Category: Special Education

School is back in session, and if you have a school-aged child, there is a high chance they will encounter a classmate with disabilities. It’s essential to teach your child about children with special needs and how to treat them. Unfortunately, many adults tend to feel awkward about acknowledging another person’s disabilities and, if they’re not careful, they can pass this attitude on to their children. Even if you don’t say things that are rude when talking about a person with disabilities, your child may pick up on your avoidance of the topic or your lack of understanding of people who are different.

Today, there are approximately 61 million Americans with disabilities. Ignoring them or avoiding them isn’t an option for adults or children. Instead, we need to learn how to include them and get to know them as we would any other person. As a parent, it’s crucial to help your child understand this and learn how to apply this knowledge in the classroom. But even if you agree about the importance of teaching kids about disabilities, it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start.

How Parents Can Teach Children About Peers With Special Needs

Some conversations will happen on the fly as your child observes people with special needs in their classroom, at a restaurant or in a store. It’s also important to address this topic with them outside of those moments. These conversations will teach them how to respond when they meet someone with different needs than them. Read on for tips on how to encourage your child to include students with disability in the classroom and outside the classroom.

1. Educate Your Kids and Share the Basics With Them

A great way to help young children understand disabilities is to make use of your local library. There are many great children’s books that talk about people with special needs and teach children how to engage with them. You can also look for online videos or television shows that positively portray people with special needs. Sesame Street does a great job of this and can be a great video resource for younger children.

One thing parents often forget is that videos and books are more effective if you take the time to talk about them with your child after they read or view them. Ask what they think, how they feel and how they can apply what they learned in everyday situations. If your child has a classmate with a disability, this is a great time to make the connection between the material they just encountered and the individual they see every day.

2. You Don’t Have to Explain Every Last Detail

Every child is different. This means they’ll process information differently. Children — especially younger ones — may easily become overwhelmed or confused if given too much information. The goal here is not to turn your child into an expert on disabilities. The goal is simply to help them realize that every child is different and those differences should be celebrated, not avoided.

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3. Teach Your Child That Everyone Is Different

Every person — with or without disabilities — is unique. Embracing others’ differences is an essential life skill. Even if they aren’t interacting with a special needs child daily, make it a point to encourage your child to interact with a variety of playmates. Seek out opportunities for them to engage with others who are different from them. And, perhaps most important of all, allow them to see you engaging with adults of various backgrounds and abilities. When this practice is modeled to them from the beginning, they will have an easier time understanding its practical applications when they encounter classmates with special needs.

4. Emphasize That Just Because Someone Has a Physical Disability Doesn’t Mean They Can’t Do Something

A child who has a disability or physical limitation is still a person who enjoys activities and engaging with others their age. They want to be loved and accepted by their peers, but may simply require special accommodation to do so. As your child grows, teach them the importance of giving all students a chance to participate in activities. Encourage them to invite their classmates who have special needs to join in playground games and extracurricular activities when appropriate. If they aren’t sure what’s okay or their friend requires special accommodation, encourage your child to ask a teacher how to best include and assist their friend. It’s better to ask for an explanation than make incorrect assumptions and leave people out.

5. Teach Patience

Another thing to help your child understand is that children with special needs can often do the same things as their peers — it just takes them a little bit longer. Patience goes a long way toward building friendships and including others. If your child understands their classmate’s disability, it will be easier for them to display patience if they move slower or take longer to understand a game or activity.

6. Remind Your Child That Everyone Wants to Have Friends

If children don’t know any better, they may assume that a classmate who has difficulty communicating verbally or who cannot engage in physical activity does not want or need friends. Explain to your child that this assumption is false. Even children who are unable to communicate their needs or participate in certain activities still long for love and acceptance. As you talk with your child about their peers with special needs, it’s important to focus on the things they have in common with your child, rather than their differences. Remind them that everyone wants to have friends and be included. Even if their body doesn’t allow them to walk, run or speak, they are still human, and they love having friends who care for them.

