The ADHD Solution Workbook

By Tom Daly

INTRODUCTION

Knowing the Hierarchy of Student Behavior…………………………. 3

“Right Words” …………………………………………………………. 5

Walk and Talk…………………………………………………………… 7

Using The Stoplight……………………………………………………… 8

Recording Student Misbehavior………………………………..………. 9

Nonverbal cues to keep class rolling……………………………………. 12

Replacing Tattling with Student-to-Student Compliments…………… 13

12 Ways To Reach An ADHD Child Each and Every Day……………. 15

Five Class Rules That Create Responsibility…………………………… 16

Creating Community in the Classroom………………………………… 17

Conflict Avoidance Techniques………………………………………… 20

Interest Inventories……………………………………………………… 21

Using Movies In Your Classroom……………………………………… 26

Using Journals…………………………………………………………… 32

The Gap Theory of Compliance………………………………………… 36

‘I’m Done — What Can I Do Now?’…………………………………… 39

How To Ask Great Questions In Class………………………………… 41

Teacher Binder…………………………………………………………… 42

Helpful Translations for Teachers……………………………………… 44

2 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Knowing The Hierarchy of Student Behavior

(From Chapter 5 of my book, “The ADHD Solution for Teachers: How To Turn Any Disruptive Child Into Your Best Student)

When discussing student behaviors with colleagues, the first task is to accurately identify and label the behavior.

1. Listen to each other and ask questions regarding the facts: a. What did he do? b. When did he do it? c. Who was there? d. What happened directly before the behavior was exhibited? e. What other circumstances contributed to the situation?

2. Label the behavior based on the hierarchy. For example, you might conclude: It sounds like Joey is being disruptive every day when I start explaining math concepts.

3. Look for a strategy that makes sense for the type of behavior the student exhibits. For example, you could say, What might cause a student to be disruptive in a math lecture? Maybe we could try______.”

4. Learn to be a “smart’’ staff. Everyone needs to agree to a specific intervention and appropriate backup plans if the intervention fails.

5. Leave the final decision up to the student. Bring the student into the meeting and ask him, “What do we need to do so that you are not disruptive in math class?” Show the student the two or three least intrusive interventions that the staff has agreed upon. Let him select one.

3 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Daly’s Hierarchy of Student Behavior

ON-TASK

OFF-TASK

DISRUPTIVE

AGGRESSIVE

ON-TASK. A student who is “on-task” is doing what you’re asking him to do. When you give him directions, he’s following them quickly and quietly, stays on-task and is not bothering others.

OFF-TASK. While the rest of your class might be on-task doing an assignment, the student who is off-task is mostly not engaged in the task — he is off-task.

DISRUPTIVE. The disruptive student is both off-task and is successfully pulling other students off-task. Sometimes the student is being disruptive because the work is over his head, or because the work is too easy.

AGGRESSIVE. An aggressive student is one who is volatile and agitated, one who may get violent. Aggression can be foreseen in clenched fists, tightened jaw, and a focused expression upon a target. Or, the student may already be acting out physically by pushing or hitting others, or by throwing objects.

4 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com

‘Right Words’

OVERVIEW: Gaining control of confrontational situations with your students can be achieved through the proven technique of “Right Words.” As in many of the martial arts, the goal in using these strategies is to deflect and use the opponents' energy.

On the following page is a list of “Right Words” phrases. An explanation of these phrases can be found in Chapter 6:

SUGGESTED USE:

1. Copy the “Right Words” list, which is found on the next page.

2. Tape the list somewhere in your day planner, on your desk, on a mirror, or somewhere you will see it every day.

3. Select one strategy each week that you would like to practice.

4. At the end of the week, put a check mark on the line in front of the strategy you selected and jot down any insights or comments you gained during the week.

5. Select another strategy for the following week and keep repeating the process.

5 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com “Right Words” Phrases

_____1. Replace the word "frustrating" with "fascinating" or "interesting."

_____2. Use, "Perhaps we should consider . . ." when introducing a suggestion to a skeptical person or group.

_____3. Sit next to oppositional parents and students.

_____4. Use empathy linked to an action: "I know how you feel. I've felt that way before, and what I've found by trying ______it helped things by ______.

_____5. Say nothing, (drop the rope).

_____6. Say the unexpected.

_____7. Adjust to your audience. Become a verbal chameleon.

_____8. Never make threats or promises.

_____9. As a last resort, end the meeting or walk away. 9a) Say, "It doesn't seem like we’re going to solve this here, let's set an appointment with ______. That's where these things get resolved."

_____10. "You know, I'd be happy to do ______. I'm only hesitant because (try to give positive reason here). Why don't we do (your suggestion) instead?"

