Classroom Interventions for Students With Attention Deficit Disorders

Abstract

To work effectively with students with attention disorders in the classroom, a diagnostic/prescriptive approach is necessary for the teacher to understand the student and develop appropriate interventions. The disorder increases the complexity of the teaching process because the attentional problems result in gaps in learning, different processing styles, and behaviors that interfere with learning and academic performance. For example, Jimmy was sitting in class listening to a lesson on farm animals. His reaction to the lesson was to ask his teacher if she had ever been to the Empire State Building, which certainly gave the impression that Jimmy had not been paying attention. The teacher responded, "Jimmy, why would you ask that question now?" Jimmy explained, "You were talking about farm animals, and my uncle used to have a farm that I visited every summer. Last year, he sold his farm and moved to New York City, so I went there instead of the farm, and he took me to the Empire State Building." Jimmy taught his teacher that students with attention disorders do not always process information the way their parents or teachers think they should and that behavior is not always what it seems to be.During a well-intentioned spelling lesson, Sarah taught her teacher the second lesson, which demonstrates the necessity for ongoing monitoring and diagnostic teaching. Sarah's teacher taught her to use small words within words to help her with spelling. Sarah spelled the word brown as "brone." She was asked to identify a small word within brown to help her spell the word correctly. She identified the word "ow" in brown, and the teacher was quite satisfied until Sarah wrote "brone" on the retest. The teacher asked Sarah if she remembered the small word she had identified, and Sarah said, "Yes-the word "ow." The teacher pointed to Sarah's word and queried, "Do you see "o-w" in brown?" Sarah gave the teacher an exasperated look and said, "Well, you didn't tell me that "c (see)-o-w" was in the word, so that's why I got it wrong."Karen Rooney holds the Ph.D. from the University of Virginia and currently is director of the Learning Resource Center, Attention Disorders Clinic, Richmond, Virginia, a nonprofit program specializing in assessment and interventions for individuals with learning disabilities and attention disorders.© Love Publishing Company, 1993 FOCUS ON EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN DECEMBER 1993Sarah taught her teacher that working with students with attention disorders is not always easy and that interventions have to take into account the individual's unique characteristics as well as the situation. No program or intervention will magically cure an attention disorder. An indepth understanding of the student's attention disorder is needed to develop classroom interventions that support attention, fill in gaps in learning, and provide feedback to the teacher for continuing and changing interventions. The use of descriptors to describe the attention disorder will help teachers understand the disorder better. DESCRIPTORS OF ATT...