Children with ADHD are typically disorganized, lose papers and homework, and have trouble managing their workload.  They often struggle to stay focused for long periods of time and study effectively. Yet as students move through school, each of these demands increase exponentially.  As a result, children with ADHD often face diminishing grades and school performance with each passing year. Help your ADHD child avoid this downhill path and excel in school with the study strategies detailed below.

Break down studying into chunks

Studying for a multi-chapter science test, completing a research project, or learning pages of information for a quiz can seem like insurmountable tasks to students with ADHD. ‎You can help your child feel less frustrated and more in control of her workload by encouraging her to break down each task into smaller chunks. For instance, if she has a history test covering18 pages of class notes and 3 book chapters, help her spread out her studying over one full week by perhaps ‎spending two days studying one book chapter and six pages of notes, the next two days studying  the second book chapter and six additional pages of notes, and the subsequent two days studying the final chapter and six more page of notes. On the final day she can focus on reviewing all of the material, in sum breaking down a seemingly daunting task into seven manageable days of studying for smaller increments of time.

Use a planner!

ADHD students often think they can remember all of their assignments without writing them down. While this memory-based approach may work for the early years of school, it becomes increasingly hard to do, especially as students approach upper elementary school. To make sure your child doesn’t miss any assignments, encourage him to consistently use an assignment book. While paper books work well, he can also use a computer or phone-based planner. On a daily basis, it is important that he writes down (or types) all tasks that are assigned, even if his school uses an online portal. He should add any after school activities, sports games, or other non-academic events, making his planner the central point for all of his obligations.

Identify your child’s learning style

Each child with ADHD learns differently. Some prefer silence when studying and work best at a quiet desk in their bedroom. Others prefer a slight buzz in the background, like white noise or soft music playing. Some learn best with movement – rocking on a rocking chair while studying, for instance, or throwing a ball as they define vocabulary words. The key is identifying the style that best suits your child and sticking with it.

Find an optimal study time  

‎Some ADHD children work best immediately after school when they are still in “school mode.” They may feel relieved by completing their assignments and “geting them over with” so they can move onto non-academic activities. Others feel fried by the end of the school day and need a break before starting their homework or studying. For these children, a snack and some physical activity before sitting down to work is more optimal. Many students, especially older ones, work best later in the day, thriving on that post-dinner rush. Generally, however, encouraging your child to plan out and prioritize his work as soon as he comes home can help make sure critical work isn’t overlooked or pushed to the very last minute.

Avoid Distractions

Children with ADHD tend to be easily distracted by almost anything going on around them. To minimize distractions, try to implement household rules during studying time, such as “No TV” or “No Electronics.” You can also build in rewards for earning these banned activities. For instance, if your child completes one hour of focused school work, he can earn10 minutes of electronic time. This reward system may motivate your child to stay on task and complete his school work.

Use Active Studying Techniques

Activing reading strategies can help your ADHD child stay focused and remember the material she is learning. Try a tri-colored strategy for helping her learn material from a text book, rather than simply reading a chapter from start to finish. Before reading, have her peruse the chapter for pictures, captions, headers, and subheaders to give her an overview of the material. Then have her highlight the topic (one, two, or three words fescribing the passage) in blue. Next, she should move through the sections one sub-section at a time, highlighting the main idea of each sub-section in green (what the author is saying about the topic) and the important details in yellow. Once she is done with the chapter, she can create a two-column study guide, writing the topic at the top, main idea of each sub-section on the left, and the important details using bullet points on the right. This technique will help her actively learn the material and effectively plan for an exam.

The rigors of school can be challenging for many ADHD students, as the executive functioning, organizational, and studying demands often feel overwhelming. By implementing these strategies, however, your child can face these challenges head-on and be well on his way to academic success.

The post Study Strategies for your ADHD Child appeared first on EBL Coaching.

As technology advances, tools for studying and staying organized are moving from old fashioned pen-and-paper to electronic and high tech. Creating hand written flash cards, jotting notes on loose leaf paper, and hand writing essays are becoming tasks of the past. Help your child update his study and organizational habits by using the tech-based options below.

Writing

For many students, writing an essay can be a dreaded ordeal.  They may have poor handwriting, weak fine motor skills, or simply find the task of writing tedious. With voice recognition programs such as Dragon Dictate, students can dictate their ideas as the computer types them. In doing so, students avoid the physical limitations of writing and tend to elaborate and add more details and than they would with handwriting. Once their writing is complete, the program can read the it out loud to them, allowing the student to catch more mistakes and‎ self-check them.

