IEP Goals Helping Students with ADHD to Focus

Students with special needs pertaining to ADHD will often exhibit symptoms that can disrupt the learning environment of the whole classroom. Some of the common symptoms include making careless mistakes, failing to pay close attention to details, not following instructions carefully, not listening when spoken to directly, blurting out answers before hearing the whole question, feeling restless, fidgeting, running or climbing excessively, and failing to follow instructions carefully and completely. Focus and Sustain Attention If you are writing a plan to ensure that your ADHD students will be successful, ensure that your goals are based on the students past performance and that each goal and statement is stated positively and  is measurable. However, before creating goals for your student, establish a learning environment that is conducive to helping children focus and sustain their attention. Some of the tactics include the following: Ensure that the student is close to the source of information.Keep distractions to a minimum and demonstrate/model strategies to cope with classroom distractions. (This may involve some role-playing.)Establish a cue/prompt to ensure you have the students attention prior to starting. (This could be a touch on the shoulder or saying the students name.)Encourage the student to repeat directions or instructions on a regular basis.Allow one-to-one instructions/directions to happen as necessary.Encourage the  student to use organizers for lessons, such as  main points, subheadings, and materials needed.Use peer facilitation—train juniors or senior students who work with peers  that  are struggling. Peers can also  help to identify issues, mediate conflicts, or just provide support.Establish  consequences for the lack of attention during instructional times.When the student is not focusing, encourage him  to  enter a note in his behavior journal, stating the inappropr iate behavior. ADHD IEP Goals Always develop goals that can be measured. Be specific as to the duration or the circumstance under which the goal will be implemented, and use specific time slots when possible. Once the IEP is written, it is imperative that the student is taught the goals and fully understands the expectations. Provide students with ways of tracking goals—they need to be accountable for their own changes. Here are some examples of measurable goals you can start with. Set a goal for  completed  homework. Create a weekly calendar where you and the student can keep  track  of finished work. Keeping track of the goal of completing homework five days a week  may help the student focus on the task of finishing homework daily. Set a simple goal for jotting down reminders and assignment due dates in his  school agenda five days a week.  Ask to see the students agenda at the end of the week and together count how many times he jotted down due dates of assignments and special school events.   Create a goal for the student to develop  organizational skills for  managing her daily life. For instance, ask the student to keep track of a personal checklist of daily tasks. From brushing her teeth in the morning to  eating lunch or spending time on the computer, set a goal for the student to keep track of how often all of the boxes in her checklist are all marked off. Make Goals Relevant Keep in mind that goals or  statements must be relevant to each  students needs. Start slowly, choosing only a couple of behaviors  to change at any given time. Involve the student—this enables him to take responsibility and be accountable for his own modifications. Also, provide some time to enable the student to track and or graph his successes.