Supporting an Area of Learning in the Primary Classroom with ADHD Children - Essay Example

Supporting an Area of Learning in the Primary room with ADHD Children Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a behavioural condition whereby an individual has severe problems with their cognitive control and supervisory attention system, making them inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive (Daley & Birchwood, 2010). The symptoms of this behavioural disorder usually appear in children of between six and twelve years of age, and must last for more than six months for the condition to be diagnosed. Due to their inattentiveness, children with ADHD often perform poorly in school although they have a good attention span for tasks that are interesting to them (Alloway et al. 2009). In the United Kingdom, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a very common behavioural disorder that affects around 4% of school-aged children and youths (Robertson, 2008). Among the children, there is more diagnosis of ADHD in boys than in girls, indicating that most ADHD cases in primary schools involve boys than girls. Since this disorder affects learning and consequently performance of children in school, it is necessary for the teacher to use personalised learning. This paper is going to focus on how to support an area of personalised learning in the primary classroom. Thus, in order to handle a class of children with ADHD, a teacher should rely on the behaviour and discipline area of personalised learning (Maguire, Ball, & Braun, 2010). ADHD children are of special needs since they are easily distracted and talkative; they are very interruptive and impatient hence need extra help in learning. In this case, the teacher needs to understand how behaviour difficulties develop and are maintained to provide ample support to pupils ensuring that their needs are met (Humphrey & Lewis, 2008). Personalised learning relates to the behaviourism theory of education whereby the behavioural theory states that behaviour results from individuals’ learning from the environment in which they live (Sallis, Owen, & Fisher, 2008). The implication is that reinforcement will strengthen behaviour whereas those conducts not reinforced will disappear. In practice, the teacher should impose rewards and sanctions to encourage or discourage a given behaviour. However, it should be noted that these rewards or sanctions need to be applied disproportionately, such that not everything that a child does is criticised. For instance, teachers can use timers to set limits when children take turns in a group, and should praise those pupils who stay calm until lesson end without interrupting (Wyckoff & Unell, 2010). The teacher needs to be consistent since the certainty of a response and intervention is more important than severity. On the other hand, cognitive behavioural theory stresses that problematic behaviours result from non-adaptive thinking that is related to self-attribution and perceived self-efficacy processes (Kirschman, Johnson, Bender, & Roberts, 2009). Therefore, there is the need for teachers to ensure the children are involved in the process of setting and monitoring child behaviour targets, and letting those who do not meet their targets account for the same. It is also important to consider the ecological behavioural theory while dealing with these children in the classroom. A teacher will focus on how the physical-spatial and social environments influence the behaviour of the children. During work, the teacher should consider the sitting arrangement in the classroom, such that the children sit in rows. The child with ADHD should sit near the teacher, near the chalkboard, at the front of the room, away from windows or away from bright, colourful displays (Leary & Miller, 2012). All these are distracters and influence the child’s behaviour of inattentiveness, which may affect his/her performance in school. Since these children are learning in mainstream schools, it is easier for the teachers to apply the social learning theory. These children can be mingled with the normal children and encouraged to copy their behaviour; they can also copy the staff’s behaviour. However, it should be noted that the normal children might end up copying the behaviour of the ADHD children hence the teacher should always be on the watch out. The school can provide necessary support to the ADHD pupils through its policy on behaviour and discipline (Adams, 2008). This policy should be developed and agreed upon by all stakeholders, sets boundaries for acceptable behaviour and sets limits for action. The school can also provide the positive environment by basing its policy on discipline on the relaxed yet solid insistence on high behaviour standards at all times. The sanctions should be within the acceptable limits in the society; the demands should be made without jeopardising the principles by which the school and the community should follow. The school should also provide incentives for good behaviour using merited praise rather than insisting on sanctions. The incentives for good behaviour include the application of sanctions reasonably and proportionately according to the nature of the incident. Good relationships at all levels within the school are also vital in promoting behaviour and discipline within the school system. Teachers, parents, students and the community must develop a good relationship to ensure that discipline is maintained. For instance, if an ADHD student in a mainstream school misbehaves, the teacher should correct that mistake in such a way that he/she does not appear to take the mistake personally. The government contributes towards supporting and promoting good behaviour and discipline through its policy that regulates the way the schools impose the sanctions. The UK government has also given guidelines on how schools can set the standards of good behaviour and develop class standards (Porter & Kramer, 2006). In classroom management, the teacher should formulate the basic rules for his class as well as a list of consequences for breaking the set rules. Discipline according to the government guidelines must go beyond the case of control and should concentrate on the school organisation, curriculum, respect and pedagogical themes. They should also focus on how these themes should combine to ensure the creation of an orderly environment where quality teaching and learning can occur. The government requires school systems to stimulate the development of internalised self-discipline code as opposed to the