_____11. Four possible responses to an inappropriate comment are: _____11a. Ask, "Why would you ask that?" _____11b. Ask, "Why would you want to know that?" _____11c. Say, "You and I will talk about that later." _____11d. Say, “That’s not appropriate.”

_____12. When needing to build consensus, preface your remarks by saying either: _____"I'm glad you said that . . .” _____“After listening to all of these ideas . . .”

_____13. When someone makes any accusation against you in front of a group, start your response by saying, “I’m glad you said that.”

_____14. End with the phrase, “It’s your choice” after explaining to a misbehaving student the benefits of returning to work versus the consequences that will occur if he continues to misbehave.

6 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Walk And Talk

1. When walking around campus, take one student with you.

2. Places to go include: your school mailbox, the counselor’s office, and the copy machine.

3. You don’t have to talk about anything “heavy.”

4. You might ask, “What did you do last night?” to start the conversation.

5. Let the student talk. Listen and ask questions about what he likes.

6. Notice how the student will tell you what he needs.

7. Notice how the student will give you ideas on how to better “hook him” into the class.

8. You should see significant improvement in your ADHD students after three months or less of using this technique.

9. Suggestion: After each walk, jot down a couple notes in your teacher binder. Example: Walked with Joey. He’s into ‘Sims City’ computer game. He said he doesn’t understand two of our vocabulary words.

7 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Using ‘The Stoplight’ To Create Student Responsibility and Increase Compliance

If a student is continually questioning your authority in class, use this strategy. If the same student tells his parents that you are picking on him, hold a parent meeting and use this strategy. Practice it a few times and it will soon become second nature to say these magic words:

Have you ever been in a car with your Mom?

When the traffic light turns red, what does she do?

When the light turns green, what does she do?

So, the job of the light is to give your Mom directions, and your Mom’s job is to do what?

If your Mom yells and screams at the light, will it change any quicker?

Is it personal? Is the light turning red on your Mom because it’s mad at her?

I am just like that traffic light. My job, as your teacher, is to give you directions and your job is to . . . what?

That’s right! It’s nothing personal. In fact, if you think about it, my job as the teacher is to tell you what to do and your job is to . . . what?

That’s right — to follow the direction quickly and quietly.

It’s nothing personal.

8 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Recording Student Misbehavior

Recording student misbehavior is important for these reasons:

 It can be used to show administration and staff exactly what sort of problem you have on your hands.

 It can be used to show unconvinced parents the extent of the student’s misbehavior.

 It is useful in assessing the student’s problem and what strategy might work best.

 It is useful in monitoring the student’s progress or decline.

There are three aspects of a behavior that may be recorded:

1. Frequency. How often does the behavior occur? 2. Duration. How long is he doing the behavior? 3. Intensity/Force. How strong is the behavior?

Most of the time, we are concerned with recording frequency and/or duration. For example, if a student is continually getting out of his seat without permission, you will want to record the frequency of that behavior. However, if a student only gets out of his seat one time per day, but will not return to his seat for 20 to 30 minutes, then we are interested in recording the duration of that behavior because that is the more germane problem.

9 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com How to Record the Frequency of a Behavior

1. Pick a starting time. For example, write down “8:45 a.m.”

2. Then, every time the student exhibits the target behavior, make a tally mark on your paper.

3. When you are done observing, write down your ending time. For example, you may write, “ending time 9:15 a.m.”

4. Record in your teacher binder the data. For example, On November 21st, during reading time, from 8:45 to 9:15, John got out of his seat 23 times.

5. Consider using graph paper and make a chart.

6. After doing this for a few days, you will have baseline data.

7. Then, try only one intervention at a time to see what works and what does not work.

8. Ask other professionals for intervention ideas.

9. When there is a meeting, bring all your data, a list of interventions you have tried and their level of success.

10. When recording duration of a behavior, just write down when the behavior started and when it ended and record that daily on graph paper as your baseline data. Then, do step 7-9 above.

10 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com STUDENT MISBEHAVIOR RECORD

For:______

Description of behavior:

Dat Starting ------Ending ------e time Tallies------time Comments------

11 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Nonverbal Cues To Keep Class Rolling

Using hand signals and prearranged visual cues can make a big difference in eliminating distractions. Remember to individualize them for your setting and make sure your administrator is involved in your planning.

Here are some sample scenarios you can use with your own ADHD students:

1. The child needs to move to a cubicle in the back of the room. He holds up one finger. You nod your approval and he goes.

2. The child needs to go to the special education room. He holds up two fingers. You nod your approval, he grabs his permanent “pass to room X” and he goes.

3. The child wants permission to take the bathroom pass. He holds up three fingers. You nod your approval and he takes the permanent bathroom pass.

4. The child wants permission to do art, draw, read a magazine or write a letter. He holds up four fingers. You nod your approval.

