school management
Fiona Kernan . Picture : Supplied .
‘ Flick the switch ’
By Emilie Lauer
Positive reinforcement , ‘ faking it till you make it ’ and music are effective strategies teachers can use to support students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ), according to a new book .
Fiona Kernan , a casual teacher based in Victoria , has dedicated her career to helping educators improve their understand of ADHD and how it impacts their classrooms .
Kernan joined Education Review to discuss the complexities of ADHD and ways teachers can establish a supportive environment for every student .
ER : In Australia , one in 20 students has ADHD . How does this condition impact how students and teacher ’ s experience the classroom ? I think most teachers would easily answer this question , they ’ re very distracting to have in the classroom . They have trouble paying attention . The interesting thing is that it ’ s not so much that they have trouble paying attention , they have trouble concentrating on things that they ’ re not interested in . So , if they ’ re interested in it , they can absolutely concentrate , but if they ’ re not interested in whatever ’ s being taught by the teacher , they find it hard to get their brain to focus on that and they are distracted by everything around them . So , they ’ re distracted by the thoughts that they ’ ve got in their head about whatever , they ’ re distracted by the bird outside or the light switch flickering or their friends picking at them trying to get them to misbehave because it ’ s funny when the kid with ADHD misbehaves , it ’ s funny when they get into trouble from the teacher , so other kids will bait them .
The impulsivity means that if the teacher asks a question , for example , they will have the answer in their head , but rather than thinking I ’ ve got to put my hand up , they ’ ll blurt the question out . And so for a teacher trying to teach a cohort or a class , having kids blurt out answers is not ideal . So there ’ s ways we can train them and help them to put their hand up , which I ’ ll go into later .
Also , they have trouble with organisation and time management . So , they ’ ll be the kids that forget to bring their pens and
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