Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common behavior disorder among children. The primary symptoms associated with this disorder include impulsivity, hyperactivity, inattention, and certain disruptive behaviors that occur in the classroom, such as interrupting activities, leaving a seat, difficulty controlling impulses, inability to pay attention, and calling out. These characteristics cause children with ADHD to experience profound difficulties in doing well in school; thus, they are at high risk of failure. ADHD is linked with lower academic performance, grade retention, and poor grades compared to students without ADHD. According to Stevens, Abu-Ramadan and Hartung (2020), students with ADHD are more likely to drop out of school, repeat a grade, have learning disabilities, or have challenges adjusting to the social setting. Although there is a wide range of researches that have been conducted on ADHD and academic success, there is a need for researchers to focus more on modifiable factors, which may promote academic achievement. Learning success is a multidimensional concept comprising of academic enablers such as behaviors and attitudes, and academic skills, which play a significant role in academic success. Evidence reveals that students with ADHD lack the ability to control their behavior. They might act impulsively before realizing the possible consequences. These actions are not committed purposefully, and when punished, these behaviors often increase. The use of classroom interventions for children with ADHD has gained significance over the years. Schools are required to establish education accommodation plans to ensure these students are offered appropriate education. A variety of classroom interventions has been recommended to meet the needs of these students. Examples of interventions that schools can offer include accommodations to minimize the impact of ADHD on their learning, special education services, and ADHD treatments such as organizational training or behavioral classroom management.
Hypothesis
These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that successful classroom strategies for students with ADHD should include strategies such as behavioral learning theories, Operant Conditioning and Social learning theory; and elements such as accommodations, instruction, and intervention.
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Literature Review
This section will provide a short review of the theoretical literature regarding the interventions or strategies and elements that can help improve the learning of students with ADHD.
Behavioral Learning Theories
A study by Martin, Burns, and Collie (2017) indicates that behavioral learning theories offer approaches that help identify goal-directed methods that help students in their classroom learning processes. The significance of these theories has been demonstrated in various researches conducted by the general population. They reveal that there is an association between learning behaviors and academic achievement. These theories have proved to be effective and applicable in children with behavioral challenges. These theories offer details on how experience can facilitate our capacity to feel or act. Examples of behavioral learning theory applied to students with ADHD to facilitate learning include operant conditioning.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is a learning technique, which involves the use of punishments and rewards for behavior. It not only occurs in experimental settings but also can occur in natural settings and more structured settings like therapy sessions and classrooms. Operant conditioning can be used to minimize behavior by presenting a negative outcome or removing a desirable outcome. For instance, a child can be told that they will not be able to access privileges if they do not sit still in class. This punishment may result in a reduction in disruptive behaviors because the actions have been weakened. If the teacher praises a child for behaving well, the child is likely to do the same because a desirable outcome followed that particular behavior. For example, if a child works quietly in his seat, the teacher praises and rewards the child, and then the child continues to work quietly in his seat. Although both punishment and reinforcement play an essential role in decreasing certain target behaviors in the classroom, reinforcement is more effective in assisting children in acquiring behaviors that are more functional. It is recommended to always start with other reinforcing approaches before resorting to punishment to minimize aversive classroom behaviors.
The correct implementation of positive reinforcement has continuously been found to increase work completion and on-task behavior. Since children with ADHDA have problems with attention, they find more interest in doing tasks, which leads to improved classroom behavior. Research reveals that teachers are controlling when working together with students with ADHD. Children with ADHD seem to face negative consequences due to their performance history of not finishing tasks and their temperament. Many teachers in this situation focus more on disruptive behavior than focusing on terminating or reducing the behavior. This may result in further disruption within the classroom by troubling other students. This action places these students at a higher disadvantage than their peers. It is vital for positive reinforcement programs to commence at the baseline level, where they can be positively reinforced and facilitate academic success among students with ADHD. The reinforcement criteria can be increased gradually after the child succeeds in the baseline level.
Negative reinforcement involves requiring the child to earn the removal of an undesirable consequence. The child aims to eliminate the unpleasant behavior to earn something desirable by working to get rid of the aversive consequences. Negative reinforcement is commonly applied in the classroom to control problematic behaviors. To obtain the desired outcome, negative reinforcement should be coercive and seductive for these students (Atkins et al., 2017) .
