AEG Blog

With the return of school comes the return of homework.  Homework should be a valuable part of a student's overall education.  But for students who learn differently, homework can sometimes become a point of stress that can impact the entire family. 

LD Online offers a multitude of excellent tips for homework in Being an Efficient Homework Helper: Turning a Chore into a Challenge.  Regina G. Richards writes:

To begin, we must keep in mind the characteristics of our own children, because each child has his or her unique strengths, weaknesses, and needs.

When embarking on any project, there are first some questions we need to ask ourselves. These apply whether the project is a page of math facts or a full report.

* We need to make sure we understand the project: what are we trying to do?
* We need to assemble our tools: what materials will we need for this project?

Working successfully with our children on schoolwork requires respect, and respect begins with understanding.

Richards provides an extensive list of ideas and insights for making homework time productive and positive.  She offers detailed suggestions for the parent tool kit including setting up an effective work area, basic strategies, encouragement, motivation, and learning from mistakes. 

But the underlying theme in all of Richards' suggestions is the idea that it is important to study your child and know what makes homework time work well for him according to his own particular needs and expectations. By making some basic adjustments, it is possible to greatly improve homework time each day and make it the valuable academic tool it is meant to be.


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When the school year ends, everyone breathes a sigh of relief.  Weeks on end of no homework, practices and general juggling of schedules. But even though school is out, it doesn't mean learning should be shelved until the fall.  Many studies have shown that children lose a great deal of academic progress if they take a complete break from learning during the summer months.  Even small activities each day will keep students sharp and ready to hit the ground running when school starts again.

In LD Online's Summertime and the learning is easy, Ann Dolin explains the importance of summertime learning:

According to the foundation Reading is Fundamental, children who do not read over the summer experience a loss of reading fluency and comprehension skills. Students who engage in summertime reading actually gain skills. Research also shows that students who have not engaged in summer learning score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer break than they do on the exact same test at the end of the previous school year. In math, students lose approximately 2.6 years of grade level equivalency over the summer if they are not stimulated.

Given the importance of retaining a student's hard-earned progress, Dolin suggests a variety of activities that will help parents make the most of the summer in an easy-going yet valuable way.  Her ideas fall into three general categories: make reading a priority, don't forget writing, and incorporate math and science.  Dolin suggests ideas such as creating a summer journal or scrapbook, board games that naturally develop math skills as part of playing the game, and utilizing free online games that build reading and math skills. 

Dolin also suggests setting measurable goals with your child and tie them in with rewards.  Keep track of the goals and rewards as a means of motivation.

Although some children might initially be reluctant to do "school work" during the summer, it is possible to make the learning fun.  And when the school year begins in the fall and your student is ready to jump in without any loss of progress, the time spent doing the little extras over the summer will definitely be worth it!

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All children need to learn responsibility and one important way to do so is by contributing to the needs of the family.  By having specific chores or jobs to do around the house, children gain valuable experience that prepares them for life.  For ADD children, it also serves as an important way to learn self-discipline.

ADDitude magazine online provides some helpful insights in Better ADHD Behavior Through Chores. As to the importance of participating around the house, the article states:

Household tasks help the ADHD child feel like an important member of the family. Because he may experience more disappointments, failures, and frustrations than the average child, it is imperative that he knows he is needed at home. Choose chores that you know he can complete successfully. This will build self-esteem.

The article offers sensible, easy to implement suggestions. These suggestions include considering the child's age and abilities, demonstrating how to do the chores correctly, and establishing deadlines.

Although ADD children may struggle with organizational skills, they can be helpful and contributing members of the family.  By planning ahead and focusing on success, children can learn new skills and feel good about their role in the family.

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After school and evenings are packed with activities for the average family.  Homework, sports, meals, more homework and trying to spend at least a little time together as a family means that every minute counts.  If there is a child with ADHD in the mix, then the evenings can become even more overwhelming.

ADDitude magazine has a list of suggestions for families seeking to better manage the after school and evening routine. ADHD Organization Help: 9 Strategies for Stress-Free Evenings at Home takes a look at some of the biggest challenges facing parents and children and offers practical solutions.

Their suggestions include:

• Focus on nutrition
• Consider early evening meds
• Be realistic
• Watch your words
• Run. Jump. Kick.

Their nine tips offer helpful and practical ideas for approaching the evening routine.  ADHD children and their parents may likely benefit from implementing one or more of these tested strategies.

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Can reducing ADD symptoms be as simple as spending more time outside surrounded by trees and grass?  A researcher at the University of Illinois says yes.

A recent article on ADDitudemag.com featured an interview with Frances Kuo, Ph.D. In Natural Remedies for ADHD, Kuo explains how spending time not just outdoors but in a green environment greatly increases a person's ability to focus:

Did certain activities improve the children’s ability to concentrate?
The parents told us that their kids’ focus was better following outdoor activities than after indoor activities, and that activities done in green environments, with lots of trees and grass around, lead to the biggest improvements in attention of all the outdoor activities.

Maybe it’s the types of activities typically done outdoors. In other words, could it be that playing baseball promotes concentration better than, say, reading?
I don’t think so. We compared the same activities in all three settings — for instance, you can play basketball indoors, in an asphalt schoolyard, or in a park — and there was a clear advantage to the most natural environment.

We also asked parents where their children typically play—in a windowless basement, in the kitchen with a view of the yard, outside in the street, or in a place with trees and grass. It was the same story. The greener the setting, the better the ability to focus — in other words, the milder the ADD symptoms.

The article also mentions Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv.  This highly recommended book makes a powerful argument for the critical need for children to be outdoors, learning about and connecting with nature on a regular basis.

