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Tips for High School Teachers with ADHD Students: Increasing Time Focused to a Task

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:38:19 +0000

Thank you to all of our professional educators who dedicate themselves to our children! We know how difficult it can be working with ADHD children, so here are your teacher tips for the week, brought to you by the ADHD Information Library and ADDinSchool.com. This is a sampling of over 500 classroom interventions for your use at http://www.ADDinSchool.com.

Here are some tips on increasing your ADHD student’s time on task. Remember, the best interventions are the ones that will help all of your students be more successful, not just the ADHD students.

One of main characteristics of students with ADD ADHD is the difficulty with sustaining attention on tasks over time. In other words, they get bored very easily, even by you.

Promote time on task, never time off task. Take time to catch the student being on task and working hard. Reward him with a simple smile or pat on the back. If you do this consistently, you will see his attention span, or time on task, increase throughout the school year, making your life easier in the long run.

Your ADD ADHD student will respond better to situations that he finds stimulating and engaging. Varying the instructional medium and pace will help sustain the attention deficit student’s interest.

Your ADD ADHD student would probably find lessons that emphasize “hands-on” activities highly engaging. Keeping the time required for sustained attention to a task balanced with more active learning will improve your attention deficit student’s performance. Changes in instructor’s voice level and variation in word-pacing will also increase his attention during instruction.

Break long tasks into a series of shorter “sprints.” Give a minute timer to keep on his desk. Ask the attention deficit student how long he thinks it would take to perform a certain task. Let him set his own time and race against the timer.

Stress accuracy instead of quantity of work. Mastery of a subject is really what you want as a teacher anyway.

Computers are great for 1 on 1 work and immediate feedback.

Students using medication to treat attention deficit disorder will have their optimal attention effects for methylphenidate (Ritalin) 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours after medication. Other medications differ, and it is best to check with the physician about the time of maximum medication effects. If possible, it is best to schedule the most attention-demanding tasks for the ADD ADHD student during this medication window.

Combine your verbal directions along with illustrations or demonstrations of what you want your students to do. The more ways you use to describe what you want your ADD ADHD students to do, the greater likelihood that they will actually do it.

Your attention deficit student will be more successful when given directions one step at a time. When a series of instructions are given, retention beyond the first direction is difficult. Minor adjustments on the part of the teacher in giving directions will help the ADD or ADHD student a great deal.

Hopefully these will help the ADHD students in your classroom to be more successful. You can learn more about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder at the ADHD Information Library.

By: Douglas Cowan, Psy.D.

Tips For Choosing an Online Masters Degree Program

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:11:55 +0000

Let us refresh what a master degree means. A master degree is a degree you get after you have finished a 3 or 4 years college or university program that goes above and beyond what you already learned. You should consider a masters degree so you can compete and advance your career.

As for the people who already have a job and want to get a higher position, here is some good news. You can earn your online masters degree if you have a computer at home or in the office where you work, on your own time, with less stress and problems of where to enroll.

For parents specially those who are working and want to further enhance their knowledge this can also be your chance. You can study and you can be with your family at home. Thus avoiding the stress of worrying about how your family is doing when you study at a regular campus.

Here are some tips to choosing th right online masters degree program:

Find out about the accreditation of the school where you want to study. Before you enroll, be sure you know the reputation of the school, colleges, or university. Find out about the record of the teachers or instructors. How do they teach? How reliable are they? Be sure you and the school have all the right equipment such as webcams and high-speed internet connections to finish your work on time.

Studying for an online degree such as a masters degree is not as easy as you may think it is. You need effort to achieve your goal although you have lots of advantages compared to a campus degree program. Still, you need to study and do some research. Even on the net, we need to discipline ourselves to have time for good study habits.

Here are just some of the advantages regarding online masters degree:

You can customize your time according to your will. You can study according to your vacant time especially if you are working. It is less expensive than going away to college. You may even be able to get your work to pay for it and work on it during non-peak times, if it is related to your job.

An online masters degree is very convenient not only terms of time, place, and the cost but also to ourselves as we don’t need to run after the bus to reach the school on time. We have the freedom to choose our own schedule based on the availability of our time and the comfort of the place where we study.

By: Ian E. Wright

4 Tips To Students Considering Online Education

admin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:27:26 +0000

Many students choose to pursue online degree without evaluating their learning style and personality whether they will be successful as online students. Survey results show that many online students failed to complete their degree program mainly due to student’s personality issues. Earning a degree through online education may not be a right decision for all students. Here are 4 important tips to evaluate yourself to ensure you are a right candidate to success with online learning style.

Evaluation #1: Are your education success mainly depend on face-to-face interaction with instructors and classmates?

In online learning environment, most learning materials and communications are in text format, you need to adapt yourself to this type of learning environment if you want to success in this type of study. Many students who failed in their online study find themselves learn better in the courses that conducted in classroom-based. They prefer direct interaction with lecturer and face-to-face communication with their classmates.

If you education success or failure really depend of how the courses being conducted and you are not ready to change your learning style, then considering online education may not be your best option.

Evaluation #2: Do you often get things done ahead of time or you prefer to wait until the last minutes?

Self-motivation is very important in online learning because most of the courses and assignments are in self-paced form. You plan your own time that best fit into your schedule to logon to classes, do and submit your assignments. If you are the kind of person who always put on-hold your tasks to last minutes of dead line, then online education may not be your best choice.

Evaluation #3: Do you always need assistance when you are given written directions for an assignment by an instructor?

If you do, then you might have problem to understand instruction in text format. Most communications for online education such chatting, discussion board, email and downloadable materials are in text format. Although there are helps available if you need any assistance, most of your questions will be answered in email or posted text on the online discussion board. Hence, you need to be able to under text instructions if you want to benefits from the advantages of online education.

Evaluation #4: Are you good in time management & able to divide your time between your work, family and online study?

If you are a working individual who want to get a degree online without giving up your career, online education is good choice because the benefits in term of flexibility and self-paced learning style enable you to achieve both your career and education goal. But, for people who are not good in time management, they tend to lose their focus on their study if they are too busy with their career and family. That’s why many online students who are not able to allocate their time for study tend to quit without completing their online study program.

If the results of the above evaluation reveal a strong self-motivation and preference for a more independent learning environment, you may be an ideal candidate to take your degree online.

By: Julie Harvard