Create Structure
Balance Your Job and Your Child’s Educational Needs We’ve now entered the fall of the COVID-19 pandemic, following a spring and summer of lockdown and social distancing. Depending on where you live and where your child goes to school, you are likely navigating remote learning or a hybrid approach (such as two days in-person; three…
Read MoreTeaching in a Pandemic: Upheavals, Adjustments, and Moving Forward
When COVID-19 first closed our schools in March, many teachers asked, “Now what?!” Teaching special education is immensely rewarding, but oftentimes challenging even under normal circumstances. It takes a deep understanding of how the mind works along with patience and perseverance to adapt lessons, content, and tasks for multiple individuals daily. Then, we were forced…
Read MoreResilience in the Midst of Difficult Times
Providing Mental Health Support to Students with Attention Problems Schooling at Home Suddenly, we were serving our students and families from home. Regardless of all the news we had been watching about COVID-19 around the world, when it hit hard in Georgia, it felt sudden and drastic. Not only was finding toilet paper a major feat,…
Read MoreWhat Do Students with Attention Challenges Really Think About Remote Learning?
When schools were closed this past March, most of us thought the closures would be short-lived. Surely some remedy for COVID-19 would be discovered within a few months! Teachers and students stepped off into the great unknown, laptops in hand, plucking up courage, with little training, and no preparation. As time passed, and teachers attempted…
Read MoreSchool-Based Services for Children with ADHD
This research update focuses on an overarching question: what predicts school-based services received by children with ADHD? The first study examined specific factors related to receiving school-based services for children with ADHD, and the second study investigated school service use for children specifically with the inattentive presentation of ADHD. School-based interventions have been shown to…
Read MoreMountain Biking and Holistic Personal Development
The Focused Riding Program Can vigorous mountain biking help middle and high school students with ADHD improve their ability to focus in class? David Mendlewski, director of academic support at the Storm King School in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, believes it can. And he says he developed a program that can prove it. Known as Focused…
Read MorePre-Game Your Social Strategy
Want to improve your social network? “Just showing up” is rarely a good plan, especially for adults with ADHD in social situations. Bombarded by stimulation, swamped with anticipatory anxiety, flooded with emotions, and feeling you have lost the ability to self-regulate can make socializing both draining and overwhelming for people with ADHD. For many of…
Read MoreVideo Games in Assessing and Treating ADHD
This research update focuses on one overarching question: what is the role of video games in assessments and interventions for ADHD? The first study described is a systematic review of video games for evaluating and treating ADHD, and the second study discussed is a study of a particular computer game to improve impulsivity for ADHD.…
Read MoreKeeping Organized Goes Beyond a Task List
Do you have trouble remembering and keeping tracks of tasks you need to complete? Has anyone ever suggested you use an electronic task list or make a list on paper? Have you tried either of these options without success? You may wonder why you have difficulties with this and wish there was something you could…
Read MoreGoing to College Online with ADHD
Online classes can be even more challenging than in-person classes for college students with ADHD. The lack of immediate structure and feedback often found in such classes can make it so easy to put off the work. Without the daily reminders from being in class and working with other students, they may need to recreate…
Read MoreAdult ADHD and Emotions
Create the Experience That Best Serves You Emotional regulation challenges are common and pervasive with ADHD. These challenges include the more obvious experiences of emotional reactivity: those times when something was said or done that triggered off a spiral of emotion. This can range from the positive, in the form of heightened enthusiasm or attraction,…
Read MoreTeaching Executive Skills in Middle School
The Barriers & strategies protocol In 2019, based on thousands of opinions from community members, parents, teachers, and students, the York Region District School Board in Ontario, Canada, formulated a multi-year strategic plan. While these plans can be difficult to achieve, the board recently piloted a classroom approach that moved both teachers and students in…
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