When students have been taught a new skill or concept, it is very important to provide a maximum amount of feedback as they practice to ensure they practice correctly. There are a variety of techniques that can be used in the classroom to make sure students aren’t working on an assignment incorrectly, because feedback came too late. For example, when math problems are assigned, students may work with partners to solve a couple of problems and then check their work against the work of another set of partners. If both sets of partners have the same answer, then they may continue with the next 2-3 problems. But, if there are discrepancies in their answers, then all four students either rework those problems together to solve, or request teacher assistance. It is particularly important for students who are having difficulty to clear up any confusions early. Working a few problems and then checking for understanding, working a few more and checking is key…until that high degree of monitoring and feedback is not needed.
Middle school math teacher, Karen M. shared with me a strategy she uses for providing feedback to students while working on their in-class assignments, and helping to ensure they are completing the work correctly. She calls it the “yellow-light, green-light” strategy, which she finds particularly beneficial for struggling students who need frequent and immediate feedback as they are practicing a new concept or skill. When a lesson is taught and students are then given problems to work on in class, everyone is on “yellow-light”. They are to work a few problems on the page, and then the teacher checks them. Students who are on the right track and don’t need assistance are given the “green-light” to finish the assignment. For those who are having some difficulty, she provides more instruction (herself or peer assistance), then tells those students that they are still on “yellow-light”, and to try a few more problems before she checks them again. For those kids who are really struggling, she works alongside them. They do the problem on their page while the teacher works the problem on her page; then they compare answers. Students are told that there is no such thing as “red light”, because they are never to stop trying.
Tags: feedback, math, skill practice
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Writing is a frustrating, tedious task for many kids with ADHD and Learning Disabilities, because it is so complex. Written language involves the integration of numerous skills and processes, some of which are their areas of weakness (e.g., planning and organization, memory, spelling, attention to detail, language structure, graphomotor skills, self-monitoring, and the speed of written output. See my blog “Why Writing is Often a Struggle for Students with ADHD and/or LD“. The following are ways to provide effective support and help for your child with writing assignments:
Getting them Started: Pre-Planning
- Realize that it may take your child much longer than many other students to create written products. It is, therefore, important to try to get a ‘jump start’ on any written assignments. Ask the teacher to send home the assignment description and directions as early as possible.
- Make a few extra copies of the assignment sheet and post in strategic locations in your home.
- If there is any ambiguity about the assignment (it isn’t clear to you or your child what needs to be done), contact the teacher immediately. Make sure teacher expectations for the assignment are clarified.
Note: During the past decade or so, the trend in most school districts is that teacher assignments are designed to address the state/district content and performance standards for each grade level. Each grade has certain content and skills which must be taught, and performance criteria is given as to whether students demonstrate that skill ‘at standard’, ‘below standard’ or ‘above standard’. As a result, when giving students writing assignments, many teachers are now providing a rubric along with the assignment. A rubric is a tool for scoring/evaluating (for example, on a 1-4 or 1-5 scale) a student’s piece of work based on specific criteria that have been provided.
- Rubrics can be generic or created to address specific needs. There are many good sources on the Internet to see what rubrics might look like, such as: www.Rubrics4teachers.com
- Rubrics are very useful tools not only for evaluation of the final written product, but for pre-organizing and pre-structuring how to write the paper. They are very helpful to students with ADHD and Learning Disabilities, because they provide the structure and guidance needed to help them meet their grade level writing standards.
- Sometimes open-ended writing assignments are most frustrating – trying to think of a topic of interest to write about. With these types of assignments, you can help your child by talking with him or her about experiences shared. Ask specific questions that might trigger topics of interest. (Example, “Do you remember how you felt when you dove off the high board for the first time?”). Help your child try to find a topic that he/she will be motivated to write about.
- Graphic organizers are used by teachers at all grade levels and subject areas. They are very useful tools to help students visually organize ideas/concepts/topics. They greatly enhance comprehension of subject matter, and are very helpful in the writing process for organizing thoughts prior to writing. Many teachers provide a specific graphic organizer for students to use in planning for a writing assignment. If your child’s teacher doesn’t provide a tool for pre-structuring assistance, you may want to find one of your own. There are many resources available for graphic organizers. One excellent online resource for free graphic organizers is Daily Teaching Tools http://www.dailyteachingtools.com/free-graphic-organizers-w.html. There are also some user-friendly and motivating software programs available for designing graphic organizers, such as Inspiration and Kidspiration. http://www.inspiration.com
- This assistance at the pre-writing stage is often the most valuable. Any opportunity to teach children to plan and organize before beginning an academic task is well worth our time and energy.
More Ways to Help Them Get Started
- Encourage your child to verbalize what he or she wants to say first. It is often helpful to do so into an audio recorder, which can then be played back and listened to. This way, your child can organize his or her thoughts – planning what to say and determining if it makes sense before even beginning to write.
