An approach called the Life Course Model could significantly improve outcomes by keeping parents informed on the effectiveness of behavioral interventions and by ensuring consistency between home and school strategies.

The model’s primary aim is to foster collaborative family-school partnerships. Through meetings with the child’s academic and/or IEP team, parents can help make decisions regarding the best behavioral interventions to address the child’s needs.

[eBook: The Teacher’s Guide to ADHD and Classroom Behavior]

Daily communication about a student’s progress may also allow the teacher to advise on implementing interventions at home. However, successful student outcomes still rely on professional development and teacher training around ADHD interventions and strategies.

Life Course Model Implementation

These practice guidelines were created to help teachers address disruptive or noncompliant behaviors among students with ADHD by providing supports that build skills for independence and self-regulation. Interventions that reduce symptoms (e.g., medication) and accommodations that don’t necessarily build skills are given lower priority in the treatment plan sequence.

Life Course Model, Part 1: Services and Sequencing

Life Course Model, Part 2: Principles for Service Delivery

Behavioral Interventions for ADHD: Next Steps

• Free Download: Classroom Accommodations for Children with ADHD
• Sign Up: Free ADHD Teacher Training Program!
• Read: Could a Behavior Intervention Plan Help Your Student with ADHD? 

Marsha Ariol, M.S., is a third-year doctoral student in the school psychology program at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

George J. DuPaul, Ph.D., is a professor of school psychology and associate dean for research in the College of Education at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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Sources

¹ Hustus, C.L., Evans, S.W., Owens, J.S., Benson, K., Hetrick, A., Kipperman, K., & DuPaul, G.J. (2020). An Evaluation of 504 and Individualized Educational Programs for High School Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. School Psychology Review,49, 333-345.doi: 10.1080/2372966X.2020.1777830

² DuPaul, G.J., Chronis-Tuscano, A., Danielson, M.L., & Visser, S.N. (2019). Predictors of Receipt of School Services in a National Sample of Youth with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Attention Disorders, 23, 1303-1319.doi: 10.1177/1087054718816169

– How to improve executive function by developing “domino” habits
– How to foster a positive learning environment that leans more heavily on praise
– How to design a neurodivergent-friendly classroom
– How to model good planning and prioritizing skills for your child
– How to capture wandering attention without embarrassing students with ADHD
– How to use a daily report card system effectively
– How to manage multiple students’ accommodations efficiently
– How to spot and avoid burnout in twice-exceptional students who are gifted and have ADHD
– How to reduce screen-time battles and use music to spark focus

Get all of these resources and more in this concise, practical, 12-page guide to building stronger executive functions in children with ADHD.

Print it, share it, use it, and start off the new school year smart!

NOTE: This resource is for personal use only.

Strengthening a Teacher-Student Relationship

Q: “How can I encourage my child to ask their teacher for help when needed?”

The skill of self-advocacy is both critical and elusive for many students with ADHD. They can benefit greatly from the student-teacher communication that they are terrified to initiate. Most educators are eager to hear their students’ needs and concerns; many adolescents, however, feel embarrassed, anxious, and/or unsure about face-to-face meetings.

Enter the dialogue journal — a blank book, usually kept in a designated space, that a teacher and student can use to correspond back and forth. This simple but powerful tool offers students a low-pressure way to express their thoughts, concerns, and needs without feeling put on the spot. It also allows teachers to digest the information when it’s convenient for them and not when they’re juggling a dozen other things.

A student could share, “I’m having a hard time focusing at my table,” “I struggle when you call me out for not paying attention in front of everyone,” or “I didn’t understand the math today.” The teacher can ask follow-up questions to get more info, offer solutions, or suggest having a face-to-face conversation.

[Get This Free Download: Explaining ADHD to Teachers]

Perhaps most importantly, the dialogue journal gives teachers the chance to offer positive feedback to students with ADHD, who respond best to praise but seldom receive it. Comments like, “Thanks for helping clean up the paints today,” or “I really enjoyed your observation in Social Studies,” can boost confidence, improve motivation, and significantly enhance the teacher-student relationship.

Homework Solutions: Starting and Finishing Assignments

“What’s the best way to help my student start and finish their homework?”

Completing homework requires sustained attention, focus, and working memory. These executive functioning skills develop more slowly in students with ADHD, creating stress and erecting barriers as a child tries to initiate and complete their assignments on time.

Here are some tips to help your student avoid the frustration that often accompanies homework assignments. Encourage your child to:

• Decompress. When you get home from school, take 40 minutes to eat a healthy snack and refuel your brain. Then take out your books or review your homework assignments within your classroom portal.
• Work in increments. Start with the hardest subject first. Set a timer for 30 minutes, work, then take a 10-minute break. Consider stretching and moving your body during the break to recharge. Then return to the task for another 30 minutes. Your goal is to finish each assignment before it is due. If it doesn’t get done, submit what you have, even though it’s not completed.
• Work backward. This is an awesome strategy: Put the assignment due date on your calendar and break the project into smaller parts to determine the steps you need to finish it. Then set a deadline for completing each step. You may want to create a to-do list and mark off each step as you go for a feeling of accomplishment.

Teacher-Student Relationship: Next Steps

• Sign-Up: Free Teacher Training Program
• Download: Solving Classroom Challenges 
• Read: 4 Secrets to More Positive Teacher-Student Relationships
• Listen: “Meet the Teacher — How to Build Relationships This School Year”

Kristin Seymour, MSN, R.N., AHCNS-BC, is a board-certified Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Heart & Vascular Center in St. Louis.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Q: How can I, as a teacher, more effectively and efficiently implement many Individualized Education Program (IEP) and 504 Plan accommodations for multiple students with learning differences in one classroom?

Many students with learning differences benefit from classroom accommodations, but managing them all can challenge any educator. This is especially true today, as the number of students requesting accommodations has increased dramatically. In fact, it’s one of the top reasons cited by educators for burnout.

If I teach 100 students, about 30 will have an IEP or 504 Plan, with two to three accommodations for each student. Teachers are tasked with figuring out how to implement and track these, while also covering all the course content, engaging young minds, and maintaining rigor. It’s a lot to manage.

