Children With ADD and ADHD: Tips to Get Homework Done
Children with ADD or ADHD often struggle to finish their homework. Sitting still and focusing on an assignment for long periods of time are not skills that come easy to students with Attention Deficit Disorder. These tips help make homework time more efficient with less struggle:
1. Choose the Best Time
Children with ADD and ADHD often have times of day when their ability to focus is higher than others. Once you find that time, utilize it for homework.
2. Schedule Homework Time
In many households, there is an argument about when to start the homework. Eliminate this by scheduling that high focus hour as the daily homework time. Set that time is stone. Students with Attention Deficit Disorder react better when they can anticipate upcoming activities and maintaining the schedule removes the dispute.
3. Break up homework time.
Dividing 30 minutes into three chunks of ten minutes is often more productive for children with ADD and ADHD than trying to plod straight through. A short break between chunks gives students with Attention Deficit Disorder a chance to move around and get some water or go to the bathroom refreshes the mind and body and allows your child to then go back and face the task.
4. Divide up the assignment.
If the math homework for the night includes 20 problems, try separating it into 4 blocks of five problems each. Doing this may give children with ADD or ADHD a needed feeling of accomplishment that will then give him/her the motivation to be able to continue after the short break.
5. Healthy Snacks
Provide healthy options for snacking during homework breaks. Healthy snacks break down slowly and provide a consistent energy source to help students plow through the assignment. Sugary drinks and snacks cause spikes in energy that make it difficult for children with Attention Deficit Disorder to focus and complete the task.
6. Tricks to Refocus Attention
It is almost inevitable that children with ADD or ADHD will lose focus at some point during homework time. When that happens, try one of the following exercises to help redirect students' attention to the assignment:
a. Place your hands in prayer position. Twist palms 90 degrees so that one set of fingers is facing the child's chest and the other set is facing the opposite direction. Press palms together firmly for five seconds. Repeat.
b. Stand up. Lift right knee and touch it with your left hand. Lift your left knee and touch it with your right hand. Do this ten times. Repeat another set.
1. Choose the Best Time
Children with ADD and ADHD often have times of day when their ability to focus is higher than others. Once you find that time, utilize it for homework.
2. Schedule Homework Time
In many households, there is an argument about when to start the homework. Eliminate this by scheduling that high focus hour as the daily homework time. Set that time is stone. Students with Attention Deficit Disorder react better when they can anticipate upcoming activities and maintaining the schedule removes the dispute.
3. Break up homework time.
Dividing 30 minutes into three chunks of ten minutes is often more productive for children with ADD and ADHD than trying to plod straight through. A short break between chunks gives students with Attention Deficit Disorder a chance to move around and get some water or go to the bathroom refreshes the mind and body and allows your child to then go back and face the task.
4. Divide up the assignment.
If the math homework for the night includes 20 problems, try separating it into 4 blocks of five problems each. Doing this may give children with ADD or ADHD a needed feeling of accomplishment that will then give him/her the motivation to be able to continue after the short break.
5. Healthy Snacks
Provide healthy options for snacking during homework breaks. Healthy snacks break down slowly and provide a consistent energy source to help students plow through the assignment. Sugary drinks and snacks cause spikes in energy that make it difficult for children with Attention Deficit Disorder to focus and complete the task.
6. Tricks to Refocus Attention
It is almost inevitable that children with ADD or ADHD will lose focus at some point during homework time. When that happens, try one of the following exercises to help redirect students' attention to the assignment:
a. Place your hands in prayer position. Twist palms 90 degrees so that one set of fingers is facing the child's chest and the other set is facing the opposite direction. Press palms together firmly for five seconds. Repeat.
b. Stand up. Lift right knee and touch it with your left hand. Lift your left knee and touch it with your right hand. Do this ten times. Repeat another set.