Advice on how to tutor a child with ADHD?
Kittie asked:
I will soon be tutoring a child that has ADHD and feel that this will pose a huge issue since the child will have a lack of interest to learn. Please give me advice on how I could control such a student while helping him in school as well. Thank you!
I am so sorry, thanks for clearing it up for me that children with ADHD just have a short attention span, not a disinterest in learning. I will be tutoring a twelve year old boy and do not think he is on medication. Thank you for everyone’s advice. So I will be sure to make lessons fun and exciting, keep it brief with breaks and rewards, and teach in small sections.
I will soon be tutoring a child that has ADHD and feel that this will pose a huge issue since the child will have a lack of interest to learn. Please give me advice on how I could control such a student while helping him in school as well. Thank you!
I am so sorry, thanks for clearing it up for me that children with ADHD just have a short attention span, not a disinterest in learning. I will be tutoring a twelve year old boy and do not think he is on medication. Thank you for everyone’s advice. So I will be sure to make lessons fun and exciting, keep it brief with breaks and rewards, and teach in small sections.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
well first of all do not assume he does not have an interest to learn.
Then when doing lessons keep them short, and focus on one concept at a time.
Use his strengths, to you advantage, is he a visual or auditory learner.
be patient, he/she is frustrated.
April 5th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
just use things that keep his/her hands busy all the time
and new things to look at constantly..
like do hover over the same problem from 5 minutes.. b/c they will def loose interest
April 6th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
ummm use candy as an example and keep it fun
April 8th, 2008 at 1:32 am
give him rewards such as a lollypop or a candy at the end of each tutoring session if they behave and do all of there work. Suggest to the parent to have them tested so they can take medicine.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:26 am
close him in a dark closet with nothing in it and after 5 minutes open it, if he’s okay he can learn if he can’t hes ADHD nd not tutorable
April 10th, 2008 at 7:41 am
You’re probably not going to like this metaphor, but it’s like training a cat. Only stay on the same subject for a few minutes, and when it looks like their mind is wandering take a break and then teach them something else.
April 12th, 2008 at 5:49 am
On the first day just egt to know him and seee what he has to learn and turn those likings into say a math problem or a story
April 15th, 2008 at 4:28 am
i actully touter kids with dounsyndrom be calm with them and those kids are stuburn so dont let them walk all over you be ferm with them or else theyll think its ok and thats a problum so hope i hellped
April 15th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I’m sure if you do your homework there is lots of info on this.
But please keep in mind, as a child I loved to learn, and i suffered from ADHD. its not that ppl with ADD or ADHD lack interest in learning, they just need to be keep intertained while doing it, something thats gonna keep one attn.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
is he taking medicine? if so, his attnetion span should be longer, if he needs to take it more than once per day, he should be okay for the tutoring.
Best way to to break up the assignment into small sections such as 1,2 and 3. go over these, then take a 5 minute break for water or whatever, come back and do another section of 1,2,and 3. take another break. This will help him concentrate on each section. Ihave to do this with my sons (all are adhd, we do alittle at a time, take a break and come back and do more). It helps but homework does take forever to do.
Best of luck
April 19th, 2008 at 1:26 am
First of all they dont always not focus if hes on meds u shouldnt worry yes it depends how well he controls it around other people and yes he might lose focus or get mad and walk out of the room i know this because i have adhd.
Just treat him normal because if u dont that would definatley make him feel very left out!
April 21st, 2008 at 11:05 pm
It will be hard. I had and still do have ADHD. It’s so hard to learn even when you want to. You could use things that the child like to help. Say the kid likes batman and you ar doing math you can say five men tried to attack batman so he threw a batbomb at them that knocked two out. How many men are left for Batman? haha I was really into colors so the teacher sometimes colored everything in weird colors to keep my attention, some of them even put jokes into the work because im really into funny stuff. Good luck
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Break it down into small chunks, give a quick break every 10 minutes or so. Lots of rewards, verbal praise, stickers. ADHD is not a lack of interest, it is a lack of attention, attention lasts for short periods of time. Very easily distracted. Color coding also helps, have them use 3 x 5 inch index cards to keep notes, and write the really important things in red, then the rest in other colors to help them remember.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
You might want to edit your question with the age of the child…..there’s a LOT of knowledge about ADHD out there and you’ll get a better response.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I have two chioldren with ADHD.
Just tell the parents to give them there meds 4 hrs before the lessons and no sweets before the lessons.
ADHD children are like a bicycle turned upside down with the rear wheels going really fast. If you throw a pebble into the spokes it(the information) gets reflected. A normal childs rear wheel is spinning much slower and the information is more likely to get through. Thats why you must slow them down before you learn them.
Also ADHD is normal in young kids, some grow out of it depending on enviromental factors.
My daughter is slowly growing out of it,my son(who lives w/his mother) isn’t.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 am
Well, I have ADHD, and hope I can help you. Try to break down assignments into small pieces. Assignments that require a lot of thinking, and attention, are difficult. Depending on the age of the child, you can use games, or make lessons fun and simple. Try to help them with organizational skills. They struggle with that. Give them ideas how to organize their school work, buy some fun coloful folders or somthing. Keeping things simple is the best way to go. If you find the child struggling, try to change subjects for a while, and go back. Anything that takes a lot of concentration will be hard. Just take baby steps, and be patient. Kids with ADD get very distracted, very easliy. And it can be frusterating for you. Small 5 min. breaks might help. Make things fun, and simple, with short lessons. Hope this helps! Good luck!
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Kittie -
You’ve gotten some really good tips about how to tutor children with ADHD. But I wanted to offer some more thoughts:
1. Find out what the child’s strengths are… Work with his or her strengths as a person to help them learn best.
2. What is their preferred learning style?
3. Help teach them strategies that complement this style.
4. Help develop good study habits (that work for them).
5. Demonstrate some of the tips and tricks you know, and how they might work for this particular child.
6. Take breaks. If they are restless or tired, encourage they get lots of sleep.
7. Remember, above all else, he or she is a child at heart.
An ADHD child is typically creative and fully of energy - along with being easily distracted, hyperactive, or impulsive.
Just think of your job being this child’s tutor (or any child’s tutor) as teacher, mentor, guide, and support. ADHD children have different needs and different skills to master (just like all of us).
Good luck.
Rory