5. The child wants to go outside the class where you can see him and he can bang on a muted drum pad or practice the guitar. He holds up five fingers. You nod your approval and he takes his permanent “hallway music pass.”

6. The child needs to get up and walk. He holds up his fist and that means he wants to take the attendance sheets to the office. You nod your approval.

Scenarios 1 through 5 focus on the student self-monitoring his behavior. Experts agree that self-monitoring is a critical skill for ADHD students.

Hand signals can communicate both ways. Perhaps the student cannot self- monitor with 100 percent reliability. In that case, you may need to signal him with two fingers to go to the special education room. This is best done discreetly as you walk up and down the aisles of the classroom. That way, you can signal for his eyes only and lessen the chance for disruption.

Alternately, you can simplify this strategy by using colored cards with pictures on them. Maybe green is for music on the lawn; red is for Ms. Reddrick’s room, the special education teacher, etc. The child can just hold up his color-coded pass and you can then nod your approval.

12 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Replace Tattling with Student-to-Student Compliments

Teach your students how to give and receive compliments.

What constitutes a good student-to-student compliment? One that focuses on student accomplishment rather than their clothes or appearances. For example, “I like the way you waited your turn at the lunch line,” is much better than, “I like your shoes.”

Here are some other guidelines to follow:

1. Teach your students to compliment a personal attribute rather than physical talents. For example, “You are a nice person” is much better than, “You are the fastest kid in class.”

2. Teach students the difference between compliments and harassment. Students need to know that it is not how their words are intended, but how a “reasonable person” receives them.

3. Students need to know that they will often get in trouble when they compliment a member of the opposite sex about a specific body part or by complimenting their body in general.

4. Students need to know that they can often get in trouble by complimenting someone on their clothes. For example, if a teenage boy says to a girl, “Hey, nice sweater,” that may constitute harassment. Teach your students that it is better to be safe than sorry. On the other hand, show your students a reasonable spectrum that betrays common sense. For example, “Hey, nice Bears hat” is another clothing-based compliment, but would be nearly impossible to construe as harassment.

5. Students should be taught that “elevator eyes” (sizing up someone of the opposite sex by looking up and down their body) is not acceptable behavior.

Two ideas to add compliments to your classroom:

13 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com 1. Create a “Caught-Ya-Being-Good” box. Students are encouraged to drop one to three compliments in the box throughout the day. At the end of the period or day, the teacher reads them to the class. For example, “Someone said that Joe let Ed borrow paper during science.”

2. At the end of the day, each student must read his or her one best compliment to the class. Then, they repeat the compliment by saying it directly to the student. The student receiving the compliment is instructed to simply say, “Thank you.” Adjust this idea any way you want. Watch for popular kids getting too many compliments. Toss into the box your own anonymous compliments since you are part of the class too! The class doesn’t have to know the compliments came from you.

14 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com 12 WAYS TO REACH AN ADHD CHILD EACH AND EVERY DAY

1. Take their ideas seriously.

2. Define limits clearly.

3. Be a good role model.

4. Teach them to spend time and money wisely.

5. Establish reasonable expectations. Give ADHD children reachable goals so they can see, touch and feel success.

6. Give them responsibilities.

7. Be available.

8. Show them what they do is important to you.

9. Express your values (but keep religion private).

10. Spend time together.

11. Ask them lots of questions.

12. Build a daily rapport with parents by calling them twice as often with positive reports than calls regarding areas of concern.

15 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com 5 Class Rules That Create Responsibility

In order to foster responsibility from your students, create class rules on the first day of school with your entire class. Post them where everyone can see them — this will remind your students of their obligations every day and also give you a handy visual tool when giving directions.

Remember to involve your students in the creation of their class rules. Keep the rules simple and short.

Here are five sample rules:

1. Follow directions quickly and quietly.

2. Do your best work.

3. Respect yourself and others.

4. Be on time.

5. Keep your hands and feet to yourself.

 I recommend all five rules for use in grades kindergarten through junior high/middle school.

 I recommend that Rule Number 5 be omitted for high school age students.

16 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Creating Community in the Classroom

Here are five steps for helping students realize where they stepped out of line and exactly how they upset the classroom community. Ask the student appropriate questions in the following five categories:

1. (The Events.) What happened? What did I do wrong?

2. (Social Contract.) What are our agreements to each other?

3. (Moral Connection.) Why is what happened wrong?

4. (Next Steps.) How will this be fixed? What consequence is appropriate?

5. (Revisit Commitment.) What is our commitment to each other?

On the following pages, you’ll find two forms that students can fill out using the questions above. See Chapter 13 for more details on how to use this technique.

