Is Medication the “Cure-All” to Diminish Children with ADHD’s Symptoms?

Many children with ADHD take medication to diminish hyperactivity as well as to increase their attention span. Medication has been shown to be effective, according to the definitive research that has been done at the National Institute of Health, among other research institutions. However, medication is not the “cure-all” in terms of diminishing all of the symptoms of ADHD that are observed in our children. For example, one of the most salient symptoms that characterizes children with ADHD is difficulty listening to and following oral directions.

Certainly, medication does increase focus and attention span. That being said, medication does not teach children with ADHD how to listen to oral directions, as well as how to follow those instructions. Children with ADHD first and foremost, need to become aware that they have difficulty listening to and following oral directions. Once they are aware of this difficulty, they can then learn methods to increase their ability to follow those directions.

Teachers reasonably so, become frustrated when they give children with and without ADHD the same oral instructions, and the children with ADHD do not listen accurately and therefore, do not follow the directions, while the more typical children, both listen accurately and follow the instructions. Children with ADHD are not like children without ADHD, however, and need to be taught how to follow oral instructions by being given one and only one oral instruction at a time. After the child with ADHD is successful for a few days at listening to and following one oral instruction, the teacher may then add one more instruction, in order see if the child with ADHD can accomplish both of those directions.

Is this method time-consuming for the teacher? Absolutely. Is this method necessary in terms of helping the child with ADHD to listen more effectively and therefore, to follow the teacher’s instructions correctly? Absolutely. Just an added idea here: The teacher can speak the oral instructions into a voice recorder, so that the child with ADHD can listen to the instructions multiple times without the teacher having to repeat the directions over and over again.

After a few days, the teacher may add on one more instruction for the child with ADHD to follow. I would NOT add a fourth instruction, however. If the child with ADHD is asked to follow more than three directions at once, it is possible that the child’s level of success at following oral directions may diminish by becoming overwhelmed by the increased amount of verbiage that they hear.

 It is vital that the teacher is realistic in her approach to teaching children with ADHD and understand that even though they are very bright and can achieve at a high level, the amount of information that is taught to them at one time should be limited. Remember that the teacher’s goal should not be that the child with ADHD learns like the other students, but instead, to learn according to his own learning strengths and style.