Inconsistent Performance: People with ADHD are well known for their inconsistent performance. They can oscillate between very positive, productive days and days of frustration and challenge. This is no-body’s fault, but must be understood. Try to avoid the idea that if the student was capable yesterday, then why not today? A variety of factors impact…
Forgetfulness: People with ADHD seem to forget things all the time. Books, homework, exams and rules are just a few examples. However, forgetting is not the problem. Rather, people with ADHD often move from one idea to the next so quickly that they never really remembered the information in the first place. * To do’s:…
Hyperactivity: Another type of response inhibition can be seen through the hyperactive and restlessness demonstrated by the person with ADHD. Physical restlessness is a common symptom of ADHD. If needed, please allow the student to stand, sit, and move around if possible. Sitting still can be a big problem. Also allowing specific items for fidgety…
Response Inhibition: People with ADHD have great difficulty inhibiting their verbal, behavioral and emotional responses when they are within the situation. Therefore, it may seem that people with ADHD don’t learn from previous experiences. The fact is that they do learn, but have difficulty inhibiting their response. * To do’s: The person with ADHD…
People of the moment: People with ADHD tend to be very reactive and have difficulty planning for the long term. They react to how they feel at the moment and often do not connect their actions to future consequences. This is not a question of knowing the rules; rather it is a difficulty with acting…
Immediate Gratification: People with ADHD have a deal of difficulty with delayed gratification and general delay. Their minds move quite quickly and often jump to different ideas and agendas before the previous agenda is completed. In the classroom, this is manifested by both yelling out answers, forgetting responses and rules, and completing assignments very quickly.…
Inconsistent Effort: People with ADHD have much more difficulty maintaining consistent effort and motivation to tasks and activities that are not rewarding, stimulating and interesting to them. When bored or uninterested they have much more difficulty remaining on task and will often redirect their attention to other off task activities. Sustained attention is the true…
Recently I started working with a 15-year-old boy who was underachieving at school so badly that he was expelled from his private school. Then he started at another private school—and his lack of motivation there put him on track for a second expulsion. What was the problem? At 15, the teenager exhibited the classic symptoms…
The most important thing to remember about young people’s self-esteem is that healthy self-esteem is less about self-confidence than it is about self-accuracy. As a psychologist who works with children at Toronto’s Medcan clinic, I find that over-confidence can create as many self-esteem problems as under-confidence. So how does a parent provide children with a…
For adults, the traditional time to make a big change in one’s life is the advent of the New Year—and most adults realize they require a plan to successfully change one’s habits. Children are the same, in that they also benefit from a plan. But the best time to alter their habits doesn’t have anything…
Dr. Mark J. Rothman 