Kline F.M., Silver, L.B & Russell,S.

C(2001) The Educator’s Guide to Medical Issues in the

Classroom. Maryland: Paul H.Brookes Publishing Co.

Accommodations for hyperactivity

• Challenging behavior in the classroom

• Have difficulty sitting in their seats for prolonged period of time.

 May get up to sharpen their pencils

 Go to the bathroom frequently

 Fidget with pencils, pens or paper clips

 Never to be calm and relaxed

• Telling them to stop the disruptive hyperactive behaviors will not work.

• Ways to channel this excessive activity into acceptable behaviors:

 Allow nondisruptive, directed movement in the classroom

 Allow standing during seatwork

 Use activity as a reward. Permit specific activities (e.g. running an errand, cleaning
the board, organizing materials) to provide acceptable ways to be active

 Use teaching activities that encourage active responses (i.e. talking, moving, working
at the board)

 Encourage diary writing, note taking, painting, and other meaningful work-related
activities.

 Consider seating the student with ADHD near the teacher. if he or she begins to
engage in disruptive behaviors, the teacher can quickly remind the student of what is
happening. Perhaps the teacher and the student could develop a hand signal that
says, “You are acting too hyper. Relax.” Other hand signals might be used for
distractibility or impulsivity. As the student may not be aware of his/her behavior,
this signal might be what he or she needs to stop.

Accomodations for inattention/distractibility

• Some ADHD have short attentions span

• Frequently do not complete assignment

• Accommodations to prolong concentration on a task include:

 Shorten the task

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  Break one task into smaller parts to be completed at different times

 Give two tasks, and require the student to complete the less preferred task first

 Assign fewer problems (e.g., spelling words, math problems)

 For rote tasks, set up more short, spaced practice sessions rather than fewer but
longer and more concentrated sessions

 Use hand signals to remind the student that he or she is distracted and needs to
refocus

Accomodations for students who are impulsive

• Commonly interrupt or call out answers without raising their hands or waiting to be called on.

• Might make inappropriate comments or hurt others feeling because they do not think before
speaking.

• Might act before they think – resulting in pushing, yelling or hitting –or they might turn to do
something so quickly that they bump into other student or knock things over

• Some may rush through assignments and tests, putting down the first thought or answers
that enter their head.

• Younger children may have difficulty learning to wait (e.g, for a turn to do something, for a
toy, for attention)

• Accommodations for helping students learn to wait are as follows:

 Teach substitute verbal or motor responses to use while waiting

 Instruct the child on how to continue with easier parts of tasks while waiting for the
teachers’ help for the more difficult parts

 Allow the student to doodle or play with clay, paper clips, or other items while
waiting or listening to instructions

 Let the child participate in setting the pace for activities when possible

• Accommodations for assisting a student who calls out or interrupts include the following:

 Suggest and reinforce alternative ways for getting attention (e.g. being a line leader,
being the person who passes out paper)

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  Teach the child to recognize pauses in conversations so that he/she can learn when
to speak and how to hold on to ideas while listening for these pauses

 Let the child know about upcoming transitions or difficult times or tasks for whoch
he/she will need extra control

 Teach and practice social routines (e.g. saying “hello,” “goodbye,” and “please”).

 Children with ADHD can be educated in the general classroom.

 By providing the appropriate accommodations in the classroom, through the curriculum,

and teaching strategies, a child with ADHD can be a happy, productive, successful
student in the general classroom