Tips for teaching writing to kids with ADD

Often the experience of kids with ADD and school is a very negative one, precisely because school requires them to listen, focus, pay attention, stay on task, wait their turn, be quiet, and all the stuff that the ADD brain isn’t good at. (When I talk about ADD in this article, it includes ADHD as a subcategory)

And who wants to be in a place where you are constantly getting in trouble (a.k.a. failing) because you can’t seem to live up to people’s expectations?

Many of these kids grow up to be adults with low self-esteem due to their experiences in school.

Personally, I believe we have a long way to go in understanding ADD and in helping people cope with and overcome the challenges. I’m fascinated by Dr. Daniel Amen’s work with the 7 types of ADD and I wish it was more widely available and affordable. I also believe that ADD is heightened by our modern sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, and environmental toxins.

But none of my personal opinions will help you teach the students who are currently entering, or about to walk through your classroom door. So let’s get practical.

Writing is a task that requires focus, organization, and the ability to get started, three things that tend to be difficult for kids with ADD. While some types of ADD give a person the the ability to focus intensively, that particular blessing does not usually apply to schoolwork or mundane tasks. 

Here’s how to make writing time a positive experience for all your students, and especially those with ADD.

·    Make sure your writing lesson has a clear, specific task or is broken down into small steps. The ADD brain is easily overwhelmed by too many directions, options, or possibilities, or too much information at once. This is where a program based on structured literacy is helpful.

·    When teaching a writing lesson, try to keep the listening/giving directions time to 10 minutes or less for kindergarten and early first grade. Most of writing time should be spent with students actually writing or drawing, not watching and listening. Modeling a specific writing skill, yes. But having to stay still, listen, and watch a teacher demonstrate a lot of writing takes a lot of effort from ADD kids.

·    Getting started can be the hardest part for some. Prime the pump by helping them think of a few options for how to start, then use a timer. For example, “I’m going to set the timer. You have two minutes to write your first sentence. You can copy this sentence you dictated to me.”

·    Use the timer to help keep the momentum. “You have three minutes to finish this page.” Be reasonable, but also be prepared to be surprised how quickly these students work when under a bit of time pressure. The time pressure will only work if it’s a short amount of time, so make the task small and the time short. Though this sounds like punishment, in my experience children with ADD actually experience it as relief, because they actually do want to get the work done.

The difference between the student feeling punished or supported is in your tone of voice and whether it is angry or cheerful. (Unfortunately when I first started using this method it was because I was at the end of my rope and therefore irritated. Eventually I learned that it was a strategy and I could do it cheerfully!)

·    Don’t accept sloppy work just because you are relieved that they got finished. And don’t allow the student to leave a writing task undone. While this may be pleasurable for them in the moment, letting a student with ADD “off the hook” will only contribute to their belief that they are not capable of finishing a task.

·    Last, try to give more positive than negative feedback. Celebrate every task that is finished with a smile, a high five, a hug or whatever. We want these children to remember school as a celebration rather than a series of time outs.

Doing these things will help to take the stress and struggle out of teaching writing to kids and give everyone the chance to succeed.