- Use index cards for writing down ideas (e.g., topics, subtopics, details). It is easy to then spread them out, move them around, and cluster them together appropriately before writing. They can also be color-coded according to topic. For example, any words, phrases, sentences, information related to a particular topic could be written on index cards coded in the same color. You can also do the above using post-it notes instead of index cards, or jot down these ideas electronically (encourage your child to do so, or assist in the process).
- Let your child dictate the first couple of lines or paragraphs to you while you write them down. This often helps children who have trouble activating or getting started. Once they have this start, many times they are then able to continue independently.
Feedback and Editing Assistance
- You wouldn’t want to interrupt your child if he or she is ‘on a roll’ in order to offer feedback. However, if what your child is writing is ‘off target’ to what the guidelines for the assignment indicate must be included, it is probably less frustrating to help redirect your child before he or she has written a lot.
- When providing feedback to your child, be careful not to be critical or negative. State at least one positive comment about what he or she has written. Then, if your child’s written work is missing key elements you may ask for clarification. For example: “I’m not sure I understand what you mean in this sentence…You might want to add more information here so it makes sense to your reader.”
- Using the rubric (if one was provided) is a great way to offer feedback – based upon the grading criteria.
- It is often hard to get the cooperation or motivation from your child for this kind of detail work – editing. If it becomes a huge battle to go back and do this task, put it aside and try tackling later. If it always becomes a negative experience at home, let the teacher know the problem and ask for more help at school. It would be better to limit your involvement with editing. Many times kids are much more willing to accept corrective feedback or be willing to make corrections if suggested by someone other than parents.
Ways to Help with Editing
- Read the written work aloud with your child while pointing to each word. Doing so, your son or daughter should be able to hear if what was written was what he or she had intended to say.
- If this is a rough draft, some misspelled words may be pointed out and corrected, but don’t worry about more than a few at a time. A rough draft is a work in progress and it’s not your responsibility to identify or correct all the ‘flaws’.
- Do help if you notice incomplete sentences by asking questions to complete the thought (e.g., so that the sentence can be fixed to include both a subject and a predicate).
- Encourage your child to check for capitalization and final punctuation marks.
- It is helpful to have lists of words available to improve your child’s writing. For example, words that describe feelings (delighted, anxious), words to use instead of ‘said’ (demanded, whispered, announced, hollered). Models or lists of ‘connector’ or ‘transition’ words such as: words used to compare things ( in the same way, similarly, likewise), words used to contrast things (on the other hand, however, yet), words used to summarize ( in conclusion, consequently). There are a lot of resources that have such lists available. You may want to ask your child’s teacher is he/she has any such lists available for a home copy.
- If your child writes very simple, basic sentences you may ask who, what, where, when questions to elicit information and details to help them expand their thoughts and write more interesting sentences. Part of the issue may be that your child is deliberately writing less descriptive sentences to avoid having to physically write down so many words. This is common for children with ADHD/LD to do so.
Helping with the Final Product
- Parents often need to provide support and assistance to their children at the ‘final product’ stage. If you help your child type final draft copies, make it a collaborative effort to whatever extent possible. Have your son or daughter participate and type a portion – which could be a few words, sentence(s), paragraph(s), or page(s) – depending on the age of your child and his/her capabilities.
- Assistance with projects requiring gluing, mounting, arranging spatially, etc. is often needed. Your guidance and overseeing to avoid the frustration your child will experience if his or her project doesn’t ‘look good’ is helpful. You will want to make sure your impulsive child first organizes and spatially arranges the layout prior to gluing/pasting or mounting.
Note: Please see my Pinterest board on Writing Strategies & Activities. It contains a lot of ideas that you may find very helpful. http://pinterest.com/sandrarief/writing-strategies-activities/
This blog is adapted from content in my books: How to Reach & Teach Children with ADD/ADHD and The ADHD Book of Lists
Tags: editing, graphic organizers, prewriting, rubrics, writing, written language
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Here are 15 key factors I think are critical for the success of students with ADHD and/or Learning Disabilities in general education classrooms. This article/blog is adapted from my books: How to Reach & Teach Children with ADD/ADHD, 2nd edition (2005), The ADHD Book of Lists (2003), and The ADD/ADHD Checklist, 2nd edition (2008), published by Jossey Bass/Wiley.
by Sandra Rief
1. Teacher flexibility, commitment, and willingness to do what it takes for the student to succeed. The classroom teacher who is willing to put in the extra time and effort, to work with the student, parents, and others on ‘the team’ to help is probably the most important factor for success. It takes a teacher with a positive attitude and mindset – who believes that it is his or her responsibility to reach and teach EVERY student (even those who are “challenging”), and who doesn’t object to implementing a variety of strategies and interventions in order to do so.
