January 6, 2025 • 12 mins
In this episode I wanted to continue our series on ADHD and how to best help those who suffer from it, especially in a classroom setting. We cover IEP's and other coping strategies that might prove useful.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey everybody, I just wanted to kind of start off by jumping back in and kind of recap a
(00:15):
little bit about what we talked about last time as far as ADHD symptoms and some of the
like classroom accommodations. So perperential seating places the student at the front of
the class near the teacher to minimize distractions. An example of a student with ADHD may be seated
(00:41):
away from the window or doors to reduce external stimuli and maintain focus. This is a good
helper. I will say that this is probably a good starter but if you have ADHD it doesn't matter
where you are in the room you're gonna find something to focus on. It's just it doesn't
(01:01):
matter where we are what we're doing shiny things. Shiny things get our attention. All kinds of
things get our attention and because of that it's hard to say okay well I'm just gonna put you
near the teacher and that's just gonna solve everything because it doesn't. Chunking assignments,
breaking down larger tasks into smaller one more manageable steps. This works great if you're in
(01:26):
high school or college but if you're in elementary school or middle school it's it's kind of hard
to do that because you don't there's no way to break things up into small segments like that I
guess. I mean I guess the teacher could sit down with you and while you're doing the work in the
(01:50):
classroom I could see that maybe but for me chunking assignments doesn't isn't effective for
children who have ADHD. Maybe it is again I'm not an expert and I don't have any experience with it
but to me it just seems like that's so much more challenging than I don't know I just it just seemed
(02:16):
like a really really hard challenge for for lower grade teachers. Their example is instead of
assigning a full chapter to read in one night they teach your might have signed sections to your
head over several days with specific check-ins. Again I can see that but I think that I think
(02:42):
that's just really difficult to do in anything lower than a middle school setting. Visual aid
reminders using visual schedules checklists and timers to help students stay organized and on
task. I will say this is a I'm a hundred percent behind this one. I have to have timers all the time
(03:07):
I set timers to remind me about timers because I am forgetful I just I walk into a room for
you why I came there I started podcasting for you why what was I was even gonna talk about you know
so and for me checklists are checklists are essential these are all my bullet journals that
(03:41):
I've been kind of working on over the past couple of years along with research journals but anyway
I have to have them there I have one specifically for school and it breaks down everything you know
like for this semester which hasn't even started yet I've already gone ahead and I've had one
(04:10):
my professor put their syllabus on there so I went ahead and put out all the all the assignments
that we're gonna have for this for the semester under the month that they were in a correspondence
here so that now I'll know all I have to do is go through and as I connect you know complete
each thing I'll just mark it off and now I know it's done and then I'll do that with every other
class that I have whenever I start when they actually open them up again because if I don't
(04:39):
have that I will lose my mind I'll and I don't mean like I just mean that I will I won't know
where to start where to where to end I won't know my brain just goes hey why I have to have
things neatly packaged I guess I don't know how to say that like I need those I need those
(05:01):
visual aids so their example is a teacher might use a visual timer during independent work to
help the student understand how much time they have left and stay focused on completing their
work we'll say timers can be more of a hindrance then they can't help because then the students
starts to focus more on the time frame and how much they're getting done in that time frame then
(05:26):
they are working on the quality they're worried about the quality of their work when you put a
student in a time frame a time setting it their their brain focuses more on the time and oh shit
how much time do I have left oh shit how much time do I have left I've only done three answers
(05:47):
there's 15 more I only have five minutes left you know so that's one of those ones where again
you have to kind of walk along and be a little careful about how you how you go about that and
so some of the which brings us into some behavioral interventions some of these again I
(06:08):
agree with and some of them I do not behavioral interventions positive reinforcement so rewarding
appropriate appropriate behavior to encourage its recurrence their example is a student body
or student who successfully completes their assignments without getting distracted might
earn toward points towards a reward like extra recess time or a small prize again I love the
(06:32):
idea of the risk and rule of the the reward system I but again I fear that with that reward system
comes well I'm only gonna do it if I'm gonna get a piece of candy you know I'm not gonna do it if
I don't get a reward for it which is kind of counterintuitive and counterproductive to what the
(06:53):
the whole goal is the goal is to get the child to be able to do those things without having the reward
and if you're if you are constantly rewarding the child then eventually they're gonna learn that
that's that's what they want is the reward they're they're gonna stop doing what is needed or they're
gonna half-ass it or they're gonna do just enough to get the candy or whatever it is the
(07:18):
you give them the extra recess time or God forbid they start lying you know or getting someone else
to do the work warm a million different things can go wrong whenever you start doing rewards for
