Do Children with ADHD Need Structure?

Yes, yes, yes!! Children with ADHD often have difficulties in organization. This is arguably due to their distractibility, which interferes with them being able to focus on planning and executing their academic work. Any type of predictable structure that a teacher and a parent can offer is very helpful in terms of teaching these children to maintain control and accountability over their own lives.

The optimal plan, of course, is to have both the teacher and the parent facilitate the same organizational skills, such as how children with ADHD plan when they are completing their academic work. The plan that is agreed upon should be stimulating, engaging and one that the child is likely to follow.

For example, when you are designing a checklist of a particular child’s homework and upcoming projects, use color-coded ink so that the child notices his assignments immediately. (Older children should design the checklist in collaboration with you.) Make sure that the child understands that this checklist is based on the days of the week as written on a calendar. Write the child’s assignments on a calendar as well, in the same color ink as on the checklist, so that he can see the upcoming assignments. In that way, he has a checklist to follow as well as a calendar in order to confirm the due dates of the assignments.

Use the child’s favorite colors when you are creating the checklist. It is vital for the child to foresee the projects that are due in the future, so that he can learn to work toward completing other work that is not as time consuming. In that way, there is plenty of time left for him to work on his projects.

I would also scaffold him checking off the assignments that he completes, (in the same colored pens as the one that was used to write down his assignments,) so that in time, he remembers to check them off by himself. When he sees all of the assignments that he has completed, he will feel so proud of himself!