The child with ADHD will certainly present a number of difficulties in school. Knowing the progress of the disorder throughout life, that is, that over the years the symptoms of attention deficit continue to be present and at the same time knowing the co-association of attention disorder with hyperactivity, with learning disorders, it is not difficult to deal with remember what obstacles a student with ADHD might have in this context.
First of all, the school is an institution that inevitably requires the child to have a certain attitude and behavior in accordance with the rules and norms it contains. On the other hand, the teaching learning process requires the participation of a number of cognitive functions, the coordination of which is certainly complicated by ADHD.
The child with ADHD “fails” to be a typically “good” student and is not the ideal student that a teacher would like to have in the classroom. This is not only due to the fact that a child with ADHD is really difficult to manage, but in most cases teachers lack the knowledge, information and proper training to work with such a student. There are very few teachers who have the proper professional training to properly educate children with attention disorders.
Thus, in order to hide the frustration that comes with working with them, the incompetence or the lack of interventional techniques and instruments, the majority of teachers who fail to understand the nature of the disorder and that it is a disorder of a biological/neurological nature, blame wrongly holding parents responsible for the inappropriate “behavior” of their children, claiming that they have raised spoiled children.
Different teachers may have experience and knowledge to respond to the special needs of children with different developmental or educational abilities. While working with children with ADHD has a different character and requires the possession of accurate and up-to-date information on the disorder and the application of relevant intervention plans, strategies and individual programs, according to each child.
Listed below are some of the problems with which children with ADHD coexist and face in their school life, in addition to the requirements and obligations that this context presents.
What school requires:
- Listen to explanations and be attentive
- Ability to learn selectively
- Making efforts during activities that require mental effort
- Respect and implementation of rules in the classroom
- Organisation skill
- Analytical, synthetic, deductive skills
- Interest in the learning process
- Emotional self-control
- Internal locus of control
- Metacognitive skills; to learn how to learn
What difficulties does a student with ADHD present:
- Scattered attention
- Difficulty concentrating on complex tasks
- Poor organizational skills
- Poor ability to select and memorize the most important information
- Inability to follow instructions, rules and implement procedures/directions/assignments
- Poor ability to work towards meeting certain objectives
- Poor skills in determining strategies to perform tasks or solve school problems
- Weak analytical, synthetic, deductive skills
- Little or no motivation towards the learning process and certain school disciplines
- Poor emotion control
- Misattributions
- Strategies to manage ADHD behaviors in the classroom
In order to reduce and minimize the symptoms of ADHD in the school context, a series of interventions for the behaviors of these children have been developed and conceived; both at the academic level, as well as self-control, inappropriate behavior, attention and so on.
Before they are explained in turn, it is important to understand and keep in mind that the focus of working with these children should not be to overemphasize the negative, impulsive and hyperactive behaviors they display.
On the contrary, in order to achieve efficient results and for them to actually improve, it is imperative to pay attention to all the positive efforts they make and the constructive behaviors they display in the classroom.
Giving positive feedback is not only an appropriate technique at the level of forming and encouraging desired behaviors, but it is also a very good booster of self-esteem and positive self-concept of these children; appreciation they badly need.
So, for example, if a hyperactive student who sits very little in the classroom, all the time the teacher draws his attention and reprimands him for this action, the chances are that the frequency of this action will increase.
Whereas if the teacher praises the child when he is sitting, this behavior will be positively reinforced and will be more frequent. Or another case, when a noisy student is working quietly, the teacher’s praise will increase the positive and appropriate attitude of this student.
So, the use of rewards, praise, giving positive feedback, compliments and positive reinforcement, serves to avoid creating that dangerous vicious circle where children with ADHD are only criticized and their positive behaviors are passed over in silence. noticed.
