Understanding and Supporting Children With ADHD: Strategies for Teachers, Parents and Other Professionals by Lesley A Hughes & Paul W Cooper

Author:Lesley A Hughes & Paul W Cooper
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781412918619
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2007-01-29T22:00:00+00:00

Case study

Amy’s teacher shows considerable insight when she states that she believes Amy’s tendency to be overly talkative in class is not wilful, but rather is a feature of her particular brand of intelligence:

Teacher:

I think that chattering and working at the same time is part of her intelligence. I keep her as busy as I can, so she can’t go off. Because I think that’s her problem a lot of the time, she just needs her mind to be active.

Keeping Amy stimulated in a focused and appropriate way has been an important factor in minimising the problems with her behaviour, both in class and in the home.

Amy recognizes that she has problems concentrating and remaining calm, and she believes that medication is helpful to her in this regard, but she also recognizes its limitations. An important feature of Amy’s attitude to medication is that she sees it as a tool that she uses for her own purposes, rather than as something that is imposed on her for the benefit of others:

Child:

I take tablets that calm me down when I need it, because after the four hours is nearly run out I feel giddy, but I calm down after I’ve taken it.

An important feature of this response is the child’s willingness to take responsibility for her own behaviour, albeit through the use of medication. Clearly, however, Amy is attempting to manage her behaviour to enable herself to adapt to the classroom situation. Given her teacher’s sympathetic and positive response to her need to ‘chatter’ whilst she works, it seems that there may be scope in this classroom for more accommodations to be made for Amy that might reduce the stress she experiences and make her less reliant on medication.

Practical classroom support for children with ADHD

A key message from these interviews, and other data sources in this study, is that the organizational structure of the classroom is influential in providing effective support for children with ADHD. Parents and teachers commonly identify the need for a structured environment, with 50

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5 THE NECESSITY OF COLLABORATIVE WORKING

clear guidance and instruction being an essential requirement of the support structure.

Consistency is also recognized to be a major requirement, as is discipline and organization of routine. It is common for parents and children to suggest that school work needs to be done at the child’s pace, rather than the pace being dictated by external drivers. There is also a recognition that children perform better when an adult scaffolds the work, enabling the child to recognize what is expected of him or her.

Teachers tend to emphasize that structure in the classroom situation provides children with the boundaries to guide their learning, and that working at the child’s pace is also effective in producing work. Some teachers identify incidents where respecting the child’s space or ways of working enabled more productive working. Teachers also tend to stress the importance of avoiding problem behaviour by steering children away from confrontational situations.

Keeping the child calm is perceived by

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