2. Knowledge and understanding about brain-based, “hidden disabilities” – It is essential that teachers are aware that we are dealing with a problem that is physiological and biological in nature, and that the behaviors which are often challenging to deal with, are not deliberate. In fact, the student is often oblivious to how he or she is behaving, or the effect on others. Just this awareness – that behaviors are stemming from a neurobiological disorder helps us to be more empathic and understanding…and enables us to maintain our patience, tolerance and sense of humor. It helps us see past the behaviors to the whole child, and try harder to be more positive in our interactions with the student. Every school (elementary and secondary) should have professional development to educate staff about disabilities, particularly the hidden brain disorders, the effects of these disorders (such as ADHD, LD, Asperger’s Syndrome) on the student’s learning, behavior, and school functioning, and appropriate interventions and strategies.
3. Home-School Communication – The success of students with disabilities, particularly the hidden brain disorders, requires much closer and more frequent communication between home and school than needed by most students. It is important that parents are kept well-informed of how their child is performing. It helps when teachers are also aware of what is going on at home, as well, and any issues (e.g., homework) that can be problem-solved together. Students with disabilities, particularly the hidden brain disorders, often benefit from the use of daily or weekly home/school monitoring forms and joint reinforcement systems for optimizing their academic and behavioral performance. Teachers need to be aware that sometimes it is difficult to establish open communication and a positive relationship with parents of this population of kids, because there may be an issue of trust. Often parents don’t feel comfortable disclosing information to the school, or parents may have had a history of difficult interactions with school personnel over the years. It is common that parents of children who have behavioral difficulties to feel directly or indirectly blamed for their child’s behaviors (“What are you going to do about your kid?”). When the phone rings during the day and the call is from the school, it typically isn’t good news. It is very important for teachers to communicate to parents (in words and actions) that they sincerely care about the student’s success, are on the same ‘team’, and value parents’ input.
4. Providing Clarity and Structure – All students, but particularly those with as ADHD, LD, and other neurobiological disorders need to have structure provided for them through clear communication, expectations, rules, consequences, and follow-up. They need to have academic tasks structured by breaking assignments into manageable increments with teacher modeling and guided instruction, clear directions, standards, and feedback. These students require assistance structuring their materials, workspace, group dynamics, handling choices, and transitional times. Their day needs to be structured with altering of active and quiet periods. No matter what is the individual teaching style or the physical environment of the classroom, every teacher needs to provide the structure for student success.
5. Differentiated Instruction, Engaging Lessons and Teaching Strategies – a motivating curriculum taught through a variety of approaches & “best practices”, numerous active learning opportunities, providing an array of options that tap into students’ diverse learning styles, strengths & interests, and accommodate the needs of individual students in the classroom.
6. Teamwork & Collaboration – Success for students with hidden brain disorders often involves a multi-modal approach, and a great deal of collaboration between school (general ed/special ed/support personnel/administration), home, community professionals and clinicians (physicians/mental health care providers).
7. Effective Classroom Management – Creating a community within the classroom that is safe, inclusive, and respectful of all, employing positive discipline and strategies that are proactive to prevent or minimize behavioral problems from occurring.
8. Administrative Support – It is important that the administrator be part of the team, involved with intervention, and also trained in disabilities (particularly the hidden brain disorders). It is the administrator who needs to find the means and time for the necessary planning, collaboration, and follow-through. The administrator needs to take responsibility for making sure staff has the appropriate training.
9. Willingness to Make Accommodations & Modifications to Class and Homework Assignments – For students with ADHD and LD, teachers need to be flexible and willing to make adjustments as needed in assignments (class and homework) – particularly the written workload, which is often a great source of frustration and takes an inordinate amount of time for them to complete.
10. Assistance with Organization – Students with LD and/or ADHD often have major problems with organization, time management, and other study skills. They will need help and support to make sure assignments are recorded correctly, their work space and materials are organized, notebooks and desks are cleared of unnecessary collections of junk from time to time, and specific study skill strategies are explicitly taught and practiced.
11. Environmental Modifications – There is a lot we can do to alter the environment in the classroom that will prevent or greatly reduce behavioral problems, and improve the performance of students with disabilities (particularly the hidden brain disorders). Due to a variety of learning styles, there should be environmental options to students in where and how they work. Where the student sits can make a significant difference. Lighting, furniture, seating arrangements, ventilation, visual displays, color, areas for relaxation, and provisions for blocking out distractions during seatwork should be carefully considered.
12. More Time – Students with ADHD & LD frequently need more time ( on assessments, for work completion, to organize their thoughts, materials, etc., and sometimes to process and output answers to questions and teacher prompts).
