Supporting Students With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Teachers' Edition

What You Can Do To Help Students:
1. Seat students away from doors and windows
2. Alternate seated activities with those that allow the child their body around the room
3. Whenever possible, incorporate physical movement into lessons
4. Write important information down where the child can easily read and reference it
5. Divide big assignments into smaller ones
6. Allow children frequent breaks
7. Utilize behavior plans (make sure a written behavior plan is near the student)
8. Give consequences immediately following misbehavior (make sure the child knows how they misbehaved)
9. Recognize good behavior out loud (be specific in your praise, ensuring that the child knows what they did right
10. Write the schedule for the day on the board or on a piece of paper and cross off each item as it is completed
11. Have the student run an errand or do a task for you, even if it just means walking across the room to sharpen pencils or put dishes away
12. Encourage the student to play a sport (or at least run around before and after school)
13. Provide a stress ball, small toy, or other object for the child to squeeze or play with discreetly at his or her seat to keep them calm
14. Make sure the student never misses recess or physical education
15. Be brief when giving directions
16. Allow the student to do one step and then come back to find out what they should do next
16. If the student gets off task, give a calm reminder, redirecting in a calm but firm voice
17. Whenever possible, write directions down in a bold marker or in colored chalk on a blackboard
18. Use physical motion in lessons
19. Connect facts to interesting trivia
20. Invent silly songs and acronyms that make details easier to remember
21. Allow the student to hold, touch, or take part in an experience
22. Utilize manipulatives in lessons
23. Play games (ex: memory cards, dice, or dominoes)
24. Allow student to use their fingers and toes, tucking them in or wiggling them when they add or subtract
25. Allow students to draw pictures (ex: during word problems)
26. Read aloud to students
27. Model predictions and allow students to make their own
28. Act out stories (allow student to choose their characters and allow them to assign you one)