ATTITUDES THAT TEACHERS NEED TO HAVE

The school is a difficult context for the child with ADHD because:

- He has to be sitting, quiet and still…
- Needs to be able to ignore irrelevant stimulus and pick on the relevant information.
- Respond to different stimulus at the same time
- Attend to a lot of verbal information and less visual one.
- Get the idea, programme action and decide steps to take in order to do it.
- Do mental effort for an extended period of time.
- Effort applies mainly on cognitive tasks, not motor o emotional ones.
- Succeed on the task to get positive feedback and recognition.
- Sustain motivation during long periods and in different tasks.
- Look after the material they use, and take home and back to school when they are going to need it.
- Remember to do homework and study daily.
- Show what they know mainly on written exercises.
- Be able to self-evaluate what they do and be accurate when they do it.
- Follow norm, instructions and routines.
- Relate appropriately to peers and adults.
- Regulate emotions that could interfere with all the previous tasks.

Trinidad Bonet Camañes y Yolanda Soriano García, 2013

• Teachers need to understand that:

«At the school we ask of them to do what it is most difficult for them, during long periods of time and, quite often, their effort is not supported by good results»

It is very important to think about this statement to be able to understand the need to adapt our methodology, activities and resources to their characteristics and needs.

• Following Russell Barkley teachers need to be reassured in their effort to acknowledge that:

They can influence, modify and minimize the difficulties of the pupil with ADHD mainly by:

- Changing the environment and adjusting stimulus for the child with ADHD.

- Managing consequences of their behavior.

- Training them in some strategies and skills so their executive functioning, delay time, inhibition capacity, internal language and emotional self-regulation improves.