The Good Schools Guide’s tips for Navigating School for ADHD children
October is ADHD Awareness Month. If your child is one of the 5% diagnosed with ADHD and is struggling with school, Mary Pegler from The Good Schools Guide has some tips to help you and them navigate school.
- Identification is the first step in providing the support that is required, so act on your instincts if your child’s functioning is being affected by their attention difficulties, by talking to your Senco.
- Work collaboratively, so the child is not getting mixed messages from home and school.
- Continue to monitor and review their progress with concentration by setting achievable targets. Note down patterns in progress, e.g. is it a seasonal difficulty? Does it only occur in certain lessons?
- Try to work out the times in the day or situations when they work most productively and ensure that a task begins and ends with an activity that they enjoy.
- Support your child’s school work at home with strategies for completing homework, help sitting down to start a piece of work, and revision for tests and exams.
- Strategies to help with organisation are vital, e.g. checklists for equipment and PE kit, timetables and visual reminders, e.g. a note on the front door, ‘Have you remembered…?’. Reward success at self-organisation, ‘Well done! You remembered your reading book!’
- Bolster and maintain your child’s self-esteem, to help the ‘whole child’ develop.
- Regulate internet use, gaming and electronic communication sensitively.
- Consider involving the school’s counsellor, ELSA or school nurse if their mental health is affected, e.g. a child becomes anxious about going to school, as in some cases they may not want to talk to teachers or parents.
- Don’t rule out the option of medication to support attention skills or sleep. A medical professional can advise on this.
Mary Pegler started as a reviewer for The Good Schools Guide in 2012. She has a background as a Speech and Language Therapist, both in the NHS and private sector, with experience working in a special school for dyslexia and as an autism assessor. She has a particular sensitivity to finding the strengths and needs of the individual child. Her work takes her into a range of schools: independent and maintained, mainstream and special; nursery, primary and secondary. Since 2020 she has worked as the Senior Editor for SEN at The Good Schools Guide and is also a governor of the Oxford Hospital School. Mary says, “With three children of my own I understand the pressures on family life and how important finding the right school is. I have also lived through the agony and joy of the competitive entrance tests. Being a Good Schools Guide Education Consultant allows me to help parents at a worrying time with some practical help and reassurance. My advice about schools often involves my specialism of Special Educational Needs.”
The Good Schools Guide website provides realms of expert advice on all aspects of education to help parents choose the best school for their child, whatever their learning style.
