school management
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pencils or their computer or charger or whatever it might be to class .
They have trouble with executive functioning , so planning and problem solving , self-regulating , regulating their emotions . So , if something happens , they might get angry about it and then have an outburst because they can ’ t regulate their emotions like their peers can .
The other big one is they have trouble with social and emotional skills . So interacting with their peers , they don ’ t always know how to actually approach a friendship , and so they ’ ll say things or do annoying things which their peers find annoying and they can pick up on it , they ’ re very sensitive , they can pick up on the fact that their peers are not wanting to play with them or whatever , and they get their feelings hurt , and then emotionally that kind of creates some issues for them as well .
It ’ s difficult . And I think that they ’ re very misunderstood . They ’ re just seen as the naughty ones in class because at this stage , most people don ’ t really understand what ’ s happening inside their brain and their heart that ’ s causing these behaviours .
You published a book about your experience teaching children with ADHD called ‘ Flicking the Switch ’, what does it mean to flick the switch ? Essentially in the context of students with ADHD , it refers to the positive approach that teachers can use when they ’ re working with kids , which helps to shift their focus and attention and behaviour onto what it should be on . It ’ s about teachers changing their approach from being a negative and punitive approach ,
to being one of understanding and demonstrating empathy and catching them doing good things so they can obtain their dopamine in positive ways . So flicking that mindset that teachers have of these kids are the naughty students , to actually , all right , they ’ re actually not naughty , I understand why they behave the way they do , and if I catch them being good and ignore them when they ’ re not being so good , then I can flip the switch on that and give them dopamine when they need it , when they ’ re being doing positive things , rather than growling at them and giving them dopamine when they ’ re doing inappropriate things .
It ’ s flicking the switch on their behaviour , as well as flicking the switch on the teacher ’ s mindset from being punitive and negative to being positive and understanding .
What are some of the strategies teachers can use to better support and manage the behaviour of students with ADHD ? My first strategy is to fake it until you make it . When I ’ ve interviewed teachers , they will say to me , I just don ’ t know what to do with these kids , and so they feel intimidated at the notion of , ‘ I ’ m going into a class and I know Johnny ’ s going to be a pain and he is going to disrupt my class ’, and they expect that to happen , and it does happen . So , fake it until you make it is basically going out of your way to make sure that the student with ADHD thinks that they ’ re your favourite . So , if you can fake it and pretend that he ’ s your favourite student in the first three minutes of a lesson , that makes a huge difference . Usually because they ’ re classically being thought of or think of themselves as being , I ’ m the one the teacher doesn ’ t like . So , you ’ re flicking the switch on that , oh , this teacher understands me and cares about me . And that flicks the switch on their behaviour .
Another one is an obvious one . We know positive reinforcement works . Positive reinforcement works so well for students with ADHD , they just need more and more of it than normal students because neurotypical students receive positive reinforcement all day every day because it ’ s easy for them to be at school . Students with ADHD need more positive reinforcement to counteract the fact that schools hard . They find sitting in a classroom difficult . So , if we can give them a thumbs up , a smile , high-fives , praise them , talk to them like they ’ re our favourite student , that flicks a switch on their behaviour .
I ’ ve talked about ignoring them when they ’ re not doing the right thing . It ’ s a hard one for teachers because they ’ re often jumping around distracting the class , so ignoring them can be difficult , but it ’ s the key . And what I find works for me , even as a casual teacher , which is my role now , is to teach the rest of the class that they need to ignore their attention seeking behaviours . Because the reason that the students with ADHD are calling out , doing silly things , is because their friends laugh at them and they ’ re getting attention and getting dopamine , as I was talked about before . So , we need to educate their peers about how we all have dopamine , what dopamine is , and how they can help their friends with ADHD by not laughing at them , not looking at them when they ’ re being silly , but pay attention to them when they ’ re doing the right thing .
Another one that ’ s significant is allowing them to listen to music when they ’ re doing table work . Students with ADHD can concentrate on their maths or whatever the task is if they ’ re allowed to put their headphones in and listen to music , because it seems to tune out all the distractions in the classroom and allow them to focus on their task . A lot of teachers don ’ t like students having headphones on or listening to music because they think that it ’ s a distraction , but it ’ s the reverse for students with ADHD , they ’ re able to focus more effectively if they ’ ve given permission to listen to music . ■
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