How many attention deficit kids does it take to screw in a lightbulb? - Let's ride bikes!
ADHD is a crazy thing that seemingly has the world always questioning how to deal with it. I'm pretty sure my feeble young mind was subject to this very thing as a kid, as I'm also pretty sure I'm subject to it now as an adult kid. Am I an expert? YES. Er. Yes? Don't care. I think I know what I'm talking about and you're interested in what I have to say otherwise you wouldn't be here here so here we go.
I was reading through Facebook and a fellow educator shared the following link to an education "info web a post" that discussed the subject. Give it a glance, or not. Whatever.
17 WAYS TO HELP ADHD or something....
ADHD is wrongly labeled. There isn't a deficit of attention. ADHD means you have hear, see, feel EVERYTHING. As I'm sitting here typing, I can't help but to hear my dog, my wife, the TV inside the house, the airplane outside, the sound of the lights, my typing hands and I can't stop thinking about playing Fallout 4, Doom and Battlefront. I'm also thinking about music, Pepsi, and how hot I am currently. (Hot as in chicks dig me.....no. Just temperature hot, but chicks do dig me) All of that stuff is going through my mind all at the same time, and this is the life of an ADHD person. When it comes to drugs, they don't take downers, they take uppers. Caffeine actually slows me down....why? Most people can simply ignore the things that bother them or are impacting them, but this isn't true for ADHD kids. Everything is there to pay attention to. When you take an upper, such as caffeine, you notice the things around you yes, but you can more readily ignore them. Boom. ADHD. Next -
So, the post above from the education thingamagiggy has basically one solution. Movement. That's it. Hey ADHD kids. Pay attention to movement so you can ignore every sound by every kid in the class as well as every sound in the hallway. It works. It really does, but there is so much more that you can do to help an ADHD kid.
My remedies.....
1. White Noise - Okay, the post mentioned this too but it is really important. Please educators, always have a fan going in your classroom, but make sure the noise is constant. Any clicking of a rotating fan is counter productive.
2. Strange Noise - Several of the teachers in my department have noise coming from the speakers in their ceiling which doesn't really bother them.......but it's like chalkboard fingernails to me and to every other ADHD kid. We can't help but to listen to the pattern of what that sound is making.
3. Resetting the brain - ADHD kids need to constantly reset their brain. I recommend having them take notes with three different colored pens. Every time they change pens, they reset. It might be a hassle for the normal person to always change pens every sentence, but an ADHD kid has no problem doing so. It actually helps them focus.
4. Resetting the brain part II - Print outs need to have different colors. White page, yellow page, white page, yellow page. Even writing one line on one page, and then another line on another page is beneficial.
5. Resetting the brain part III - Any learned tic will help. Do a school activity, and then: snap, eat a sunflower seed, stand up, make a sound, do any of the activities from the education posting....so long as it isn't constant.
6. Music is our friend - Believe it or not, it's easier for me to grade essays listening to metal music in a crowed cafeteria than it is in a quiet place.....because I'm over stimulating. There is too much to pay attention to, so I don't pay attention to anything. This works. I recommend for a struggling kid to listen to music (just not music that they know or has words that they will sing) Classical or ethnic music is probably best.
7. Have something to look at - As a test years ago, I used to put on the real estate channel while I gave tests. ADHD kids would hand in their tests and then totally watch the dumb channel. A quiet room with no stimulation means an ADHD kid will be stimulated by anything or make something to be stimulated by. Here is where the movement things work, but that distracts other kids as well.
8. Sit in the front - No matter what they tell you, an ADHD kid can't help but to pay attention to everything going on in the room. They must sit in front. Always.
9. Give the most challenging questions to ADHD kids - They will spend more time than anybody on something that they have the potential to figure out.
Okay. I'm officially bored. Just wanted to get a few of those things off my chest. Please send along any things that work for you if you are an ADHD kid. Thanks!