To tackle multiple accommodations at once, take the time to carefully organize your online classroom portal. By uploading your notes in advance, for example, you can knock off several accommodations, such as “provide notes to students” and “offer different instructional strategies.”

[Read: 27 Classroom Accommodations That Target Common ADHD Challenges]

Along those lines, set clear due dates in advance for students who are given extra time to complete assignments. Doing so offers a clear structure, which is comforting and motivating for students; for teachers, it streamlines an otherwise unwieldy process.

Q: I see my students with ADHD struggling to focus. How can I help them pay attention without embarrassing them in class?

When teachers tell students with ADHD to pay attention,” most of the kids don’t know what that looks like. This is where we can turn to the SLANT model, developed by Doug Lemov, author of The Coach’s Guidee to Teaching.

[Free Poster: What Every Teacher Should Know About ADHD]

The SLANT strategy details the behaviors necessary for students to pay attention:

• Sit up
• Listen or lean forward
• Ask or answer questions
• Nod your head
• Track the speaker with your eyes

The benefits of this approach are twofold. First, these behaviors enhance the ability of the student to really engage. Second, the student who adopts them looks respectful, which sets a positive tone in the classroom.

Accommodations for ADHD: Next Steps

• Read: The Educator’s Guide to Executive Functions
• Read: Positive Teaching Strategies to Uplift Students with ADHD
• Free Download: Easy Accommodations for Kids with ADHD

Brandon Slade is the founder and CEO of Untapped Learning, an executive function coaching organization. He is a former special education teacher.

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Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Navigating students’ emotional dysregulation can be one of the most challenging aspects of classroom management. In this one-hour webinar, educators will learn how to engage both proactive and reactive strategies for effectively managing emotional dysregulation in students.

Proactive Strategies Include:

• Building a Supportive Classroom Environment: Learn techniques for creating a classroom atmosphere that promotes emotional stability and resilience.
• Implementing Preventative Measures: Discover approaches to identify potential triggers and integrate preventative strategies that reduce the likelihood of emotional outbursts.
• Developing Emotional Regulation Skills: Explore methods for teaching students self-regulation skills and coping mechanisms that they can use independently.

Reactive Strategies Include:

• Deploying Immediate Response Techniques: Understand best practices for addressing emotional dysregulation as it occurs, ensuring interventions are effective and respectful.
• Engaging De-escalation Strategies: Gain practical skills for de-escalating tense situations and restoring a calm learning environment.
• Prioritizing Post-Incident Reflection and Support: Learn how to follow up with students after an emotional incident to provide support and prevent future occurrences.

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Classroom Management Strategies for Teachers: More Resources

• Download: Kid-Friendly Mindful Meditation Exercises
• Sign Up: The ADHD Learning Series for Educators
• Read: Top Emotion Regulation Difficulties for Youth with ADHD
• Read: 13 Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies for Educators Today
• eBook: The Teacher’s Guide to ADHD School Behavior

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on September 17, 2024, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker

Cheryl Chase, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Independence, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. She specializes in the diagnostic and neuropsychological assessment of various conditions impacting children, adolescents, and young adults including ADHD, Learning Disorders, and emotional concerns. She is PSYPACT certified and able to serve clients from the 40 participating states. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Chase is also an accomplished international speaker, leading workshops on such timely topics as executive functioning, dyslexia/dysgraphia, and creative ways to support those who struggle in school. Finally, Dr. Chase serves as an adjunct instructor at several colleges in the Cleveland area. She is an active member of the International Dyslexia Association, the American Psychological Association, and Learning Disabilities Association of America. For more information, please visit ChasingYourPotential.com or her LinkedIn page.

Listener Testimonials

“This webinar was beyond excellent. Dr. Chase’s strategies and encouraging comments ware great both for students — primary and high school — and teachers/parents/guardians. Thank you so much!”

“Excellent, well-informed speaker. Well paced and with a good amount of information to communicate in the time available.”

“There were great strategies that I had not been exposed to in previous trainings. Thank you!”

“From a parent perspective, thank you for the information provided to teachers. Very helpful for everyone! Loved when you reminded them to reflect on their own childhood.”

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Each Fall, many families dive headfirst into big ideas for doing things differently in the new school year… only to see those hopes and ambitions unravel before Halloween. Kids get out of bed grumpily, arrive late to school, struggle to do homework, and fight about their chores. The constant cycle of arguments, reminders, and stress leaves everybody frustrated and unhappy. What if you could nurture cooperation and accountability in your family instead? You can — by learning how to begin this school year with practical tools for a smooth transition.

In this webinar, Dr. Sharon Saline will show you how to change self-defeating cycles by improving key executive functioning skills related to productivity for students. Many children and teens with ADHD become so easily frustrated or overwhelmed that they cannot engage in the organizational tools that would help them. Beginning with methods for understanding and managing time, Dr. Saline shows you how to collaboratively teach realistic planning and effective prioritizing. When kids know how to realistically assess the amount of time they need for an activity, and then arrange tasks according to urgency, importance, and level of difficulty, they develop the independence needed for success at school and at home.

In addition to our standard question-and-answer period, we’ve added a live “Solve My Problem” portion of the webinar where Dr. Saline will address three specific scenarios submitted by ADDitude readers during the webinar registration process. You will leave this webinar with a set of practical strategies and solutions to use right away!

In this webinar, caregivers and educators will learn how to:

• Identify the executive functioning skills that affect productivity, organization, and follow-through
• Use tools for improving time management, planning, and prioritizing
• Develop strategies for effective decision-making that reduce stress and negativity
• Create effective routines with meaningful incentives that foster performance and goal-directed persistence
• Increase cooperation and reduce pushback for challenging tasks

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Time Blindness & Executive Function in ADHD Students: More Resources

• Sign Up: ADHD @ School: A Free Class for Parents
• Read: Prioritize & Organize With These Planner Pointers
  
• Read: Activity Ideas to Hone Brain Skills
  
• Read: Teaching Sequence and Schedules
• eBook: A Parent’s Guide to Effective Routines
  

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on August 28, 2024, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker

Sharon Saline, Psy.D., clinical psychologist and author of the award-winning book, What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life and The ADHD Solution Deck, specializes in working with children, teens, emerging adults and families living with ADHD, anxiety, learning disabilities, autism, twice exceptionalism, and mental health issues. (#CommissionsEarned) She lectures and facilitates workshops internationally on topics such as understanding ADHD, executive functioning, anxiety, motivation, different kinds of learners, and the teen brain. Dr. Saline is a regular contributor to ADDitudemag.com, among many other leading publications.