13. Developing & Bringing Out Student Strengths – This is what I believe is the crux or heart of what will make a difference in the lives of our children – as it is the source of their motivation and self-esteem. We all need to work to bring out and nurture every child’s strengths. Students with ADHD, LD, and other “hidden” disabilities are often bright, gifted and talented (artistically, musically, athletically). Unfortunately, when students don’t get their work done (which is the typical case for students with ADHD), they frequently, as a consequence, miss the opportunity to participate in those class/school activities such as art, music, PE, and a variety of enrichment activities. From my perspective, that may be an appropriate consequence when it happens on occasion; but NOT if it happens on any kind of regular basis. These students need to participate in these activities that are motivating, and in which they often shine. Unfortunately, there isn’t a student in the classroom who is unaware of the areas of weakness and vulnerability in our students with ADHD, LD, and other disabilities. So, it is imperative that we allow these children every opportunity possible to showcase their strengths to their peers – to demonstrate to their classmates what they do well.
14. Respecting Learning Differences, Privacy, Confidentiality, and Feelings – It is important that a student’s individual grades, test results, special accommodations/modifications, medical issues/treatments, etc. are not made common knowledge. Self-esteem is fragile; these students often perceive themselves as failures. AVOID RIDICULE. Preservation of self-esteem is a critical factor in truly helping our students succeed in life.
15. Belief In Student – Doing What It Takes – Reaching and teaching students with disabilities takes vigilance and commitment. Finding what works best is a process over time. Interventions we put into place often need to be revised with frequency. When the strategies or interventions we are using stop working or don’t appear to be effective, we must go back to the “drawing board”. The good news is that there is always Plan D, E, F… (if plans A, B, an C don’t work). It’s not easy, but these children and teens are well worth the extra time and effort!
Tags: accommodations, ADHD, elements for success, LD, Learning Disabilities
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by Sandra Rief
Adapted from Sandra’s books: The ADD/ADHD Checklist: A Practical Reference for Parents & Teachers, 2nd edition (2008), and How to Reach & Teach Children with ADD/ADHD, 2nd edition (2005), published by Jossey-Bass/Wiley.
Children with ADHD (who struggle with self-control and self-management), receive a disproportionate amount of negative interactions to positive inteactions from adults over the course of a day. They typically get far more reprimands, negative attention and critical feedback than most kids receive – which can be very demoralizing and damaging to their self-esteem. Parents and teachers often have their radar focused on the times the child is misbehaving, and frequently don’t notice or attend to the child when he or she is behaving appropriately.
It is important to notice when your child is demonstrating appropriate behavior, “catch them being good”, and reinforce that positive behavior – particularly being generous with your sincere praise and positive attention.
The following are some social, activity, and material rewards that you might consider in reinforcing your child’s positive behavior. Some of the activity and material reinforcers listed may be of interest when designing a motivating behavioral plan or incentive system for your son or daughter.
Social Reinforcers
- Positive attention from parents (preferably your undivided attention for even a short amount of time)
- Parents’ physical signs of affection (hugs, kisses, cuddles)
- Smiles, thumbs-up, high five, cheers
- Playful attention (piggyback ride, sharing jokes)
- Relaxed time together (talking, playing)
- Specific, sincere praise and recognition, such as:
- “That sure was grown up of you when . . . “
- “You should be so proud of yourself the way you…”
- “That was great the way you . . . “
- “I appreciate the good choice you made when…”
- “It makes me so happy to see you . . . “
- “I’m so proud of how you . . . “
- “That was so helpful when you…Thank you!”
- “I can really tell you worked hard on . . . “
- “I noticed how well you…”
- “I see the effort you put into that…”
- “Let’s make a copy of this for Grandma . . . “
- “Let’s hang this up somewhere special . . . “
- “Great job on how you . . . “
- “I can’t wait to tell Dad how you . . . “
- “I knew you could do it!”
A key behavioral approach for children with ADHD is to reinforce their positive behavior and reward their success in meeting goals. Find out what privileges, items, and activities your child would find valuable, and would be motivated to work towards earning. You might develop a “reward menu” together with your child. Be sure to change that menu as often as necessary to maintain your son or daughter’s interest.
Activity Reinforcers
- Playing a special indoor or outdoor game
- An outing (park, restaurant, arcade, beach, camping trip)
- Extended bedtime
- Extended curfew
- Earning extra time (for watching TV, computer/Internet access, playing games, riding bikes, listening to music, talking on the phone)
- Special time alone with parent (out for breakfast, shopping, ice cream, ball game, building something together)
- Freedom from chore(s)
- Craft project
- Drawing or painting
- Selecting a meal or restaurant for lunch or dinner
- Baking cupcakes, cookies, etc.