Social learning theory
According to Atkins et al. (2017), behaviors can be learned through conditioning (observing others' actions). Social learning theory can be applied to students with behavioral challenges, such as those with ADHD. Students with special needs are often integrated into regular classrooms because this setting allows them to observe and learn behaviors from their peers. Children must pay attention in order to observe and learn behavior. However, since students with ADHD have challenges concentrating and staying attentive, additional support. To ensure children are able to execute some skills smoothly, the aspect of self-efficacy should be considered. Self-efficacy skills are strong determinants of whether a student with ADHD will acquire the desired behavior. Examples of models that can be used to enhance self-efficacy and enable students to develop the desired behaviors include the use of picture books. Students with ADHD can learn targeted behavior by using a well-chosen picture. Picture books are interesting and stimulate cognitive abilities because they contain short essays and stories to read. They offer crucial and critical information, provide both images and words, and promote the development of problem-solving skills and advanced reasoning. Moreover, they offer dual-coding information, which is crucial in enhancing understanding and retention of what students require to learn.
Interventions
Intervention defines ways of improving disruptive behaviors such as those that disturb other students or those that affect concentration. Research by De Meyer, Beckers, Tripp & Van der Oord (2019) point out that the behavioral classroom management method reinforces students' positive classroom behaviours by discouraging their undesirable behaviors, daily report card, and reward systems. Evidence has shown that this approach impacts student behavior positively by enhancing academic engagement. Students with ADHD often fail to perform the assigned tasks that need organizational abilities because of using ineffective advanced order procedures such as monitoring their work, staying alert and working fluently. Organizational training allows students to acquire planning and time management skills as well as ways to organize school materials to improve learning and minimize distractions. The teacher can help the student stay organized by showing them precisely how to organize their things, oversee and direct them often to acquire more independence with the organization.
Similarly, a study by Strelow, Dort, Schwinger and Christiansen (2020) indicates that behavioral interventions are effective instruction to use in children with ADHD. Children with ADHD often have challenges in learning how to manage their hyperactivity and impulsiveness. The disruptive classroom behaviors affect their academic performances negatively and thus pose severe obstacles to the learning or teaching processes. Children with ADHD have difficulty learning tasks requiring sufficient levels of active involvement, inhibition, and attention. They do not put in more effort to accomplish academic objectives and spend limited time learning. The behavioral interventions' goal is to help students with ADHD acquire appropriate behavior that is favorable to their classmates and their learning. Classrooms that are well managed to create a conducive learning environment. Behavioral interventions should be regarded as an opportunity for efficient and effective teaching procedure.
Token economy systems are a type of behavioral strategy that has been proved beneficial in promoting behavioral and academic functioning of students with ADHD. It involves providing tokens such as poker chips to students when they exhibit appropriate behavior. In addition, if a child completes the assigned task, they earn a point, and the child is later provided with a tangible reward such as have free time on Friday afternoon. These tokens can be substituted for privileges or rewards at certain times. The system motivates a student to acquire the desired behavior (Colomer et al., 2017). According to Hup et al. (2002), addition of tokens to the delayed reward increases sportsmanlike behavior in children with ADHD. This is an indication that the use of behavioral social skills interventions plays a significant role in developing social skills among children with ADHD.
Colomer et al. (2017) reveal that executive function plays a significant role in forecasting students' learning behaviours with ADHD. Executive functions refer to a set of cognitive, self-regulatory, and higher-order processes needed to guide behavior to achieve the desired objective. The cognitive regulatory process that triggers and promotes classroom-learning behaviors helps teachers rate the learning behaviors in students with ADHD. Executive functions have been found to enhance the student's ability to pay attention, stay still in the classroom, keep information in working memory, and self-monitor due to the strong influence on the academic variables.
Accommodations
Accommodations refer to what teachers can do to make learning easier for these students (Harrison, Bunford, Evans & Owens, 2013). Schools need to offer individualized accommodations to meet the distinctive needs of children with ADHD. For instance, accommodations that can assist these children in managing their conditions include providing them with extra help to keep things organized, making use of technology to help them perform assigned tasks, and allowing extra time on assessments. Other accommodations include changing the environment to minimize distraction, providing positive feedback and reinforcement, provide them with breaks or allow them to move around, and provide personalized assignments and instructions to the child. Since students with ADHD have challenges sitting still, the productive physical movement needs to be planned. Teachers should offer students with ADHD a chance to engage in physical activities within the classroom or move around predefined areas. Opportunities for movement may include standing up to stretch or doing work while standing, sending them to run errands around the school, feeding pets in the classroom, or instructing them to erase the board. They could also be allowed to walk around the classroom, pass out materials, and to integrate movement into education activities. Teachers must have the awareness that students with ADHD may experience challenges in sitting still in the classroom on some days than others. Therefore, teachers are advised to develop instructional methods that are flexible to meet these students' needs.
