ADD Students – Homework and ADHD
Tips for Assisting ADD Students / Students with ADHD
- Organizing information and note taking: Students with ADD / ADHD require extra assistance to organize and prioritize their homework. At home, parents can help organize and prioritize assignments and record important dates onto a home calendar.
- Providing a quiet environment for ADD Students: Make sure that the homework environment is quiet with minimal distractions.
- Maintaining a routine: Routine brings order and order assists in the facilitation of focus. Homework should be completed at the same time each day in the same quiet environment.
- Break into parts: The academic rule of thumb is that there should be 10 minutes
of homework added on for each grade level, i.e., 4th graders should be able to handle 40 minutes of homework each night. However, for a child with ADHD, 40 minutes may be too long to sustain attention on one given subject area. Therefore, homework should be ‘chunked’ into smaller segments. - Manage time and set goals: After helping your child break their homework into smaller segments or chunks, set time completion goals and accuracy goals. Use a timer to externalize the time cue and provide the additional structure.
- Rewarding: Use positive reinforcement. Keep your attention focused on positive behavior. Set clear reward for homework completion and even for completion of each homework ‘chunk’ discussed above.
- Consequences: Adhere to the plan and set up realistic consequences for not completing the homework.
- Communicating: Communication between the teacher, parent, and child is critical. Establish a weekly or even daily report card which reports missing assignments, test grades, and up coming projects and tests; and
- Seek professional help: Know when it is time to ask for assistance from professionals.