Study Guides

Power Point can serve as a helpful tool for creating study guides. Students can create a Power Point presentation using material they need to learn for an exam – a task many students enjoy more than hand writing flash cards or study guides. The computer can then read the material out loud as the student listens and absorbs it.

Reading

Instead of reading a print-only version of a book for school, students can listen to books on CD (or digital versions) and read along with the written copy. They can also use sites such as Learning Ally, which offers thousands of digital novels, textbooks, reference materials, and newspapers that can all be downloaded.

Interactive Study Tools

Interactive text-to-speech programs, such as Kurzweil 3000, combine the reading of text with engaging study tools. With these programs, users can scan and import text or transfer in web pages and learn how to actively interact with the material. They can use multi-colored highlighters to identify key information, take digital margin notes, and even write electronic “sticky notes.” Students can take read or listen to text, organize information, and learn important vocabulary words, all in one place.

 As technology advances, encourage your child to update her approach to studying using these tech-based tools. She will enjoy the interactive process and will ultimately feel more confident and successful in school.

The post Tech Tools That Make Studying Easier for Students   appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Structured, systematic techniques to help your student make the most of homework time

With the new school year in full swing, homework, studying, and afterschool demands are rapidly rising. For many students, this means figuring out effective ways manage their time, organize their materials, and memorize information for quizzes and tests. While some students are naturally able to identify effective study skills techniques, most benefit from learning structured, systematic tools for improving their study habits. Help your child stay on top of his workload with the techniques detailed below.

Stop Distractions Before They Start

Most of us know children who become easily distracted when trying to complete their schoolwork. A missing writing utensil, background noise, or wandering thought can quickly veer them off task. Identifying triggers and coming up with ideas to avoid these distractions can help students sustain their attention and complete their tasks. To build this focusing ability, it is helpful for students to identify distractions and then come up with a solution for each one. Encourage your child to create a sheet with two columns: Distractions on the left and solutions on the right. Have him list each distraction with a corresponding solution to the right of it. In doing so, he will become much more self-aware of distractions and ways to solve them.

Measure Estimated versus Actual Time

As students move through school, they tend to receive more quizzes, exams, projects, and assignments. As such, effective time management skills become increasingly important. For many students, knowing how much time to allocate to a given task can be challenging. A key element of time management is learning to understand how long tasks take to complete. To build this skill, start by explaining to your child that ET stands for estimated time, or the amount of time she thinks it will take to complete a task, and AT stands for actual time‎, or the actual time it takes. Then try various activities at home to practice this skill. For instance, one task may be to sharpen five pencils. Ask your child how long she thinks it will take to sharpen five pencils and write down the ET, or estimated time. Then have her time herself to see how long it actually takes and write down the AT, or actual time. Then, have her apply this method to her studies by keeping a notebook where she writes down the estimated time for each assignment, and uses that to decide on the method for how she approaches her work—making sure to track the actual time it takes her to complete each assignment. When students first use this strategy, there is often a large discrepancy between estimated and actual times, but with practice these times tend to merge as they develop more effective time management skills.

Create a Two-Column Study Guide

The task of learning a large amount of information and retaining it for an exam can be overwhelming for many students. Two-column study guides can help them combat this challenge. Rather than sorting through piles of flash cards, ripped out notes, and endlessly highlighted textbook pages‎ in a hopeless attempt at studying, students can feel well-organized and well-prepared for their exams with these guides. To create a two-column guide, your child should turn a horizontal sheet of paper into four parts. He should label the middle two columns “Questions” and “Answers.” Next, he should come up with a series of questions and answers based on the information he needs to learn. He should write the questions under the “Questions” column (second of four columns) and the answers under the “Answers” column (third of four columns). He should then fold over the first column on the left to cover the questions, and the fourth column on the right to cover the answers. He can then quiz himself as many times as needed until he grasps all of the information. These guides serve as an organized, consolidated method for learning exam material.

Reward Organization with The “Box System”

Many students argue that they can remember all of their assignments, including the materials necessary to complete them, without writing them down. Yet as students move through school, this super-power becomes less and less realistic. It is important for students to begin using a homework planner regularly, starting at a young age. In class, they should write down all of their assignments, with as much detail as possible. At home, they can estimate how much time they think each assignment will take and compare it to the actual time. They should also cross each task once it is completed and put in its proper place to be turned in. If, however, your child continues to forget to write down her assignments, you can try using the “box” reward system. To do so, next to each day in her planner, draw a box. If your child completes all of her homework and ‎turns it in on time, she colors in the box green. If she does not complete and turn in all of her work, she colors it red. If she colors five green boxes in a row over five days (or whatever number you feel is appropriate and attainable), she receives a pre-determined reward. This type of reward system can serve as a catalyst for kick-starting top-notch homework habits.

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