How ADHD Affects Children in the Classroom and the Importance of Behavioral Intervention

Children who are diagnosed with ADHD can experience a multitude of difficulties in school that can include poor performance, discipline issues, and difficulty making and keeping friends.  If you have a child who is struggling with ADHD, there are strategies and interventions that can help. This article will discuss some ways in which ADHD can affect a child in a school setting and how to help.

ADHD can significantly impact a child’s performance in school. A child with ADHD might have difficulty paying attention in class, organizing and remembering his homework and classroom assignments, difficulty staying on task due to daydreaming, easily distractible, and poor time management skills.  A child with ADHD can also be very impulsive, often causing him or her to get off task or leave projects or assignments unfinished. These factors can add up over time and equate to failing grades and the child falling behind in his or her learning and skill development.

ADHD can also lead to discipline issues in children. This can especially occur if a teacher is unaware that a child has a diagnosis of ADHD. The child might talk too much in class, act out, or cause disturbances for other students or the teacher because of impulsivity and poor attention span. And while teachers are understanding of children with this diagnosis, it is difficult to ignore disruptive behaviors over time.

Behavioral therapy and classroom accommodations are proven to help improve the grades and performance of children with ADHD. While medications can help with ADHD, behavioral therapy is also a great tool to help decrease unwanted behaviors and improve attention. Also, accommodations to the classroom setting such as placing the child’s desk in the front of the classroom or near the teacher’s desk, providing homework agenda, implementing a reward system, or simply mixing up the type of assignments that are given throughout the day can all help improve the learning environment for children with ADHD.

 
source: https://www.cdc.gov/features/child-mental-health/index.html