- Extra story/reading time with parent
- Going to a theater, sporting or special event
- Participating in a school activity that costs money (such as a dance, ski trip)
- Participating in sports activity or lessons of choice (for example, skating, bowling, martial arts, tennis)
- Gym membership
- Going shopping
- Driving privileges (parent driving to a place of child’s choice or keys to the car for teens with drivers’ licenses)
- Playing musical instruments
- Gymnastics, dance
- Club participation
- Watching a movie/DVD
- Playing computer games
- Spending time with a special person (grandparent, favorite aunt/uncle)
- Staying overnight at a friend or relative’s house
- Inviting a friend (to visit/play, for lunch/dinner, to sleep over, etc.)
Note: Some of these activities can also be considered social reinforcers.
Material Reinforcers
- Toys
- Arts/crafts supplies
- Collectibles (e.g., baseball cards)
- Snacks
- Books/magazines
- Games
- CDs and DVDs
- Clothing or accessories
- Puzzles
- Pets
- Tickets to movies or events
- Gift certificates
- Sports equipment
- Wanted items for the child’s room
- Electronics (various types)
- Money
- Any purchase of choice (within price range).
Note: Some reinforcers may be used for daily rewards/privileges (such as needing to earn TV or other screen time); some for weekly rewards (a movie rental or special activity on the weekend); and others for a privilege or item the child is working towards earning or saving up to purchase.
There are also online resources that you may be interested in exploring. Here are two programs for setting behavioral goals with your child, tracking progress and motivating with a variety of rewards:
1. A program called My Reward Board www.myrewardboard.com
2. An app for iPhones and iPads called iRewardChart: Parents Reward Tracker Behavior Chore chart, by Gotclues, Inc.
Tags: behavior, motivating positive behavior, positive reinforcers, rewards
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By Sandra Rief
Part of establishing a sense of community and positive, cooperative classroom environment is to ensure that all students learn to take responsibility for making the classroom run smoothly. Many teachers create a variety of classroom occupations for this purpose that students are assigned or select/volunteer to do. Here are some typical classroom jobs at the elementary level: banker, board cleaner, line caboose, calendar aide, center inspector, computer technician, door holder, energy monitor, floor monitor, librarian, lunch counter, mail carrier, materials manager, messenger, paper monitor, pencil patrol, pledge leader, recycler, secretary, water monitor, substitutes (for taking over any absent students’ jobs).
In our book: How to Reach & Teach All Children in the Inclusive Classroom, 2nd edition, my dear friend and co-author, Julie Heimburge, shares 27 jobs she created in her 5th grade classroom, aligned with the theory of multiple intelligences. She had her students officially apply for the jobs they were interested in by filling out a job application for their four top choices. Julie found students were motivated and took their responsibilities seriously. Here are 17 of these jobs and their descriptions:
From: Rief, S. & Heimburge, J. (2006) How to Reach & Teach All Children in the Inclusive Classroom, 2nd edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Classroom Job Descriptions
Book Boaster– Reads extensively. Monitors the classroom library. Gives short book talks when new books come in. Assists with book orders and their distribution. Makes suggestions of new books that the class should purchase. Makes sure new books are marked with the genre label and placed in correct basket. Oversees the teams that are in charge of maintaining certain sections of the library. Must be an avid and enthusiastic reader with good organization skills.
Conservationist: Is willing to help in the recycling effort with paper, cans, cleanup of the playground. Making posters to remind students not to litter and to conserve water and electricity. Looks for books and articles about saving our environment and pollution control. Appreciates the need to protect and preserve our environment and is committed to doing so.
Culinary Caterer: Enjoys planning food preparation and serving food. Sets up a plan for an orderly, fair and well managed disbursement of food and makes sure that there are adequate supplies such as napkins, plates, and utensils. Assists students who bring in food for a party or celebration and helps the teacher when food is sent in by parents. Keeps track of needed supplies. Talks with school nurse about nutrition and food choices and shares those ideas with class. Must have good skills attending to details involved in planning food preparation, as well as attention to food handling hygiene.
Enthusiastic Energizer—Plans and leads simple exercises when the class needs to release stress or on rainy days. Leads the class in jogging the field. Looks for sports books to add to the sports book basket and will watch for playground problems and report them to the teacher. Will be in charge of choosing fair teams for sports activities. Must enjoy physical activities and have good leadership and people skills.
Financial Adviser—Assists in collecting money for classroom field trips and special occasions. Assists an adult with the counting of money. Will check off names of students who have paid, and will label and mark envelopes in which to place returned notices and money. Must be skilled in arithmetic and have efficient organizational skills.
Gracious Greeter: Meets visitors and new students when they arrive. Helps them adjust to the classroom and feel welcomed. May be asked to give tours of the classroom or school or assist a visitor with supplies. Must be personable, friendly, and polite.
Helpful Housekeeper— Is willing to do extra cleaning and pickup that is not done by the class. Jobs might include cleaning up the teacher’s desk, wiping down the sink area, putting up chairs, moving desks, or washing off the desks. Is responsible for picking up team or individual point cards from tables and helping make a new seating chart with the teacher.
