Should Educators and Parents Teach their Children with ADHD in accordance with their Developmental Levels or their Chronological Ages?

In 2007, researchers at the National Institute of Health[1] found that “Cortical development in children with ADHD lagged behind that of typically developing children by several years” (Shaw et al., 2007, p. 19650).

 

“The prefrontal cortex supports a host of cognitive functions, such as the ability to suppress inappropriate responses and thoughts, the executive ‘‘control’’ of attention, evaluation of reward contingencies, higher-order motor control, and working memory” (Shaw et al., 2007, p. 19651).

 

How do the results of this definitive research affect how educators and parents teach their children with ADHD and manage their behavior? Should we teach these children according to their current developmental levels or according to their chronological ages?

 

I presented to a wonderful group of teachers at the Goddard School in Yorktown Heights, New York last Friday, and their questions echoed the concerns of other teaching professionals with whom I have spoken concerning the results of this research. As I told them, especially in preschool, in my opinion, educators should try to teach young children with ADHD according to their developmental levels. Why? If you try to teach these children according to the milestones that are attributed to their chronological ages, they will have gaps in their knowledge which will be very difficult to overcome.

 

The best strategy is to work within each child’s learning strengths and preferred learning style, according to the developmental level that they have reached. Little by little, teach them to a point where they are challenged but not frustrated. In that way, you will help these children feel that they are reaching new strides in their learning at a pace in which they can succeed.

 

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[1] (Shaw, P., Eckstrand, K., Sharp, W., Blumenthal, J., Lerch, J. P., Greenstein, D., Clasen, L., and Evans, A. (2007). Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder is characterized by cortical maturation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 19649–19654. Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2007/)