©2006 Landmark College From Surviving to Thriving: Supporting Students with ADHD in the Classroom  Linda Hecker  Landmark Institute for Research and Training  Renton Technical College  September, 2007 

©2006 Landmark College Goals Learn  How ADHD affects academic performance  How routines and structure support students  Strategies to enhance student motivation  How to vary classroom practices to maintain student engagement  The importance of reflection and metacognition in building student resilience

©2006 Landmark College ADHD and Its Effect on Learning

©2006 Landmark College Executive Functioning

©2006 Landmark College Brown’s Model of Executive Function Executive Functions (work in various combinations) Organizing, prioritizing, & activating to work Focusing, sustaining, & shifting attention to task Regulating alertness, sustaining effort, & processing speed Managing Frustration & modulating emotions Utilizing working memory & accessing recall Monitoring & self- regulating action 1. Activation 2. Focus 3. Effort 4. Emotion 5. Memory 6. Action Brown, T. E. (2001) Manual for Attention Deficit Disorder Scales for Children and Adolescents

©2006 Landmark College Activator  Turn to the person next to you  Discuss how you think each of the 6 Executive Function areas impacts student behavior and performance in the classroom

©2006 Landmark College Activation  Poor organizational skills result in –Inability to organize and store notes and handouts –Lost papers, assignments, textbooks, notebooks, etc.  Difficulty prioritizing and activating –Difficulty managing assignments, papers, and projects –Difficulty deciding which tasks are more important –Difficulty starting and finishing assignments

©2006 Landmark College Focus  Difficulty sustaining attention results in: –Papers and projects that have inconsistent quality due to inconsistent focus –Distractions that pull attention away from learning –Gaps in learning due to inconsistent attention to readings, lectures, assignments  Difficulty shifting attention results in: –Inconsistent performance from course to course –Inconsistent quality within assignments that require multiple steps to complete

©2006 Landmark College Effort  Difficulty sustaining effort and alertness results in: –Incomplete assignments –Poor study habits –Frequent drowsiness when not engaged –Poor sleep hygiene, even for college students –Apparent lack of motivation  Slow Processing results in: –Excessive time to complete tasks –Poor written output

©2006 Landmark College Managing Emotions  Low threshold for frustration results in –Irritability –Angry outbursts –Inability to accept another’s point of view –Constant arguing  Difficulty regulating emotions results in –Insensitivity to others –Disproportionate emotional response to the comments or actions of others –Moodiness

©2006 Landmark College Working Memory  Chronic difficulty holding and processing current information results in –Difficulty holding onto relevant thoughts in order to express them in discussions –Interrupting others due to fear of losing a thought –Difficulty recalling information in test situations –Reading comprehension gaps –Difficulty with writing tasks

©2006 Landmark College Self-Regulation  Impaired ability to self-regulate results in –Inappropriate comments in social situations –Inability to monitor how others perceive them –Difficulty slowing down –Difficulty following directions –Impulsive acts

Universal Design for Instruction (UDI)  “…an approach to teaching that consists of the proactive design and use of inclusive instructional strategies that benefit a broad range of learners including students with disabilities. The nine Principles of UDI provide a framework for college faculty to use when designing or revising instruction to be responsive to diverse student learners and to minimize the need for ‘special’ accommodations and retrofitted changes to the learning environment.” Scott, McGuire, & Embry, 2002 (Retrieved on March 12, 2007, from

©2006 Landmark College Principles of UDI  Equitable use  Flexibility in use  Simple and intuitive  Perceptible information  Tolerance for error  Low physical effort  Size and space for approach and use  A community of learners  Instructional climate Shaw, Scott, & McGuire, 2001 (Retrieved on March 12, 2007, from

©2006 Landmark College Routines and Structure

©2006 Landmark College Create Course Structure  Teach and model planning systems –Daily planner for tracking assignments –Computer based planners  Outlook/Groupwise  PDAs  Inspiration Software –Spend 5-10 minutes per day at the beginning of the course to record, track, and prioritize assignments

©2006 Landmark College

Create Course Structure (2)  Use Agendas –Daily –Weekly alternativeWeeklyalternative  Break long assignments into component parts with graded due dates for each part  Review progress frequently and make adjustments to strategies that don’t work  Use assessment rubrics to clarify what is expected

©2006 Landmark College Set Clear Expectations  Start with a clear syllabussyllabus  Use rubrics for assessing student projectsrubrics assessing  Set a policy on work deadlines  Provide frequent and timely feedback on student assignments, projects, exams  Use coaching techniques to support planning and goal setting

©2006 Landmark College Motivation: Key to Learning

©2006 Landmark College Create a Positive Learning Environment  Establish a classroom culture of mutual respect –Explain how course design reflects your values –Adopt a neutral, non-judgmental approach to interacting with students –Coach students to find their own rewards and reflect on what motivates them –Approach failure as an opportunity for learning

