Engaging the ADHD student in your classroom begins with time you spend getting to know him by interacting one-on-one. Every child will naturally pay closer attention to an authority figure with whom they enjoy positive interaction. Taking a few extra minutes each day to build a relationship helps the ADHD student feel a sense of alliance with you. If he feels connected, he is less likely to experience sustained levels of frustration in your classroom. This means that he will also be less apt to intentionally act out.

Just working on building a relationship with him, however, is not enough to overcome the potential learning challenges that he may encounter in your classroom.

Imagine that it is the first day of school. Now visualize yourself standing in front of thirty new faces in your classroom. As you look at each of them, tell yourself that statistically, at least one of these students will have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. How do you spot the student who has ADHD? What can you do to head off potential problems in the classroom that will distract from the positive learning environment you hope to create?

Begin by watching for the child who demonstrates a cluster of behaviors that looks something like this:

1. Frequently gets out of his seat without permission

2. Chimes in and interrupts your conversations with others students

3. Answers your questions with one of his one; usually one that has nothing to do with the topic.

4. Can't keep his hands to himself

5. Blurts out answers without remembering to raise his hand

6. Spends more time looking around the room, out the window, and into space, than he does making eye contact

7. Responds with outbursts and negativity to changes in classroom routine

8. Engages in attention-seeking behaviors

9. Seems less emotionally mature than his peers

10. Is often at the center of negative social interactions

Why does a student with ADHD behave in these ways? It isn't because he doesn't want to learn or because he is deliberately defying you. The ADHD student is unable to self-regulate. This means that his brain is in a fairly high state of arousal a significant amount of the time and that he is simply being overly stimulated by what he sees and hears in the classroom. He frequently operates out of the doing part of his brain and has difficulty using the thinking portion.

What an ADHD student needs most in order to have a positive

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