externally manipulated control through sanctions. Mainstream schools with ADHD pupils should not encourage the overuse of sanctions. Instead, they should rely on rewards for good behaviour as well as concentration on concepts of culture and partnerships in the school (Cooper & Jacobs, 2011). There is also the need for teachers to encourage, affirm and reward good behaviour through celebrating such behaviours through praising the pupils. A teacher handling a class of ADHD students should commend those pupils that remain calm until the end of the lesson. The instructor may achieve this by the use of colour-coded cards like a red card to reward good behaviours. If the student gets to the end of the lesson without a red card, then the teacher awards him a star whereas those who get a red card face consequences. The teacher can also control the interruptive students by teaching them to think before talking, thus help them learn to slow down before speaking. The teacher can achieve this by waiting for some seconds before accepting answers from the class and encouraging students to raise their hands before talking during the lesson. The pupils should always be reminded the rules of interrupting and those who persist should be spoken to in person, and not corrected openly (Lambrechts et al. 2011). Publicly correcting these students may lower their self-esteem and perhaps make them more defiant and restless. Both the government and the school should collaborate to ensure that while at school, these students get the right medication to control the disorder. Teachers should check whether the students have taken the medication on a regular basis or upon realising that the child has become more interrupting. On the other hand, the government should equip schools with ADHD medication, such that if a child runs out of their medicine stock, they can always access others from the school (Scott, Anderson, & Spaulding, 2008). It is also important for the teacher to make eye contacts and stand near the pupil while giving instructions since these children have attention deficits. Keep tasks short to work within the children’s attention span and make them feel less overwhelmed. The tasks should be brief and different so that the child cannot feel bored doing one thing for a long time. The teacher must use visual aids as the instructional resources in the classroom as well as asking questions continuously to keep the child’s attention. For instance, a restless child who cannot concentrate on a topic of civil war through books and lectures can be absorbed in the material if it is presented in pictures (Tomlinson, 2012). It is also recommended to check on the progress of the task and schedule more tasks that are demanding in the morning especially if the child loses focus as the day goes on. Those with the problem of concentrating on a single task should be allowed to move around for some minutes or be given tasks like wiping the board for the teacher. Role-play can also be used to personalise studies for this students, as they will be actively involved in the lesson (Brophy, 2013). Therefore, this solves the problem of attention deficits in the classroom environment making it easier for the teacher to manage the class and the student to learn. To tackle homework issues, teachers should use a home-school diary or encourage the children to hand in whatever they have done, however, incomplete it is. These children should be reminded to check their homework before handing in since they tend to hand in t work without checking it through. A teacher can get a pupil who has not done his homework on social studies or ecology may be asked to interview a grandparent for social studies, or taking animal pictures in the neighbourhood for an ecology unit. Those children with specific learning difficulties may be assisted through the use of visual cues as well as giving systematic instructions. Available school resources can also help tackle the issue of specific learning difficulties. The use of language programme, speech therapy and language therapy programmes are some of the resources teachers can use to deal with problems of written expression or spoken speech (Kersner & Wright, 2015). One can deal with difficult behaviour in a class by making simple and clear rules for asking questions, interrupting and classroom conduct, and putting the rules on a display. A teacher can walk around the children’s desks to manage classroom behaviour effectively. If possible, use such rewards as a smile for rewarding good like going on with a particular task assigned to them. By actively rewarding the behaviour that a teacher desires in the classroom, the teacher will be able to manage the class effectively. The use of generalism like well-done can help a teacher reinforce the desired behaviour, whereas avoiding punishing the whole class for an ADHD child’s mistake will command the teacher’s charisma. Sometimes it may be difficult for a teacher to handle ADHD students to an extent of achieving full classroom management and control (Rief, 2012). In this case, the teacher needs to consult the SENCO or the guidance team in the best possible ways of dealing with ADHD children’s difficult behaviours. The teacher can also involve the child’s psychiatrist, a psychologist, ADHD nurse or the paediatrician responsible for the child’s medication during multidisciplinary meetings to deal with difficult behaviours. Positive social movements like letting the ADHD student share or teach the class what he knows very well can promote positive social interactions in the classroom. Grouping the child with other compatible children and assigning them a particular activity is also crucial in promoting positive social interactions. Approaching the ADHD issue with open-mindedness can help teachers envision more possibilities for ways of helping children with attention deficits. The behaviour and discipline approach is essential for the provision of special needs for these kids. Good behaviours should be reinforced whereas the poor ones should be discouraged, although the teacher must be careful about the kind of sanctions to apply. Multiple-intelligence is one of the best strategies teachers can use in class to help these children participate in the teaching/learning process. Works Cited Adams, P., 2008. Positioning behaviour: Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the post‐welfare educational era. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 12(2), , 113-125. Alloway, T. P., Gathercole, S. 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