17 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY FORM

Student’s name:______Date: ______

In your own words, please answer the following questions and sign at the bottom:

What happened?

What are our agreements to each other?

Why is what happened wrong?

How will this be fixed?

What is our commitment to each other?

Student signature ______

Teacher signature______

18 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com STUDENT SELF-REFLECTION FORM

Student’s name:______Date: ______

In your own words, please answer the following questions and sign at the bottom:

What did I do wrong?

What should I have done differently?

What will I choose to do next time?

Student signature ______

Teacher signature______

19 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Conflict Avoidance Techniques

Instead of just telling your students, “No, no, no,” you need to arm them with new skills that will replace tempting behaviors with positive actions. “Just say no” isn’t always the strongest plan. You need to equip children with other avenues to focus their energies into a positive direction.

Once you teach these six steps, your students will do the right thing and avoid problems. Teach these to your class and do some role-playing with your students so that they really grasp it. See Chapter 14 for details.

Here are the six steps:

1. Listen and ask questions.

2. Identify the problem.

3. State the consequences that may occur.

4. Offer an alternative.

5. Leave.

6. When in danger, say “No!” and Go.

Here are the five basic steps with sample expansion questions for students to use during role-playing:

1. Listen and ask questions.  What exactly are we going to do?  Why are we going there?  Who else is going?

2. Identify the problem.  You want me to ______?

3. State the consequences that may occur.  If I do that, ______could happen.

4. Offer an alternative.  Instead of that, let’s do ______.

5. Leave. 20 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Interest Inventories

The following three surveys — the Interest Inventory, the Reinforcement Survey, and All About You — are highly useful teaching aides that you can implement during your very first day in class. The information gained from these pages will provide a teaching advantage that will last the entire school year.

To maximize the benefit of these surveys, do them early in the year — as early as the first class. Simply make photocopies of the Interest Inventory, and have students fill in their answers during class. Collect their sheets and then tally the responses on your own after class. Make notes as to which subjects are most frequently listed. Then, during the next day's class, have fun with your class in discussing the results. Ask them questions such as, "Okay, guys, who do you think the most favorite music group in the class is?"

Also, I highly recommend giving the surveys out a second time halfway through the school year because the tastes of kids are always changing!

Note: Each of the following three surveys are designed for varying ages.

The Interest Inventory is for fourth through 12th graders.

The Reinforcement Survey, which may need to be read aloud to the class, should be used for kindergarten through grade four.

All About You can be used for grades two through seven. However, use your own discretion in selecting an interest survey for your particular class.

21 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com INTEREST INVENTORY Name______1) What are your favorite TV shows?

2) What movies do you like that are now on DVD or VHS?

3) Which movies have you recently seen at the theater that you liked?

4) What are some of your favorite songs? Music videos?

5) What are your favorite music groups? What types of music do you like best?

6) Have you ever been to a concert? What’s the best concert you ever attended?

7) Who would you like to see perform in concert?

8) What's the best amusement park you ever visited? What is your favorite ride?

9) What was the school project you found the most fun last year?

10) Have you ever met someone famous? Did they give a speech?

11) If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be?

12) If you could be any animal, which would it be? Why?

13) If you could go on safari and study any animal, which would it be?

14) What is your dream career?

15) If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be?

16) Do you know how to dance?

17) What do you do in your free time?

18) What magazines do you like to read?

19) If you could buy any three books, which books would you buy?

20) What type of novels do you like — romance, mystery, or some other type?

21) What are your favorite stores at the mall?

22) If you won a free 30-minute shopping spree in a mall, what would you fill your shopping cart with?

22 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com 23) Do you watch WWF? If so, who are your favorite wrestlers? Who are your least favorite?

24) Do you have a computer and printer at home? Does it have Internet access?

25) What do you know how to do on the computer?

26) What is your favorite thing to do with a computer?

27) What are your favorite web sites? How much time per week do you spend surfing the Web?

28) What was the best field trip you ever went on?

29) What places have you visited? What were your favorite places?

30) Have you ever been camping? If so, where? What did you like about it?

31) Where would you like to go camping?

32) What are your favorite sports to play? What position?

33) Is there any sport you are interested in learning?

34) You are told you have five free tickets to either the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, or a WWF title match. Which would you choose and who would you take?

35) What are your favorite sports to watch on TV? Live?

36) What are your favorite teams? Players Team

Basketball: Baseball: Football:

37) What team sports have you played?

38) What are your favorite foods for dinner and lunch?

39) What are your favorite fruits and vegetables?

40) What are your favorite snack foods?

41) Are you a vegetarian? Are there any foods that you are not allowed to eat?