Interior Designer—Is good at putting colors together, and likes to arrange things artistically. May be asked to help with bulletin board design, door or window displays, or help classmate’s design, glue or staple projects that are eye appealing. Knows how to use the paper cutter and teaches others the correct way to use it. May help with special school-wide projects. Must be skilled in artistic design and willing to help others.
Mail Manager—Sorts through all the special bulletins and mail from the office. Places all mail in student mailboxes and goes to office to retrieve more if there are not enough. Glances over each bulletin and gives a brief summary of what each is about to entire class. Is responsible for organizing returned mail in paper-clipped or rubber-banned piles. Must have good organizational skills.
Math Materials Distributor– Hands out math manipulatives, graph paper, rulers, compasses, calculators and other math materials as needed. Makes sure math materials are in working order and informs teacher if items need to be repaired or replaced. Must be willing to check and deliver materials in a timely manner.
Performance Director— Helps organize readers’ theater scripts and presentations, poetry parties, and author’s teas. Announces upcoming assemblies, gives an overview of the performances and writes brief summaries of the performances. Must be very interested in theater and performing arts, and capable of planning, organizing and overseeing such events.
Rippin’ Reporter— Is interested in writing articles for the school or community newspaper about activities that we are doing in class. May be asked to write summaries of class activities for the school website. Must be a strong writer and excellent speller who is willing to put time and energy into representing the class to the outside world.
Sensational Secretary—Takes messages to office. Writes thank you letters to visitors, consultants and reminder messages to students. Changes the date on the board each day. Assists the Homework Helper with those assigned tasks (as needed). Must be a strong and neat writer and excellent speller. Must also be polite and willing to assist.
Serious Scribe–Likes to write and is very neat at lettering, printing and cursive writing. Must be organized and be able to use a ruler to draw straight lines on unlined posters. Might be asked to rewrite charts, sentence strips, poster lettering, and word wall entries so they are exemplary for bulletin board and window displays. Might be asked to type up and format items for formal display. Must have very neat penmanship and able to pay close attention to details.
Squad Leaders (two people)–Act as line leaders and make sure that their lines are well managed for movement throughout the school. Will stop at teacher directed locations to realign their squads if necessary. Will make sure that the squads are well behaved and quiet as they walk through the school if the teacher is not visible when they move to library, computer, or P.E. Must be able to take leadership role and be respected by classmates.
Substitute Assistant–Is responsible for helping the substitute teacher, student teacher or adult when the teacher is not in the classroom. Will be clear and concise in communicating with the adult so that he or she knows procedures, locations of items, and management techniques. Must be polite and helpful, and interact well with adults.
Word Wizard— Is a good speller and likes to use the thesaurus, dictionary, and spellchecker on the computer. Assists in teaching others how to use these tools, as well. Classmates will rely on this person to know how to spell a word or help them look it up. They may ask the word wizard to proofread their paper for spelling mistakes. Must have strong spelling, editing, and vocabulary skills, and be willing to help classmates.
Other jobs students could apply for incorporated strengths and interests in music, art, technology, etc.
Tags: class jobs, classroom helpers, classroom jobs
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By Sandra Rief
Written language is very challenging and frustrating for many children and teens with ADHD and/or Learning Disabilities. Although they may verbally be able to share a wealth of information on a topic or articulate a creative, detailed story, students with LD and/or ADHD frequently struggle to show what they know or communicate their ideas effectively on paper. The writing process is very complex. It involves the integration and often simultaneous use of several skills and brain functions (e.g., organization, planning, memory, language, attention, spelling, grapho-motor, processing speed, self-monitoring and metacognition), some of which are significant areas of weakness for students with LD and/or ADHD.
Pre-planning and Organization
This requires being able to generate, plan, and organize ideas. When given a written assignment, many students with ADHD and/or Learning Disabilities get stuck here. They do not know what to write about, how to organize and begin, or how to narrow down and focus on a topic.
Memory
Working memory is necessary in order to juggle the many different thoughts that one might want to transcribe onto paper. It involves:
- Keeping ideas in mind long enough to remember what one wants to say.
- Maintaining focus on the “train of thought” so the flow of the writing won’t veer off course.
- Keeping in mind the big picture of what you want to communicate, while manipulating the ideas, details, and wording.
The process of writing also requires other memory functions:
- Retrieval of assorted information from long-term memory (e.g., facts, experiences) to share about the writing topic.
- Recall of vocabulary words, spelling, mechanics, and grammatical usage.
Language
Writing requires the ability to:
- Express thoughts in a logical and coherent manner.
- Utilize descriptive sentences while maintaining proper sentence and paragraph structure.
- Fluidity of expressive language and facility with vocabulary usage.
Spelling
People with attention difficulties are often:
- Inattentive to visual detail, and do not notice or recall the letters, sequence or visual patterns within words.
