on these words and have the kids sign along with the story.  I also might be tempted to print out a copy for each child in large font with the words bolded so they could follow along.

[Lecka]

Could you do it while kids are at a table and let them do play dough?

 

This is more work, but could you have some things that go along with the story that kids hold and bring up as they come up? I have seen this with laminated things with a magnet, but maybe you could do it with tape and paper? Then if they have a certain thing they are listening for it in the story, and there is a bit of visual to the story, too.

 

Maybe show a video of the Bible story.

 

Maybe do some kind of teacher-led physical routine before the Bible story.

 

Maybe have a snack at the same time as the Bible story.

 

Maybe ask him to hold up a picture while you read -- or some other "important job" that also keeps him close to you.

[PeterPan]

Do you have an aide in the class? ADHD does not mean the child has to be running around like that. He's running around because the parents used meds instead of getting behavioral intervention and teaching him self-regulation. Yes there are things you can do (playdough, a bin of toys at his seat, etc.), but you don't have to allow what's going on. The parent can come sit with their dc and help him be occupied in a non-distracting way, or someone can come in as an aide. The dc can be told the parameters and given some structure. (If you want to get up, you may go to this rug and play with this bin in a non-distracting way.) An aide could model and redirect to help him work in a non-distracting way.

 

Also, are you doing something physical when you transition to quiet time? You can do some songs with motion (jumping, stomping, etc.) to get out some of the wiggles.

 

Some people learn better or at least well when they're in motion. It's not a problem for him to be in motion. It's a problem for him to be *distracting* and out of control and unsafe. An ADHD boy might not be interested in coloring, but might really like a bin of legos or duplos to build with during the lesson. It's ok to give some structure, like this is the rug for our story, we're staying on the rug, stay in the group. If you have flannelgraph figures, the dc can move the fllannelgraph figures for the story.

 

Body in the group is a pretty basic social thinking concept you have to teach sometimes, and it's reasonable to expect. You wouldn't mind if he were playing in the group (on the rug where the table is, etc.). It's when he's leaving the group that it's a problem. If you don't have an aide, a worker, definitely sounds like you need one. If you have kids leaving the group, it can get unsafe very quickly, and it's distracting for you as the teacher. So then the challenge is telling the worker what their tools are for redirecting and telling the dc ahead of time what his choices are for things he's allowed to do if he's bored or needs to move during the lesson. I would be very upfront.

 

You could also do something really different like bringing in a bouncy ball or small trampoline with a handle, then kids who need to move can ask for permission to go to the movement corner and move during the lesson. Then you've got control but they're getting their movement. It's stuff our SLP did with ds. He had a LOT of movement to him, oh my, so it was always that challenge to get out that movement but have it be in control, in the group, asking permission, not just renegade. And people would do things like take him for a long walk, take him to the playground. 

 

Now he's calmed down quite a bit. We did a lot of reflex work, and he sits pretty well now.

Edited June 28, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[kbutton]

I am glad the transition songs with motions are helping! It sounds like you are offering a realistic amount of support for most kids who don't need an aide. 

 

This is more work, but could you have some things that go along with the story that kids hold and bring up as they come up? I have seen this with laminated things with a magnet, but maybe you could do it with tape and paper? Then if they have a certain thing they are listening for it in the story, and there is a bit of visual to the story, too.

 

I like all of Lecka's ideas, but I wanted to highlight this one. It's a great idea, but having taught a class for this age once upon a time, I couldn't for the life of me find options like this that didn't require me to reinvent the wheel every stinkin' week. It's shocking how little is available. 

 

One option (that my Sunday School kids liked) is to draw a symbol or little thing for each part of the story on a white board as you talk. Stick figures are okay! Any sort of chicken scratch can be effective and interesting.

 

If you can find some old school detailed flannel graph sets, you might have some luck, but to be honest, this kiddo sounds like one that is just not going to sit.

 

He's running around because the parents used meds instead of getting behavioral intervention and teaching him self-regulation.

 

Yes there are things you can do (playdough, a bin of toys at his seat, etc.), but you don't have to allow what's going on. The parent can come sit with their dc and help him be occupied in a non-distracting way, or someone can come in as an aide. The dc can be told the parameters and given some structure. (If you want to get up, you may go to this rug and play with this bin in a non-distracting way.) An aide could model and redirect to help him work in a non-distracting way.

 

Regarding the bolded, some kids need meds to self-regulate at all. I've known kids like this, and they wore teachers out. Sometimes multiple teachers in one day (no, I am not kidding). His parents might be in this boat, but they might not be, but sometimes you might as well pound sand as teach strategies to unmedicated kids. It's not a magic formula. 

I agree heartily with the other suggestions, but I will also say that it's very hard to "train" church culture such that these options aren't distracting all by themselves without a TRAINED aide. I have seen trained aides do it, but for a volunteer, it's very difficult to be that unobtrusive while teaching everyone what to expect.

 

Most ADHD meds are stimulants--in and out of the system daily. I would be a little offended that the parents are open to meds but feel like Sunday School is not worth medicating for. That shows a (potential) disregard for your time, though they may not have thought it through to that point. 

 

My answers are clouded by frustrations at my own church. I love my church. They are very open. However, we are stuck between caring teachers who are hampered by parents who disregard their kiddo's issues on one side and on the other side by caring teachers that just don't really want to be structured--they just want to love on their young charges to keep it a "positive experience." We have some not Sunday AM programming that tends to draw teachers who are very black and white about things to add another dimension to the problem. We have aides available (to some extent, and they are volunteers who are not necessarily trained), but it's up to the parent to request, and too many do not. Sigh. I think the parents do not realize how time consuming and needy their children are because they structure their homes differently to accommodate some of those needs. It doesn't always translate to a church setting! 

It is not easy. OP, I think it sounds like you are doing a great job! I think you have more things you can try, but I think you should not feel badly or like you are not up to the task if the additional strategies do not work. It's a two-way street (at least) as a volunteer.