Raising a child with ADHD can be a journey filled with exhilarating highs and heart-wrenching lows.  One New Jersey couple found themselves raising two sons with ADHD and experienced many emotions and challenges along the way. 

Although their sons are successful adults now, there were many hard moments.  The experience was difficult on the McGavern's marriage at times.  There were extra expenses related to their sons' needs.  Finding the best way to work with each boy as an individual took a great deal of effort.

Now able to see the fruit of their hard work, the McGaverns can appreciate how far their sons have come.

Thanks to the support and dedication of a team of players — including Katherine, her husband, Alan, and their middle son, Tim, who doesn’t have ADD, as well as a number of therapists and tutors — and a lot of hard work on the boys’ part, Ted and James have flourished. Ted graduated from Dartmouth College and now works in financial services in London. James attends Pratt Institute in New York City, where he is a freshman with a merit scholarship.

Read their story: How One Family Successfully Raised Their ADHD Sons.

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Children are naturally messy creatures.  With the exception of those who are genetically wired to organize and clean, children need to be taught how to maintain all of their stuff whether it is papers, toys, clothing or books. 

This can be especially true with ADHD children who can be in a room full of clutter and not even notice it.  According to End Household Clutter: ADHD Organization Help for Kids from ADDitude Magazine:

First, a word about why kids with ADD are so good at creating clutter. It's not that they're inconsiderate. It's not that they are defiant or disrespectful. It's the way they're wired. They get so focused on tasks that they fail to notice the mess they've created. If the mess is pointed out, they may be clueless as to how to clean it up - or may start cleaning up at once, only to stop before finishing.

So if a child doesn't naturally gravitate toward the organizing bins at the neighborhood supercenter, he will need to be taught how to clean up.  And for ADHD kids it will also be important to maximize their chances of success through specific strategies. The ADDitude article suggests four keys:

• Hang it up
• Throw it away
• Pick it up
• Put it away

Read the whole article for specific ways to implement these four suggestions with your child.

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Finding the best treatment for ADHD can be tricky.  It often involves trying different solutions until finding what works best for a particular child.  But there is one kind of treatment that is fairly easy to implement and costs almost nothing to try at home.

Some ADHD children respond very well to changes in diet.  Changes can include adding certain foods and eliminating others as described in Balanced Meals, Better Behaviors: Treating ADHD with Diet:

Faye Berger Mitchell, a registered dietitian from Bethesda, Maryland, has a nine-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with ADHD five years ago. While her daughter takes stimulant medicine to control her ADHD, Mitchell concluded that a pill is not enough.

She finds that when her daughter eats a well-balanced ADD-friendly diet, including vegetables, carbohydrates, fruits, and plenty of protein, her behavior tends to be more consistently under control.

“The biggest challenge is to get my daughter to eat protein,” she says. Protein is key, says Mitchell, because it can prevent surges in blood sugar, which may increase hyperactivity. For Mitchell, something as simple as slipping a little chicken or lean beef into every meal (and even into snacks) has made a difference for her daughter.

Making dietary changes can be an effective way to treat ADHD symptoms.  Like other alternative treatments, it may take some time and adjustments along the way to discover what works best.  But trying diet changes along with treatments suggested by the child's doctor may be a simple but effective way to improve ADHD symptoms.

Blake Taylor knows what it is like to live with ADHD and has (narrowly) lived to tell about it.  Whether he was lighting the kitchen table on fire with eyeglass cleaner or contemplating what kind of car he is, Taylor has a knack for putting the reader right into the midst of his life growing up with ADHD.

ADHD & Me: What I Learned from Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table is an honest look at the ups and downs of having a learning difference.  It is not just a series of stories focusing on comical events and near tragedies.  He also explores the positive aspect of ADHD and encourages others to consider what they can gain from harnessing the learning difference.  He writes:

ADHD has many great qualities! Sometimes kids don’t realize this fact, but the very traits that make ADHD difficult to live with when you are very young also make it a gift as you get older. As Lara Honos-Webb said in her book, ADHD kids are “different and in a way that our culture has not learned to fully appreciate” (Honos-Webb 2005, 5). If you are hyperactive, as many ADHD individuals are, you have boundless energy to pursue many things. For instance, you can channel that energy into taking more classes than the average student, performing well on sports teams, playing an instrument, or finding the hours to actively participate in community service or in the arts and still have time for your friends. You have more energy than most people. You can accomplish more in a day.

This books would be of interest to any young adult, parent, teacher, grandparent or friend who wants to gain a better understanding of ADHD through the eyes of someone living with it. To read more about ADHD & Me, visit Blake Taylor's website.

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Students with ADD/ADHD often find writing reports and essays especially challenging. Organizing their thoughts, project flow, and other aspects of these school assignments can cause frustration for children with learning differences. According to ADDitude:

Studies suggest that more than half of children with ADHD struggle with writing. These students may have an overflow of creative ideas, but often struggle when it comes to getting these ideas onto paper.

ADHD children have a hard time getting started — and following through — on writing assignments because they have difficulty picking essay topics, locating appropriate resources, holding and manipulating information in their memory, organizing and sequencing the material, and getting it down on paper — all before they forget what they wanted to say.

ADDitude offers a helpful list of suggestions in 18+ Ways to Help ADHD Students Improve Writing Skills.  This collection of ideas from teachers and parents provides simple, effective strategies to make the process a little easier for everyone involved.  The article specifically highlights solutions in the classroom, solutions at home, accommodations, and high-tech solutions that will make the writing process more productive, and, hopefully, more rewarding.

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