A study by Labrador-Roca, Vázquez, and Yuba (2020) reveals that changing the environment can include making the student seat away from distractions. For instance, the student can be seated away from talkative peers, door, window, or pencil sharpener. In addition, teachers can create a list of steps for the morning routine, which can be in the form of pictures or written. The students can use the list independently as a point of reference in case they forget those steps. Breaks can be given by splitting the schoolwork into small, manageable steps. When given a particular task to complete, the teacher should monitor when it is done and give the students a break to engage in a favorite activity or move around the predefined area and then complete the assigned tasks after the break. This will make the goal practical for the student. The teacher should also allow extended time to allow them to complete the tasks. A timer can also be used to time the break by allowing it to determine when the break should end as opposed to telling the students that the break is over. Allow the student to have knowledge of the exact plan, such as having a 5-minute break after answering five questions. A visual timer can be used to assist students who have challenges in understanding the concept of numbers or time.
Instructional considerations
Instructions refer to methods that teachers use in teaching. According to Stevens, Abu-Ramadan and Hartung (2020), success in the classroom can be improved through direct instruction. Focus on assigned tasks can be enhanced if the student with ADHD is engaged in the teacher's activities to enhance the desired skills' development. Peer tutoring offers several instructional variables that are regarded as crucial in facilitating classroom success for children with ADHD. For instance, it offers immediate and frequent feedback. Evidence reveals that integrating peer tutoring with the token economy will yield profound academic achievements.
Evidence reveals that students with ADHD increasingly degenerate over the course of the day. It is recommended that learning instruction should be administered in the morning. In the afternoon, it is recommended that teachers schedule active nonacademic activities. Tasks requiring active responses could assist students with ADHD in channeling their problematic conduct into more constructive responses. Asking the students to assist in learning activities within the classroom, such as writing key points on the board, allows them to participate actively as opposed to sitting and listening to lectures for hours (Strelow, Dort, Schwinger & Christiansen, 2020).
Attention can be improved through novel material that is captivating and motivating. The use of novelty and enthusiasm on the level of tasks can be increased by utilising increased stimulation such as texture, shape, and color, minimising the level of activity, thus improving concentration and promoting general performance. Lessons should be structured carefully and clearly identify the crucial points. For instance, offering an outline of the lecture is beneficial in note-taking aid, which enhances the memory of significant ideas. A child with ADHD tends to do well on memory tasks when the lessons are meaningfully tailored for them (Moore et al., 2019).
According to Colomer et al. (2017), students with ADHD should be presented with instructions frequently through the use of visible methods of presentation as well as auditory cues and visual cues. Depending on the working memory of a student to recall information is not adequate. Visual cues or reminders should be integrated into classroom learning because students with ADHD tend to respond positively to visual cues. The visual cues provide serve as reminders for students with ADHD. For example, a teacher can display a skill or post key points on the brightly colored board and allow the children to work independently.
Discussion
The study examined strategies that could help promote appropriate classroom behaviors and academic achievement among students with ADHD. The study has demonstrated that poor learning behaviours due to symptoms of the disorder impact negatively on their academic success. This study's findings are similar to other researches, which implemented the identified strategies in improving problematic behavior in the classroom and learning processes for students with ADHD. These findings outline the significance of exploring a broad range of indicators, which can be associated with disruptive classroom behaviors. The most important conclusions acquired from this assignment reveals that the behavioral challenges predict learning approaches, which determine the acquisition of appropriate classroom behaviors and future academic success.
