ADHD Classroom Best Practices: Instruction and Management

Introduction

For a student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a teacher's plan for best practices should include behavioral and cognitive approaches that target the learner's IEP goals and help ensure a positive classroom experience. Students with ADHD are identified as learning disabled because of "deficits in the acquisition of specific academic skills" in their overall ability to learn in traditional ways (Clarfield & Stoner, 2005, p. 246). To help these students overcome the challenges associated with their learning disorder, Pfiffner, Barkley, and DuPaul (2006) point out that teachers should consider alternative approaches to instruction—namely, "school-based interventions should include both proactive and reactive strategies to maximize behavior change" (p. 547). Thus, the plan for best practices should be focused on employing proactive and reactive strategies to facilitate the student's acquisition of knowledge and maintain discipline and effective classroom management (Pfiffner et al., 2006). This paper discusses these management techniques along with appropriate instructional techniques that can be implemented to assist the ADHD learner, and examines how teachers can provide emotional support and use effective assessments.

Proactive and Reactive Management Strategies

For discipline and classroom management, teachers can adopt both proactive and reactive strategies. Proactive strategies involve approaches such as the modification of instruction or providing a more suitable classroom context for the student with ADHD. By reducing the amount of stress the student might otherwise encounter, the teacher can clear the pathways to education in a proactive manner. For children with ADHD, stressors can come from peers, from instruction methods that do not hold their attention or engage them effectively, or from the physical environment in which the child is situated. Using appropriate instructional methods—in which the child is supported in focusing on aspects of the lesson that are of interest and ensuring those are understood fully before moving on to a separate area of instruction—can be facilitative (Pfiffner et al., 2006). Proactive strategies can also help the teacher provide emotional support: one example is allowing the student to sit in a designated section of the classroom so that the child is more comfortable and less prone to distractions from peers, which can lead to emotional stress and destabilization. The more focused the child is, the more emotionally stable he or she will be.

Reactive strategies focus more on demonstrating to the student that there are consequences for "following a target behavior" (Pfiffner et al., 2006, p. 550). The teacher should implement positive reinforcement to support the student's behavioral goals, and to support this initiative, the teacher may include "the use of peers, parents, or computers to deliver classroom interventions" (Pfiffner et al., 2006, p. 550). One example would be a teacher rewarding the ADHD learner with a new book, pencil, notebook, or sticker for reaching a target behavior, such as working quietly and independently for an entire session.

Computer-Assisted Instruction for ADHD Learners

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) can be very effective in helping students with ADHD focus and learn more effectively. As Mautone, DuPaul, and Jitendra (2005) show, "students and teachers consider CAI to be an acceptable intervention for some students with ADHD who are having difficulty with mathematics" (p. 301). Computer-assisted instruction allows students with ADHD to engage with learning in a manner that holds their interest and is uniquely tailored to their needs through the interactive nature of the experience. CAI facilitates an active learning process that helps the learner more deeply acquire the knowledge being transferred over the course of instruction.

Conclusion

Students with ADHD can be supported by non-traditional methods of instruction, such as computer-assisted instruction, as well as by proactive and reactive strategies that can help both the student and the teacher in terms of management, discipline, and emotional regulation. The more that a student with ADHD is provided a safer learning context in which stress is reduced to a minimum, the more favorable the outcomes will be for the learner. In some cases, this can mean allowing the student to engage in learning independently, focusing on aspects of the instruction that are most meaningful before moving on to another area of the subject; in other cases, it can mean removing the student for periods from peers who may be serving as a source of distraction. It can also mean reinforcing positive behavior through positive consequence support, such as a pencil or notebook for reaching behavioral targets.

The teacher should always strive to be emotionally supportive and understanding of the student's needs. Children with ADHD are not deliberately acting bored, disinterested, or upset—they are simply trying to navigate their own feelings and impulses, just like any other child, only their challenge is more difficult because of their disorder. A compassionate, structured, and flexible approach to teaching remains the foundation of effective support for these learners.

References

Clarfield, J., & Stoner, G. (2005). The effects of computerized reading instruction on the academic performance of students identified with ADHD. School Psychology Review, 34(2), 246.

Mautone, J. A., DuPaul, G. J., & Jitendra, A. K. (2005). The effects of computer-assisted instruction on the mathematics performance and classroom behavior of children with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 9(1), 301–312.

Pfiffner, L. J., Barkley, R. A., & DuPaul, G. J. (2006). Treatment of ADHD in school settings. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment, 3, 547–589.