basic behaviors not not to say that they know that they shouldn't be rewarded but things like a
(07:39):
token economy where implementing a system or students to earn tokens for good behavior they
can be exchanged for rewards I like them a little bit more because it gives the student a little
bit more economy and a little bit more responsibility as opposed to just giving them a token you
know a prize for sitting still that shouldn't that should be a skill that's that's learned
(08:05):
not through treats they're not dogs it bothers me to think that that's how that that's the
comparison to me is that you're treating them you're giving them treats like a dog you know whereas
with a token economy they have to earn their tokens and then they get to choose what they
(08:26):
want to spend them on so I like that one a little bit more clear expectations and consistent
consequences now this is essential because establishing clear rules and consistently
applying consequences for both positive and negative behaviors a teacher might set a rule
that students must raise their hand before speaking and consistently apply positive
(08:50):
reinforcement when the student with ADHD follows this rule so I will say here's here's what here's
something I would suggest or something I would do if the student with ADHD is going through
outbursts not raising their hand not doing what they're supposed to be doing ignore them ignore
the child or just ignore them ignore them and ask someone else let someone else answer the
(09:16):
question it's gonna piss the kid off it's gonna piss the kid with ADHD off but eventually they'll
learn not to speak out of turn they'll learn that if I want to answer this question I have to raise
my hand and wait patiently like everyone else if you if you're if you're if they raise their hand
they get a piece of candy that's what they're learning and then that's what you that's the opposite
(09:42):
of what we want them to learn we want them to learn these basic behaviors without having to
have a piece of candy every time you know so and I don't want to make this a very very long
episode because there's a lot of information and so much more to cover on it that I kind of wanted
(10:04):
to try and break these up into smaller little segments so this one I think it's gonna be just
about over with yeah I'll get into some of this other stuff later we have a lot to cover we have
a long way to go let me know how well you guys think in the comments let me know how this is
(10:29):
helping you if it's helping you let me know what I can do to improve let me know how you're doing
out there you know life has been pretty shitty here lately especially here I live we've gone
through hurricanes Helene and life is still trying to get back to normal the kids are finally
(10:54):
going back to school well they went to school and they were out again they went to school
for like a week and then they were back out for a break so yeah just let me know what you guys
are doing out there let me know how everything's working sorry this episode so shitty I have been
out of practice for a little while and hope it was helpful just remember you don't have to sit in
(11:20):
the dark alone though
Hey everybody, I just wanted to kind of start off by jumping back in and kind of recap a
(00:15):
little bit about what we talked about last time as far as ADHD symptoms and some of the
like classroom accommodations. So perperential seating places the student at the front of
the class near the teacher to minimize distractions. An example of a student with ADHD may be seated
(00:41):
away from the window or doors to reduce external stimuli and maintain focus. This is a good
helper. I will say that this is probably a good starter but if you have ADHD it doesn't matter
where you are in the room you're gonna find something to focus on. It's just it doesn't
(01:01):
matter where we are what we're doing shiny things. Shiny things get our attention. All kinds of
things get our attention and because of that it's hard to say okay well I'm just gonna put you
near the teacher and that's just gonna solve everything because it doesn't. Chunking assignments,
breaking down larger tasks into smaller one more manageable steps. This works great if you're in
(01:26):
high school or college but if you're in elementary school or middle school it's it's kind of hard
to do that because you don't there's no way to break things up into small segments like that I
guess. I mean I guess the teacher could sit down with you and while you're doing the work in the
(01:50):
classroom I could see that maybe but for me chunking assignments doesn't isn't effective for
children who have ADHD. Maybe it is again I'm not an expert and I don't have any experience with it
but to me it just seems like that's so much more challenging than I don't know I just it just seemed
(02:16):
like a really really hard challenge for for lower grade teachers. Their example is instead of
assigning a full chapter to read in one night they teach your might have signed sections to your
head over several days with specific check-ins. Again I can see that but I think that I think
(02:42):
that's just really difficult to do in anything lower than a middle school setting. Visual aid
reminders using visual schedules checklists and timers to help students stay organized and on
task. I will say this is a I'm a hundred percent behind this one. I have to have timers all the time
(03:07):
I set timers to remind me about timers because I am forgetful I just I walk into a room for
you why I came there I started podcasting for you why what was I was even gonna talk about you know
so and for me checklists are checklists are essential these are all my bullet journals that
(03:41):
I've been kind of working on over the past couple of years along with research journals but anyway
I have to have them there I have one specifically for school and it breaks down everything you know
like for this semester which hasn't even started yet I've already gone ahead and I've had one
(04:10):
my professor put their syllabus on there so I went ahead and put out all the all the assignments