23 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com REINFORCEMENT SURVEY

For each of the following items, indicate whether you would like to receive and/or participate in each item as follows:

1 = Not Interested 2 = Interested 3 = Very Interested

__Cookie __Potato chips __Chew Gum __Soda pop __Candy bar __Popcorn __Stickers __Baseball Cards __Behavior Certificate __Play Checkers __Work puzzle __Read a Book __Computer game __15 min. free time __Write on Chalkboard __Sidewalk Chalk __Time to draw / color __Talking to friend __Video for Class __Teacher's Helper __Taking care of class pet __Lunch with the __Listening to music __Make an announcement Principal __Pretzels __ Cheetos __Cheese-its __Other ______

List 3 favorite things to do: 1.

List 3 favorite things to eat or drink: 1.

What are your favorite sports? 1.

What are your favorite TV shows or cartoons? 1.

3. 24 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com ALL ABOUT YOU! Name______

1. What are your favorite TV shows?

2. What are your favorite movies or videos?

3. What are your favorite songs?

4. What are your favorite music groups?

5. Do you have any pets? What are their names?

6. What is your favorite food for breakfast, lunch or dinner?

7. What are your favorite colors?

8. What are your favorite candies?

9. What are your favorite fruits or vegetables?

10. If you could be any animal in the world, which would you choose?

11. What is your favorite sport to watch or play?

12. What is your favorite season and why?

25 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Using Movies In Your Classroom

Most teachers use movies only to supplement their classroom instruction. However, there is a way to show movies in your classroom that is far more effective and also demonstrates that you are an outstanding teacher.

The secret is to use movie worksheets. Here are the steps to using movie worksheets:

1. Find a movie that fits in with what you’re teaching. Only show relevant movies.

2. Watch the movie a couple times on your own before showing it to your class. Develop a set of questions from watching the movie. You will develop three types of questions:  Pre-movie (vocabulary)  During the movie (comprehension)  Post-movie (expansion)

3. "Pre-teach" the vocabulary worksheet prior to showing the movie in class. Teach five vocabulary words a day for three days prior to the movie.

4. During the showing of the movie, students follow the action of the movie by answering the comprehension questions.

5. After the movie, students reflect on the movie by responding to the Expansion questions.

On the following pages you’ll find worksheets you can use to show movies in your classroom. For complete instructions on how to use this technique, see Chapter 9.

You’ll find these worksheets on the following pages:

 A teacher worksheet for previewing the movie at home.

 The student movie worksheet with three sections: Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Expansion.

26 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com TEACHER WORKSHEET

Title: ______Run time: ______

Rating: ______Suggested grade level:______

Vocabulary: List 5 to 15 vocabulary words from the movie. If the movie is to be shown on a Friday, teach five words per day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

1 6 11 2 7 12 13 18 3 8 13 4 9 14 5 10 15

Main characters, relationships, character types, or major actors:

Plot questions: What is the story about? Questions about the storyline.

Suggestions for follow-up activities in groups or pairs: Activities or projects that can reinforce something in the movie.

1. Art projects 4. Other group projects 2. Sports projects 3. Crosswords/puzzles

Suggestions for stop times: Do you want to stop the movie and discuss issues? Where should you stop the movie? What should be discussed?

27 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Prediction questions: What do you think will happen next? Suggested books, articles or readings:

1. Find related articles on the Internet.

2. Find related topics in your textbooks.

Suggested follow-up individual activities:

Comprehension questions: List questions to ask students while the movie is being shown. Suggestion: Ask a question to ask every 5 to 10 minutes.

28 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Expansion Questions: What questions do you want students to answer after the movie? Hint: Use questions with phrases such as, Compare it to, Describe, Tell me more about, What would you do, What did you like most.

29 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com STUDENT MOVIE WORKSHEET

Movie title: ______Student name: ______Date ______

Vocabulary:

1. 8. 15.

2. 9. 16.

3. 10. 17.

4. 11. 18.

5. 12. 19.

6. 13.

7. 14.

------

Comprehension questions:

8. 30 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com 9.

------

Expansion questions:

31 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Using Journals

Use journal writing to stimulate the excitement of learning. Here’s an easy and effective way to incorporate this activity: Instead of introducing a new journal topic each day, simply place this entire list of topics in your students' journals.

This way, they can view the list as they would a menu and select the topic that interests them most on any particular day. This will increase their ongoing participation.

Print out the list on the following pages and staple it to the inside of each student's journal. Instruct your students to write the date next to each entry they selected to keep them accountable. Or, create a separate writing log for students to record their writing.

For complete details on this topic, see Chapter 10.

32 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Name: ______

Date Completed

______List 20 things you and your friends do for fun.

______Describe your favorite five foods to eat around the holidays.

______Write about rain. When were you drenched by rain? Where are fun places to be during the rain? Have you seen rain cause accidents?

