How can I help an ADHD child with her homework?

Question

My younger sister, who is in Kindergarten, has extreme ADHD. She rips up her homework when she comes home and gets sent to the principal's office almost everyday. The psychologist said to put her on Riddlin, but her father won't allow it. So for now, we just need a way for her to learn and actually seem interested in learning. But her biggest problem is Litterature(She might also be Dyslexic, her dad is.)

Answer 1

i used to run a playgroup for children with special needs and lots of them had ADHD too, or low concentration spans.

egg timers work well. find one that you can set for a certain amount of time and when the times up it rings. we found these work best.

tell your sister that she has to work till the bell goes and then she can do something she wants to till the bell goes again. determine what 'her' thing is going to be before you start and explain what you want her to do whilst she is doing your thing.

for example start by saying

"ok susie, we are going to write your spellings until the bell goes, and then you can watch big cook little cook. when that has finished then we will do some maths till the bell rings again!

set small amounts of time to start such as 3 minutes. if it is too long to begin with shorten the time but gradually build it up. She will learn that she can do her things and yours and will improve her concentration slowly.

Another trick is to find something she likes such as music. if she has spellings set them to music, or play number games to get her counting. if its adding up use sweets to help her...try and make it fun.

You also need to sit down and talk with the school. sending her to the principles office everyday wont help, it will draw attention to her and make her feel different which wont help. you all need to find a stratedgy together. is there anyway she can have some support?

children with ADHD arent naughty adn they dont want to behave like they do they simply cant help it and its upto us as adults to find a way to help them control their behaviour. if the school wont help i would try and find one that can, or ask your helath visitor for advice.

good luck try adn stay patient, its all worth it in the end x

Answer 2

Docs overmedicate. Her dad is right for avoiding meds.

Chances are she just isn't challenged or allowed enough free-moving time in school.

If homework is the problem, help her do it. Homework is destructive to families and we try to teach adults to leave their work at work anyway right? Homework is not important, so if you have to do it for her to help her relax from a stressful day at school, do it for her.

Then look into alternative education.

Answer 3

my sister has ADHD as well ,its very hard to focus for her but she has gotten through it. we had her tested so u might want to think about that!

she is in 4th grade now and we've had her on a medication called "methylphenidate" she takes 20mg when she wakes up and 10mg at lunch. but if ur father doesnt aprove just have her calm down first! and  thats really all i can think of.

Answer 4

My 5 year old son hasn't been diagnosed as ADHD, but he has had trouble in school.  In fact, he dropped out of preschool one week into school at age 3, made it through age 4, then only made it through a couple months of Kindergarten.  Mostly due to his behavior and the unwillingness of the school district to accommodate his needs.

Anyhoo...

My biggest advice is to use the computer and the Internet as a tool for them to learn.  The bright colors, cartoon characters and movement satify young kids' need for stimulation.  There are a lot of websites, like Noggin, that have fun activities for kids.  The best part is that I use this as a "reward" for doing other school type work and learning, when in fact it is learning as well!

With reading and literature, the best thing you can do is read to them a lot, as much as you can, and everything you can.  In stores, read the signs.  When they are eating breakfast cereal, read the back to them.  And make reading time fun.

Then once she starts to grasp words and sounding things out, you can start asking her what things say.  Eventually, she will be reading YOU bedtime stories.

There are also flashcards that make three letter words or ones with small words on them and a picture.  Those help too.  A lot of it is recognition with the small words.

You and your dad just need to keep trying and not give up on her.  Keep trying new and interesting ways to keep her interest in learning.  And make sure she knows that you guys understand her frustration with school.  That will help a lot to sense that you are with her in this, not just another bunch of grown ups against her.

Good luck and hope I helped even a little bit!!

Answer 5

there are a few things that really help me:

music!  it keeps you from getting really bored

doing homework in segments. not too long on anything

eating while doing homework, also keeps you from being bored

this works for some people :  doing homework outside.

Answer 6

I had to tutor a kid with ADHD. His parents thought him hopeless but, as with your sister, the parents would not allow any medication.

The one thing I found to work was challenging him. It would go something like this "I bet you can't get this done in five minutes" or "I have a special snack for you if this gets done withing 5 minutes" and I'd have my watch on the table in front of him, where he could check. He loved being challenged and usually ended up doing really well.

I also had prizes at the end of the week for him if he had good marks on all his homework.

That was the only thing that worked for me. Good luck.

Answer 7

You said she is your "younger sister" but then used the term "her father" meaning that he is not your father so she is a step sister.  OK, I have it now.  Sounds like you are having to be "Mom" here too as you didn't invoke her stance in this matter.  

Her Dad needs to know that it is abnormal for kids to need to go to the principal office everyday.  She has had to see a psychologist at some point and that is a big sign that extra steps need to be taken to help this girl.

You have two missions that need to take equal footing.  #1 is to help the girl.  You asked this question and that is a good start.  Read up on ADHD.  We need new things and to move a lot so try 15 minutes of active play and 25 minutes of tutoring.  Read up on "diet" helpers and make sure she isn't working against herself.  See if you can't get the school to test her on dyslexia since it is in the family.  Write letters and then write some more letters.

#2 is to keep working on Dad.  Find out why he won't help his daugther.  Ask him how easy it was to grow up with Dyslexia and how he got help and if wants it to be that way for his little girl.  Just some suggestions but you get the idea.  To turn some stuff around on TV, parents can be talked to (not at) if you come and talk to them like parents.  Write down arguments and counterpoints and visualize where you need the conversation to go.  Us in sales do this when we are trying to persuade adults to make a decision our way.  

Good Luck

Answer 8

If the psychologist is a school psychologist, it is ILLEGAL for ANYONE in schools to even MENTION meds to parents.

If they say anything else, print this out and give it to them, it'll shut them up -

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c1...

Have your parents asked the school to help her thru special ed services? Legally, a school doesn't have to help a child with ANY problems unless the child is in special ed.