Learn more at www.drsharonsaline.com.

#CommissionsEarned As an Amazon Associate, ADDitude earns a commission from qualifying purchases made by ADDitude readers on the affiliate links we share. However, all products linked in the ADDitude Store have been independently selected by our editors and/or recommended by our readers. Prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

Listener Testimonials

“This will really complement my work as a Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner as well as help my family.”

“Dr. Saline is outstanding! Thank you so much. From a family with a momma with ADHD and 2 daughters — a teen and a tween!”

“Exceptionally helpful and uplifting discussion. Thank you for all that you do, Dr. Saline and ADDitude Magazine team!”

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These strategies will help your teen tap into their “grit.”

Teachers and parents can take advantage of these strategies for training focus, combatting procrastination, and prioritizing effectively to achieve the success that drives future motivation.

When we create learning environments and activities that help students feel safe and confident, we reduce their chances of experiencing failure and increase their chance at success.

Does delayed executive function maturity make it hard for your child to achieve his goals? Here, tips for practice, patience, and perseverance for children and teenagers with ADHD.

Traditional carrots and sticks don’t motivate students with ADHD – that much is clear. But these strategies do.

Why do adults and children with ADHD or ADD have strong motivation and executive function for some tasks and never find the cognitive spark to do others? Learn more.

Learn about seven important executive function skills, their relationship to motivation, and how to improve each skill. Learn more.

Foster Friendships & Regulate Emotions

Required reading for any parent whose child has felt excluded — or whose child has excluded others.

Students with ADHD thrive in a positive classroom environment, and peer interactions and relationships play a big role in shaping that learning experience.

While your child has strengths, it is the weak executive functions — the management system of the brain — that affect their social skills.

ADHD can cause specific immature behaviors, causing kids to be an outcast amongst peers. Learn how praise and getting involved in activities can help.

How to help your child make friends (and keep them) this year. Learn more.

Teach your child how to deal with a bully and become an upstander for other neurodivergent kids with these strategies.

Children and teens with ADHD may lose friends because of deficits in social executive function skills – the underlying processes that are involved in social skills ranging from perspective-taking to reciprocity and cognitive flexibility. Learn how to help them.

Initiate & Complete Homework

Research suggests that the soundtrack to your child’s homework should comprise these 21 songs, proven to change the electromagnetic frequency of brain waves for optimal focus.

Learn ways to treat dysgraphia – a disability that impacts writing abilities – and to improve handwriting for a lifetime.

With these homework routines, teachers and parents can replace after-school tantrums with higher grades..

Hurdles with writing trace back to executive functioning — our brains’ ability to absorb, organize, and act on information. Learn more.

12 ADHD-friendly strategies for creating calm, avoiding burnout, and staying organized during homework time.

Spare your family drama and fights by following this homework system designed for children with ADHD and learning disabilities.

Kids with ADHD often struggle with homework, but each one struggles in a unique way. Here are specific solutions that really work for kids with ADHD.

Secure Accommodations & Self-Advocate

These academic and organizational tips are designed to help high school students with ADHD finish homework, execute long-term projects, manage their time, earn high grades, and avoid feeling overwhelmed.

“Daily report cards are among the most powerful evidence-based tools that educators have to encourage better behavior in students. A strong report card system has a few key elements that make or break its effectiveness.”

Know your rights if the school refuses to evaluate your student for learning differences.

8 straightforward steps — from requesting a school evaluation to monitoring accommodations — to help parents develop the best IEP or 504 Plan possible for kids with ADHD.

Learn how to help a student with ADHD understand and communicate their learning needs to teachers and parents.

Here are some of our favorite solutions for addressing common ADHD challenges at school.

Here are some of our favorite solutions for addressing common ADHD challenges at school.

Remember Not to Forget

A working memory deficit could explain his difficulty working out math problems in his head or with reading retention. Take this self-test.

Improve working memory in children with ADHD by using these 10 exercises that lighten the mental load by externalizing reminders.

Learn faster. Retain more. Perform better on tests. Yes, really. With these research-based techniques for studying with ADHD .

Educators must do more to support students with learning differences for whom working memory is an area of need. The following are a few strategies and pointers for educators.

Research shows that students with ADHD don’t need to study harder or longer to conquer exams — they just need to study differently. Here’s how.

Weak working memory impairs a child’s ability to follow multi-step directions, tap into old information, or quickly recall lessons. These 15 exercises and strategies can help.

Verbal and non-verbal working memory are two essential batteries powering what Dr. Russell Barkley calls your brain’s GPS system — the one that keeps you on track, on time, and in control. Learn how to keep them charged.

Build Self-Confidence at School

Responding to bad behavior with neurotypical parenting techniques is counterproductive because it ignores the root problem. Here is a better way.

When teens with ADHD feel less than adequate, parents should use these strategies to help them bolster their self confidence, make healthy choices, and develop a positive perspective on the future. Here’s how.

Daily challenges and corrections at school can demoralize a child and trample her confidence. How to end the cycle.

These ADHD teaching strategies will help all students — but especially those with ADD — learn to the best of their ability in any classroom. Get started.

No child with ADHD can succeed at school if he believes he is less smart or less capable than his peers. Here is a better way.

Many children with ADHD, battered by daily criticisms and admonitions, have low self-esteem as early as second grade. Make a powerful difference with these reframing strategies.

Chronic stress at school can make kids (particularly those with ADHD or LD) dread going — and change their brains for the worse. Learn more.

Organize & Manage Time

The most critical tool for building these executive functions? The right planner. Here it is.

Want to make sure that your child gets his homework done every night — and learns about planning and how to prioritize? Teach them to use a homework planner.

11 tips for cementing your family’s routine.

Here, learn how to use calendars and clocks to teach your child the value of strong priorities and to help him be on time more often.

Paper planners outperform digital ones for ADHD brains. Here is what makes a great planner.

