ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a mental health condition characterized by a short attention span, impulsivity, and an excess of energy. Individuals with ADHD Students with ADHD often have difficulty getting started on their tasks, regulating attention to task or to people, and organizing or following through on instructions, school work, chores and/or classroom duties. They are easily distracted and forgetful, constantly on the go, and into everything. They are talkative and impulsive and can be disruptive in the classroom.

Classroom Strategies Described

Students with ADHD often require more supervision than age peers, particularly in unstructured settings; often display highly erratic production in terms of quality and quantity of work completed from day-to-day and at different times in the same day; and difficulty dealing with change, such as moving from one activity to the next.

These deficiencies can be managed through task management, keeping the student's classroom tasks short, clear, and engaging as well as diverse. Students with ADHD thrive when given clear and immediate feedback on their performance as this feedback fulfills their constant need for stimulation and excitement. Finally, students with ADHD, impulsive as they are, benefit from swift and consistent external reinforcement, both positive and negative.

2. Key Messages

- ADHD is a legitimate medical disorder with biological causes and is not an indication of poor parenting, lack of willpower, or lack of intelligence.

-Students with ADHD can benefit from medication, however, they do not necessarily need to be medicated to be functional in a classroom environment.

-Their short attention span and impulsivity can be managed through special principles and strategies to keep them engaged, encouraged, and informed about their performance on short-term tasks.

3. Notable Quotes

"Although boys are more likely to have AD/HD than girls, it is not a gender specific disorder. Clinicians typically report that boys are referred for AD/HD assessment nine times more often than girls. Studies using a broader population base generally indicate that the ratio of boys to girls with the disorder is closer to 3:1."

"In people with AD/HD, the brain areas that control attention have been observed to use less glucose, indicating that they are less active."

4. Strength related to the student with an exceptionality.

Individuals with ADHD tend to be highly creative, intuitive, open-minded, flexible, energetic, and optimistic. They are very quick learners when engaged and tend to develop a broad range of interests and hobbies as they get older. Students with ADHD are able to generate a tremendous amount of ideas in a very short period of time. They give a new meaning to the word brainstorm. Another great attribute of students with ADHD is their ability to work independently. Individuals with ADHD figuratively and sometimes literally throw themselves into their task, becoming so involved with it that the outside world disappears for a time.