______Go back in time four years. Describe your playthings and friends. Write a letter to that person you were eight years ago.

______Do you think boys or girls have it easier? Why?

______Imagine that you can travel all over the USA. Where will you go and what will you do there for fun?

______Have you ever used violence? Describe what happened and why you became violent.

______Contemplate your future after you graduate from high school. Where will you live? What job will you have? What will you do for fun?

______List four jobs you might want to have as an adult and discuss why.

______Write in detail about your dream car. Describe everything about it.

______Describe two interesting places you have visited.

______Describe three of your favorite movies.

______Explain what harassment means to you, and give three examples.

______Do you think you have too many chores? If you could assign the chores in your house, which ones would you take for yourself?

______Detail five things you could do to increase your grades.

______What accomplishment makes you most proud and why?

______Contemplate the world's future 10 years from now. What new inventions will we have? What will people eat? Will the world be a safer place?

Date Completed

______Describe in detail the worst car you have ever been inside.

______Write anything you want about fish. Ideas might include fishing trips, Sea World visits and fish tanks you've seen.

______Give five examples of using good manners and being polite.

______List 20 compliments you could give someone that did not involve their looks.

______Discuss five things you are thankful for this year.

______What foreign country would you like to visit most? Why?

______Name seven appropriate and inexpensive places to go on a date.

______Write five good reasons why it is not okay to hit other people. Write about a time when you were hurt or in pain.

______What is the funniest movie you ever saw?

______If you are mad at someone, what are five things you can do to avoid violence?

______Describe four part-time jobs you’d enjoy working while in high school.

______Describe the scariest movie you ever saw.

______What would you do to improve the quality of teachers at this school?

______List three times you did not follow a staff member’s directions.

______If you were a scientist, what diseases would you try to cure? Also, list five diseases and explain what you know about them. ______Describe your least favorite foods to eat around the holidays.

______What are five ways to avoid arguing in order to solve conflicts peacefully?

______Describe a time when you were in the snow. If you've never been in the snow, describe a time when you were cold.

Date Completed

______Discuss your favorite animals. Also, write about animals you do not like.

______Write about a time when someone made you feel better when you were feeling down.

______List five things you do in school to get along with others.

______List five good reasons why a person should want to learn in school.

______Describe seven different animals in detail.

______Write about your best and worst birthdays.

______What should you do to prepare for an earthquake?

______Describe the following items to a friendly alien from Planet X: The wind, the snow, a racecar, a sporting event, and a mountain.

______Are there any types of stealing or borrowing without permission that you feel is acceptable? Explain.

______Describe the saddest movie you ever saw.

______What are three of the biggest differences between what happens on TV and what happens in the real world?

______Describe a time when someone gave you a lack of respect. Explain three ways to show respect to others.

______Analyze what characteristics make a good parent.

______What are some things that parents tell you that you find hard to believe?

______Explain a time when you fixed something. How did you fix it? Do you like fixing things? Why or why not?

You can increase good behavior in your classroom by using the “Gap Theory of Compliance.” What does this mean? It means the effectiveness of your punishments is related to the gap between the boringness of the punishment environment and the exhilaration of the non-punishment environment.

In other words, your goal is to create an exhilarating classroom environment and a dreadfully boring punishment area. I developed this idea when I visited juvenile hall and observed the on-task behavior of the student- prisoners in their classrooms. When I asked the guard why these student- prisoners were so well behaved, he replied, “If they are disruptive we put them in an empty room with nothing to do for 24 hours.”

Translation? Kids are desperately afraid of being bored to death!

Here’s an example of an ineffective use of punishment: the teacher is boring, the subject matter is dry, and the teacher has established the hallway as the timeout area for misbehaving students. The hallway outside generally has a lot of activity, with students and staff passing by. The classroom is dull. As a student, which area would you rather be in?

Here’s a more effective use of punishment: The physics teacher has arranged to take his class to an amusement park to ride giant roller coasters as part of a unit on gravity and force. Students are told beforehand that if they misbehave in class they will be left behind in the In School Suspension (ISS) where they must sit in cubicles and do extended work with the physics textbooks. Can you see how students might be motivated to remain well behaved before the field trip?

36 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com How to Apply the Gap Theory of Compliance to Your Classroom

1. Make your class as interesting as possible. While the book presents many techniques on how to accomplish this, here are some additional ideas:

a. Videotape yourself and see how boring you really are! Ask two trusted adults to analyze the tape and give their objective viewpoint. Then, be bold and creative in improving your delivery of instruction.

b. Do all your weekly lesson plans before you leave work on Friday. This way, your basic lessons are set up and you can find interesting ways to augment those lessons over the weekend.

c. Use Interest Inventories to hook your class. (See Chapter 8, “Interest Inventories: The Secret Door to Your Students’ Desires.”) Any time you can use materials that capture the interests of your students, you will be able to make the class relevant.

d. Utilize information you gain on your student-teacher “Walk and Talks” to make the class relevant and fun for your kids. (See Chapter 7, “Transforming Students with Walk and Talk.”)

e. Include fun activities for the kids even if that isn’t your style of teaching.

f. Use multi-sensory approaches to reach your students.