Chaotic desk? Forgotten homework? Missed deadlines? Your child needs these ADHD organizing tips.

Reliable schedules for mornings, after school, and bedtime make a tremendous difference in setting expectations, building good habits, and improving ADD-related behavior. Learn more.

Resist Distractions and Focus

dopamine menu lists an assortment of pleasurable, healthy activities — from appetizers like yoga poses to main courses like a HIIT class to sides like white noise — from which ADHD brains can choose when they need stimulation. Learn more.

Research shows that physical activity — even a little foot-tapping or gum chewing — increases levels of the neurotransmitters in the brain that control focus and attention. Learn more.

“Procrastivity” is a self-defeating ADHD time-management habit can be helped by cognitive behavioral therapy approaches that teach patients how to prioritize tasks. Learn more here.

You can’t train away executive dysfunction. But you can more consistently get things done by creating systems in your life that support these brain processes. Get started here.

Soothing, effective fidgets for students with ADHD who focus best when they are chewing, squeezing, picking, or — yes — spinning. See our picks here.

Children with ADHD experience a lower level of brain arousal, which means they are easily distracted by internal and external stimuli. Use these school and home strategies to improve focus and comprehension.

For inconsistent focus, use these teacher-approved accommodations to put some real muscle behind his 504 Plan and put the attention back on learning. Get started.

Control Impulses and Behavior

Back-to-school supplies for students with ADHD — from erasable pens and highlighter tape to wiggle seat cushions, and more — that improve focus, organization, and classroom engagement. See the list.

Educators share their top tips for developing stronger executive function skills and independence in students with ADHD and learning differences here.

The Good Behavior Game is one of many classroom behavior interventions — backed by research — that inspires better behavior from students with and without ADHD. Here is how to play.

Is your child experiencing behavior problems at school? Use this step-by-step guide.

Time-outs and lectures won’t magically cure the impulsive tendencies of kids with ADHD. But these real-world tips for teachers and parents just might.

Lack of impulse control may be the most difficult ADHD symptom to change. Medication can help, but kids also need effective behavior management strategies in place — clear expectations, positive incentives, and predictable consequences — if they are to learn to regulate their behavior. Get started here.

Teach students to regulate their emotions with these ADHD strategies.

Forge Stronger Executive Functions

Executive function deficits may look like absentmindedness or forgetfulness. Learn more.

Learn about your child’s seven executive functions — and how to boost them.

“Executive dysfunction is ubiquitous in children with ADHD, which helps to explain why so many students with attention deficit are reprimanded for forgotten homework, disorganized projects, running out of time on tests, and more.” Learn more.

Martial arts help build self-control, discipline, and persistence. Learn how.

Symptoms of inattentive ADHD are often mistaken for apathy or laziness. Learn the truth.

ADHD intentions don’t always translate into action. Learn how to align them here.

90% of kids with ADHD have an executive function deficit. Learn how to strengthen executive functions here.

Parent and educators can help the children in their lives flourish by teaching them how to hope by following these steps.

1. Talk about hope.

Hope is not frivolous or fleeting. It is a mindset centered on taking action to achieve the future one wants. Hope is powered by three key components: goals, pathways (i.e., how to move towards goals), and willpower (i.e., keeping your eye on the prize).

[Free Webinar: Learn About the Science and Power of Hope]

Hope does not sprout from a one-time conversation, so talk to your child or students often about hope, its components, and hopes they hold personally.

2. Find examples of hope in age-appropriate media.

Children’s movies, television, and books are filled with lessons on hope, as characters commonly work toward goals in the face of barriers and adversity.

While reading a book or watching a movie, ask your child or student about the goals of a character. How is the character trying to achieve their goals? What barriers does the character face, and how does it affect their hope? Does the character struggle to maintain motivation? Does the character eventually keep going? If so, what motivates them? How did they change course to overcome the barriers?

In practically all children’s media, the main character can’t overcome barriers without the help of friends. This is the social gift of hope. Ask: How can you rely on friends and others to help you overcome barriers? How can you help your friends remain hopeful in reaching their goals?

[Read: ADHD & the Art of Persistence — Teaching Goal-Setting Skills]

3. Create a visual map of hope.

Help your child or students map out their goals and hopes in a powerful visual reminder of what it means to take action toward a better future. Help them find pictures that represent a goal, that goal’s pathways (at least three), and willpower. Have them write a few sentences about how a picture symbolizes a component of hope. The final product will be a graphic display of hope, goals, pathways, and willpower in a framework.

4. Be attentive to future-oriented statements.

Listen for statements about wanting to do something, like joining the school band or basketball team. These are future expectations, and it’s on you to help your child or student figure out how to engage in pathways and sustain motivation to achieve those goals.

Why Is Hope Important?: Next Steps

• Download: Unlocking Motivation in Kids with ADHD
• Read: “My Anxious Child Is Convinced She Can’t Do Hard Things.”
• Read: Shake Loose of Your Limiting Beliefs — A Guide for Teens with ADHD

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “The Science and Power of Hope” [Video Replay & Podcast #486] with Chan M. Hellman, Ph.D., which was broadcast on January 10, 2024.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Episode Description

School refusal and avoidance have grown more prevalent and problematic since the quarantine of 2020. The reasons behind school refusal and avoidance are different for every student, but the goal is typically the same: to stay at home and miss tests, class work, and homework. From elementary school through high school, absenteeism is growing — and pushing students further and further behind.

Underlying anxiety often propels and compels this behavior, which can present differently in different students — from stomachaches and headaches in some to signs of depression in others. For some students, this anxiety may stem from academic struggles. Students with ADHD may feel overwhelmed if they’re unable to keep up with teacher instruction, class work, and homework. They may also be worn down by years of criticism and correction at school. For others, social difficulties, such as bullying or peer rejection, may cause anxiety and the desire to avoid school.

It’s important for caregivers and educators to understand the underlying causes for each student’s school avoidance and absenteeism so that their individual needs can be addressed, and they can return to school feeling hopeful in a positive environment.

