EDILBERTO I. DIZON Professor & SPED Diagnostician-

Counselor

I. Indicators of Attention Deficit

Hyperactivity Disorder

and Learning Disabilities

It is a disorder where children consistently display behaviors of

inattention, hyperactivity

and impulsivity that are long term and excessive.

Short attention span; lack of focus

Attention shift from one thing to another

Lack of attention to details; making careless mistakes

Lack of organization even of behaviors

High level of distractibility; forgetfulness

Avoidance of meticulous tasks requiring sustained attention and effort; short-cutting of tasks

Fidgety behaviors; restlessness

Inappropriate/ Non-Purposive locomotion (usually running); exploratory behaviors

Difficulty engaging in quiet activities

Tendency to hurry; giving up easily

Difficulty waiting for his turn

Difficulty deferring need gratification

Lack of sense of caution and danger; daringness

The speed of physical reactions over mental/cognitive reactions

High pain tolerance Emotional lability Lack of regard for quality

of outputs/tasks done

Delay in social maturation

Possible academic underachievement

Possible language-communication lags

Possible learning disabilities

Children with learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia)

are intellectually and behaviorally normal children except that they exhibit specific learning/cognitive

disabilities/disorders needing specialized and individualized

intervention.

Difficulty comprehending concepts and procedures

Difficulty remembering/retaining concepts and procedures previously learned

Perceptual (visual, auditory, etc) and possibly motoral delays/ deficits as shown by the child’s outputs/performance

Lack of organization of cognitive processing as shown by the child’s output/performance

Difficulty transferring learning from one situation to another (concept application)

Delay in language-analytical abilities especially in using print materials

Task avoidance Underachievement/

Delayed Achievement in the area/s of difficulty

II. Educational Intervention

Principles and

Guidelines in

Teaching Children

with ADHD

1. Seat the child appropriately- not near the door, between highly verbal/overly-enthusiastic classmates, nor too close to each other.

2. Structure the room without

so much distractors/ visual stimuli.3. Keep noise level to the minimum.4. Establish and monitor observance of routine.

5. Set co-planned rules and exercise consistency.6. Teach the child to organize his things and notes, and checking them routinely.

7. Present one lesson at a time ensuring satisfactory completion of one before moving on to the next one.8. Let the child redo tasks carelessly/hurriedly done.

9. Motivate the child to try his best. Inspire him through the use of appropriate literature- based materials.10. Assign responsibilities (e.g., collecting and distributing paper, arranging fixtures, getting things) for which he can be praised and

will permit legitimate locomotion.

11. Intersperse “reward”/light activities between heavy ones.12. Coordinate with other teachers, home members and support-service givers (occupational therapist,

speech therapist, etc.).

Principles and Guidelines

in Teaching Children

with Learning Disabilities

1. Simplify lessons.2. Tackle instructions and

activities step by step to ensure comprehension.

3. Use appropriate instructional materials to facilitate learning; select appropriate selections and prepare differentiated jobsheets.

4. Be tactful- without being harshly critical of errors.5. Provide review/drill exercises to ensure mastery

6. Conduct developmental evaluation for remediation.7. Ensure a conducive learning environment where

classmates and the emotional climate

are supportive.

8. Provide plenty of opportunities for skills applications in practical situations.9. Teach and monitor good study habits and attitudes.

10. Collaborate with other teachers, home

members and support- service

givers.

11. Inspire the child to initiate and assume intrinsic responsibility for self-improvement.

12. Organize a study/support group where

brighter peers can help

those with difficulties.

TEACHING STRATEGIES

1. Use behavior-management techniques

Reward and Punishment Demand-Reward System Stimulus Control

Chaining/Task-analysis Modeling; Buddy system Token system Contracting Time out/Cool off

2. Provide short intervals of physical exercises enabling the child to “stim”/steam excess energy.3. Provide additional worksheets and other related constructive table- top activities the child can engage in when done with lessons/seatwork/exams.

4. Call on the child to recite once in a while to check

on his attention/focus.5. Join the child in group activities- reminding/instructing his groupmates to keep him constructively busy.

6. Teach the child the sequence of a specific task or set of activities. Such routine is associated with verbal cues like numbers: (e.g., “1”-Line up first; “2” –Get your worksheet; “3”- Go

back to your seat; “4” Answer the worksheet; and “5”- Give the worksheet to me (the teacher) after finishing it.

7. Join the child in simulations like role-playing; puppetry and dialogues enabling him to engage in sustained verbal interactions/reciprocal communication.