- Prone to making many careless mistakes.
Those with learning disabilities are commonly weak in spelling due to:
- Phonological processing weaknesses and auditory-sequential memory deficits (causing great difficulty learning letter/sound associations, as well as hearing, remembering and writing those sounds in the correct order).
- Visual-sequential memory weaknesses (causing them difficulty recalling the way a word looks, and remembering the correct order/sequence of the letters in a word). This results in misspelling common, high-frequency words (e.g., said, they, because) that cannot be sounded out phonetically and must be recalled by sight.
Grapho-Motor Skills
Many children with ADHD and/or LD have impairments in grapho-motor skills. This affects the physical task of writing and organization of print on the page. They often have trouble:
- Writing neatly on or within the given lines.
- Spacing/organizing their writing on the page.
- Copying from the board or book onto paper.
- With fine-motor skills, causing the act of handwriting to be very inefficient, fatiguing, and frustrating (e.g, affecting pencil grip, pressure exerted, legibility).
- Executing print or cursive with precision or speed.
Revision & Editing
Students with ADHD and LD often show during the revision stage of the writing process. After the tedious task of composing an initial draft, having to revise and rewrite can be very frustrating. Proofreading and editing for students with ADHD or Learning Disabilities is often very difficult for them, and generally cannot be done without assistance (from peer, adult, and/or assistive technology). It is common to find lack of capitalization, punctuation, and complete sentences, along with numerous spelling errors in their written products.
Self-Monitoring
Fluent writing requires the following self-monitoring skills:
- Thinking and planning ahead.
- Keeping the intended audience in mind and writing to that audience with a clear purpose.
- Following and referring back to the specific structure of a writing genre (e.g., steps of a complete paragraph, narrative account, persuasive essay, friendly letter).
- Knowing how to read one’s own work critically in order to make revisions and develop ideas more thoroughly.
Speed of Written Output and Production
Some students with ADHD or LD rush through writing assignments, producing illegible work with many careless errors. Others write excruciatingly SLOW. Although they know the answers, and can verbally express their thoughts and ideas articulately, they are unable to put more than a few words or sentences down on paper. Needless to say, this is extremely frustrating.
This blog is adapted from my book: Rief, S. (2008). The ADD/ADHD Checklist: A Practical Reference for Parents & Teachers, 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Tags: ADHD, grapho-motor, language, Learning Disabilities, memory, organization, pre-planning, revision and editing, self-monitoring, spelling, writing, written language difficulties, written output
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by Sandra Rief
Middle school teacher, Shawn H., shared with me this strategy that he uses in his 7th grade math class. I think it’s a terrific idea for motivating on-task behavior during independent work time. When this teacher gives an assignment and he observes students who are on-task and busy working on what they are supposed to be doing, he takes out dice and walks over to those students’ desks. The students earn the chance to roll one die. Whatever number comes up on the die is the number of fewer math problems the student has to do that night on the homework assignment.
According to Shawn, “My students love it when I take out the dice, and behavior problems are generally nonexistent when this activity takes place.”
For more tips and strategies on the topic of keeping kids (particularly those with attention difficulties) on-task during seat work times of the day, see my blog Keeping Students On Task During Seat Work .
Tags: independent work, motivating, on task, strategies
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by Sandra Rief
This is the last of a 4-part blog on getting, focusing, and maintaining students’ attention – particularly important for students with ADHD. Here are tips for keeping students’ focused and productive during seat work times of the day.
- Check for clarity and that directions were clearly understood before sending students back to their seats to work independently.
- Make sure necessary supplies are available.
- Give a manageable amount of work that students are capable of doing independently.
- Give other ‘failproof’ work that a student can do in the meantime if he or she is stumped on an assignment and needs to wait for teacher attention or assistance.
- Study buddies or partners may be assigned for any clarification purposes during seat work, especially when the teacher is instructing another group of students while the rest of the class is working at their seats.
- Establish a system for students to signal to the teacher “I need help!” Some teachers use a sign like a colored card that students prop up on their desk that alerts any adult scanning the room that he or she needs assistance. This is instead of having the student raise his or her hand and wait for help.
- Scan classroom frequently. All students need positive reinforcement. Give positive comments with high frequency, praising students specifically whom you observe to be on-task. This serves as a reminder to students who tend to have difficulty.
- Consider using a timer for some students who work well with a ‘beat the clock’ system for work completion.
- Use contracts, charts, and behavior modification systems for on-task behavior.
- Reward for certain number of completed items that are done with accuracy.
- Provide desk examples for reference.
