Children_with_Adhd

A number of teachers have commented that the strategies (whole-school, classroom and individual) recommended for children with ADHD would benefit all children. • Do you think this is true or is it going too far' • What would it take to bring about some of these changes in your classroom and school' I think that many of the strategies for dealing with behaviour would be helpful across the school. Even though many children can perform without the added need for teachers to keep an eye on them and potential flash-points, they will still respond to praise, use of stickers/stamps and also time-outs. Children also understand that if one teacher is busy, another one is available. At a nursery school level many children have poor attention spans, lack concentration, display little/no patience. This behaviour that is quite usual and we have come to accept it and respond to it accordingly. These children respond well to praise and rewards charts. It helps to modify their behaviour. Many of the strategies are useful for teaching children how to behave appropriately. All children enjoy receiving rewards. Employing teacher assistants aids the teacher on a day to day level, provides additional support to those children who require it and also it reduces the stress and burden on the teacher. The teacher is then able to relax knowing that whilst she is with one child there is another set of eyes watching the others. The key is consistency, but this does apply only to the classroom. It applies to every situation children find them in and also every adult that comes into contact with that child. Finally an important point to note is that it makes all the children feel equal. It does not single out any one child. If rewards are given to one child, then other children want a reward for showing the same kind of behaviour. As we have seen with all children, sometimes results can be erratic, but they need to be followed completely otherwise the child will come to realise that if they don’t like something they all they need to keep doing is to behave inappropriately for some time until the teacher gives up. This is fundamental to teaching anything – whether it is eating vegetables or teaching appropriate behaviour. In order for this to work and also not provide too much for the child to attempt, I think teachers should concentrate on behaviour at a time. The IEP is the first step. It helps provide people with the required knowledge of what that individual child needs and how to bring it about. It will be available to all those coming into contact with the child. It makes the task of managing the child consistent across the school. However, to make greater changes throughout the school will involve much more planning and coordination. But the main need is a change in thinking. Those in charge of the school will be primarily responsible for providing the strategies to be put into practice, allowing the physical environment of classrooms to be changed and if need to recruit professionals to guide and advise.