In this webinar, you will learn:

• About the underlying factors that contribute to school avoidance and absenteeism
• How these factors may affect students with ADHD, in particular
• How symptoms of school avoidance can look different across elementary school-age children and teens
• How to identify and meet the needs of struggling students
• About the evidence-based strategies that parents and educators can utilize to support students with school refusal behaviors
• Therapy options to help students transition back to the academic environment

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Download or Stream the Podcast Audio

Click the play button below to listen to this episode directly in your browser, click the  symbol to download to listen later, or open in your podcasts app: Apple Podcasts; Audacy; Spotify; Amazon Music; iHeartRADIO; YouTube 

School Avoidance & ADHD: More Resources

– Download: The School Avoidance Alliance’s Free Guide to Working with Your School
– Enroll: The School Avoidance Alliance’s Master Class for Parents (use discount code: Additude)
– Share: The School Avoidance Alliance’s Course for Educators (use discount code: Additude)
– Read: Why School Stress Is Toxic for Our Children
– Sign Up: Free Back-to-School Master Class from ADDitude
– Read: 6 Good Reasons to Change Your Child’s School
– Download: Social Anxiety Facts and Falsehoods

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on July 9, 2024, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker

Alana Cooperman, LCSW, is a senior social worker for the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute. She has extensive experience delivering evidence-based treatment to children and families with a range of anxiety disorders including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, selective mutism, and phobias. She also works with individuals with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and those struggling with emotion dysregulation. Mrs. Cooperman has provided individual and group therapy to children and adolescents in school settings for over 15 years.

Mrs. Cooperman has received training in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), functional behavior assessments (FBA), parent-child interaction therapy for selective mutism (PCIT-SM), and exposure and response prevention (ERP).

Mrs. Cooperman’s experience includes working on a multidisciplinary team, alongside school administrators, teachers, families, and other clinicians, to create student goals and individualized behavior plans. She has led numerous workshops for both teachers and families, teaching strategies to support children struggling with emotion regulation, anger, and anxiety. Mrs. Cooperman also has experience conducting comprehensive family intakes and child and adolescent risk assessments.

Listener Testimonials

“Great presentation – she was very knowledgeable.”

“This was a terrific webinar with a good amount of information presented in an understandable format without being overwhelming. Thank you!”

“I like how reasonable, manageable, and relatable the presenter was. It was motivating to access the cycle of interventions that she suggested. This will be very useful for my client in the upcoming months!”

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With patience and a few tried-and-true strategies, you can help your student harness their enthusiasm and energy in the classroom while minimizing blurting. Use these ideas to spark your next brilliant behavior plan or classroom-management strategy.

1. Try planned ignoring. During a classroom activity, acknowledge students who raise their hands and wait to be called on. (Be sure to repeat this expectation prior to and during the lesson.) When a student who was previously blurting is now raising their hand, call on that student right away, and praise their enthusiastic efforts to contribute while following classroom expectations.

[Get This Free Download: The Daily Report Card for Better Classroom Behavior]

2. Three nods and a deep breath. For students who struggle with waiting their turn to contribute to a conversation (especially when it’s an exciting one that relates to their interests), encourage them to work and refine their patience muscles with a quick exercise: When the urge to blurt comes up before a friend has finished their statement, slowly and slightly nod three times and then take a deep breath before jumping in. Even if the student does end up blurting, it’s the practice of mindfully waiting that counts. This exercise also teaches students to be active listeners.

3. Use self-monitoring tools. Sometimes, students are unaware that they are blurting and how often they engage in the behavior. Self-monitoring tools can raise their awareness (without causing shame) and help control its frequency. My favorite way to use self-monitoring in the classroom is for both student and teacher to track the student’s blurt count for a lesson/period and compare results.

If the blurt tally is the same, then the student gets to pick from the big prize box for recognizing the number of times they blurted. (If the tally is off, you should reward the student anyway for making progress, perhaps by allowing them to pick a smaller prize.)

Over time, once the student’s baseline number of blurts is established, you can set clear goals around limiting those interruptions. If five is the average for a lesson, then aim for the student to blurt no more than three times a lesson. Praise and reward the student, perhaps with additional time for recess for the whole class.

[Read: Impulse Control Strategies for School and Home]

4. Do an environmental check. Thinking critically about the environment in which our students learn is essential to maximize their learning and make sure everyone is on the same page with respect to the classroom rules.

• Review classroom expectations frequently with your students. Make sure that the rules are clear and easy to understand, and write them on the board or keep them on a poster hanging up for all to see. Ensure that students understand when it is okay to talk softly to friends in their desk pod and when it’s time to be absolutely quiet, like during tests.
• Consider seating. Put a student who blurts near your desk or away from other students who also blurt. Consider creating a designated space in your classroom that students can go to if they need to self-regulate to control blurting and other impulsive behaviors.
• Don’t overlook the importance of a clutter-free space. Where is my notebook? Pencil? Last week’s homework assignment? A cleaner environment can reduce these questions, which may come out as blurting. During transition times, have your students take a few minutes to do individualized environmental check to keep organized.
• Check noise levels. Soft music may calm some students, which helps with impulsivity, while others need absolute silence to avoid being “activated.” Think of what works for your students and consider using noise cancelling headphones for students who need quiet.

How to Stop Blurting: Next Steps

• Free Download: Solving Behavior Problems Rooted in Executive Function Deficits
• Read: Disruptive Behavior — Solutions for the Classroom and at Home
• Read: Behavior Problems at School —  A Complete Problem-Solving Guide for Parents

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Executive function (EF) skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus our attention, remember instructions, stay organized, and successfully manage our time. These skills are crucial for student success, but many children with ADHD, learning differences, and co-existing conditions lag behind in EF.

We will provide educators with the tools they need to teach these skills through an academic lens. Integrating these strategies in a classroom helps all students, those with and without ADHD and co-existing conditions.

In this webinar, you will learn how to:

• Implement clear classroom expectations and routines
• Set up learning management system portals to decrease student questions and limit confusion
• Manage and follow student accommodations (504 Plans and IEPs)
• Incorporate movement in your classroom to improve focus—while avoiding chaos
• Teach students how to advocate for themselves through role play

Watch the Video Replay

Enter your email address in the box above labeled “Video Replay + Slide Access” to watch the video replay (closed captions available) and download the slide presentation.

