How Teachers can Help Children with ADHD to Join Activities

In order for the child with ADHD to ask another child to join him in activities, that child must be able to get an idea of whether or not the child may be interested in playing with
him. Many times, body language and facial expressions are the only hints that individuals express. Children with ADHD need to see and understand the relationship between body
language, facial expressions, and behavior. Until they do, they cannot begin to interact in a more positive way.

In order to assist these children in improving their social interactions, it is important to give them just a few, simple steps at a time. Why? Because children with ADHD often get caught up in so many details that they do not internalize
their teachers’ instructions. Here are some steps a teacher can implement so the child with ADHD can learn to invite others to join activities:

✱ Walk close to the child you would like to ask to join in your activity.
✱ Look at his facial expression: Is he happy, sad, angry, and so on?
✱ Look at his body language: Is he sitting in a relaxed way in a chair? Is he walking around the room?
✱ After you have made a decision that the child is happy and relaxed, walk up a little closer to him.
✱ Very simply, ask if he would like to join you in whatever activity you are involved in.
✱ If he tells you that he would like to join you in your activity, then begin to interact with him.
✱ If he tells you that he is busy or that he does not want to join you in your activity, you can tell him to let you know if he changes his mind, or just say okay, and walk away.

As a teacher, you can modify my list as you wish. You may want to use pictures as a way of demonstrating what the various facial expressions look like, for example. As I have said
before, and just to emphasize the point, the child with ADHD is more likely to remember something that is meaningful. Therefore, perhaps using pictures of the child and his family
showing angry, happy, or sad faces may teach the child what the various facial expressions look like more easily. You may want to make each step simpler yet by minimizing the words
on the list. Check my next post for some examples.