7. Educate Yourself

To help your child develop a healthy and age-appropriate understanding of how to help special needs students in the classroom, it’s important to educate yourself first. Researching these topics can help you become more informed. If you know any specifics about the special needs of any of your child’s classmates, you can look more closely into these areas. However, it’s not necessary to become an expert. Your child isn’t looking for a lecture or to be overwhelmed with facts. Your child is simply looking to you to help them understand what’s going on and how to treat others with compassion.

8. Explain Adaptive Equipment

You can also discuss adaptive equipment with your kids. Explain how people with disabilities use extra tools to help them. While you describe the equipment, you could provide common examples, like:

• Hearing aids
• Wheelchairs
• Crutches
• Scooters
• Canes
• AAC Communicators

In addition, you could talk about other helpful tools for people with disabilities, like designated parking spaces or wheelchair ramps.

By teaching kids to recognize adaptive equipment, they can be more understanding when seeing it in the future. You can also explain how to treat people that use the equipment. You can explain that the equipment is helpful for kids with disabilities and that you should treat it with respect.

9. Make Sure Kids Ask Before Helping

Many kids like to be helpers at school. From wanting to be the line leader to volunteering to pass out materials, these children want to assist their peers and teachers in any way they can. However, it’s important to teach your students to ask before trying to aid a child with a disability. If they try to help before getting permission, it could worsen the situation.

For instance, a student might want to comfort an upset child with special needs. The student could think a hug would help the child, but it might make them feel more uncomfortable.

Instead, you can teach your students to ask before jumping in with assistance. Asking a quick question like “Is there anything I can do to help?” can help people with disabilities set boundaries and accept the help they need. That way, they can stay more comfortable within the classroom.

10. Focus on Similarities

Another great approach for explaining disabilities to students is to focus on similarities. Instead of only explaining the differences, point out shared interests or traits between people with disabilities and everyone else. You could talk about similarities like:

• Favorite subjects
• Common hobbies
• Hair colors
• Favorite foods

As kids realize what they have in common with people with disabilities, it becomes easier to relate to them. This practice can help with empathy development, encouraging kids to experience someone else’s point of view.

How to Interact With Someone Who Has Special Needs

Your child will also look to you to model how to interact with a classmate who has special needs. Wondering how kids can include classmates with special needs? These tips can help.

1. Remember That Everyone Is Human

At the core of it all is the understanding that everyone is human. We all want acceptance and to engage with others. How do you show this to a child? Model this behavior in your interactions with everyone you meet. The way you treat the cashier at the grocery store, the crossing guard in front of your child’s school, and the other parents you encounter in the carpool line will go a long way toward teaching your child that every human being is valuable. If they see this modeled by their parents, they will be more likely to emulate this behavior with all of their classmates, regardless of any special needs they might have.

With younger children, play is a valuable tool for understanding and connecting with others. Young children form relationships through play and can develop a better understanding of their special needs peers when they engage together through play. Look for opportunities for your young child to engage and interact with other children and adults who are different from them.

2. Be Yourself

A common question children and adults have about engaging with special needs students is “How do I interact with them?” The short answer to this question is: Just be yourself! A child’s disability does not necessarily change their ability to respond to others around them. For instance, a child with speech and language disabilities can still participate in conversations with others using their adaptive equipment.

At the same time, there’s no need for your child to go overboard trying to engage with them. A child who tends to be quiet but loves to help might do better by offering assistance to a special needs peer during a classroom activity. A child who tends to be more talkative and outgoing may choose to engage in conversation with their special needs peer. Encourage your child to find ways to engage with their classmate that are reflective of their personality. Although everyone should step out of their comfort zone from time to time, there’s no reason your child has to change their personality or do things that they wouldn’t even do with their other classmates.

