Make sure you have a variety of activities to help drive the concepts home – draw it out on the overhead or board and/or have the kids draw their own (visual), engage the kids in a discussion (auditory), and let them build it out or do it somehow (kinesthetic). For elementary and middle school kids, Dinah Zike-type paper manipulatives and lapbooks work really well. Keep the various activities short, especially for younger kids, to keep the attention spans going. This way, the kids will learn that even if something doesn’t interest them right this minute, something will be coming soon that will make perfect sense to them.

For kids that truly are hyper active (many are just kinesthetic and don’t have the self-control yet), break things down into very small portions, and praise them for achieving their goals. These kids are truly unable to focus for more than a few minutes at a time, and small sub-goals are a lot easier for them to reach. This eases their schedule and stress, and allows them to learn. Also, give them ways to move and touch – this often stimulates learning and comprehension for them. Allow them to work with learning centers that give visual, auditory, and/or hands-on stimulation, and let them work with manipulatives and colors whenever possible. They can learn and stay on track, but they need to be taught things in ways that make sense to them.

Hope that helps!

I often give them jobs around the room to do (pass out papers, sort books, sharpen pencils, etc.) things I need to do, but that a child could do.

Getting them moving. We know most adults don’t sit well for more than 45 minutes. Most children don’t sit well for more than 20, and they younger they are, the smaller amount of time they sit.

I my students have Math in the afternoon, which can be hard time for young students to sit very long. So about every other problem I get them up and we do 10 jumping jacks or 7 toe touches or spin around 2 times (this only works for small numbers, after that people start falling down), whatever number corresponds to the number in the answer of the problem.

Find ways to get them moving, especially if they are young.

I am a firm fan of not medicating children unless they have to be. All children are different, as teachers and parents we have have to mold our lessons and management techniques around them, not the other way around.

Also, set goals. Ask the student to sit at the desk for 1 minute working. If they make it, they can stand and streach. You can work this up over the course of the year. You cannot change who they are, but you can learn to work with it and you can help them learn to work with it.

I had a student who I let stand at her desk as long as she was still working. It was a good arrangement. She could stand and let her body move but then could still work on her assignments. I am not saying this would work with everyone but it is an example of learning to work with their special difficulty.

Don’t forget to work closely with your counselors and special education teachers. They will have a lot of good ideas to help.