Student: Anna Perry-Millford: Julia Parzyck

Anna has ADHD and which makes it difficult for her to concentrate and she has a lot of energy. She takes medication to help treat her ADHD but that does not eliminate her disability. I decided to choose Anna because I also have ADHD and can easily relate to her and come up with ideas that would have helped me in grade school.

Social- Students with attentional problems like ADHD experience many difficulties in the social area, especially with peer relationships. They tend to experience great difficulty picking up other's social cues, act impulsively, and have limited self-awareness of their effect on others. I would suggest that she be paired with a student with good social awareness and likes to be helpful because this can help form bonds within the classroom and the students. Also having groups be smaller can be less intimidating and can be easier to form better social skills for Anna.

Linguistic-A suggestion for this area would be to use audio visual aids while teaching abstract concepts. Using non-linguistic methods like visuals, pictures and graphs can be used as aids to improve the memory as it creates a concrete mental image. This helped me a lot during school because I would go back to my memory and see this image and I would remember instead of trying to remember what exactly my teacher said because I often forgot.

Academic-I found that communicating with my teacher helped me the most academically. If my teacher knew what was going on and what I was struggling with then she/he could accommodate to my needs and deepen my learning. I suggest that this teacher be patient and look for instances where the child might need assistance or more explanation in directions. I found this website that had some great ideas for how teachers can help students with ADHD and these were some suggestions:

• Plan ahead. You can arrange to speak with school officials or teachers before the school year even begins. If the year has started, plan to speak with a teacher or counselor on at least a monthly basis.
• Make meetings happen. Agree on a time that works for both you and your child’s teacher and stick to it. Avoid cancelling. If it is convenient, meet in your child’s classroom so you can get a sense of your child’s physical learning environment.
• Create goals together. Discuss your hopes for your child’s school success. Together, write down specific and realistic goals and talk about how they can be reached.
• Listen carefully. Like you, your child’s teacher wants to see your child succeed at school. Listen to what he or she has to say—even if it is sometimes hard to hear. Avoid interrupting. Understanding your child’s challenges in school is the key to finding solutions that work.
• Share information. You know your child’s history, and your child’s teacher sees him or her every day: together you have a lot of information that can lead to better understanding of your child’s hardships. Share your observations freely, and encourage your child’s teachers to do the same.
• Ask the hard questions and give a complete picture. Communication can only work effectively if it is honest. Be sure to list any medications your child takes and explain any other treatments. Share with your child’s teacher what tactics work well—and which don’t—for your child at home. Ask if your child is having any problems in school, including on the playground. Find out if your child can get any special services to help with learning.

http://helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_teaching_strategies.htm