ADD/ADHD
Children with ADD are often singled out as behavior problems in the classroom. They are always on the move, bouncing from one thing to another, not completing tasks, unruly, disorganized, disruptive, uncooperative and easily frustrated.
On the other hand, children with ADD have areas of giftedness and brilliance and will succeed in learning when they are taught in a way that honors their internal wiring.
Children with ADD/ADHD & how they learn best
Children with ADD are brilliant visual learners. They learn more from images and visuals in a few seconds than their left-brained counterparts can learn in several minutes of listening to a lecture. They can grasp a whole picture in a glance and work their way to a solution quickly. Children with ADD are global thinkers and random processors. This means that following a prescribed step-by-step sequence runs counter to the way they think. They learn visually and instantly, so repetition and drill and memorization don’t help them. Once they are turned on to their amazing visual capacities, children with ADD can solve difficult problems in their heads, remember very large words – remembering how things look, not by what they heard about it in a lecture.
Children with ADD are:
- Intuitive
- Creative
- Problem solvers
- Observant
- Perceptive
- Sensitive
- Prone to high personal expectations
How we can help
Because children with ADD think in pictures and not in words, we have designed learning resources that empower them to learn through visuals and hands-on activities. We have designed learning resources that bypass the sequential, step-by-step teaching methods that are used in most traditional classrooms. One of the most important ways we can gift children with ADD is to help them develop a sense that they are gifted and capable and competent. They need to understand how powerful their visual gift is and be taught to use their gifts. Rather than working to make them conform to our traditional teaching method, we change our method to work according to their unique design.
Children with ADD/ADHD & how they learn best
Children with ADD are brilliant visual learners. They learn more from images and visuals in a few seconds than their left-brained counterparts can learn in several minutes of listening to a lecture. They can grasp a whole picture in a glance and work their way to a solution quickly. Children with ADD are global thinkers and random processors. This means that following a prescribed step-by-step sequence runs counter to the way they think. They learn visually and instantly, so repetition and drill and memorization don’t help them. Once they are turned on to their amazing visual capacities, children with ADD can solve difficult problems in their heads, remember very large words – remembering how things look, not by what they heard about it in a lecture.
How we can help
Because children with ADD think in pictures and not in words, we have designed learning resources that empower them to learn through visuals and hands-on activities. We have designed learning resources that bypass the sequential, step-by-step teaching methods that are used in most traditional classrooms. One of the most important ways we can gift children with ADD is to help them develop a sense that they are gifted and capable and competent. They need to understand how powerful their visual gift is and be taught to use their gifts. Rather than working to make them conform to our traditional teaching method, we change our method to work according to their unique design.
ABC's
Children will rely on pictures and body motions to quickly learn letters and their sounds.
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Beyond Sight Words Activities
Hands on activities and games that teach reading while your child is learning SnapWords®.
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Phonics and Spelling
Reach for phonics and spelling resources that help active learners thrive.
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Math
Resources that are colorful and engaging teach math in ways that help active children learn.
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Because the step-by-step, part-to-whole method doesn’t work for children with ADD, use our whole-to-part method of teaching reading. Use The Kinesthetic Reading Kit, which begins with SnapWords® and then breaks those whole words into parts so children can learn spelling patterns.
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Children with ADD can be taught to study a word and then take a minute to let that whole word go into their visual memory as a picture. Ask them to close their eyes and “see” the word in their imagination. Then ask them to spell the word out loud. The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns is a wonderful resource that will guide you through this process.
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The Right-Brained Spelling and Phonics Kit is a valuable resource for all children who are visual learners, including children with ADD. Rather than teaching rules, words are broken down into their parts in visual ways that make sense to visual processors.
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Our Right-Brained math resources are all especially designed for the visual learner. Math concepts are taught in a way that shows the child visually what is happening as they solve a problem. Presenting math this way allows the child to use their strongest learning gifts rather than having to try and memorize steps and rules. Learn more here.
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A child who seems hyper, contrary, sullen, stubborn, disruptive, or uncooperative in a classroom but who is calm and can focus at home is probably not ADD at all. A child who truly has ADD will consistently display those behaviors. It could be that the setting which seem to produce ADD-like behaviors is simply a mismatch to your child’s learning abilities producing stress which results in resistance. Some children greatly resist having to do work in the classroom that runs contrary to how they learn, which to them is repetitive and mindless. Consider that if your child learns instantly and visually, they might chafe at having to repeat tediously a lesson they already know.