How can Educational Therapy help ADHD? (Part 2)

In my last blog post, I discussed how educational therapy can help with common struggles children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) have: Time Management, Emotional Regulation, and Organization of School Work. This week I am going to continue breaking down 3 more skills that educational therapy can help with: Transitions, Over/Understimulation, and Focus.

Transitions

Whether it is getting into a shower, coming to the table for dinner, or just stopping a TV show or video game, transitions can be difficult for people affected with ADHD. Often times, after the transition happens, there are no issues, but the act of transitioning can cause tantrums, stubbornness, and conflict. This is because the ADHD brain lives in the present and doesn't immediately see the reward in changing activities, "I am enjoying what I am doing, why would I change it?"

Educational therapy can offer solutions to help a person affected with ADHD. One of the biggest ways they can do that is by creating a structured, predictable environment. Part of the struggle is that brains affected by ADHD are disregulated and require more explicit regulation to help handle changes in the day. Educational therapists can provide routine and queuing to help someone recognize when an activity is ending and when another will being to strengthen the transition area of the brain.

Over/Understimulation

Many people with ADHD have difficulties with "digesting" all of the different senses around them, whether it be the taste of food, the sound of a room, how new clothes feel, or the way the lights flicker. In some cases, these senses can be overloaded and cause bouts of anxiety or stress, leading to intense emotions. In other cases, these senses are dulled and require the person to seek out other stimuli and sensory interactions.

Educational therapists can help with both of these situations. They can create environments where students can feel safe to have these intense emotions/sensory interactions. Then, they can leverage a holistic, metacognitive model of intervention to help the student recognize their own emotions and triggers. Together, the educational therapist and student can then develop strategies to alleviate any type of over/understimulation as well as language to express how they are feeling.

Focus

One of the trademark symptoms and struggles of someone diagnosed with ADHD. Similar to how stimulation has two sides of a coin, so does focus. There is the inability to focus and the ability to hyper-focus. It is important to understand that both of these situations are disregulated focus (too much or too little) and that the existence of both do NOT negate each other.

Similar to over/understimulation, educational therapists can offer help and solutions for focus via creating an environment with outlets for students to shift their focus while guiding them back to the task at hand. They also track how long a student is able to focus/hyper-focus and then provide the student with insight to their own abilities. This can then lead to creating study/work strategies that are personalized to how long/well the student can focus along with creating techniques to tap into their ability to hyper-focus.

I hope that from reading these articles you have gained insight not only into how educational therapy can assist people with ADHD, but also about certain ways that a brain with ADHD can be impacted. If there you have any questions or comments, please comment below or contact The Learning Navigators at thelearningnavigators@gmail.com. Safe travels!