Download or Stream the Podcast Audio

Click the play button below to listen to this episode directly in your browser, click the  symbol to download to listen later, or open in your podcasts app: Apple Podcasts; Audacy; Spotify; Amazon Music; iHeartRADIO.

Executive Function Skills for Students: More Resources

• Self-Test: Could Your Child Have an Executive Function Deficit?
• Read: A Classroom Exercise That Teaches Self-Advocacy and Celebrates Differences
• Get: The Ultimate Executive Function Guide
• Read: The Misconceptions That Stifle Students with ADHD

Obtain a Certificate of Attendance

If you attended the live webinar on February 22, 2024, watched the video replay, or listened to the podcast, you may purchase a certificate of attendance option (cost: $10). Note: ADDitude does not offer CEU credits. Click here to purchase the certificate of attendance option »

Meet the Expert Speaker

Brandon Slade is the founder and CEO of Untapped Learning, an executive function coaching organization. Slade was diagnosed with ADHD at an early age, but it wasn’t until college that he fully recognized his brain did not work like those of his neurotypical peers. Since then, Slade’s goal has been to better understand the ADHD brain. After teaching special education for 12 years, he started Untapped Learning. Untapped’s mission is to help students with executive function challenges to develop the skills they need to succeed academically and beyond.

Listener Testimonials

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“This was an excellent webinar. The suggestions were clear and concise. So often I find that other webinars out there do not give practical, real-life, implementable advice. This was different and I’m ecstatic to try these with my son (and even myself). Thank you!”

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For the “project,” she gave each student an index card with a set of unique medical symptoms. The task, due in a week: Research your symptoms and identify the diagnosis. The following week, the teacher had her students quickly read out their symptoms and their diagnostic guesses. Her job was to play doctor and prescribe treatment for each student’s condition.

One student began: “My arm bone is jutting out. There’s swelling and bleeding at the spot. I’m in intense pain. I must have a bone fracture.”

The teacher: “Yes, that’s right! Take an aspirin and come back in a week if you don’t feel better.”

She hurried to the next student, ignoring the confused looks around the room.

[Get This Free Download: 5 Steps to More Forceful ADHD Self-Advocacy]

“I have a really bad headache, a fever, a runny nose, and a sore throat,” said the other student. “I think I have the flu.”

“Correct,” the teacher said. “Take an aspirin and come back in a week if you aren’t feeling better. Next!”

On and on the teacher went, assigning the same treatment, no matter how nonsensical, to the students’ varied conditions and ignoring their objections.

After a few moments (and an uproar across the classroom), the teacher stopped. Now came the time to reveal the real purpose of the project.

[Read: Putting Kids in Charge of Their Learning Needs]

“Here’s the deal,” she said. “Like your index cards of symptoms, each of you has a unique set of strengths and needs. And just as your symptoms require different treatments, each of you needs different things from me to succeed. And my job is to be fair to each of you individually.”

Some people think that fairness, she noted, is giving everyone the exact same thing. But was it fair, she asked the class, to prescribe aspirin for a bone fracture? The class, of course, said no.

Fair, she emphasized, doesn’t mean that everyone gets the same thing. It means everyone gets what they need to be successful. Some may need more support than others, but the result should be the same: Success in the classroom.

“Now, I’m not a mind reader,” she said to the class. “I can’t help you be successful if you don’t tell me what you need. You’re going to have to help me with this.”

Try this simple project with your classroom. In doing so, you’ll cultivate a classroom culture where individual strengths and needs are normalized, not stigmatized, and where students of all abilities feel comfortable advocating for their varied needs to thrive.

Self-Advocacy Activities: Next Steps

• Free Download: 4 Secrets to Motivating Students with ADHD
• Read: Teaching Strategies for Students with ADHD — Ideas to Help Every Child Shine
• Read: 8 Confidence Builders for Kids with ADHD

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude webinar titled, “Avoiding & Recovering from 2e Burnout: Support for Gifted Students” [Video Replay & Podcast #467] with Mary Ruth Coleman, Ph.D., which was broadcast on August 17, 2023.

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Over the past 10 years, I’ve learned to sew and knit mittens, bake bread, bake sourdough bread (a completely different process), decorate cakes, cook and preserve a variety of foods, make candles, craft homemade lip balm and lotion, and edit with Photoshop. I volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters, ran four half marathons and three full marathons, did a triathlon, and a (maybe ill-advised) mountain race, all as I earned a master’s degree.

I’m on a side quest right now. I am writing a biology unit even though my school doesn’t currently offer a biology class. Should I devote my time to other lessons? Probably. But I tend to plan my lessons as they come to me. I’ve learned that my best work comes when I follow my creative instincts. Even if I forced myself to work linearly, I know it would result in subpar lesson plans.

[Read: Why the ADHD Brain Chooses the Less Important Task]

I don’t list these side quests, many of which I consider accomplishments, to brag, (I am not particularly good at any of the above) but to emphasize that if anyone knows about ADHD side quests – the good and the not-so-good parts of them – it’s me. I can’t tell you how many times I’d set out to do something, like clean my kitchen, only to spend that time doing anything but, like perfecting my baking skills. As frustrating as it is to stray from my intentions (I ended up with yummy bread and a dirtier kitchen), I firmly believe that all the side quests I’ve embarked on have served me in the long run. I also know that this breadth of learning is only possible when I lean into my ADHD.

What’s Life – and Learning – Without Side Quests?

While funny, the ADHD meme suggests that side quests and non-linear paths are ultimately wasteful. It’s a mentality I see in the field of education, which is quick to discourage and even punish side quests and non-linear approaches. Students are largely taught to complete the main quest using only a handful of accepted procedures, without room for detours. It’s a mentality that negatively affects students who learn differently, including students with ADHD, who come to learn to view their condition as an impediment to academic success.

Side quests, I say, are not wasteful. Even within video games, you can earn rewards for playing side quests and gain skills that eventually aid in completing the main quest. If you shut off the game after finishing a handful of side quests, without so much as attempting the main quest, you would still consider it a success, if not a good time.

How can we bring this approach to learning? I have a few ideas.