©2006 Landmark College Positive Learning Environment (2)  Success breeds success –Create assignments that allow students to achieve some immediate goals –Vary the complexity and types of assignments to accommodate multiple learning styles  Use a variety of assessment formats to measure progress

©2006 Landmark College Variation and Novelty: Keys to Engagement

©2006 Landmark College Strive for Active Engagement  Cooperative learning results in –Active engagement with other learners –Deep processing of information  Supports long term memory encoding –Individual and group accountability –Targeted social skills practice –Student reflection

©2006 Landmark College COVER: to enhance engagement  Connect –Use mnemonics to learn arbitrary information –Example: HOMES for the Great Lakes; COVER  Organize –Provide ways to organize and categorize information –Example: Graphic organizers  Visualize –Use graphs, diagrams, pictures, concept maps –Brains think in pictures more easily than words

©2006 Landmark College Partial Graphic Organizer Gestalt Psychology Laws: ______Similarity______Pragnanz Definition: People tend to perceive as a unit those things that are close together in space. ____________ ____________ People tend to fill in missing pieces to form a complete picture. _____________ _____________ Example: ______________ ______________ A person sees the word Texas in a stadium because some fans wear orange shirts, while others wear white shirts. ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ Mary falsely remembers that a shape she saw was round when it actually was oval.

©2006 Landmark College COVER (2)  Elaborate –Provide opportunities to use information and relate it to new ideas –Examples: discussions, visual mapping  Rehearse –Provide opportunities for practice and repetition to support encoding of new knowledge in long term memorypractice and repetition –Teach and model test preparation strategies

©2006 Landmark College Fight the Power

©2006 Landmark College Use Multisensory Instruction  Visual, Auditory, Tactile, Kinesthetic –Promotes more activity and engagement through the use of multiple senses –Include a visual component with lecture –Promote innovative note taking through student collaboration and modeling  Provide multiple learning activities that engage students actively –Discussions, varied questioning, graphic organizers, manipulatives

©2006 Landmark College Reflection and Metacognition

©2006 Landmark College Build in Opportunities for Reflection in Course Curriculum  Use rubrics to allow students to measure their work against clearly stated expectations  Plan activities within course units to allow students to reflect on their expectations and performance of unit assignmentsperformance  Model reflection through oral evaluation of course lessons and activitiesevaluation

©2006 Landmark College Best Practices for Supporting Students with ADHD in the Classroom  Understand the ways that ADHD affects learning  Create structure through routines  Create a positive learning environment to enhance student motivation  Vary classroom activities to promote active student engagement with course material  Build reflection activities into course units to encourage self-awareness and self- regulation

©2006 Landmark College References  Barkley, R. (1998). Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment, 2nd. edition. New York, Guilford Press.  Brown, T. E. (2005). Attention Deficit Disorder: The unfocused mind in children and adults. Yale University Press.  Burns, et al (2007). Teaching and Learning with the Net Generation. Innovate on line  Feden, P.D. and Vogel, M.R. (2003). Methods of teaching: applying cognitive science to promote student learning. New York, McGraw Hill.  Hinckley, J & Alden, P. (2005). Women with attentional issues: success in college learning. Journal of Developmental Education, Vol. 29, Issue  Hinckley, J. (2007) Best practices for teaching students with ADHD in the community college. Putney: Landmark College for Research and Training online module, in progress.  Johnson, R.T. and Johnson, D.W. An overview of cooperative learning. In J.S. Thousand, R.A. Villa, and A.I. Nevin (Eds.) Creativity and collaborative learning: A practical guide to empowering students and teachers (pp ) Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.

©2006 Landmark College References  Meltzer, Lynne (2007). Executive function in education from theory to practice. New York, Guilford Press.  Quinn, P.O., Ratey, N., Maitland, T.L. (2000) Coaching college students with ADHD: issues and answers. Silver Spring, MD, Advantage Books.  Rose, D, et al (2006). Universal Design for learning in postsecondary education: reflections on principles and their application. Journal of Postsecondary Eduction and Disability. Vol. 19, No.2 Fall  Svinicki, M. (2004). Learning and motivation in the postsecondary classroom. Bolton, MA, Anker Publishing.  Van Zile-Tamsen, Carol (1997). Examining metacognitive self-regulation within the context of academic tasks. ERIC reports. U.S. Department of Education. ED  Vohs, K.D. and Baumeister, R.F. (2004). Understanding self-regulation. In Vohs, K.D. and Baumeister, R.F., eds. Handbook of self-regulation: research, theory, and applications, New York: Guilford Press.  Zimmerman, B.J. (2000). Self-efficacy: an essential motive to learn. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25,