General Learning Principles for Peole with ADHD
- Persons with ADHD have limited attentional resources.
- Children and adults with ADHD often do not hear all of the instructions. Make sure you have their attention before you begin to give the instruction. Instructions should be short and given in clear unambiguous language.
- Persons with ADHD have limited working memory resources.
- Children with ADHD are impulsive and want a quick result. They don't like checking their work
- Once a child with ADHD has learnt to do something the wrong way, it is very difficult to reteach it because of impulsivity. (Pro-active Inhibition)
- Persons with ADHD lack task persistence for long boring tasks.
- Persons with ADHD crave novelty and variety.
- Children with ADHD need frequent, unobtrusive and positive prompts
- Children with ADHD need frequent feedback about their progress - how much they have done and how well they have done it.
- Older Children and adults with ADHD may have very little faith in their ability to complete a task satisfactorily. Hence they have little motivation to try or to persevere.
- Persons with ADHD have poor organisational skills - time and planning. They need the help of an adult to organise their work and learning schedules.
- Being able to learn is not the same as knowing how to learn. People of all ages with ADHD need to learn strategies for active learning, appropriate techniques, time management, etc.
- Knowing the subject matter is not the same as knowing how to present that knowledge in an examination format - essays, short answers, and multiple choice all present different problems for the student. Timed tests present further difficulties. Strategies need to be put in place to get around such problems
Copyright Dr Stephen Dossel, and the ADD Association Queensland. This article may be reprinted but should not be modified in any way. Any such use should be acknowledged in the normal manner and must include the author's name and the source of the article.