[Read: Stifled Creativity and Its Damaging Impact on the ADHD Brain]

1. Recognize that success and learning come in many forms. Point A to Point B may work for some students, but some of us need to stop at Points C through F, with a layover at stoichiometry and a quick detour to the American Revolution.

2. Provide opportunities to go down the rabbit hole. We should encourage students to take tangents and scratch those exploratory itches. My students get two days at the end of each term for digging deeper into a topic that was particularly interesting to them and then sharing with the class. It’s an opportunity to hyperfocus that also increases engagement, and it teaches students to view tangents and side quests in a positive light.

3. Reframe mistakes as opportunities for growth and learning. Mistakes and snags are part of learning (we can even consider them as side quests of their own), but it’s not always pleasant to brush up against them, whether they happen on side quests or the main quest. Take a page from video games, where failure doesn’t really exist and mistakes aren’t the end of the world. You may lose the round, but you’re allowed to play and play, using what you’ve learned until you get it right and move on to the next level.

How to Engage Students: Next Steps

• Read: “How Teachers Can Initiate and Promote Inclusive Education”
• Read: “Why Curious, Questioning Students are Highly Underrated”
• Read: How to Encourage Creativity in Children with ADHD

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Help your 2e student avoid burnout by learning its early warning signs and creating systems that reduce their day-to-day overwhelm. Here’s how.

Gifted Kid Burnout: Why It Happens and How to Spot It

The distance between 2e kids’ strengths and challenges is vast. These students may feel incredibly smart at times, like when they master a concept much faster than their peers. But dread and panic set in when dyslexia, ADHD, anxiety, or symptoms of another condition seem to hijack their academic progress.

As twice-exceptional kids navigate this complex, exhausting combination of polar-opposite attributes, their self-concept suffers and imposter syndrome may set in. They may think, “Maybe I’m not so smart after at.” Even comments from parents, teachers, and other adults — “You could achieve so much if you just applied yourself,” or “I know you are capable of so much more” — can fuel self-doubt and stress in these kids.

[Read: Lost, Late, or Burnt Out?]

As school demands inevitably pile up and become more complex, 2e kids need specific and anticipatory supports. Without appropriate supports, the demands outstrip a student’s capacity to cope, and the burnout pattern begins. Signs of 2e burnout include the following:

• withdrawing and closing off from others; moving into a “safe zone”
• irritability and impulsivity; lashing and acting out
• rigid, inflexible thinking; unable to “go with the flow”
• feeling overwhelmed
• feeling trapped and helpless

How to Avoid Burnout: Strategies for Gifted Kids

Look for Patterns

Help your child recognize situations — times, tasks, subjects, and settings — that cause them to feel overwhelmed. This way, they can plan ahead, lean on their strengths, and reduce their chances of burning out. Ask your child questions like the following to increase their self-awareness:

• What time of day do you feel your best? When do you feel your worst?
• Which skills do you enjoy using?
• Which classes and subjects do you enjoy the most? Which ones do you find most challenging, and why?

[Read: How to Teach Emotional Regulation Skills]

Build and Practice Coping Skills

As your child begins to recognize their patterns, encourage them to ask, “How might I respond when I’m in a stressful situation? How can I be flexible when things don’t go as expected? Which coping strategies would help me the most?” Possible coping strategies include the following:

• practicing mindfulness, trying breathing exercises, and observing feelings
• taking breaks, especially during challenging tasks or moments
• saying a positive affirmation
• asking, “If I had a friend who was experiencing this, what advice would I give them?”
• asking parents, teachers, and/or friends for help (social connections are key for promoting resilience)

Coping skills are virtually impossible to learn while stress is unfolding, so help your child practice these skills often. Remind your child that identifying and applying the right coping skills during moments of stress is a process of trial and error that requires patience and persistence.

Create Daily Structure

Visual schedules and routines provide 2e children with the predictability they need to feel in control, conserve resources, and manage stress. Scheduling starts with a bird’s-eye view of important dates — like tests, project deadlines, music recitals — and tapers down to what’s happening on a weekly, daily, and hourly level.

• Color-code must-dos, should-dos, and want-to-dos that comprise your child’s schedule. Viewing to-dos like this can help your child readily adjust plans and make time for what really matters. Downtime and fun time are vital, so be sure to help your child make room for non-academic pursuits and passions.
• Review weekly and daily schedules with the goal of anticipating and reducing stress. At the beginning of each week, ask your child to mark which days ahead might be stressful, and what can be done about it, like practicing coping skills or changing plans to avoid an overloaded schedule. It might be difficult for your child — as is the case for many bright, motivated kids who want to do it all — to drop plans. Remind your child that more is not necessarily better, and that the goal is to reduce stress so they can thrive.
• Develop routines that align with your child’s rhythms. When do they hit their stride? When are they typically hungry? When do they need downtime? How many hours of sleep do they need? What do they need to successfully transition through activities? Build these daily patterns into your child’s schedule.

Provide Supportive Physical Environments

• Establish zones for major tasks — studying, playing, eating, etc. — with all the supplies your child would need for a given activity.
• Declutter spaces to help your child focus in a distraction-free environment.
• Everything has a home; put high-use items, like sports equipment and backpacks, in the same place each time to avoid the unnecessary stress of looking for misplaced items.
• Help your child sort, clean, and repack their backpack as often as needed, whether daily or weekly. Together, create a “clean and ready backpack” checklist.
• Decorate your child’s spaces. Add visuals, sounds, and smells that help your child feel calm and happy.

Maintain Motivation

• Task analyzing — or breaking down a task into smaller steps and incorporating breaks — is an important practice to reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed especially if your child’s first reaction to big projects or difficult subjects is, “There is no way I can do that!”
• What does your child want to accomplish? Help them identify small and big, short-and long-term goals — academic and beyond — that matter to them.
• Use a reward system to help your child stay motivated as they display effort and persistence toward a goal, use their coping skills, and show other desired behaviors. Help them identify rewards of all kinds that genuinely interest them, and assign point values to small and large rewards. Check in often to make sure previously selected rewards and goals still matter to your child.

Gifted Kid Burnout: Next Steps for 2e Kids

• Free Download: 20 Learning Strategies Designed for Students with ADHD
• Read: “I Grew Up Gifted and Autistic — and Suffered the Burnout of Twice Exceptionality”
• Read: “My Gifted Teen Has ADHD — and So. Much. Frustration.”

