If the child’s learning rate remains slow despite appropriate teaching, the situation should be reassessed. It is important to give this feedback to the parents and/or the child’s physician so that a medical reassessment can take place at regular monitoring reviews. The child’s hearing and vision might need to be checked by a specialist or possibly an evaluation by an educational psychologist might be needed. This requires the teacher to refer the pupil to the special needs teacher and/or child’s physician. Consider whether the child is receiving the appropriate level of special needs support and whether he has an individual education plan (IEP) in place.
About a third of children with ADHD have coexisting specific learning difficulties over and above their problems with concentration. There needs to be careful assessment of these and the child’s overall level of intelligence in order to understand these difficulties better. The use of medication should not be viewed as a panacea, but it can make a very significant difference to a child’s difficulties, and thus his progress.
Children with ADHD and specific learning difficulties need support for both problems. They need support with their ADHD, with structure and an understanding of ADHD, as well as medication where it is considered appropriate by the child’s specialist and parents. Support is also required for their specific learning difficulties – their associated dyslexia, mathematics difficulties, handwriting problems, and so on. They are doubly disadvantaged and it is absolutely essential that they are able to concentrate fully so that they can cope better with, and overcome, their associated specific learning difficulties.
It is crucial, therefore, for you to determine the most appropriate, individual support for these children. Target the pupil’s areas of weakness and play to his strengths, particularly determining whether he is a stronger visual or auditory learner. A child with short-term memory issues will need repetition and one-to-one support.
By evaluating the child’s precise difficulties, a more open-minded and appropriate response to him can be made. Following a specialist educational assessment, the areas in which the pupil needs support can be more clearly identified and you can focus more specifically on these areas of weakness.
