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As Special Education (SPED) tutors, we may find it challenging to teach students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It affects our students’ ability to focus, pay attention, or complete tasks – depending on the severity of the condition.
It could also make them fidgety and restless, which might disrupt our initial lesson plans.
So how can we keep them engaged and stimulated during the lessons?
Here are 5 effective lesson activities for teaching students with ADHD to keep your student engaged during your lessons!
Creative Projects
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Studies show that students with ADHD have a heightened sense of creativity. So take advantage of that!
Allow your student to participate in creative projects like creating their own memes or creating their own experiment for a STEM project (for example, creating a water filtration system).
It lets them apply the concepts you teach through practical means and also helps to keep them engaged as it stimulates their creativity.
Creating Flashcards
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Using flashcards is a great way to test concepts and improve students’ memory, especially for students with ADHD.
Because of the repeated use of flashcards, your students soon understands and remembers the information better which also helps them build confidence. So create flashcards with your student after completing a topic and use them to test your student.
You can either handwrite them or create them on flashcards apps or websites like Canva, Quizlet, and Cram.
Play Games
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Another way to engage students with ADHD is to incorporate game sessions into our lessons. Pockets of time during the lesson for them to play games like Kahoot or Quizlet to break the monotony of class.
Playing these games allow your students to move around and interact with you (or others if you teach group tuition). This encourages active participation and verbal communication.
Not only that, but it is an excellent way to test concepts, and it will help you to see which areas your student needs help in.
Debates
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Blurting out answers is a common symptom for students and is often deemed a hindrance in class. But what if you can take advantage of that to give your student a learning opportunity?
By including debates in your lesson plans, you allow your students to gain more insight into a particular concept or issue as they research to develop a solid argument.
While it keeps them engaged during the lesson, it also stimulates their critical thinking skills and encourages active participation during lessons. But do take note that this would be more effective in a group tuition setting than in a one-to-one tuition setting.
Role Play and Drama
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You might notice that students with ADHD are often restless or need to move around. This is why letting them role play and act out scenes from their literature or history textbooks is beneficial to them.
Studies also show that movement helps students with ADHD think and perform better in academics.
So this acting improves their cognitive performance, and at the same time, they gain a better understanding of the events or key scenes that they act out!
Conclusion
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Working with students diagnosed with ADHD can be difficult, especially if they are disengaged and understimulated. Which is why it is important to incorporate activities like these where their symptoms won’t hinder their progress and still let them be involved in the lesson.
I hope this article shows you what lesson activities are effective for teaching students with ADHD and how it benefits them.
Personalized Learning Techniques for ADHD Students
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