Suggestions for Parents of Children with ADHD

Here are some suggestions useful to parents of children with ADHD when parenting in their home:

• Rules should be clear, specific, direct, and applied consistently. Whenever possible, they should remain brief (i.e, focusing on one thing at a time) and be written down somewhere visible to the child.

• Ensure to give positive or negative consequences promptly when possible to establush a strong connection between the behavior and the consequence.

• Provide the child with feedback as often as possible. This feedback should be frequent, objective, and answer the question “How am I doing?”

• Remember to expect variability in your child’s performance.

• Support your child in planning ahead and knowing what to expect. Checklists can be very helpful in preparing for tasks ahead.

• Use rewards and positive consequences before resorting to punishments.

• Remind yourself that ADHD is a biologically based disorder so that you do not begin to view the child/youth negatively.

• When dealing with your child, adopt a policy of “less talk, more action”

• Be an informed consumer. Educate yourself on ADHD.

• Maintain a sense of humor and a lot of patience. Stay focused on the foals for yourself, the youth, and your family.

Resources

• Check out the Can Learn Society website at https://www.canlearnsociety.ca/  
  • There are several free on-line seminars of interest to parents and teachers, including topics such as strategies for students with learning disabilities in the early elementary classroom, ADHD, memory strategies, and self-advocacy skills.

• Software programs which can be helpful in promoting practice of math skills, such as www.aplusmath.com.

• Text to speech programs can be used when an individual is expected to be able to read and learn from content that is currently beyond the person’s capacity to decode. 
  • These programs may scan the text and read it aloud for the student, while highlighting the words on-screen.  Examples: Read & Write Gold, Kurzweil 3000, Wynn Wizard.

• Instructional software for keyboarding skills may guide the student through regular practice. 
  • Examples include: Type to Learn; Dance Mat Typing which is available online at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zf2f9j6/articles/z3c6tfr .

• The Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta (LDAA): https://www.ldalberta.ca

Handouts

For more information on and targeted interventions for ADHD see this handout: ADHD Home Handout

(Adapted from: Peter Jaska, Ph.D.)