that we're gonna have for this for the semester under the month that they were in a correspondence
here so that now I'll know all I have to do is go through and as I connect you know complete
each thing I'll just mark it off and now I know it's done and then I'll do that with every other
class that I have whenever I start when they actually open them up again because if I don't
(04:39):
have that I will lose my mind I'll and I don't mean like I just mean that I will I won't know
where to start where to where to end I won't know my brain just goes hey why I have to have
things neatly packaged I guess I don't know how to say that like I need those I need those
(05:01):
visual aids so their example is a teacher might use a visual timer during independent work to
help the student understand how much time they have left and stay focused on completing their
work we'll say timers can be more of a hindrance then they can't help because then the students
starts to focus more on the time frame and how much they're getting done in that time frame then
(05:26):
they are working on the quality they're worried about the quality of their work when you put a
student in a time frame a time setting it their their brain focuses more on the time and oh shit
how much time do I have left oh shit how much time do I have left I've only done three answers
(05:47):
there's 15 more I only have five minutes left you know so that's one of those ones where again
you have to kind of walk along and be a little careful about how you how you go about that and
so some of the which brings us into some behavioral interventions some of these again I
(06:08):
agree with and some of them I do not behavioral interventions positive reinforcement so rewarding
appropriate appropriate behavior to encourage its recurrence their example is a student body
or student who successfully completes their assignments without getting distracted might
earn toward points towards a reward like extra recess time or a small prize again I love the
(06:32):
idea of the risk and rule of the the reward system I but again I fear that with that reward system
comes well I'm only gonna do it if I'm gonna get a piece of candy you know I'm not gonna do it if
I don't get a reward for it which is kind of counterintuitive and counterproductive to what the
(06:53):
the whole goal is the goal is to get the child to be able to do those things without having the reward
and if you're if you are constantly rewarding the child then eventually they're gonna learn that
that's that's what they want is the reward they're they're gonna stop doing what is needed or they're
gonna half-ass it or they're gonna do just enough to get the candy or whatever it is the
(07:18):
you give them the extra recess time or God forbid they start lying you know or getting someone else
to do the work warm a million different things can go wrong whenever you start doing rewards for
basic behaviors not not to say that they know that they shouldn't be rewarded but things like a
(07:39):
token economy where implementing a system or students to earn tokens for good behavior they
can be exchanged for rewards I like them a little bit more because it gives the student a little
bit more economy and a little bit more responsibility as opposed to just giving them a token you
know a prize for sitting still that shouldn't that should be a skill that's that's learned
(08:05):
not through treats they're not dogs it bothers me to think that that's how that that's the
comparison to me is that you're treating them you're giving them treats like a dog you know whereas
with a token economy they have to earn their tokens and then they get to choose what they
(08:26):
want to spend them on so I like that one a little bit more clear expectations and consistent
consequences now this is essential because establishing clear rules and consistently
applying consequences for both positive and negative behaviors a teacher might set a rule
that students must raise their hand before speaking and consistently apply positive
(08:50):
reinforcement when the student with ADHD follows this rule so I will say here's here's what here's
something I would suggest or something I would do if the student with ADHD is going through
outbursts not raising their hand not doing what they're supposed to be doing ignore them ignore
the child or just ignore them ignore them and ask someone else let someone else answer the
(09:16):
question it's gonna piss the kid off it's gonna piss the kid with ADHD off but eventually they'll
learn not to speak out of turn they'll learn that if I want to answer this question I have to raise
my hand and wait patiently like everyone else if you if you're if you're if they raise their hand
they get a piece of candy that's what they're learning and then that's what you that's the opposite
(09:42):
of what we want them to learn we want them to learn these basic behaviors without having to
have a piece of candy every time you know so and I don't want to make this a very very long
episode because there's a lot of information and so much more to cover on it that I kind of wanted
(10:04):
to try and break these up into smaller little segments so this one I think it's gonna be just
about over with yeah I'll get into some of this other stuff later we have a lot to cover we have
a long way to go let me know how well you guys think in the comments let me know how this is
(10:29):
helping you if it's helping you let me know what I can do to improve let me know how you're doing
out there you know life has been pretty shitty here lately especially here I live we've gone
through hurricanes Helene and life is still trying to get back to normal the kids are finally
(10:54):
going back to school well they went to school and they were out again they went to school
for like a week and then they were back out for a break so yeah just let me know what you guys
are doing out there let me know how everything's working sorry this episode so shitty I have been
out of practice for a little while and hope it was helpful just remember you don't have to sit in
(11:20):
the dark alone though
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