All ADD Medication have VERY SERIOUS and thus dangerous side effects, therefore treating it without medication is the best way to go.

Practical Strategies

Use this list for ideas, and pick the ones you think might help, or that you can easily do with your life and child, or use them as a springboard for your own ideas. Make changes one at a time, and the easiest first. 

 Tips for other daily tasks are also included, just scan over the ones that don't apply, adapt the ones that don't quite fit, and pick out the bits that might work for you.

1. Remove distractions. Isolate the child if needed for paperwork (not as a punishment).

2. Cut out unnecessary paperwork. Many books repeat concepts for practice many times. If you know the child has master it well , it is enough, except for certain circumstances : like learning to take tests, and if you need test results for state education requirements.

3. Do oral reviews instead of written ones when possible then answer oral quiz questions, rather than write the answer. They can write written answers in one subject, but keep them short. They work up to longer ones over time.

4. Assign writing and reading in their field of interest .Find something they like whenever possible. Read aloud to them and explain as you go.

5. Work with them one-on-one in areas of difficulty, with as few distractions as possible.

6. Build on their strengths. Find what they like to do, and orient other subjects around it if possible.

7. Use manipulatives. Show me instead of tell me, both for you to explain the concept, and for them to communicate the answer.

8. Try music.

9. Do it different. As a home educator, you have what the schools do not. You have the flexibility to work with your student to discover how they learn best (and when), so experiment, and do it however you can to get them to learn to be responsible and independent. You have the freedom to explore your child's interests and to direct them in positive ways, without having to worry about keeping the class at the same place in the book. If they soar ahead in one area, go with it.

10. Start small, and build up. In areas of great difficulty, start small, with an achievable goal, then slowly work up to a higher one (it takes MONTHS). Often the task begins by just helping the child realize they are capable, and that they can learn to do what is hard.

11. Learn by doing whenever possible. Workbooks that practice defining rules for reading or grammar are not nearly as effective as just reading and writing with instruction as needed. Both are concepts learned better by feel than by definitions.

12. Keep expectations high, but reasonable. ADD is not a death sentence. It just means you have to adjust your expectations to the child's capabilities.

13. Remember, they are still just great kids. Hugs are the best form of medication available for a child with ADD.

14. Keep a predictable routine, and teach patterns to repetitive tasks. Keeping a predictable routine helps the child see that it will be worth it to make the effort if the payoffs are always in place. Teach them to always put things in the same place, till they do it without thinking about it.

15. Children with ADD ussually learn better on Sofa rather than desk and chair.

16. Limit television and Video Games. This is key ! Do more READ ALOUDS. Have them choose which book they want you to read to them. Quiz them afterwards, ask them why the character do this and what's the story is about.

17. Consistency is the most important aspect of making any changes. Consistency is more important that the speed of progress, the size of the change, or anything else. Nothing comes instantly! raising a child IS NOT AN INSTANT JOB! 

 

MAKE SURE THEY LEARN WITH A HAPPY HEART WITH A LITTLE PUSH NOW AND THEN