What ADHD support should PARENTS ask TEACHERS for?

All right, what’s up everybody? My name is Seth Perler. Welcome to TEFOS, the Executive Function Online Summit at [executivefunctionsummit.com](https://executivefunctionsummit.com?utm_source=chatgpt.com).

Julie asks the following question:

 “What is one simple or helpful adaptation I can ask my teachers for specifically for a nine-year-old with ADHD?”

Great question. School is starting, and the question is: what is one simple or helpful adaptation, modification, or accommodation—whatever you want to call it—that you can ask a teacher for specifically for a nine-year-old with ADHD?

First of all, if you have a seasoned teacher who’s pretty in tune with your child, whether or not you have an IEP or 504 plan, and this teacher is really experienced and talented, they’re going to know a lot already. You can often really trust them and let go a little—as long as they know what’s going on with your child.

Even if there’s no IEP, you can simply say:

 “Hey, I just want you to know these are some things that help my child.”

That’s the first thing I would say. There are so many amazing teachers out there, and experienced teachers often have really great intuition for this. They’re already making accommodations anyway.

Secondly, one of the things I’d really want for a nine-year-old with ADHD is for the classroom to be very visual, so they can clearly see what the expectations are.

For example, if students turn in math, science, social studies, and language arts work, maybe there are four different boxes in the room with different colors. The blue box says “Language Arts,” the red box says “Math,” and so on.

A visual classroom is really important.

Another accommodation—and I’m giving you more than one simple idea here—is flexibility with homework.

You sort of have two types of teachers in this area:

Some teachers give a lot of homework because it feels like what they’re supposed to do. A lot of times, newer teachers—or teachers who are very rigid or set in their ways—can assign a lot of homework without really thinking through how beneficial it actually is.

Other teachers really think carefully about what would genuinely help students learn.

Either way, at this age, asking for flexibility with homework is one of the best adaptations I can think of.

You want teachers to understand that your child is going to do their best, but they also need family time and fun time. It really is harder for these kids to focus and get this stuff done, especially after a full day at school.

Some kids are really good at execution and can knock out their homework in 10 minutes. But for some kiddos, it’s just not reasonable for them to spend an hour every night on homework.

It’s not reasonable.

So, ask for flexibility with homework and assignments. As the parent, you can then say:

 “Tonight, it’s just not going to happen.”
 “Tonight, we can go above and beyond.”
 “Tonight, we’re going to do part of it because my child is burned out.”

Or:

“My child learned a lot from this one small thing today, and this is a good place to stop and let it integrate.”

Really, that flexibility is huge.

Another thing people don’t always think about is accommodations that meet your child’s sensory needs.

For example:

 Sitting in a quiet cubby with fewer distractions
 Wearing earplugs or headphones
 Using weighted vests
 Having access to fidgets that aren’t disruptive to others

Those kinds of sensory supports can be incredibly helpful.

The very last thing I want to say, Julie, is this:

Close your eyes for a minute and think about the biggest sticking points, frustrations, or struggles from the past couple of years. You can probably think of two or three right away.

Then ask yourself:

“What would have helped?”

And once you know the answer to that, ask for it.

Just ask for that adaptation.

Actually, I’ll say one more thing.

I remember teaching fifth and sixth grade, and I had this student who just could not sit still. Nothing uncommon—I had a lot of kiddos like that.

I remember talking with him and saying:

 “All right, dude, let’s figure this out. How are we going to make this work?”

He said:

 “I can’t sit still. I need to move.”

So I told him:

 “Okay. When I’m teaching, you can walk back and forth in the back of the room. Just look at me so I know you’re with me.”

And if he needed to go into the hallway and walk around, he could give me a nod and go do that.

When I was a kid, I always used to say I had to go to the bathroom—even when I didn’t—because I couldn’t sit still either.

So I told him:

“You can walk down the hallway or up and down the stairs, but I want you back in a minute or so, or I’m coming to look for you.”

We set those boundaries, and for the rest of the year it worked fantastically.

He just needed movement.

So in terms of accommodations, I’d really encourage asking for a classroom environment that respects a child’s need for movement:

standing desks
movement breaks
sitting on a balance ball
opportunities to stand and move around

That can make a huge difference.

All right, that really is the last thing.

My name is Seth Perler. Thanks for being here at TEFOS, the Executive Function Online Summit. If this helped you at all, please share it with three people today. And if you haven’t registered for TEFOS yet, check it out—it’s incredible.

Take care, everybody.