9. Let the child report in class completely and clearly about an assigned topic.

10. Join the child in a club or organization aimed at increasing academic and psychosocial

skills.

11. Teach the child to prepare a

checklist of daily activities/expectations. Let him monitor his

performance objectively and check the list regularly.

12. Provide structured games

like rolling/passing the ball following the leader, mimicking models/ demonstrated actions, walking through hurdles: stools plastic bottles, etc.

13. Behavior Coaching. A teacher, the guidance counselor or an older student facilitator presents hypothetical situations or uses biblio-materials and even

songs and art materials for values formation.

14. Let the child fill up a journal-relating and elaborating things

done during each day.

15. Shadow teaching. A professional teacher is employed by the

parent to shadow-teach the child and manage his behaviors inside the classroom.

16. Providing a regimen of physical/relaxation

exercises (e.g., taekwondo and other martial arts, yoga and other meditation exercises).

1. Academic Task Analysis. Break a skill into behavioral

components (subskills) ensuring the mastery of a subskill before moving on to the next one. Ex. a) Copying lines, b) Copying line combinations, c) Copying circles, d) Copying “stick” persons

2. Visual-Aural Kinesthetic Approach.

Ex. Word Buildinga) Reading the word alongside showing

the word written on a card,b) Showing a pictorial representation of

the word,c) Letting the child read the word,

d) Letting the child trace the letters with his fingers as he reads them one by one,

e) Letting him say the letters one by one as he writes them in the air,

f) Spelling the word on paper, andg) Checking his work.

3. Use of appropriate materials progressing from

a) Concrete level,b) Figural level, c) Symbolic level, and d) Semantic level.Ex. Using objects, pictures, and numbers

in adding numbers and then solving simple addition word problems.

4. Use visual-motor exercise, board and word games (scrabble, boggle, crossword puzzle, etc.), arts and crafts, and simple group games to increase comprehension, word-building, and lengthen attention span and perceptuo-cognitive skills.

5. Provide structured practical tasks to improve sitting, attending and performing behaviors.

Ex. Cutting with scissors, folding paper, wrapping objects/boxes, packing away materials, stacking up materials, arranging/sequencing materials and sorting things (including comprehending and following verbal commands).

6. Cumulative Learning. To ensure mastery, a day’s lesson is

incorporated into the succeeding day’s lesson and then incorporated (first and second day’s lessons) into the third day’s lesson. Thus, for example: book is taught Monday; on Tuesday the same word (book) is taught alongside the second word: paper; on Wednesday, paper and book are taught with the new word pencil, and so on.

7. Generalization/Application from academic/theoretical lessons taught in class to actual performance at home and other situations. Thus, if the child is learning number-object correspondence in school, the child can be commanded to get specific numbers of objects (e.g., “Get three spoons”).

8. Semantic Webbing. Grouping together words that

go together by specific categories/systems of classifications. Thus, the child is asked to put together all animal words: dog, cat, pig, goat under the category: animals.

9. Modeling. The teacher models a

language structure or a specific behavior and then instructs the child to imitate such consistent performance over time for mastery.

10. Multi-media Instruction. The teacher utilizes the computer, the

DVD, the record player, charts, and other materials to introduce/reinforce/supplement lessons. Caution is observed so that lessons and materials are tackled one at a time to prevent overstimulation/confusion.

11. Cognitive Processing. Every task/lesson is broken into a

continuum of sequential cognitive processes: e.g., recognition, identification, association, discrimination, etc. The lesson/task is taken one at a time from the basic process to the most complex he is able to tackle. Such strategy facilitates learning and is attuned to the cognitive processing of the child.

12. Therapeutic Teaching. Utilizing human kinetics and

the arts: music, drama, play, dance, literature, art, etc. to achieve therapeutic teaching goals: relaxation, enjoyment, socialization, self-expression, awareness expansion, valuing, decision making, etc.

“Every opportunity, a learning opportunity”.

Do not forget that wherever the child is and whoever the child is with, planned

opportunities can be provided to enable to learn (e.g., When in the car, he can be asked what he sees; When in the mall, he can be led to comment

on what he sees; when in the supermarket, he can pick out an item that corresponds to the product label

he brought along).

Remember also that mastery is today’s keyword. What is

quantity without mastery? Let’s therefore, open our hearts and

minds to these children who are now mainstreamed in your

classes.

Let’s help them to be the best that they can be in order

that they, too, can have a FUTURE!!!