According to the results of the study, students with ADHD demonstrate disruptive learning behaviors, which can be modified through the implementation of effective intervention strategies. The first implication of the study refers to establishing a collaborative relationship between parents, teachers, and healthcare personnel to help identify the strengths and weaknesses of the student. This partnership could be beneficial in offering insight to focus on specific areas that require additional support or those that need the recommendation of multiple intervention approaches. The second implication is that teachers and students with ADHD will benefit from this information. Teachers will implement effective strategies that would help students develop skills that will support them in controlling their behavior. The students with ADHD will be able to learn and develop skills that would enhance their classroom functioning. The third implication of the study refers to enhancing ways that students with ADHD will participant in learning and be enthusiastic about learning. Effective teaching practices such as reinforcement, behavioral rehearsal and modeling can promote the development of positive attitudes towards learning and achieve appropriate behaviors by expounding on a child's actions and ideas.
The recommendations for other strategies that could be implemented on students with ADHD improve learning include developing classroom interventions, which are established on a stable foundation of general principles of behavior interventions. Although students with ADHD have common characteristics, this group is dissimilar. Therefore, it is crucial for the management to focus on particular problem behavior rather than targeting ADHD symptoms. In addition, the desired behaviors should be defined clearly to enable a teacher to monitor them accurately. Moreover, it is vital to create a behavior intervention plan basis on a cautious functional assessment of behavior. It is crucial to study replacement behaviors as well as the antecedents and impact of problem behaviors. Antecedents will recommend the changes in the environment that would determine the success or failure of a student.
On the other hand, examining the consequences will help determine the environmental incidents, supporting desired and undesired behavior. The problem behavior function guides the intervention plan. For instance, the intervention should make students understand that desirable behavior is an efficient means of achieving the behavioral goal.
Recommendations for classroom accommodations may include collaborating with parents to achieve the best results. Evidence reveals that parents can play a huge role in offering support to shape their children's behaviour. The guidelines on how parents can help improve the behavior of students with ADHD include encouraging them to be in constant communication with teachers regarding the problematic behaviors of their children. In addition, parents can assist their children in organizing their books for evening assignment and preparing for school the next day and talking to teachers regarding the use of the weekly or daily report to monitor their children's progress. When these children are working, they can get inspiration from their parents to follow the rules, do chores, and complete homework (Hapsari et al., 2020).
Assessment
The assignment has helped me discover gaps that need further research. For instance, I have learnt that although changes in the classroom setting can be beneficial in minimizing learning challenges and problematic behaviors among children with ADHD, these strategies alone are not adequate. There is a need for the availability of contingencies, which will reinforce desired behavior and discourage undesired behaviors. In addition, it is evident there is a limitation in the comprehension of the mechanisms, which underlie the relationship between poor academic performance and symptoms of the disorder. Most studies are focused on promoting academic success among students with ADHD but not learning behaviors. This area is yet to be studied comprehensively to achieve profound results.
The parts of the assignment that were helpful include learning about establishing appropriate and rich incentives to reinforce appropriate behavior among children with ADHD. This is helpful because it has taught me how to achieve appropriate behavior without the use of harsh punishment. I have learnt that appropriate behaviors among students with ADHD can be reinforced by giving them much affection, praise, and encouragement. Punishment does not teach the students the needed skills but rather only teaches them what they not supposed to do. Therefore, teachers need to focus on positive behavioral intervention strategies than using punishment.
Through article review, I have learned that what works for me is positive reinforcement, which facilitates attitude change, which shapes behavior in the long term. What does not work for me is the use of negative consequences on students because these temporary changes behavior but does not change attitude.
This assignment will impact my career goals as a teacher dealing with special children, such as those with ADHD. It has educated me on the need to practice a lot of patience, consistency, and creativity. My role as a teacher is to examine the needs and strengths of the individual student, then establish effective strategies, which will help the students stay focused, concentrate on their tasks, and acquire full capabilities. Therefore, with the right strategies, I can impact positively on the lives of students with special needs, such as those with ADHD, by promoting positive behavior changes at home and in school.
Conclusion
The findings reveal that students with ADHD exhibit behavioral patterns that are less uniform, and multiple interventions are needed to increase all students' classroom functioning. Therefore, it is recommended for the classroom environment to be tailored to meet an individual student's unique needs. The classroom environment should be set up in a way that will promote success for students with ADHD. In addition, the behavior management program should be implemented to achieve appropriate classroom behaviors, which must be applied consistently. The use of extremely negative consequences is highly discouraged because it might worsen these students' problematic behaviors. Therefore, strategies aim to ensure learning success and promote the achievement of appropriate behavior, which can be reinforced by making students what we want them to do as opposed to punishing them for what teachers discourage.
References
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