In the last few months I have become obsessed with ADHD. I am convinced I have it (I need to be tested) and am always looking for ways to manage it! I was searching for all kinds of things on YouTube one day and stumbled upon videos that have proven to be quite helpful. They are not only good for those of us that have ADHD, but more importantly, for those of us that teach kids with ADHD….and we ALL have these kids in our classes. Some of the lectures are a bit long, but I put them on in my car when I know there will be traffic (please put on while parked, NOT while driving! 😊).

There are 3 people that have been the most helpful:
1. Dr. Russell Barkley ~
The most helpful was his video This is how you treat ADHD based off science, Dr. Russell Barkley part of 2012 Burnett Lecture. In it he details the 6 steps to manage ADHD.

2. Jessica McCabe in her video series How to ADHD ~
These videos are short and entertaining to watch! She has a lot of helpful tips and strategies and provides links to articles and other videos if you are interested in learning more.

3. Eric Tivers in his video series ADHD Rewired ~
I haven’t seen as many if his videos as the others, but the ones I have seen have been helpful.

We do a lot in our classrooms to help those students that need to move, (as stated in my blog post Helping ADHD Students Succeed) but by learning more, we can help them even further. There are simple and practical ideas in these videos that can we can easily implement. I will leave you with these top 3!
1. “Chop up large projects into manageable steps” – Barkley / This means having written out steps for activities available for students when they work alone or in small groups. See examples for different grade levels HERE.
2. “Make motivation external” – Barkley / Consequences need to be in the now. Check in with your ADHD kids periodically (even with just a look) to let them know that you are noticing when they are doing a great job ….and when they might need to change their behavior.
3. “Leave yourself a trail of breadcrumbs” – Tivers / For projects that are done over the span of many classes, (like longer composition projects) it makes sense for the individual or group to write out what the last thing AND the next thing that needs to be done so that the information can be easily found next time. This means there will be no time wasted during class trying to figure out what to do next!