The Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada - The only Canadian charity focusing solely on ADHD, providing leadership in education, awareness and ...
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The Centre for ADHD Awareness,
Canada
The only Canadian charity focusing solely on ADHD,
providing leadership in education, awareness and advocacy
to improve the lives of families and individuals with
ADHD across Canada
© CADDAC 2021
CADDAC Interactive ADHD
Childhood Parenting Course
Working With Your Child’s School
© CADDAC 2021
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT
THE INFORMATION PROVIDED DURING THIS EDUCATIONAL COURSE IS FOR
INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT
OR CARE.
NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY IN SEEKING IT
BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE HEARD DURING THIS WORKSHOP.
BY ACCESSING OR ATTENDING THIS PRESENTATION, YOU ARE INDICATING YOUR
ACCEPTANCE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE USER
AGREEMENT AS STATED IN FULL.
© CADDAC 2021
Working With Your Child’s School
School for Many Kids With ADHD
Interacting With The School
Working With The School
Homework
© CADDAC 2021
SCHOOL FOR MANY KIDS WITH ADHD
© CADDAC 2021
School for Many Kids With ADHD
School is Stressful, challenging and not where they want to be.
For many, we are taxing all of their impairments at the same time.
▪ The load placed on their attention regulation is extremely high – It is
essential that they focus on what the teacher is saying while distractions
are all around them while they may be bored.
▪ The load on their executive functioning skills is tremendous – just the
cognitive aspects are enough to overwhelm them.
▪ Additional LDs will increase demands and frustrations
▪ They need to handle and express their frustrations and regulate and
express their emotions in acceptable ways.
▪ They must comprehend what is being said follow lists of multiple
directions.
▪ They must work independently and be productive.
▪ They must be able to cognitively shift their attention and transition to
alternate settings throughout the day, at someone else’s command.
▪ They receive negative feedback throughout the day and may be punished
when they are unable to deal with the demands placed on them.
© CADDAC 2021
INTERACTING WITH THE SCHOOL
© CADDAC 2021
Interacting With The School
The Business Team Approach
▪ Let the school know that you both welcome and expect to be a
part of the team that decides on how the school will best support
your child.
▪ Be open, positive & respectful when communicating (business
like) even when you don’t feel like it.
▪ Make an appointment for a mutually convenient time to discuss
your concerns or the teacher’s concerns.
▪ Be informed as possible. The school takes notice when parents
understand the procedure, rights and hierarchy.
▪ Try to actively listen and not be defensive.
▪ Try to be proactive, persistent and assertive rather than reactive
and aggressive.
© CADDAC 2021
If School Focuses Only On Behaviour
▪ When a student with a medical or learning impairment is
identified under the behaviour category “bad behaviour” can
become the focus rather than what may be driving the
behaviour.
▪ Remind the school that behaviour is just a form of
communication.
▪ Behaviour can be the result of a need not being met in a
variety of areas: physiological, psychological, neurological,
social/emotional, environmental.
▪ Move the school away from focusing on behaviour.
▪ Research has shown that putting academic supports in place
will improve behaviour, not the other way around.
© CADDAC 2021
WORKING WITH THE SCHOOL
© CADDAC 2021First Step to Working With The School
▪ Use the school observation list to help focus your questions and
observations.
▪ Observe your child in the school environment if you can arrange
it.
▪ Develop a list of concerns from your perspective, but also list
positive aspects of your child’s functioning.
▪ Meet with the teacher to hear their concerns, but also ask about
positives – try and keep an open mind.
▪ Chat with your child about their perspective.
▪ Everyone may have a different viewpoint.
▪ Pinpoint the areas of greatest concern – safety first.
▪ Think about which impairments could be underlying these areas
of concern.
© CADDAC 2021Specific Questions to Ask About Your
Child’s Functioning
▪ Is my child functioning at grade level? If not, in which subjects
and at what grade level are they functioning?
▪ What is required to bring them up to grade level and what is the
school presently doing?