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3. Recognize Boundaries

Although it’s important for children to be inclusive of others, it’s also vital that they learn to understand that their classmates may have boundaries and struggles that don’t always go well with your child’s personality. For example, autistic children don’t usually like to be touched. An affectionate child might like to hug or touch other children, but a child with special needs might not welcome touches. Because children spend so much time in the classroom together, they often pick up on these preferences just from watching their classmates. However, it’s still important to remind them to be alert and aware of how their behavior can affect their classmates.

If your child has a classmate who uses a wheelchair to get around the school, teach them to consider the wheelchair to be an extension of their classmate’s body. That means that it’s not okay to lean on the wheelchair, destroy or deface it in any way or ask to ride in it. They should also never grab for the chair or attempt to push their classmate without permission.

4. Use the Universal Language of Music

In some cases, music can be a great way to bridge the gap between classmates of varying abilities and needs. Even if a child is non-verbal or has physical limitations, they can still connect with music because it is universally understood across the world. They can enjoy the antics and voices of their classmates, and they can connect with the words, even to silly songs. As children grow older, they may also be able to bond over the love of a particular genre of music or a band they both enjoy. This can be especially helpful for tweens and teens who are looking for ways to connect with a classmate with special needs.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Talk

Even if your child has a classmate who is non-verbal, you can encourage them to engage in conversation with them. Engaging in conversation with another person demonstrates an interest in them and helps to establish a connection. Your child can tell stories or ask about their day. Remind them that it doesn’t have to turn into a 20-minute discussion. Even taking 30 seconds to say “hello” or telling a brief story about something that happened at the bus stop that morning can go a long way.

That being said, teach your child to be sensitive to their classmates if they have any hearing loss or sensory issues because conversation in a crowded or loud space may do more harm than good. Guide them to look for opportunities to talk in quiet face-to-face settings, such as during assignments that require students to choose a partner to complete them or inviting them to play an educational game during a free period.

Parents of special needs students are typically receptive to questions from their child’s classmates. These questions give them the opportunity to inform others and help them develop a more accurate understanding of what makes their child unique. It doesn’t take a well-scripted list of questions to approach another parent. Many times, a simple “Hello” is all you need to open the door to conversation.

6. Recognize Limitations

Children of all ages and stages have their limits. In children with special needs, these limitations are often magnified because of the physical or sensory issues associated with certain conditions. Talk with your child about recognizing these limits in their peers with special needs. For example, they may have a classmate who is deaf. That student may not be able to follow a conversation in spoken English, but they can still engage in active play at recess. Your child could also learn a few basic signs so that they can communicate with them.

If your child has a classmate with autism spectrum disorder, you may want to prepare them for witnessing their classmate having a meltdown or episode where they seem to be out of control. When these outbursts happen, children without disabilities can often misunderstand them. Children might react by making fun of or becoming scared of their special needs classmates. But the truth is that these outbursts are simply a part of their disability. It’s the teacher’s responsibility to prevent and mitigate these outbursts, not the children’s. But your child can cultivate an understanding attitude toward what’s happening and not allow it to mar their opinion of their classmate.

How Can Teachers Make the Classroom Inclusive?

Parents can and should play an active role in teaching their children how to treat others and how to get along with others who are different than them. But teachers have a valuable role to play in working with special needs children as well.

1. Accommodate Lessons to Ensure Everyone’s Needs Are Met

It might go without saying, but for teachers to accommodate their students’ needs, they must first understand those needs and limitations. Teachers should follow the same guidelines as children and parents by educating themselves on their students’ special needs, boundaries and limitations.

Once a teacher has a good handle on what their students’ needs are, then they can develop lesson plans that find creative ways to meet them. Make a point to coordinate with the school’s specialists, including occupational therapists, speech therapists, school psychologists, special education instructors and reading specialists. You can work together to build inclusive lessons that will provide the needed accommodations for all students.

While a teacher may need to make certain alterations to accommodate a student’s special needs, it’s essential to keep the general theme of the lesson the same for everyone. By engaging them in the same topics and basic activities, you promote an inclusive atmosphere for everyone in the class. When your students have a common goal, they’ll engage with each other more effectively and feel more like a cohesive group.

