Written by Jessica Revitt-Mills
The start of the school year can be exciting and overwhelming, with new spaces, different people and learning new sets of expectations.
To build an inclusive classroom, consider the following supports and activities.
Visual Displays & Cues:
Inattentive symptoms of ADHD may cause ‘tuning out’ or, at times, quickly forgetting things that have just been said. Consider adding visuals to help:
- Label where key items are around the room.
- Prompt each step of a task.
- Prompt the materials required for tasks.
- Use photos to show expectations for keeping space tidy, how to display work etc.
Sensory:
Evaluate the sensory elements of the classroom and consider both under and overbearing sensory concerns. Examples may include:
- Strong smells – Even nice ones! Check if your students avoid smells – this may even include lovely fragrances.
- Lighting – Fluorescent and bright lights can be irritating, consider where students sit.
- Temperature – Try to keep classrooms at a consistent, comfortable temperature.
- Textures – Check for any avoidance of textures; sitting on a carpet that feels irritating may disrupt learning.
Consider making this a ‘getting to know you’ activity. With students, play music whilst they work, then discuss who liked it or didn’t. Turn the lights off for a session and use natural light, then discuss everyone’s preferences!
Routines:
Make routines as clear and consistent as possible and have reminders of them in relevant places. When there is a change to an expected routine, allow time for the process to be processed. Whilst the activity itself might not matter, losing predictability can cause anxiety.
Co-Regulation & Modelling:
Teachers are role models for their class, including modelling when we feel tired or frustrated and talking through how we will get back to feeling our best! By modelling our regulations show that it’s a continuous process that we keep working at.
Neuro-Affirming:
Take some time to familiarize yourself with supports that are neuro affirming. Often there are things that happen due to ADHD but are faced with negative feedback because they aren’t within the expectations. Consider:
- Internal Cues: Does it feel like your ADHD student asks to go to the toilet at inconvenient times? Often when ADHDers are focused we forget cues for eating, the bathroom, thirst and once we stop, they flood back and usually need urgent attention.
- The 5L’s of Learning: You may have seen variations of this and what’s expected to show someone is ‘engaged’. Some of these may impact ADHDers negatively as they are focusing their attention on maintaining a particular way of sitting that may not feel comfortable to them. Learning may look like:
- Fidgeting and moving.
- Listening passively to retain information.
- Using glances instead of eye contact.
- Breaks or choice time: Often we might give specific activities for students to do as a ‘break’. Consider whether these are actually giving them a break. A break is something we can do to switch our brain off and relax, by adding another task it may not feel like a break, therefore continuing to increase the overload.
Consider Brainstorming break ideas as a class! Have students come up with activities that make them feel relaxed. Discuss if they are classroom appropriate or how they might be modified to be classroom appropriate.
A creator who make fabulous affirming resources is @NeuroWild, check out her illustrations on Facebook and Instagram for more ideas.