▪ What are the impediments that are preventing what needs to be
done?
▪ What can we do as parents to increase assistance at school or
supplement at home?
▪ Are there issues with executive functioning?
▪ Does the child have an accurate and detailed profile of my child’s
needs and strengths? If not, how can we help to improve that?
▪ Is my child’s emotional regulation an issue? If so, how and have
supports been put in place to assist them with this disability?
▪ How is my child functioning socially? How is the school assisting?
© CADDAC 2021Things to Remember
▪ The most important factor in your child’s education experience is
whether the teacher and principal are knowledgeable about
ADHD.
▪ Many educators will need to be educated about ADHD, even
when they do not think so. Misinformation and stigma is
common.
▪ Most educators have limited and outdated knowledge about
ADHD. Since you are now knowledgeable you will be able to
assess this.
▪ It is best to use consistent strategies between home and school
▪ A developed plan should be shared between home and school,
agree to by all and implemented and revised as a team.
▪ Be prepared to be your child’s advocate for their academic career,
at least until post secondary
© CADDAC 2021Communication Between School and Home
▪ Communication will need to be frequent and consistent at
least at the beginning.
▪ Set up a system for communicating, phone calls, e-mails,
regular zoom calls
▪ Frequent formal meetings should be booked at regular
intervals to evaluate what strategies are working, which need
to be modified, which goals have been met and need to be
up-dated, and any new concerns that have come up.
▪ In these meeting ask for examples of how particular IEP
accommodations and strategies have been implemented and
are working. This will hold the school accountable.
▪ Be sure to also share the child’s feeling about school and ask
about their demeanor at school. Are they happy?
© CADDAC 2021HOMEWORK
© CADDAC 2021Homework Issues
Children with ADHD frequently:
▪ forget to write down the assignment and forget or misinterpret
what the assignment is,
▪ forget to bring necessary materials home,
▪ over or under estimate the time required,
▪ do not know where to begin and are easily overwhelmed,
▪ procrastinate starting homework,
▪ are unable to stay focused to complete the work,
▪ find reading assignments difficult to comprehend or complete,
▪ complete homework in a messy or unsatisfactory manner and
▪ forget to hand in the homework.
© CADDAC 2021Homework Questions
Questions to ask
▪ How can the frequent issues above be addressed?
▪ How much time is homework taking and is it causing significant
family stress?
▪ Is the child capable of completing the homework assigned easily?
Have they understood the material and do they know what is
being asked of them?
▪ Is the homework geared to practicing a skill or just drudge work
and therefore be decreased if taking too long?
▪ Is the homework being done as a routine during a specific time
and in a specific place? Is this conducive to their productivity?
▪ Has their medication worn off by the time homework is started?
▪ Are parents acting as the tutor and is this increasing parent /child
conflict?
© CADDAC 2021The Teacher’s Role in Homework
▪ Teacher’s need to be made aware of homework issues so the
team approach can be used to solve these issues.
Teacher’s need to ensure that:
▪ the correct assignment and books and materials are taken home
(homework buddy and/or online access to assignments)
▪ homework can be completed with minimal assistance from the
parent, both in instructions and supervision,
▪ homework is not taking a huge amount of time to complete or
causing undo hardship for the family,
▪ collect the homework
▪ communicate with the parents regarding effort and praise the
child for their effort
© CADDAC 2021Strategies to Assist With Homework
▪ Establish a routine place and time for homework away form
distractions and when medication is still working.
▪ Review homework assigned with the child and break it into
manageable chunks that can be competed in brief intervals
▪ Parent and child decide on an easy unit to tackle first
▪ Parent and child review the assignment ensure that
instructions are understood and set a goal
▪ You can use a timer to help chunk work periods and assist
with focus
▪ Working alongside your child can help keep them focused
▪ Move onto the next assignment even if the work is not as
perfect as you would like
© CADDAC 2021THANKS FOR LISTENING
QUESTIONS???
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