Depending on your students’ needs, you may also have an additional teacher in the classroom to assist them. Or, you might use specialized technology to obtain information in an alternative fashion. For example, a student who is deaf or hard of hearing may require a visual translation of the lesson or a seat up front to read lips during a lecture. If another teacher is assigned to work with one of the students in the classroom, work closely with them. That way, you can both adequately prepare to instruct the class and meet individual needs.

2. Avoid Stereotypes

Whether you’ve been teaching for two months or twenty years, you may have formed some preconceived notions about special needs students and how to interact with them. In some cases, these ideas may have been informed by stereotypes and long-ago incidents that served to inform and reinforce those stereotypes. Although it may not feel natural at first, make a point to check those conceptions at the door and start fresh.

When it comes to including and instructing students with special needs, teachers should refrain from allowing past experiences to inform their current situation. Remember that each of your students — regardless of their physical and mental abilities — is a human being. They each learn differently. They each have different likes and dislikes. They each have different ways of engaging with the world around them. As you know, part of a teacher’s goal is oftentimes to learn about their students and what makes them tick. Then, they can apply their training and knowledge to the business of helping them learn.

3. Maintain a Positive Attitude

There are just some days that staying positive in the classroom is really tough, but it’s important to maintain perspective and focus on the big picture. Believe each student is capable of succeeding and regularly evaluate your teaching plan for better ways to do this.

It’s also important to accept responsibility for the learning outcomes in your classroom. Although some students struggle more than others, there’s no benefit to blaming the student or their disability for their lack of understanding. There is no such thing as a waste of time. Regardless of how they engage with their class or what information they retain in the long run, your role is to teach them something they didn’t know before and prepare them for what’s ahead.

4. Maintain an Inclusive Atmosphere at All Times

Children will mimic the behavior they see in the adults around them. If a teacher includes all students in activities and strives to maintain an inclusive atmosphere in the classroom, then students will follow suit. If a teacher excludes certain students from certain activities or shows a preference for those they think are “smarter” or “better,” then they risk cultivating a divisive classroom.

A great way to create an inclusive environment is to incorporate games and interactive activities into lesson plans. This helps students learn about each other’s strengths and understand their personalities. It’s also a great way to develop unity among students. When children have fun together, it helps them grow closer to each other, regardless of their abilities.

5. Have Adaptive Equipment and Assistive Technology in the Classroom

Some of this may depend on your students’ individual needs, but having the appropriate adaptive equipment and assistive technology available in the classroom goes a long way toward effective instruction. Using assistive technology in the classroom ensures that students with varying levels of ability can be included in a variety of activities. It also helps to promote inclusion by ensuring no student is left out. Not sure what kind of equipment you need? Check out our wide variety of products and classroom kits.

6. Talk About Disabilities With Students in a Healthy Way

Lastly, remember to keep all classroom discussions about disabilities healthy and positive. Teachers can help students form positive feelings about peers with disabilities, instead of fear or awkwardness.

For instance, you could encourage healthy communication strategies like:

• Humanize others: When students notice children who are different from them, inspire them to treat them like other classmates. For instance, you could tell students to introduce themselves and ask questions. Remind them of the similarities between everyone despite appearances.
• Normalize confusion: Your students might feel confused about the best way to include or speak to kids with disabilities. Let them know that confusion is okay, but it’s important to overcome it and welcome others.
• Use respect: Emphasize that respect is the most important aspect of all interactions. While it’s okay to ask questions, remind students that everyone’s feelings should come first. They should treat every person they meet with respect and think about how their words might impact others.

Taking a healthy approach to students with disabilities in the classroom can help you maintain a positive environment.

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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — one of the most common childhood neurodevelopmental disorders — is typically identified in children after they begin attending school. Today, an estimated 6.1 million U.S. children have an ADHD diagnosis.

