ADHD Blog Series - Final Topics

Here is the final series of our ADHD intervention topics.

Reference:  Meeting the Needs of Students With ADHD

Steps you can take to foster greater productivity, order, and calm for these learners.

By Merle Huerta

January 22, 2015

Differentiating Learning and Encouraging Mastery

Differentiation and encouraging mastery are the basis of the Montessori method. Assess each child’s learning style and design an individualized plan to accommodate that child. It’s student-centered learning at its best, facilitated by the teacher and encouraging mastery, confidence, and enthusiasm—and students with disabilities do well with this method. In “What Works for Differentiating Instruction in Elementary Schools,” Grace Rubenstein shows how this modification can be put into place.

Creating a Positive, Supportive Learning Environment

There are common practices teachers use to reduce classroom distractions. Seating a child with ADHD in the front row, away from doors and windows, is one approach. Jane Milrod, director of CHADD Princeton and an ADHD/executive function coach, strongly recommends mentoring programs. She advocates using a study buddy—a classmate who shows the student with ADHD the ropes. Knowing that one person is there to help him or her can empower a student with ADHD. The school becomes a less hostile environment.

A program through Eye to Eye, a national mentoring organization, places high school and college students with similar labels into schools to help students with ADHD develop their study, homework, communication, and peer interaction skills.

The KMA Difference

Here are a few ways that our approach to teaching helps to achieve the goals of "Differentiating Learning & Encourage Mastery" and "Creating a Positive, Supportive Learning Environment":

·         Success Passports, Stripe Testing, Workshop & Graduation

·         Private Lessons

·         Team Flame

·         "PPP" Instructor Training (Proper Partner Pairing)

Success Passports, Stripe Testing, Workshop and Graduation are essential elements for encouraging students to set small and long term goals to achieve.  In order to assess their mastery, students have checklists in their success passports that instructors use to give them feedback on when they have demonstrated a first level proficiency with a skill.  Then we use stripe testing to allow students to independently show off their ability to perform skills at a higher level without the aid of an instructor.  Workshops provide students with a preliminary assessment of their testing preparation.  Lastly, Graduation is their opportunity to show off their mastery of the skills they have practiced in front of a group and to demonstrate the confidence in their skill.  Feedback during this progression of assessments is accompanied by individualized feedback and comments to help students improve themselves.

Private Lessons are utilized to provide individualized instruction and assistance to students who prefer a more one-on-one approach..  Students are encouraged to "own" their lesson and simply use the instructors as a tool for self-improvement.  Every drill, coaching, and focus is driven by the student's personalized needs.

Team Flame is a program that we offer select students who wish to mentor another.  This service helps bridge the gap between their transition from smaller white belt classes, into larger beginner classes.  I also provides young students with leadership opportunities and promotes peer-to-peer support.  This kind of buddy system helps to foster positive relationships and provides a means to build stronger ties to their training.

(PPP) Proper Partner Paring is an instruction method that we teach to our staff.  It is based on assessing the individual capabilities of each student in the class and matching them with a partner that compliments their needs.  Instructors must strategically assess how well students work together, the growth needs of the individual, provide learning opportunities, and stretch students to work with people of opposing stature, experience, etc in order to help them learn how to work cooperatively with various types of people.

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Call: 614-899-9033

Email:  Koguryomartialarts.hq@gmail.com

View:  www.koguryoma.com

Visit:  6015 S Sunbury Rd, Westerville, 43081