Wiki Activity

Question: Break into groups, which each group assigned a different disability (for example emotional disorders, articulations disorders, ADHD, intellectual disabilities). Each group  should create a page that can be linked to their blog for the disability they are assigned. Answer the following questions about the disorder:

       

      1)  What are the specific diagnoses that you might see?

      2) What are the characteristics you might observe?

      3)  What kind of accommodations might you need to prepare?

      4) What kind of teaching strategies might be helpful for students?

Answer: 
ADHD

1) For a diagnosis of ADHD, the symptoms must also have appeared before the age of 7 (for childhood ADHD), and have continued for at least 6 months.So the critical questions to consider before an ADHD diagnosis is made are whether the symptoms are: (a) excessive compared with what would be expected; (b) longer-term rather than in response to a recent change; and (c) pervasive rather than limited to one environment.

2) There are two distinct characteristics of a person with ADHD which are either hyperactivity/impulsivity or inattention. People who show signs of inattention have symptoms of not being able to concentrate, struggle to organize and complete tasks on time, or has problems learning new things. Signs of hyperactivity are: can't sit still and fidget a lot and try to multitask. Lastly, signs of impulsivity are: difficulty thinking before acting and problems with waiting his or her turn. 

3) Some accommodations that could be made for people with ADHD are maybe taking large projects and dividing them up in smaller projects so they are easier to concentrate on. Writing down instructions for the student to use or using post it notes with due dates on them as reminders. I think the best thing a person can do for someone with ADHD is to limit all possible chances of distractions because that is usually one major problem for people with ADHD. 

4) When teaching students with this disorder, some strategies that might be useful are: provide an advanced organizer to keep them on track, do a recap of the previous lessons to make sure they were paying attention and hasn't fallen behind, set behavioral and learning expectations so they have something to work towards, and simplify instructions.