While an official ADHD diagnosis comes from a medical professional, teachers play a role in helping students with ADHD learn to adapt and overcome the limitations this disorder presents. Whether you’re a special education teacher or a teacher with a student with ADHD in a general education classroom, the challenges of effectively teaching a student with ADHD can be significant. From issues with classroom management to a lack of support from administrators or parents, there are many reasons teachers may struggle to provide adequate help for their students.

The good news is that even with those challenges, it is possible for students with ADHD — and their teachers — to thrive every day. Teachers play a big role in a child’s educational success, especially for students with ADHD. Teachers can make small, impactful changes to classroom activities and overall attitudes and integrate teaching strategies to support all students.

A teacher has the opportunity to positively impact their students with ADHD for many years to come by providing them with a structured classroom setup that encourages learning, enforces discipline and improves their self-esteem. Students with ADHD can learn they are capable and gain confidence in their schoolwork.

The Challenges of Teaching Students With ADHD

ADHD can magnify the typical challenges students face in a general education classroom, especially in school districts lacking funding or qualified teachers. In these cases, teachers tend to be overworked or overwhelmed because they are working with students they may feel unqualified to teach.

The following are specific areas where teachers may experience difficulty when teaching students with ADHD in the classroom:

1. Paperwork

Teachers of students with ADHD may devote a lot of time to developing and maintaining an up-to-date Individualized Education Plan (IEP) to track a student’s progress and identify potential problems. Keeping track of a student’s progress is essential to their success in school because this paperwork is often how problems are addressed. But the amount of time and paperwork IEPs require can weigh down even the most experienced teachers.

In some cases, a special education teacher may oversee IEPs for students in several general education classes, checking in with their teachers for updates on academic progress and seeing students a few times a week for additional help. In other cases, students with ADHD may have other disabilities that require them to spend their school days in special education classrooms. In both cases, teachers must maintain accurate and up-to-date paperwork to define goals and track progress.

For special education teachers who don’t see each student with ADHD daily, the paperwork can be especially challenging because they may have the added step of collecting information from one or more teachers to compile it into one file for each student.

2. Lack of Support

Some teachers lack support from the parents of students with ADHD. When there is a lack of expectations and consistency at home, learning strategies and routines a teacher tries to implement in the classroom may not be effective. Parents who are unable or unwilling to maintain regular communication and support a teacher’s classroom expectations can also make it more difficult for teachers to make progress with their students.

In other cases, the lack of support may come from the school’s administration or the school district. Many schools are tight on money, and administrators are pressured to achieve more results with less funding. In some districts, special education programs may not have the funding to hire an adequate number of teachers or purchase the equipment they need. Teachers may be expected to keep up with a large number of students without having the time or money they need to be successful.

3. Scheduling

Finding the time to maintain communication with parents, complete paperwork, grade papers and teach can be difficult for teachers. Meetings must be scheduled during planning time or after school, cutting into a teacher’s time to update lesson plans or spend time with their family. Added to that are the challenges of scheduling IEP meetings that take parental and administration schedules into account, which can sometimes feel impossible.

4. Behavior Management

Behavior management is a big part of teaching a child with ADHD. For example, they may easily become frustrated with school, and their teacher may often get the brunt of their frustration. Managing these emotions in a classroom setting can sometimes take time away from instruction or other daily activities. On a larger level, teaching a child with ADHD requires a lot of time and effort spent identifying their triggers and emotions and then teaching them how to control those emotions.

Teachers may also spend extra time figuring out how to present the material so these students can learn effectively. They may need to devote time to help students stay organized, maintain planners or homework calendars and create an organizational system that keeps their students on track and focused each day. Often, they need to maintain communication with parents, sending emails or making phone calls to update them on their child’s behavior and progress.

16 Teaching Strategies for Students With ADHD

Here are several tips to help your students with ADHD succeed.

1. Establish Rules

Every good classroom has a short, simple list of rules to follow. These rules should be clearly laid out and posted from the beginning of the school year. Rules can be more effective for students with ADHD when incorporated alongside strategies for ADHD classroom management into their daily routine.

