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Organizational and Study Skills for the ADHD
School Child.
The ADHD child is often easily distracted and has difficulty
focusing their attention on assigned school tasks. However, the
following practices can help the ADHD child improve their
organization of homework and other daily school assignments.
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Designate one teacher as the ADHD child’s school advisor or
coordinator: This school teacher will regularly review the ADHD
child’s progress through progress reports submitted by other
teachers and will act as the liaison between home and school.
Permit the student to meet with this advisor on a regular basis
(e.g., Monday morning) to plan and organize for the week and to
review progress and problems from the past week.
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Assignment notebooks: Provide the ADHD child with an assignment
notebook to help organize homework and other school work.
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Color-coded folders:
Provide the ADHD child with color-coded folders to help
organize assignments for different school subjects (e.g.,
reading, mathematics, social science, science).
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Work with a homework partner: Assign the ADHD child a partner to
help record homework and other school work in the assignment
notebook and file work sheets and other papers in the proper
folders.
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Clean out desks and book bags: Ask the ADHD child to
periodically sort through and clean out his or her desk, book bag,
and other special places where school assignments are stored.
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Visual aids as reminders of subject material: Use banners,
charts, lists, pie graphs, and diagrams situated throughout the
classroom to remind the ADHD child of the subject material being
learned.
Assisting the ADHD Child with School Time Management: The
ADHD child often has difficulty finishing school assignments on
time and can thus benefit from special school materials and
practices that help them to improve their time management skills,
including:
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Use a clock or wristwatch: Teach the ADHD child how to read and
use a clock or wristwatch to manage time when completing assigned
school work.
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Use a calendar: Teach the ADHD child how to read and use a
calendar to schedule school assignments.
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Practice sequencing activities: Provide the ADHD child with
supervised opportunities to break down a long school assignment
into a sequence of short, interrelated activities.
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Create a daily activity schedule: Tape a schedule of planned
daily activities to the ADHD child’s desk.
Helpful Study Skills for the ADHD Child: The ADHD child
often has difficulty in learning how to study effectively on their
own. The following strategies may assist the ADHD child in
developing the study skills necessary for school success:
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Adapt worksheets: Teach the ADHD child how to adapt school
worksheets. For example, help a child fold his or her reading
worksheet to reveal only one question at a time. The child can
also use a blank piece of paper to cover the other questions on
the page.
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Venn diagrams: Teach the ADHD child how to use Venn diagrams to
help illustrate and organize key concepts in reading, mathematics,
or other school subjects.
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Note-taking skills: Teach a child with ADHD how to take notes
when organizing key academic concepts that he or she has learned,
perhaps with the use of a program such as Anita Archer’s Skills
for School Success.
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Checklist of frequent mistakes: Provide the ADHD child with a
checklist of mistakes that he or she frequently makes in written
school assignments (e.g., punctuation or capitalization errors),
mathematics (e.g., addition or subtraction errors), or other
academic subjects. Teach the child how to use this list when
proofreading his or her work at home and school.
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Checklist of homework supplies: Provide the ADHD child with a
checklist that identifies categories of items needed for homework
assignments (e.g., books, pencils, and homework assignment
sheets).
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Uncluttered workspace: Teach a child with ADHD how to prepare an
uncluttered workspace to complete school assignments. For example,
instruct the child to clear away unnecessary books or other
materials before beginning his or her seatwork.
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Monitor homework assignments: Keep track of how well your
students with ADHD complete their assigned school homework.
Discuss and resolve with them and their parents any problems in
completing these assignments. For example, evaluate the difficulty
of the assignments and how long the children spend on their
homework each night. Keep in mind that the quality, rather than
the quantity, of homework assigned is the most important issue.
While doing homework is an important part of developing study
skills, it should be used to reinforce skills and to review
material learned in class, rather than to present, in advance,
large amounts of material that is new to the student.
This guide on school and the ADHD child,
provided by the U.S. Department of Education, provides an
overall educational strategy
for successful instruction, academic instruction tips on
introducing lessons,
conducting lessons, providing
individualized
instructional
practices for math and
language arts,
organizational and
study skills, effective
behavioral techniques and techniques designed to
encourage
positive behavior,
along with
classroom
accommodation tips. To order a hard copy of this ADD teaching
report, e-mail edpubs@inet.ed.gov or call (877) 433-7827.
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