Team up with the teachers - distance learning and homeschooling kids with ADHD and language and learning differences and disabilities during Coronavirus and COVID-19
Are you a parent at home suddenly trying to teach a child with ADHD, language and learning differences, dyslexia, or developmental language disorders in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic and wondering how best to support your child?
Here in Massachusetts, just like the rest of the country, schools have migrated to a distance learning model. Families everywhere are struggling to care for (and homeschool!) children cut off from their normal routines and activities during the coronavirus crisis.
We’re hearing from a lot of families who are struggling to motivate their child to engage with ANY structured learning activities from school and they are concerned about how that’s going to play out in the weeks (or months) to come. Ask the pros — your child’s teachers for tips and help!
Get familiar with your child’s supports in their IEP or 504 plan
It’s important for you to know what supports your child has been getting in the classroom, and how they’ve been working. Such adaptations in school are usually referred to by the terms “accommodations” and “modifications.” Different school systems attach different meanings to these terms, but “accommodation” usually refers to a change in the way your child is taught or tested without changing the actual content. Some examples include having extra time to complete assignments, or the use of visual supports. “Modification” usually refers to a change to what your child is learning or the amount of work they have to produce.
Once you check over the accommodations and modifications, make sure you understand what they mean. Many schools have a list of approved accommodations and modifications that can be used in IEPs, but the wording may be quite general. Make sure you understand what the accommodations mean or what they might look like in the context of distance learning. For example, if your child has “visual supports” or “manipulatives” written into their IEP, do you have access to those supports? Has the teacher taught you how to use them so you can support your child?
Communicate with the school and your child’s teachers
Reach out to your child’s teachers, school speech therapists, and special educators and ask them:
“Are there visual supports that you use in the classroom or graphic organizers that I should have access to?”
“What has worked for my child in the past when they needed to focus or get started?”
“How much help should I be giving with this assignment?”
“What parts of this assignment are likely to be hard for my kid?”
“Can you give me examples of the type of help you use with my child on these sorts of activities. Can you give examples of the words you use?”
“Do you have a positive reward system at school?”
“What kinds of breaks have helped my child when they are having difficulty? Are there specific sensory or assistive tech tools that they should have access to?”
Structure and break up the day
All kids will benefit from structure to help them learn, but those with language, learning, and attentional differences like ADHD need it even more. Children with these differences tend not to deal well with uncertainty and delayed gratification. Consider making a visual schedule of the day, and even break down schooling by assignment, offering a small rewarding activity or break after each one. Learn how here.
Think in terms of learning bursts
Instead of thinking of a school day devoted to learning running from 9am to 3pm, it will be good to think in terms of learning bursts. Research suggests a simple rule for figuring out how long children can stay focused: Multiply the child's age by 2-5 minutes. So, if a child is 8 years old, he or she will be able to focus for 16-40 minutes, maximum. So when you are making your schedule, keep their attention span in mind.
Clinicians sometimes call this “chunking” — engaging kids for a period of time that’s realistic for their attention span, and then giving them a break. Kids with ADHD in particular benefit when parents are able to set clear expectations in advance for how long each chunk will last and what they are to do in that time period, and then follow up to see if they did the work as expected.
Alternate activities
Think about what motivates your kids and alternate activities that are less appealing with things that they find rewarding. So, if they’re expected to do 45 minutes or an hour of work a teacher has sent home, it can be followed by a favorite snack, a walk or playing video games.
Manage expectations
It’s going to take time to figure out how to go online schooling. Think of trial and error. If you set an expectation and the child does not meet that expectation, it’s good to reframe your goals for the following day to make them a little bit more achievable. You don’t want kids to feel like online school is a source of conflict and failure for them — you want them to feel like they are having success.
Does your family need help setting up productive distance learning? Get in touch and learn how parent coaching from Compass can help.