For example, instead of simply saying, “No talking when you come to class,” tell students, “When you arrive, sit down quietly and begin the math problems on the board.” Consistently modeling these behaviors every day can go a long way toward teaching students what you expect.

2. Create a Routine

Routines are essential when teaching students with ADHD because they help students stay on task. For example, place homework assignments in the same spot every day or write them on the same place on the board, and take a few minutes at the end of class to go over them so students know what’s expected of them. Stick to the same basic daily schedule, and incorporate time to move around or engage in physical activity.

3. Make Learning Personalized

Though every child needs to receive the same educational material, they learn in different ways. Some students may struggle to sit still long enough to complete assignments, while others struggle more with organization and remembering to complete each step in an assignment.

Consider providing hands-on activities to present the material or allowing students to “teach” each other by breaking into small groups. Incorporating manipulatives and more interactive activities and games into the classroom may also keep students engaged and focused. It may be beneficial to break down an assignment into several smaller steps, providing students with a checklist they can mark when they complete each step.

4. Offer Choices

Many times, offering several choices for how to finish an assignment can produce better results and prevent emotions from overwhelming a student with ADHD. For example, if you want a student to practice a set of vocabulary words, allow them to choose between writing each word in a sentence, creating their own flashcards or air-writing each word. In math, you can give them choices between a worksheet, answering problems on the board or using a calculator to complete assignments.

5. Communicate Intentionally

With a classroom full of students, it can be easy to forget that each student is an individual. Inquiring about their interests and answering their questions goes a long way toward their academic success, especially for students with ADHD. Take the time to greet each student by name, and use their name when calling on them in class. Create a classroom bulletin board to display your students’ artwork, photos, accomplishments and interests.

If students with ADHD exhibit negative behavior in the classroom or struggle to keep up with schoolwork, ask questions instead of reprimanding them. If they misbehave, you can ask them, “Is this a good choice or a bad choice?” to help the student understand their behavior was inappropriate.

6. Provide Visual Reminders

Students with ADHD respond to visual reminders, cues and examples, so incorporate a visual component into your lessons and homework assignments. For example, you can demonstrate a skill like writing on the board so the student can follow along. During independent work, write out the key points on the board so students can reference as they work. Post important concepts on bright-colored poster board around your classroom.

Visual reminders also help students stay on schedule. The Go! Board System supports scheduling techniques with eight picture symbols that the student can remove when they complete the task.

7. Provide Hands-On Learning Opportunities

Encourage your students with ADHD to experience things first-hand to engage them in learning. Create learning opportunities that allow your students to participate. For example, you can have students build and take apart a model to understand how it works. Have students write and act in a play to express their creativity, or create an assignment in which the student records on video.

For music-themed lessons, you can integrate toys that teach music appreciation and allow students to play music. With an Adapted Musical Cymbal, students can use a capability switch to make a percussive sound. The Ring Around Bells has twirling, ringing bells that also increase auditory development and teach cause and effect.

8. Reduce Distractions

Help your students focus on the lesson or assignment by reducing potentially distracting barriers. Place their desk near the source of instruction in a low-distraction area of the classroom. Often, these areas are closest to your desk and furthest from windows and doors. When giving the class instructions for homework, stand near them to help them focus.

A Classroom Fidget Kit has fidget toys to help students stay focused and regulated to facilitate learning. They can play with a variety of toys to meet their sensory needs, such as a gel bead ball, rainbow pom ball, squish disk, water snake and more.

9. Use Positive Role Models

Peer role models can give students with ADHD a positive example of good classroom behavior. Create a seating chart where the student sits near the “role model” students. Positive peer models also help students ease the potential distractions from other students with diverting behaviors.

10. Provide Positive Feedback

Many students with ADHD respond best when they are offered positive, immediate and frequent feedback. For example, when a student with ADHD completes an assignment, use positive praise, such as “You’re doing a great job!” If their answer is incorrect, get a positive conversation going by saying, “Let’s talk this through” or “Does that sound right to you?”

