We all know that people with ADHD have a difficult time keeping their attention span for more than a minute. Furthermore, it is also a challenge for them to focus on a task such as reading a book or paying attention to a teacher. However, we do know that there is a way that ADHD people can still learn and that is through visuals.
If you are a teacher and a parent who has an ADHD child, here are a few ways on how you can enrich their learning without them sticking out from their peers, or at least capture their attention.
One way is through silent reading time. Here the ADHD child is subjected to a certain, fixed point time of the day where they do silent reading. The acronym for this is DEAR or Drop Everything and Read. This helps establish a sense of time and urgency for them. It does not have to be long as this will make them restless. Another way is through follow-along, where the child is asked to read silently while the other students and the teacher reads the story aloud in class, and partner reading. The latter part, though still involves both silent and oral reading, requires the ADHD child to be partnered with a child who is a strong reader.
However, there are certain drawbacks to methods like this as the ADHD child can possibly disrupt the class and this is where visuals come in.
Children, with ADHD or not, are often fascinated with visuals. These are often used to easily capture one’s attention because of its colorfulness and eye-catching qualities.
One kind of visual aid that can be used are storyboards. Storyboards are often used by artists and animators to help sequence out their scenes for projects and it can be used as a teaching tool for ADHD children. With this, the children will be made to illustrate the sequence of the main events of the story. If can also be done in an activity where there is a ready-made storyboard all scrambled up and the children are made to arrange them in order.
Computer games is another way to grab their attention. As much as many would protest that computer games can cause addiction, they can still be utilized as a medium of instruction for ADHD children because of the visuals it possesses. With the right programs and tools, learning for them can be easily acquired.
