Special needs kids 101: 5 Tips for helping your ADHD child focus during homework

August 4, 9:34 AMPittsburgh Special Needs Kids ExaminerHeather Shockney

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Created by hvaldez1
Homework can be a struggle for an ADHD child.

Children with ADHD often have a hard time keeping on focus while completing their homework. Each night it becomes a battle between parent and child. Your ADHD child has been in school for several hours. The last thing they want to think about is sitting still and focusing on more school work. Here are some tips for helping your ADHD child stay focused on their homework.

Tip 1 to help your ADHD child focus during homework.

Give your ADHD child a break before they begin homework. Allow them to run around and burn off all of the pent up energy they have from the school day. Set a time limit for them to relax and unwind.

Tip 2 to help your ADHD child focus during homework.

Use a timer to help your ADHD child focus on homework. Set the timer for ten minutes. Tell your ADHD child to work on their homework for that time. Once the timer goes off they can get up and stretch. Set the time for two minutes to allow them a break. Then continue until the homework is complete.

Note- some ADHD children may become nervous about finishing their work in the time you have given them. Tell them as long as they are trying and working on their homework you will keep setting the timer for more periods of time.

Tip 3 to help your ADHD child focus during homework.

Break the homework down into smaller parts. This will help your ADHD child stay focused on the homework because it won't seem like such a large assignment. Instead you can break it down into several smaller parts. Tell them they have to do the even numbered problems. Then they can have a short break and go back and do the odd problems. You could have them read two pages of their reading assignment and then go on to something else. Have them come back and read another few pages until they have completed.

Tip 4 to help your ADHD child focus during homework.

Turn homework into a game for your ADHD child. If it seems less like work and more like fun your ADHD child is more likely to stay focused on the homework. Have a contest and see how many problems they can do in five minutes, or have a spelling bee to help them study their spelling words. Be creative and your ADHD child will stay focused.

Tip 5 to help your ADHD child focus during homework.

To help your ADHD child keep focused on their homework you can use a sheet of paper to cover up the part they are not working on. ADHD kids have a hard time keeping on one problem. They will be looking at the rest of the page. A sheet of paper can help with this. It can also be used to keep their place while reading. The paper can be moved down line by line to help them keep track of where they are.

If night after night homework continues to be an argument for you and your ADHD child, talk to the school. There may need to be accommodations made for less homework. The goal of homework is to make sure the child has learned the skill. If they can show they have learned the skill in five problems then there is no reason for them to do twenty. Homework modifications can be written into your child's IEP.

Note-If you use a behavior buck system with your ADHD child you could reward bucks for them staying focused while completing the homework. Also bucks could be lost for not remaining focused on the homework.