2. Make punishments as boring as possible. Here are some easy ideas to use:

a. Never use the hallway area for timeouts or time owed. Hallways can be far too interesting. Additionally, the misbehaving student is now unsupervised and it is easy to forget about him; he may end up staying out there for extended periods of time. Also note that sending a kid to a timeout outside the classroom on a frequent basis may be a violation of his due process rights to a free and appropriate education.

37 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com b. Have the student “pay you” his time owed during an activity that you know he truly enjoys. For example, if he loves a certain activity such as PE, art, or music, then make sure he pays you the time during those activities.

c. Ignore the student and have the student just sit there during the time owed. Do not interact with the student. Do not hand him schoolwork.

d. Set an egg timer for the duration of the time owed. When it goes off, he can leave. Make sure the egg timer is not within his reach.

e. Have the timeout area be in a boring cubicle with nothing stimulating around him.

f. Do not do anything interesting for him to see or hear during the time owed. Do not talk to adults or listen to music.

g. Regardless of the student’s age or the severity of the offense, establish a time owed of only two to 10 minutes.

A significant problem for teachers is that we’re required to aim for “the middle” to reach most of the class. Then, during independent practice, the gifted kids finish early and yell out, “I’m done!”

Don’t let them simply sit there and do nothing! Remember to tell your students that life is made up of time. When you waste your time, you waste your life.

Of course, enrichment and accelerated activities are a regular part of the gifted student’s calendar. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is often difficult to plan enrichment activities for each lesson. So when our speedy students cry out, “I’m done,” we often ignore them or scramble for some kind of assignment while we assist their peers.

Here’s a great solution!

Create an “I’m Done” poster! Use the information you’ve collected from your student’s “Interest Inventories” (see Chapter 8) and from your “Walk and Talk” time with them (see Chapter 7). Make the enrichment activities relevant to the instructional subject matter. Create ongoing Internet projects they can do. Have a list of extra credit assignments they can select from. However, make sure the students are not rushing through their assignments to move onto those extra activities.

On the following page you’ll find a sample “What To Do When I’m Done” poster.

Write (Poems, Songs, Letters, Compliments)

Organize (your backpack/binder, the classroom)

Read (textbook, free reading book, magazine)

Draw (maps, pictures, art work)

Also consider these things to do:

Homework Internet Puzzles

As I discussed in Chapter 16, one of the “Eight Secrets That Eliminate ADHD Behaviors in the Classroom” is the technique of asking a question after speaking three to five sentences to your class. This is because sentences merely transmit information to passive listeners while a question forces them to retrieve and verify stored information.

One effective way to do this is to write your questions ahead of time on Post-It notes and then place them inside the teacher edition of the textbook as an “in-your-face reminder” to ask questions as you and the class read the material together.

But what if you are reading aloud in front of the class without such notes to prompt your questions? And, just as you begin to lose the attention of your students, an administrator enters the room to do an impromptu observation?

Well, here’s the solution:

Take the five questions listed below and tape them to the wall in the back of your class. Or write them on a small card, which you can keep visible on your desk or use as a bookmark. That way, those questions will always be available to you and they will prompt you to ask your students questions.

The five questions are:

1. Compare it to . . .

2. Apply this to . . .

3. What do you think about . . .

4. What do you feel about . . .

5. Give an example of . . .

Remember to use a specific student’s name at the end of each question in order to keep them on their toes. See Chapter 16 for more details.

41 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Creating the Perfect Teacher Binder: How to Stay Organized and Raise Your Credibility

One of the biggest problems teachers face is trying to balance the role of teaching children and managing children. Our “teaching children” activities include preparing lessons, delivering lessons, evaluating student work and attending in-services. Our “managing children” duties tend to focus on parent contacts, school-wide policies, and co-coordinating services with other professionals.

It is vital to have an easy and consistent way to deal with all “management of children” duties.

The best solution is to create a three-ring teacher binder. The binder will vary from teacher to teacher.

Why do you need a teacher binder? Imagine you are teaching class and the assistant principal walks in to ask why you never called back Joey’s dad. You can say to the administrator, “I am teaching right now, but you can turn my teacher binder to Joey’s name to see if that solves the concern.” So, the administrator turns to the student’s page on Joey and reads:

March 2, tried the parent number and got a fax machine sound. March 3, tried the parent’s phone number. Not home. Left a message with the grandmother to have parent call me.