11. Fit Assignments to Attention Span

Students with ADHD will likely struggle to complete long assignments. Be sure that they’re seated in an area in the classroom that provides minimal distractions, then make accommodations for finishing assignments, such as allowing them extra time to finish a test or complete an assignment in stages rather than all at once.

Besides allowing accommodations for assignments, think about a student with ADHD as you’re planning assignments. Asking yourself, “Will this set them up for failure or success?” is a great way to start, and anticipating problems in advance gives you time to plan for alternatives or accommodations. This planning can also help avoid emotional meltdowns that might otherwise take away from instructional time.

12. Build in Time for Breaks

Allowing time for movement in between assignments, such as a bathroom break or recess, can go a long way toward helping students pay attention at the most important moments. If a student with ADHD needs opportunities for movement and it’s not time for a formal recess, consider asking them to run an errand to the office or help with a chore around the classroom.

If it’s not possible to allow for breaks, allowing them to keep a manipulative, such as a squeeze ball, at their desk may also help them by giving them an alternative outlet for movement when they have to stay seated.

13. Integrate Movement and Mindfulness Into Lessons

Some of the common symptoms of ADHD — including lack of concentration, clumsiness, hyperactivity, distractability and nervousness — can get in the way of effective learning. Rather than fight against these symptoms, incorporate short times of movement and mindfulness into the day’s schedule. Activities like yoga, Zumba or even a short walk can improve focus and improve a student’s ability to sit through and comprehend the lesson of the day.

Similarly, mindfulness exercises can help students with ADHD focus on their thoughts and feelings. When they can pay attention to their emotional state, they can better control themselves and prevent meltdowns or emotional outbursts later in the day.

14. Support Engagement and Participation

A teacher’s role is twofold — to present new material and to support children in their own discovery. The goal as a teacher isn’t to stand in front of the class and tell them things they need to know — it’s to encourage them to engage with the material being presented in a way they will remember it later.

This goal is true for all teacher-student relationships, but it’s essential when teaching students with ADHD. These actions may be as simple as moving a child with ADHD to the front of the room where there are fewer distractions or pairing students with a homework buddy to offer accountability to ensure homework assignments aren’t forgotten or overlooked.

Teachers can also encourage student engagement by helping them get organized. Take note of potential pitfalls and address them. Does a student with ADHD regularly forget assignment due dates? Help them set up a planner and check it at the end of every day. Hang a large calendar in the classroom and use it to make note of important due dates.

Does a student with ADHD lose assignments or forget to take the necessary supplies home each evening? You could create a color-coded folder system and put take-home assignments in the same color folder each day. You could also create a checklist of necessary materials and work with the student to check off necessary items each day before they leave school.

15. Reward Good Behavior

Some children with ADHD spend a lot of time being corrected or reprimanded for their behaviors. Praising good behavior and offering rewards when appropriate can make a huge difference in a child’s confidence.

One of the best things a teacher can do is look for daily ways to encourage and praise a student with ADHD. Be on the lookout for daily behavior victories or a personal best on a test grade, and provide specific and immediate praise. Offering praise in the middle of the situation can go a long way in providing motivation and confidence to continue the behavior later.

16. Partner With Parents

Communicate regularly with the parents of your students with ADHD to ensure they have the best learning experience possible, whether at home or in class. Some ways teachers and parents can work together to support students with ADHD include:

• Keep in touch on a weekly basis or as needed.
• Discuss any problems the student is having with schoolwork while at home.
• Check if the student has completed their assignments, especially for any classes they are struggling with.
• Help the student prepare for the next school day by helping them with homework and organizing school papers.

Support ADHD Classroom Management With Products From Enabling Devices

As a teacher, your days are full, with lesson plans to write, papers to grade and students to teach. Working with a student with ADHD can create additional challenges, but those challenges don’t have to be a burden. Students with ADHD are smart and creative kids who need a teacher who is willing to adapt to their unique way of seeing the world. By making small changes to the classroom, teachers can encourage students with ADHD to reach their full potential.

