A Special Education Success Story With Add and ADHD

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The Problem
In our quickly moving culture, special education students, diagnosed with ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are an ever-increasing challenge for teachers. Having taught in some capacity for almost 40 years and becoming a parent of an active small boy, I have studied these conditions with immediate individual interest.

Holding Their Attention?
Early in my function with the attentionally challenged, I observed that if the understanding activity had been engaging enough, several of these students could hold attention for lengthy periods. Special Education students diagnosed with ADD or ADHD often have the capability to attend for lengthy periods working with computers or video games. I wondered, could the issue lie extra inside the pace of the understanding activity?

Give Them What They Need
Subsequently, I began to provide activities in my classroom that had a number of the similar qualities of the immediate response achieved in those computerized attention-holders. One of the most prosperous of these was the excavation of fossils.

The Setup
Fossil excavation was a 6-week class - a lot more of a club, really � in which students excavated a actual fossil fish from a soft rock matrix. This time the class was created up of several special education students with many learning challenges, particularly ADHD. The outcome of the class was exceptional.

Getting Their Interest and Attention
We started with a sort of guessing game involving fossils hidden in velvet bags and moved easily into individual excavation of the fossils. Inside minutes, my work was accomplished; the students worked independently for the remainder of the two-hour class. My hardest function that day was to enforce clean-up-the students merely didn�t� t would like to quit working.

Tools And Supplies
The only tools required for this activity had been small screw drivers-the sort that are out there from any hardware store in a set of growing sizes beginning with an eye-glass tool . I also provided magnifiers of varying varieties. Essentially the most sought soon after had been the dissecting microscopes, which gave the individual the most effective view of the fragile fossil. On the other hand, considerably of the work could possibly be effortlessly accomplished making use of the naked eye or perhaps a magnifier in a stand, just to leave the hands free.

And Then There are actually the Behavioral Challenges
I was presented with a new challenge about halfway into the second class: a behaviorally disruptive student who had been removed from a different class. I did what I could to introduce him to our function and bring him up to speed. His initial work was little more than digging a hole via his rock, paying little attention to the fossil it contained.

Success!
Then a superb factor happened. An additional boy, a difficult unique education student who commonly had little academic success, began to teach. You see, this boy was enthralled with digging out the fossil and he was having extraordinary success. He single-handedly took over and my function was performed.

Students Give Rave Critiques, Almost
The final endorsement came at the end of our 6-week class. Throughout the period, I had rarely interrupted their work, but I had shown a couple of videos to give the students some extra detail about fossil preservation and excavation, geologic history and so on. At the last class, I asked the students to verbally evaluate the class. When I asked how I could improve the class, all agreed: Only show the videos if we can continue excavating our fossils during it!

This is a accurate story of success. In this six-week project middle school youngsters diagnosed with ADD and ADHD and receiving unique education services enjoyed the identical success, if not much more than, the other students.

Even one of the most absorbing tool, the Television, was not high on these students� list of important work. As a teacher, I felt I had been given an awesome gift of studying about tips on how to support these unique students. I encourage you to attempt it! - Dr.Boyer A, Cross MBA,PhD http://drboyercrossphd.site/