How does a Child with ADHD Feel when his Teacher Reprimands him in Front of the Class for Calling out instead of Raising his Hand?

Children with ADHD often call out in school instead of raising their hand. We will address how to diminish that behavior in my next post. However, it is imperative to discuss your child’s feelings which are not often easy to access, particularly if he is young. One of my younger children to whom I teach social skills told me that the other day when the children in his class were supposed to be sitting on the rug in school, he called out instead of raising his hand. His teacher then said to him, “Johnny, I gave you those instructions two times already. Why didn’t you listen?” I asked him how her saying that to him in front of the class made him feel.



It is oftentimes difficult to get young children with ADHD to gain access to their feelings and to express them. We talked about how he felt by using the “Talk Blocks” by Innovative Interactions, LLC. The idea is that a child chooses two blocks that tell how he felt when something happened to him as well as two blocks that say what he needed to do after it happened. This young boy can read well, so he looked at the four sides of the blocks in order to pick two blocks that described his feelings. He placed two blocks in their square holes, and then proceeded to read the blocks to me that said that he was embarrassed and frustrated, which served as great conversation starters.


I then asked him to choose two blocks that described what he needed to do after he felt embarrassed and frustrated. He then chose two blocks, one of which said that he need to talk and the other block said that he needed to walk. The act of choosing those blocks made him think about his feelings as well as what he needed to do in order to give himself an outlet for those feelings.


The blocks that Johnny chose are seen here. Let me know if the “Talk Blocks” help you to encourage your child to discuss his feelings and what actions he would take in order to find an outlet for his feelings.