Same Stuff, Different Way
Attention Deficit Disorder can be so unpredictable. Our symptoms are affected by so many different things that it can be hard to know at times what might help.
One of the places this shows up is in learning. Your child may understand a concept pretty well on Monday and yet not be able to grasp the same thing on Tuesday. Much of what gets learned seems to come and go at will; there is no building a foundation of what has been learned and adding to it.
Think of it this way: let’s say you’re building a wall out of bricks - the bricks in this case representing learning. Someone without ADHD starts with the foundation wall and continues building upward.
For someone with ADHD, you start with a foundation of bricks, but you may come back to work tomorrow to find that some or all of the bricks have been removed. You work on your wall all day and make some progress, but you still don’t complete as much as you did the previous day. And yet, you may come back the following day to find the wall as you left it on the first day.
The best way to handle this is to keep repeating the information, over and over, in different ways. You could do some math problems, for instance, that teach addition. Maybe later you could play a game with your child and let them keep score. You could let them help you cook, adding ingredients. You could get some M&M’s, or cookies, or blocks and demonstrate addition with those.
You can do the same sorts of things with older kids - using websites, real life experiences that they can relate to, movies, whatever. Even switching up the order they study the chapter in might help.
Of course, all of this means more work and more time spent. Kids with ADHD often spend far more time on their homework than kids without it. There’s not a lot you can do about that. It’s just the way it is.
One suggestion - you might want to keep a log on methods you try and their success rate. You’ll know if you’ve already tried something, and how it worked. And once you find a method that does, learn to use as well as you can.
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Breaks and Chunking
I can’t even imagine what you must think today’s post is about 
In fact, it’s about two ideas that work well together to help your ADHD student study more effectively.
Breaks are a cardinal rule when it comes to Attention Deficit Disorder - and not just when it concerns studying.
Your brain, whether it’s ADHD or not, needs a break about every 15-20 minutes to absorb and store new information. Learning something new without taking a break almost guarantees that your brain will lose some information.
A break doesn’t have to be long; a minute or two is fine. Take a bathroom break, get a drink, stretch - whatever. Just give your brain a little rest.
Chunking is the idea of taking a chunk of information and studying it at once.
Let’s say your child needs to read a chapter in their history book for homework. Sitting down and reading start to finish will accomplish very little and allow your child to retain next to nothing.
Instead, think of each chapter section as one chunk. Take 15 minutes to read just that section and understand it. Look at the pictures, the words that are in bold or otherwise highlighted. Try to get as much meaning as possible from that small chunk of information, then take a break.
The break will allow your brain to take what you’ve just put in and file it correctly so that you can retrieve it later.
These are two simple concepts that, when put into regular practice, can make a big difference in your child’s grades and overall learning.
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6 Homework Lessons on ADHD
1. After giving your child a few minutes to just relax, check the backpack and homework assignments to see what has been assigned and to make sure you have everything you need.
2. Make specific rules about when homework gets done. That includes weekends. If you have to make more than one rule about homework due to after school activities, then do so.
3. Make a plan with your child about what homework gets done first. Do this at a time when homework is not an issue. Some kids like to get the hardest stuff out of the way first, others prefer the easiest to give them a sense of accomplishment.
4. The only homework visible should be whatever your child is working on at the moment. Seeing a stack of book and papers that still needs to be done will only overwhelm them.
5. Plan ahead. Buy generic school supplies that you often have to run out for and keep them on hand. This includes poster boards, construction paper, glue, markers, report covers, etc. Hide them so they won’t be used for art projects. This eliminates that last minute trip to the store which is really about putting off doing the work.
6. Remember to remind your child to take breaks every 15-20 minutes. A short stretch, a snack (not a half hour tv show) will help their brain store what they’ve learned so far and refresh them for further study.
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