STRUGGLES
for Kids with ADHD and Strategies to Help
R emember the common “m ad
minute” ex ercise? It was a short
quiz o f about
m ultiplication
problems that you had to try and
complete in one minute. For most
young minds, those
s econds were
seriously stressful.

ow, imagine doing that ex ercise, but
at the same time not being able to keep
track of all these operations in your
head, and constantly losing focus on the
problem. This is what most AD
children face
when they look at a math problem.

AD
and math don’ t seem to be a
natural fit, and there are various
factors that go into why math is so
difficult for kids with ADHD.

So here is a break down of some of the
struggles AD
kids face in math class,
along with ways to help make sure your
child’ s math foundation is strong.

ADHD and Math: The issue
at hand
Students who are affected by ADHD
often have a hard time with math
because their memory is not very strong
and blocking out ex ternal stimuli is a
struggle.

emory, which is where information is
stored for later use, is one of the many
executive functions. Executive functions
18 October 2018
washingtonFAMILY.com BY CHRISTINE ROSENFELD
refer to skills such as reasoning, task
switching and planning. Kids with
ADHD do not have strong executive
function skills, which significantly
affects their performance in school. This
brings us to the first struggle:
Struggle 1: Word problems are
overwhelming Take this word problem, for example: A
f oot ladder is leaning against a house
and a hose is stretched from the base
of the house to the garden and passes
the ladder after 8 feet and you have to
figure out the height of the house and
the angle of the ladder to the house.

Wait, what
ust happened? If you read
the problem above and got confused
or
oned out, you’ re like many people
who dread word problems. For
students with AD
, the stumbling
block with word problems lies in the
combination of words and numbers
that make it difficult to store the
information in their memory as they
progress through the problem. Even if
the student is able to follow along with
the problem, when it comes time to
solve it, all of their energy and focus is
already used up!
word problem into chunks, allowing
the student to place
ust a small piece
of information into his head. Adding
a tactile and visual dimension to
his learning by drawing part of the
problem at a time only strengthens his
memory. Check out the ex ample image. It shows
what the picture might look like as
your child is reading. By the end of
reading the word problem, he will have
completed the drawing, in the bottom
right. Taking this piece- by- piece approach to
reading and drawing might mean that
your child might have to change the
original drawing as he goes, but that’ s
K. It’ s important to get something on
the page before he finishes reading the
whole problem.

Solution? Tackle it piece by piece
Struggle 2: Confusion with Order
of Operations
Have your student read the problem
in small parts and draw a picture of
the part he
ust read. This breaks the
Remember
PEMDAS (Please Excuse
y
ear Aunt Sally)
It’ s an acronym
that stands for parentheses, ex ponents,
Getty Images/selimaksan
MATH



Brain Exercises
for Kids with ADHD
These easy, fun brain ex ercises
provided by child psychologist,
r. Robert
yers can help improve
ex ecutive function in children with
AD
. Try them out during your
child’ s focus breaks.

1. S tory Based Games. To play these
games, all you need is a good story
and a good imagination. There are
two versions of the game that you
can try:
Read a short story and give
the child a “pop quiz” on the
content. Start off by reading a paragraph or
two from a story.

ex t, ask your
child to come up with what he
thinks might come nex t. Provide
guidance to keep the content
connected to the original story.

Then, you can add your take on
what happens after your child says
what he thinks happens nex t. If
possible, keep trading back and
forth and see what happens.

This helps with building
working memory and
concentration. It can also help
in the development of logic
and sense of humor.

2. Ma es. You can find ma es
appropriate for the age of your child
for free online, such as krazy dad.

com/ma es. Start off with easy ones
and move forward. Keep track of
speed and errors.

f course, don’ t
forget to praise improving scores!
This is great for concentration,
planning, sequencing,
processing speed and visual-
motor integration.

3.

ancing Sequence Games. There
are various versions to select from,
depending on your child’ s age and
what he or she likes. These games
can be played on various video
game platforms, including
box 360,
Wii and Play Station 3.

ou will also
need to purchase the dance mat that
goes with your system.

These games can improve
concentration, processing speed,
planning, sequencing and motor
integration. Added bonus: T hey
can also be a good form of aerobic
ex ercise.

multiplication, division, addition and
subtraction. It is supposed to help with
recalling the order of operations in
complex math problems.

The struggle that students with AD
have with math problems that require
them to conj ure up the correct order of
operations has to do with their working
memory and ability to maintain focus
throughout the multiple problem
solving procedures.

Solution? Make it visual
ave your student highlight math
signs and symbols.

ake colored pens,
markers and highlighters your kid’ s
best friend by encouraging him or her
to color or highlight the sign, –, +, =,
, and
o f each problem.

AD
itude
agazi ne recommends
highlighting math signs because it is a
visual reminder to the student of the
kind of math operation needed to solve
the problem.

It may also be helpful in downtime to
allow use of mobile math apps that
work on the topic with which your
child is struggling. These tend to be
effective because of the very high level
of visual engagement kids have with
video games and screen time.

Struggle 3: Staying focused
enough to finish the problem
Aside from issues with working
memory, issues with focus are why
students with AD
tend to struggle
with math problems. Staying intently
focused on a single task takes a ton of
mental energy, which often con icts with
the desire that many kids with AD
have for constantly changing stimulation.

This is why completing a mathematical
proof, a complex word problem or a
problem involving intricate problem
solving procedures can seem out of
reach for your child.

Solution? Focus breaks
ave your child take a focus break.

Focus breaks are
m inute breaks
when the student steps away from his
homework, even if it’ s in the middle
of a long mathematical problem, and
does something unrelated to his work.

This might be spending a few minutes
on the phone, playing fetch with the
dog or better yet, a brain exercise to
improve your child’ s focus.

By using these strategies, children with
ADHD can feel much more confident
in their studies and strengthen their
math foundation.

For over nine years, Christine Rosenfeld
tutored students from Pre-
to college
at Educational Connections
utoring. it o ce i air a , VA a d et e da,
MD, Educational Connections’ tutors
travel to students’ homes to help improve
t eir co de ce a d rade t ro
1- to- 1 tutoring and organiz ation/ time
management coaching.

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