Let me give you another scenario. Let’s say there is a call from the office saying that the administrators have an upset parent in their office, and the principal wants you to join them for an immediate meeting with the parent. You wisely bring your teacher binder to this impromptu meeting. The parent accuses you of “never doing anything about my child failing in your class.” You calmly open your teacher binder and find the page where you have listed all the conversations you have had with others about this child, including exact quotes from the parents, if any. Also listed are the follow-up steps you took as a result of the previous conversations. Then, of course, you write down anything that happens in this impromptu meeting.

Here is one more scenario. You get an emergency call from someone looking for one of your students. You open your teacher binder to the “student locator page,” which means you are immediately able to report, “Well, it’s Monday at 1:10 pm, and according to my schedule he should be in Room 600 with the speech therapist. You can reach her by calling extension 177.”

So, how do you set up your teacher binder? Each binder will vary from teacher to teacher, but, essentially, there are two parts of the binder. The first part contains general information. The second part contains specific information about each student.

It is critical that the binder not become too cumbersome. For example, if you teach five periods of science, it is best to have one separate binder for each class.

FIRST PART

1) A page that lists the names of each student and where they are scheduled to be throughout the day. 2) A master schedule of each teacher that tells you where they are throughout the day. 3) A school map that delineates the evacuation route for your class during a fire drill. 4) A handy translation page in case you speak to parents who do not speak English. See the next page for Spanish translations of commonly used phrases. 5) A page that lists all phone numbers for each parent or guardian.

SECOND PART

1) A page that lists basic information for each student, such as: phone numbers, health and medication issues, and any other relevant information. 2) Copies of each student’s progress reports. 3) A copy of each student’s Interest Inventory. 4) Any school referrals for misbehavior. 5) Three blank pieces of lined paper to record all conversations with parents, educators and other support providers regarding the student.

English Spanish

English ingles

Good Morning Buenos dias

Thank you Gracias

Please Take a Seat Tomen asiento,por favor (to a group) Tome asiento, por favor (to one person)

Any Questions? ¿Hay preguntas?

Please Listen Escuchen, por favor (to a group) Escuche, por favor (to one person)

Be Careful! ¡Tengan cuidado! (to a group) ¡Tenga cuidado! (to one person)

I’m Sorry Lo siento

Excuse me Con permiso (when asking permission to walk by a person)

Bless You (after a sneeze) ¡Salud!

Cheers! ¡Salud!

How do you say ______¿Como se dice ______en español? In ______(Spanish)?

Where is your homework? ¿Donde esta su tarea? (to one person)

Do you need help? ¿Necesita ayuda? (to one person) ¿Necesitan ayudan? (to a group)

What do you need? ¿Que necesita? (to one person) ¿Que necesitan? (to a group)

Do you understand? ¿Entiende? (to one person) ¿Entienden? (to a group)

Form a line, please Forme una fila, por favor 44 —————————————————————————————————————————————— © Tom Daly www.adhdsolution.com Wait, please Espere, por favor (to one person) Esperen, por favor (to a group)

Notes to educators:

1. Try to master a new word or phrase each day. For example, start the day off thinking, “Today I am going to say con permiso a lot so that it will stick in my brain!” If you learn just one word or phrase a day, you will be an effective communicator in Spanish in less than two years! Start with mastering and using the 18 phrases listed above.

2. You can use your emerging Spanish speaking skills as an excellent way to form connections with individual students. This can be successfully used with hard-to- reach students, who often enjoy a bit of a challenge. Example: “Listen, here’s the deal. I will help you one on one with your math for 15 minutes a day, but you have to help me with my Spanish five minutes after we are done. Is it a deal?” An adult Spanish speaker can verify the accuracy of the information you receive from your student or students.

3. Consider taking Spanish classes at a community college or university. If you need units to advance on the salary schedule, make sure that these classes count. While it may be inconvenient to take extra classes, remember that success is normally inconvenient! If you find the class useful but have trouble mastering the information, consider re-taking the class before moving on.

4. Be patient with yourself. It is common to feel as if you are mastering bits and pieces, and then other times feel like you are lost. Think of learning a language as you would assembling an intricate jigsaw puzzle. Be patient and eventually all the pieces will fall into place.

5. Travel, travel, and travel! While traveling, force yourself to speak only Spanish as much as possible. Total immersion is the best way to improve fluency and will vastly increase your confidence when speaking Spanish to your students and their parents.

When typing Spanish, remember that all sentences that end in a question mark must also begin with an upside-down question mark. This same rule applies for exclamation points. In most computers, you can go to “insert” on your tool bar and select “symbol” to find those marks. You can also find accents there. Accents are important.