The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude webinar titled, “Avoiding & Recovering from 2e Burnout: Support for Gifted Students” [Video Replay & Podcast #467] with Mary Ruth Coleman, Ph.D., which was broadcast on August 17, 2023.

References

Coleman M. R. (2016). Recognizing young children with high potential: U-STARS∼PLUS. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1377(1), 32–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13161

Kirk, S. A., Gallagher, J. J., & Coleman, M. R. (2015). Educating exceptional children (14th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage.

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

I clarified: “Do you assume, for example, that the student’s learning difference may add to your workload or disrupt the class in some way?”

A few teachers reluctantly raised their hands.

Then I asked, “And how many of you, upon finding out that you will be teaching a neurodivergent student, readily think, ‘This is great! I’m going to be able to really take advantage of some of the strengths of their brain.’” Cue lots of bowing heads and sheepish looks.

As a teacher of 24 years, I know that less-than-favorable unconscious (and sometimes conscious) attitudes absolutely exist within the education system toward students with learning differences. To be clear, I also know that the majority of teachers have benevolent intentions and want the best for their students.

Still, the longstanding approach in education systems has been that there is a core group of students that educators teach, and then there are “others” who require differentiated learning materials to accommodate their separate needs. This bolt-on-not-built-in approach (a term coined by Margaret Mulholland, an education inclusion specialist) can only ever lead to one way of thinking: Most kids learn in a similar, typical way, and anyone who doesn’t demands extra work – an inconvenience.

[Read: The Simulation Exercises That Expand Educators’ Understanding of Neurodivergent Students]

What Drives Negative Attitudes Toward Individuals with Learning Differences?

Years of attention-grabbing headlines – particularly those written about ADHD – have fueled myths and negative conceptions about neurodiversity and learning differences that have seeped into our subconscious and created a bias that was never of our making. The idea of ADHD not existing and instead being an excuse for a lack of discipline and poor parenting, for example, is still rampant.

It’s also generational. When I was in school in the ’80s, the term “specific learning difference” didn’t exist, let alone the more positive term, “neurodivergence.” Children who displayed traits that we now recognize as learning differences were regarded as unintelligent and troublesome, their traits only inspiring irritation or sympathy from teachers. (Even the latter can be damaging to self-esteem if a child senses that an authority figure is taking pity on them.)

The Consequences of Negative Teacher Bias

Such negative, often implicit biases against these students means potentially disastrous outcomes for self-esteem and future educational success. A UK report found that institutions of higher learning have been slow to provide inclusive educational environments in large part because of negative attitudes from staff toward students with learning differences.¹ This included teachers not believing that a student had a disability or difference, and even questioning if a neurodivergent student was capable of studying at their current level.

Crucially, we must consider intersectionality here and how the overlap of race and gender with learning differences may create further discrimination or disadvantage, as evidenced, for example, by a teacher holding lower expectations of a child who has a certain skin color and a learning difference, or enacting harsher consequences. According to the Bellwether Report, Black students with disabilities account for just over 2% of the total U.S. student population, yet they make up nearly 9% of all students suspended.²

[Read: Why We Must Achieve Equitable ADHD Care for African American and Latinx Children]

We Need to Revolutionize Teacher Training

One in every five of us is said to be neurodivergent³, so it is the rule and not the exception that teachers will educate students with learning differences for the entirety of their careers. Still, educator training to support students with learning differences using inclusive practices, including increasing awareness of implicit biases, remains inadequate or largely unavailable, despite increasing calls for these components to become a core part of teacher training.

A strengths-based, inclusion-focused pedagogy whereby teachers fundamentally believe that all students, regardless of ability, can thrive when their needs are met can dramatically change learning outcomes for the better. One study showed that, compared to teachers with negative inclusive educational beliefs, teachers who believed that inclusive education is an effective way to teach provided greater positive feedback to students, felt less frustrated, and held lower expectations for future failure.⁴

In my role as a learning support specialist, I have collected many anecdotes from neurodivergent students about times when a teacher delivered instruction in a more inclusive manner, surely with learning differences exclusively in mind, that ended up making the lesson much more accessible to the entire class, to the delight of all students. Known as the curb-cut effect, it demonstrates that inclusive teaching can benefit not just a target group, but all students.

Apart from teacher training on inclusive practices, we also need more neurodivergent teachers who, by virtue of living with a condition or learning difference, will understand the experiences of students with learning differences and approach instruction in a more empathetic manner.

It’s possible that there are more neurodivergent educators out there than we know. They remain in the shadows because of fears related to disclosing a learning differences and being judged negatively. The unfortunate consequence of stigma is that it leaves a distinct lack of neurodivergent role models for students. If educational institutions start to actively recruit, support, and learn from neurodivergent teachers, then schools as a whole will be more inclined to look positively upon their neurodivergent students.

I feel instinctively that the tide is turning. It may be slow, but I’m heartened by how much societal awareness of neurodiversity has grown. I’ve observed that teachers and students are becoming more open about their differently wired brains. In my lifetime, I hope that all teachers will walk into a classroom and immediately feel nothing but delight and excitement – never dread – at the prospect of teaching students with wonderfully neurodivergent brains.

Implicit Bias in Education: Next Steps

• Free Class: The ADHD Learning Series for Educators
• Read: There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Slow’ or ‘Lazy’ Brain
• Read: Students with Learning Differences Need Outspoken Champions

SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.

Sources

¹ Inclusive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education – The Department for Education (2017)

² Hinds, H., Newby, L., Korman, H. (2022) Ignored, Punished, and Underserved: Understanding and Addressing Disparities in Education Experiences and Outcomes for Black Children with Disabilities. Bellwether & Easterseals.

³ Doyle N. (2020). Neurodiversity at work: a biopsychosocial model and the impact on working adults. British medical bulletin, 135(1), 108–125. https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldaa021

⁴ Woodcock S. (2021). Teachers’ beliefs in inclusive education and the attributional responses toward students with and without specific learning difficulties. Dyslexia (Chichester, England), 27(1), 110–125. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1651