We have heard of the major difficulties teachers face while dealing with students suffering from ADHD (Attention Specific Hyperactivity disorder). Children suffering from this problem often tend to lose control of their impulses. Teaching them can be different from normal routine teaching; they need special care and attention and there are specific aspects that need to be taken care of.

We will be discussing some of the tips that will help the teachers teach in an effective and convenient manner to the ADHD kids. Recent researches have found that flexible seating in classrooms can help in maintaining the attention span of the kids to a great extent.

Some general rules for teachers/parents to follow

As a teacher or parent, here are some of the generic rules to follow when you are dealing with ADD/ADHD kids. First and foremost, you should let them blend in and not at all let them feel that they are different from their peers. Try to talk to them and understand their perspectives at times.

Spread positivity

In classrooms or at home, there should be some ground rules to follow for the kids so that they can become disciplined. Now being strict with children suffering from ADHD will not work. You will have to be phrase things positively. When you set a particular rule, provide them with an explanation as to why following that certain rule is important. In this way, children will learn to do activities that would seem rational to them and become less impulsive after a certain period of time.

Accommodate their specific needs

They need special attention and sometimes their particular needs are to be accommodated. For instance, simply explaining math by writing on the board is not enough. They might need a visual representation of the math. For instance, using a video or using real-life tools is necessary. In this aspect, teaching can become a lot easier if there is flexible seating in classrooms. The rooms have provisions to accommodate most of the needs of ADHD students.

Start with simple

Whenever you are teaching something complex, take your time and chop it down to simple parts first. Assemble the simple parts after the student gets ample time to grasp the overall concept. In this case, following a particular routine can be helpful. You can give special tasks to ADHD kids by letting them understand how each special task can be beneficial to them. Try out various projects to find out what they find more interesting. Use tools and techniques that interest them more. For instance, if a child is more interested in sports, bring in examples or metaphors from sports while teaching a particular topic. Share this with parents as well so that the child gets the right environment suitable for learning.

Give breaks during teaching

Do not talk about a particular topic for more than fifteen minutes. Talk about something different or give break to the students to let them be on their own for a while. Wobble chairs in the classroom can prove to be quite helpful in this case. Kids can roam around and perform some activities and then get back to their lesson. Even if it’s not a flexible seating classroom, you will need to provide breaks after a long lesson for the students to grasp the topic.

Use impactful tools

Using classroom tools is very important. For instance, when teaching letters, it’s better to have blocks of those letters to provide greater visibility or at least visual representation. Other than that, engaging the students together is important as well. In that case, the board game ‘scrabble’ can be quite useful. Engagement is one of the most important tools while teaching a new topic. Encourage the students to ask questions even if they sound stupid to them. 

Allow movement and flexibility

Allowing movement in the classroom helps to drive away boredom and drowsiness. We would recommend keeping wobble chairs in the classrooms or in reading areas at home. Wiggle seat provides the flexibility a child needs to move around while seating. This motion passively helps create good posture and retain memory as well. Hence it is imperative that you allow movements in your classroom.

How flexible seating classrooms can help?

We feel flexible seating can prove to be quite fruitful to teach ADHD kids rather than the traditional arrangement. Let us elaborate more on that.

Increasing interaction and engagement

Flexible seating classrooms mean there will be kid chairs here and there providing the students to interact with their peers more. This type of seating arrangement means there will be no backbenchers. Hence everyone will be encouraged to engage more.

Promoting activity-centric learning

When someone is involved in an interesting activity, it means they will have a longer attention span. Flexible seating gives provision to keep activity-centric things in the classroom such as books, swings, board games, toys, etc. Utilizing the activities in the learning method can be quite useful to teach the students suffering from ADHD.

Flexibility leading to greater attention span

When kids are in motion, they tend to feel less drowsy or bored in a lecture. Other than that, there are also therapeutic wobble chairs for special treatment for students with ADHD. With wobble chairs, kids tend to go out of their comfort zone and keep their attention through the motion that the chair facilitates. Overall, flexibility helps to increase the attention span to a great extent. Rather than getting impulsive, they tend to focus their energy on the new seating arrangements.

Keeping up with the kids’ pace

Flexible seating classrooms help to provide the right amenities to accommodate a child suffering from ADHD. A traditional classroom seating is sometimes inefficient in finding the right way to teach kids of ADHD/ADD.

Conclusion

Both parents and teachers need to put in genuine effort to teach kids suffering from ADHD/ADD. Providing a congenial learning environment is important for them to shine in their grades. Poor performance in the classroom might deteriorate the confidence of the child; therefore constant support and encouragement are expected from the superiors.