What's new?

[Phentex]

Sure is a quiet group!

Things have been a little more settled around here so I am not as overwhelmed as I usually feel. Sleep is still full of crazy dreams but I think I could actually make sense of some of what I dreamed last night.

What's up with you or your ADHD kids?

[LWolf]

1. School has started.

I've poured a great deal of time and effort into placing add/adhd students in the room for the least possible over-stimulation.

And I have to again express my frustration that it is somehow considered okay to jam 30+ kids into a small space and expect them to hold still and focus all day.

I do everything I can to support them all in that environment, and it's never, ever, enough.

Cut the number of students in half in that same space, give them room to breathe and spread out, and they could sure focus a hell of a lot better.

Make sure they got daily PE and recess breaks, and could spend part of the day on something that didn't require sitting, paper, and pencil, like, maybe...art, music, shop, etc., and it would help even more.

For ALL kids, but especially for my add/adhd students.

Here are some things that I do, besides careful seat placements:

I encourage self-management of healthy snacks and water bottles to keep them hydrated and blood sugar levels regulated. I provide some of those snacks myself.

I do my best to never spend more than 20 minutes at a time up front and talking, and when I AM up front, I'm not up front. I'm moving around all over the room, and they shift their seats to stay focused...meaning that they get to move while I'm talking, and that I'm stopping by to re-direct focus several times during that 20 minutes.

I make sure that my middle school students rarely spend more than 30 - 40 minutes in our long blocks on a single task, unless it's a task with many steps that require movement and discussion.

When working on extended assignments, I prompt random dance or yoga or stretching breaks, making sure that they are up and moving long enough to be out of breath, with blood pumping oxygen to their brains, before we return to work.

Rather than calling groups to work with me when I want to work with smaller groups, I go to them, making sure that my presence is felt everywhere in the room throughout the period. I mix groups up so that they have to get up and move around to form them.

I embed plenty of small group discussion time into whatever they do, so that they can process whatever they are working on by interacting with others.

When I have to re-direct a student's attention to his or her task, I do my best to do so in a patient, supportive, gentle voice, along with a smile.

So...any other suggestions? What else can I do to help my add/adhd students feel supported and be successful? Things within my power. I'm always looking for more.