When grades don’t improve for children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), they are sometimes labeled as lazy or having a bad attitude. But a recent academic paper says the poor school performance is rooted in inattentiveness, dispelling the myth that laziness, a bad attitude, hyperactivity or impulsive behavior cause bad grades for these children.
The current approaches in ADHD treatment, such as prescribing Ritalin and psychological intervention, can improve inattentive or disruptive behavior in the classroom, but there’s “no robust evidence” to show that these interventions improve grades for children with ADHD, say co-authors Rosemary Tannock and Rhonda Martinussen in their paper "Promising Practices in Education for Students with ADHD" published in Orbit Magazine.
Interventions to Improve a Child's Working Memory
Working memory is necessary for mental arithmetic, reasoning and comprehension, and is important in literacy, mathematics, and science.
"Working memory refers to the ability to hold and manipulate information temporarily (for a few seconds only) in one’s head, despite ongoing distractions such as conversation or other classroom activities," say the paper's authors.
By focusing on a child's attention skills and working memory, parents, teachers and students can reduce inattentive behavior and improve working memory.
They give examples of two promising approaches for both behavioral and academic outcomes in students with ADHD: child-focused skills training and teacher development training.
Child-Focused Training
- Attention Process Training (APT) is a student-focused approach that aims to enhance attention skills or working memory and stems from the cognitive rehabilitation literature.
- It involves direct intervention through structured, intensive and progressive training of attention skills.
- Children are required to practice the attention tasks for about 30 to 60 minutes a session, several times a week for 8 to 24 weeks.
- Corrective feedback is given and students chart their own progress.
Teacher Training
- Research shows that simply screening and labeling children who meet diagnostic criteria for ADHD has no effect on how well children do in school.
- It’s important to provide teachers regularly with information on ADHD, as this improves their knowledge and reduces stress when working with students with ADHD.
- Training and in-depth consultation to teachers about ADHD has helped students with ADHD by reducing anti-social behavior, and improving and academic ability.
Conclusion
- Persistent and marked inattention in childhood is a developmental risk factor for poor academic outcome.
- Educators must learn to recognize behavioral indicators of inattention in the classroom and to develop both child-focused and contextual strategies for helping these students’ academic success.
- Interventions that monitor and target both the behavioral symptoms of inattention and underlying cognitive difficulties can they improve both the academic and behavioral outcomes of inattentive students.
For more on "ADHD: Bridging the Gap Between the Between the School and Mental Health Systems", click here.
For more on "Peer Relationships in Children with ADHD", click here.
