#behaviour management

Goal-Setting for ADHDers, Part 3

The last two parts of this series were probably daunting. Makes sense; all this stuff is hard! I mean, I enjoy doing all the planning part, but I have a tendency to over-complicate everything, which naturally makes it easier for it to break down, fall apart, explode in my face. So how do we set goals, and how do we achieve them, or at least make decent progress on them? That’s what I’m going to…

One of my chickadees is having a bit of a rough time at home. Her brother, who has always been challenging, has recently been getting progressively worse (outbursts of every kind), and has recently been diagnosed as on the spectrum, and on top of that, she has a new (7ish weeks) baby sister. Her mum says she’s showing signs of being jealous of the baby, and we’ve been getting some delightful behaviour at school, which we assume is an attempt to get adult attention. When we got to the classroom today, one of the other kids informed me that she was telling people she wanted to die (shout out to said kid for being the only person in the class who thought they should tell a grown up instead of laughing at her), and when I asked her why she was saying that, her response was “I don’t want to be alive anymore.” This child is not quite 7. I sent her down to the principal, because I felt like it needed immediate attention that I couldn’t give her, and the principal couldn’t get anything out of her - she went and had a rest in sick bay, and then came back to class. For the rest of the day, I kept hearing about how she’s the youngest in the class (which is true) and is therefore dumb/the worst at everything/constantly getting picked on etc, none of which is true.

Hi Anon, here’s a couple of links to previous posts I’ve written, but I go into lots more detail below:

6 behaviour management tips

Bonding with difficult children

I don’t think many teachers would say they are ‘good’ at behaviour management, but most would say they have a number of strategies that work a lot of the time. The most important thing though is CONSISTENCY AND FOLLOWING THROUGH.

If you say (for example) “next time you speak out of turn, you’ll be sent out for continuing to be disruptive” then be consistent and send them out. Kids will soon learn if you give empty threats and play up/push boundaries until they cross one. Sometimes the only way is to sacrifice a bit off break/lunch time - the children will soon learn the consequences and not do the same behaviour again.

In some situations though, either outside influences, home life, lack of sleep, lack of breakfast, bereavement or just plain end of term tiredness can cause even the best behaved children to be unruly and nothing will change their behaviour. In these cases, SLT may need to get involved or the children may just need some quiet time outside of the classroom before coming back to the lesson refocused.

Here are some strategies you can use, however once you’ve decided which strategies work best for you STICK WITH THEM. Kids have to be trained to follow strategies and most take a few days/weeks to implement fully.

Follow your school’s behaviour system - Most school’s have a behaviour system that is the same in each class, so the children always know the expectations in the classroom. We have every child starting on a treasure chest, and after 2 verbal warnings they move onto a simmering pot, then after another verbal warning they go onto a green rung of the ladder (loose 5 mins of break), then yellow (loose 10 mins of break, speak to parents), then red (sent out of class, headteacher phones parents). All children know the system and it’s very visual in the classroom. Other schools have a traffic light system or rainclouds and rainbows - whatever the system, follow it or make a similar one of your own that has clear expectations and consequences.

Use a musical instrument or claps - I used to use a tambourine to gain the classes attention, it worked well with younger children or larger classrooms where your voice might not carry across the whole room. Sometimes changing the instrument can alert the children to the fact that you want them to stop too (I liked to swap between a cowbell, tabourine or maraccas!)A series of claps that the class has to join in with, or echo clapping different rhythms can also grab a classes attention rather than shouting.

Countdowns - I love countdowns, they give children a clear expectation of when you expect them to have completed a small task, and gets them to focus on what you want them to do as well as time to do it. I usually start from 5 and go to 0, but I have been known to start from 20 if there’s a lot f clearing up to do in the classroom (for example). Make sure that children are clear what the expectations for them are by the time you reach 0 e.g. “I will count from 5-0, when I am at zero, everybody needs to be lined up by the door silently”.

Class treats - I used to combine countdowns with an extra incentive of a point towards a class treat if every member of the class followed the instructions before the countdown finished! Class treats usually involved having music on in class, sweets or watching clips from ‘The Worst Witch’ at the end of the day.

Sand timers are amazing! - I am a big fan of sand timers, they are a colourful and visual way of showing children how much time has passed and is left. I combine this with a countdown and if the children are not doing what I have instructed by the time I reach 0, then I turn over a sand timer until all children are complying and keep the sand time on its side when they finally all comply. The amount of sand to have fallen = the amount of time that gets taken off the children’s next break time. It works suprisingly well, I have frequent shouts of “SAND TIMER” from concerned members of the class who want all their break time and for others to hurry up!

The List - I keep a post-it note of all the children who have followed instructions well/behaved/done good work and these get to go out to break first. If I even mention ‘break time’ it’s almost always followed by “Miss, who’s on the list?” I often combine this with my countdown/sand timer strategy and any children who are complying with instructions by the time I get to zero automatically go on The List.

Have an extra incentive for good behaviour - Praising good behaviour is excellent, but for those children who are good all the time, an extra incentive gives them a treat and the other children extra reason to adjust their behaviour too. My classroom treat is that on Fridays, the best behaved/hardest working child gets to have Patrick the Puffin (our class mascot) with them on the carpet/at their desk for the next lesson. This puffin toy is the best behaviour motivater I have come across, and children respect that Patrick is always watching the class as they work and it is his choice of who he will sit with next lesson.

Carpet partners - this works best for younger classes, but I pair each of my year 3′s with a year 2 and they are ‘carpet partners’ and have to sit together on the carpet, as well as support each other in their learnin e.g. when we’re doing whiteboard work, whole class phonics or using talk partners. Pairing children can seperate the trouble makers and can encourage new friendships - I’ve had a few best friends/healthy friendships form thanks to some well placed carpet partners.

Copy me/follow my leader - If I want to get children’s attention, but not use anything loud, I play a game of ‘copy me’ and pat my head/clap handstouch my shoulders/click fingers and other elements of body percussion in a 1, 1, 2, 2, rhythm until everybody is copying me. Usually the most eagle eyed children get it first and then the rest of the kids catch on quick, not wanting to be left out!

Oh gosh this got long, but hopefully there are some strategies in there you can use. If you want further explanation, or more advice, just drop me an ask :)

B is for Behaviour

ADHD gets treated like it’s a behaviour problem when it isn’t.

That is, the behaviour can be a problem, but that doesn’t mean it should be addressed using behaviour management techniques like behaviour charts, behaviour contracts, and token systems.

See, the things we do as ADHDers are usually related to one of our particular symptoms. This means that we really don’t have a lot of control over…

An article by Richard James Rogers (Award-Winning Author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management and The Power of Praise: Empowering Students Through Positive Feedback). For many years, “school is a child’s second home” was a promise that existed largely on paper. In reality, students could sense a clear divide in the warmth and engagement within their classrooms. The focus was primarily on…

An article by Richard James Rogers (Award-Winning Author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management and The Power of Praise: Empowering Students Through Positive Feedback). This blog post has been beautifully illustrated by Pop Sutthiya Lertyongphati. My promise to you: I never use generative AI to create, edit, or enhance my blog posts. All of my content is original. After writing various…