At Enabling Devices, we offer a range of products to help teachers and students make the most of their time in the classroom. For more than 40 years, our company has created and manufactured products that improve the quality of life and learning for children and adults with a wide range of disabilities. We have a wide selection of products to integrate into the classroom environment, including:

• Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices to help individuals express themselves
• Switch-adapted toys and games compatible with any Enabling Devices switch
• Classroom kits for special education with a variety of toys and games for ADHD and more

Browse our sensory products to find ADHD classroom tools that can enhance your instruction, or contact Enabling Devices for help finding the right products for your classroom.

Chances are, your child spends much of his or her day in a setting outside your home. Whether it be a public school, private school, daycare or therapeutic or vocational training program, knowing your child is being well-educated and well-cared for is critically important. But finding the right setting for your child with special needs can be challenging. Here are some steps you can take to ensure that your son or daughter is receiving the top-notch care and educational services he or she deserves.

1. Know your child’s rights
According to Disability World “Federal law mandates that each and every child is to receive an education that is both free and appropriate in an environment that is the least restrictive possible. … There are three federal laws that apply specifically to students with disabilities: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).”

Complicating matters, each state interprets federal law differently. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the laws in your home state.

 2. Have your child evaluated
Not sure what setting is appropriate for your child? You are entitled to a free evaluation by your home school’s study team. Typically, such evaluations include psychological, speech, physical, educational and occupational therapy assessments. Depending on the results of the evaluation, children remaining in the public school system may be given an IEP that will approve your child for whatever services are deemed necessary. This may also determine whether your child qualifies for a school especially for students with special needs.

 3. Visit multiple schools
If possible, visit more than one school or setting to determine what would be the best fit for your child. Significant variabilities exist between schools in terms of their campuses, accommodations, staffing, curricula and inclusion policies.

4. Meet individually with administrators
Though school tours are helpful, when your child has special needs, it’s essential to explore whether the school can accommodate them. Make sure to be candid about your child’s needs even if this may result in him being denied admission. It’s preferable to know that a school is not appropriate before you enroll your child. Once your child begins attending school, administrators and teachers should be readily available to provide progress reports and address concerns.

5. Get references
Don’t take the school’s word for it, ask for references from other parents who have children enrolled there. They are more likely to be forthcoming about the strengths and weaknesses of the school.

6. Be aware of the school’s staffing
Ask about class size and student: teacher ratios as well as whether the school has onsite clinical staff. Find out how many minutes per week of therapy your child will receive. In private school settings, is therapy part of the tuition or is it extra? Is 1:1 therapy provided or will your child receive therapy in a group?

7. How are behavioral issues handled?
You will want to know this whether your child has behavioral issues or not. If he does have behavioral issues, you’ll want to make sure the school manages them in a way that’s in keeping with your belief system. If your child doesn’t have behavioral issues, make sure that being around other students who are frequently disruptive won’t interfere with her learning, emotional or physical well-being.

8. What is the school’s policy on bullying?
Be sure you’re knowledgeable about the school’s bullying policy. As children with disabilities are more likely to experience bullying, you’ll want to know that school administrators and teachers take it seriously and will intervene immediately.

9. Does the school offer courses or activities that your child can access?
Confirm that the school is fully accessible for students with physical and learning differences. Ideally, your child should be able to participate in all learning and recreational opportunities provided at her school.

10. Take children’s feedback seriously
Most kids complain about school on occasion. But if your child seems frightened, regularly complains about feeling sick or is habitually resistant to attending school, pay attention. Particularly with non-verbal children, it can be tough to get to the bottom of what’s going on at school. Make sure to check in with teachers and administrators to determine what may be fueling your child’s reluctance. Ideally, sit in on classes, or visit at recess or lunchtime, to make sure your child is safe, comfortable and happy.