- Teach students to self-monitor their own on-task behavior. Students can be provided a 2-column chart (+/-, yes/no, smile/frown) on their desks. Make an audio recording that is silent except for some intermittent beeps or other auditory signal that is played during seat work times of the day. Whenever the beep is sounded on the recording, students mark on their chart whether or not they were on-task. Such self-monitoring strategies are particularly beneficial for students with AD/HD. This can be a whole group strategy, small group strategy, or done individually for certain students using headphones.
Adapted from my books: How to Reach & Teach Children with ADD/ADHD, 2nd edition and The ADD/ADHD Checklist, 2nd edition (published by Jossey-Bass)
Tags: ADD/ADHD, ADHD, attention, independent work, on task, seat work, student engagement
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Maintaining Students’ Attention & Participation
by Sandra Rief
This is the third of a 4-part blog on getting, focusing, and maintaining students’ attention – particularly important for students with ADHD. Once you get and focus students’ attention, here are some strategies for keeping them engaged and participating in the lesson:
- Keep students actively engaged. Provide many hands-on and kinesthetic learning opportunities.
- Move around in the classroom – maintaining your visibility.
- Teach thematically whenever possible – allowing for integration of ideas/concepts and connections to be made.
- Present at a snappy, brisk pace.
- Be prepared and avoid lag time in instruction.
- Use higher-level questioning techniques. Ask questions that are open-ended, require reasoning and stimulate critical thinking and discussion.
- Decrease the amount of time teacher is doing the talking. Make all efforts to greatly increase student responses (saying and doing something with the information being taught.
- Use direct instruction techniques and other methods of questioning that allow for high response opportunities (e.g., partner/buddy responses, unison responses).
- Structure the lesson so that it can be done in pairs or small groups for maximum student involvement and attention.
- Alter the way students are called on to avoid calling on students one at a time. Instead have students respond by ‘telling their partner’, writing down or drawing their response, or other alternative ways.
- Make frequent use of group or unison responses when there is one correct and short answer. While presenting, stop frequently and have students repeat back a word or two.
- Use the proper structure of cooperative learning groups (e.g., assignment of roles, accountability). It is NOT just group work. Students with ADHD do not typically function well in groups without clearly defined structure and expectations.
- Allowing students to use individual white boards throughout the lesson is motivating to students, and helps maintain attention. If used properly it is also effective in checking for students’ understanding and determining who needs extra help and practice.
- There are also electronic response systems such as 2Know! from Renaissance Learning, iRespond, and Clicker. There classroom response systems are highly engaging and motivating.
- Use motivating computer programs for specific skill building and practice (programs that provide for frequent feedback and self-correction).
- Document cameras, interactive white boards, iPads, and other tools of technology are wonderful for engaging and maintaining students’ attention and active participation in the classroom.
Adapted from my books: How to Reach & Teach Children with ADD/ADHD, 2nd edition and The ADD/ADHD Checklist, 2nd edition (published by Jossey-Bass)
Tags: ADD/ADHD, ADHD, attention, keeping students' attention, maintaining attention, student engagement
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FOCUSING STUDENTS’ ATTENTION
by Sandra Rief
This is the second of a 4-part blog on getting, focusing, and maintaining students’ attention – particularly important for students with ADD / ADHD. Part I was on “Getting Students’ Attention”. Here are some strategies for focusing students’ attention once you initially capture it:
- Employ multisensory strategies when directions are given and a lesson is presented.
- Maintain your visibility.
- Project your voice and make sure you can be heard clearly by all students.
- Be aware of competing sounds in your room environment (e.g., noisy heaters or air conditioning units).
- Call students up front and close to you for direct instruction (e.g., seated on the carpet by the board.)
- Position all students so that they can see the board and/or screen. Always allow students to readjust their seating and signal you if their visibility is blocked.
- Explain the purpose and relevance to hook students in to your lesson.
- Incorporate demonstrations and hand-on presentations into your teaching whenever possible.
- Use study guides/sheets that are partial outlines. While you are presenting a lesson or giving a lecture, students fill in the missing words based on what you are saying and/or writing on the board or document camera/overhead.
- Use lots of visuals.
- Write key words or pictures while presenting.
- Illustrate, Illustrate, Illustrate. It doesn’t matter if you don’t draw well to illustrate throughout your presentation. (Stick figures work well.) Drawings don’t have to be sophisticated or accurate. In fact, often the sillier – the better. Have fun with it. These silly illustrations get and maintain attention and help students understand and remember the material (sequence of events, key points, abstract information, vocabulary, concepts, etc.)
- Point to written material you want students to focus on with a dowel, a stick/pointer, or laser pointer. If you can find a pointer/dowel with a little hand/finger on it… even better.
- Have students write down brief notes or illustrate key points during instruction.
Adapted from my books: How to Reach & Teach Children with ADD/ADHD, 2nd edition and The ADD/ADHD Checklist, 2nd edition (published by Jossey-Bass)
Tags: ADD/ADHD, ADHD, attention, focusing attention, student engagement
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