| Thank you for all that you do in the classroom! It | | | | work. Whatever arrangement is selected, it is |
| is hard enough being a classroom teacher today, | | | | important for the teacher to be able to move |
| but when you add to the difficulties two or three | | | | about the entire room and have access to all |
| children with either Attention Deficit Hyperactivity | | | | students. |
| Disorder, or minor head injuries from FAS, | | | | 2. Have distractible students seated near the |
| managing a classroom can be a real challenge! | | | | teacher, as close as possible without being |
| The ADHD Information Library has designed a | | | | punitive. Locate the student's desk away from |
| web site just for you classroom teachers. We | | | | both the hallway and windows to minimize |
| have taken 500 classroom interventions that we | | | | auditory and visual distractions. Keep a portion of |
| have gathered over the years from dozens of | | | | the room free of obvious visual and auditory |
| sources, and placed them on the site for you to | | | | distractions. For example, have one area of desks |
| visit, consider, and use if appropriate. Consider it a | | | | that doesn't have interesting objects hanging over |
| resource from classroom teachers to classroom | | | | it that invite the child to study them rather than |
| teachers. The site is located at and we would | | | | her/his work. |
| invite you to visit often. | | | | 3. Use desk dividers and/or study carrels. Be sure |
| Here are some of the tips for teachers that are | | | | to introduce their use as a "privilege" or pair |
| also on the site. They are just a brief look at the | | | | appropriate carrel usage with reinforcement, so |
| 500 interventions available. | | | | these study aids are not perceived as punishment. |
| 1. Use rows for seating arrangement, and avoid | | | | 4. Seat appropriate peer models next to ADHD |
| tables with groups of students. Having groups at | | | | child. |
| tables maximizes interpersonal distractions for the | | | | 5. Stand near the student when giving directions |
| ADHD child when he is trying to do individual work. | | | | or presenting the lesson. Use the student's |
| Where possible, it may be ideal to provide several | | | | worksheet as an example. |
| tables for group projects and traditional rows for | | | | Please consider some of these ideas that have |
| independent work. Some teachers report that | | | | been passed on to us at the ADHD Information |
| arranging desks in a horseshoe shape promotes | | | | Library over the years from professional |
| appropriate discussion while permitting independent | | | | educators. |