ADHD tutoring can help your child learn to read. A good tutor for a child with ADHD should be experienced and have heaps of patience. Before letting a tutor start working with your child, ask the tutor about his or her experience with students with ADHD. You should feel comfortable with the tutor’s approach.
Tutoring a student with ADHD can be a lot of fun! Kids with ADHD often have a unique perspective and keep lessons moving. While most kids learn through a combination of all the learning styles, typically a student will favor one learning style over others. Many of the kids I have worked with who have ADHD, happen to have also had a kinesthetic learning style, which make energetic, hands on lessons for students 100% necessary.
So how do you teach a child with ADHD how to read? Try these strategies at home or ask your tutor to help implement them. Some of the recommendations in this article are affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission which helps keep this site running. Itdoesn’t cost you anything extra. We thank you for your support.
Use Active Learning Techniques
Have your student use active techniques to learn to read. One of the simplest ways to do this is called finger tracking. Help your child use their finger to run along the words they are reading. Not only does it keep the hand active, but it creates a visual cue of where they are in the passage.
Take a Break
Does your student get fidgety and wiggly when trying to read, especially for a long period of time. It’s OK to get up and take a stretch break. During my tutoring sessions, I use a timer on my phone to indicate how long of a stretch break we will take. The breaks usually last only a minute. I get up and stretch and wiggle with my student. It’s important to watch your student closely to determine when they need a break. Your younger students aren’t self aware enough to ask for a break. You will often find your student is much more engaged once they sit back down to read after the break.
Take Turns
Some of my younger students find it difficult to get through a longer book when reading aloud. My ADHD students often flip to the back of a book first thing to see how long it is before they start to read. Whenever they get overwhelmed at the length of the book, often I’ll cut a deal and alternate what we read. As we continue in our lessons, the portion that the student reads gets longer and longer, without them necessarily noticing that they have increased their reading stamina substantially.
Reward System
Classroom management and reward systems are often talked about in classrooms, but less so in tutoring. For most of my students, even the GT students without ADHD, a simple behavior chart we fill in with scented markers helps remind them that if they stay focused and on task, good things will happen for them. Especially for my ADHD kids, my behavior chart is not all or nothing. If a student feels like all is lost at the beginning of a lesson, what incentive does he or she have to correct the behavior? I’ve made a treasure chest with toys very similar to this pre-made treasure chest that my students earn.
Choose High Interest Subjects
Each time I have a new student, I spend time getting to know him or her. I ask about what they like to do, what shows they watch, and what they like to play. Then I keep my eye out for books about their interests. The kids are always so excited to learn I’ve added a book to my mobile library just for them. This week, I read a book about Coco with a student and that went over very well.
Tutoring Helps ADHD
Whether your child had ADD or ADHD, your child can learn. Too often, kids with ADHD are blamed for their inattentiveness, when in reality, ADHD is a medically diagnosed. If you’re looking for a patient tutor who has worked with children with ADHD before, please email us or call us and we will set up our fist phone visit and our first meeting.
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