Children with ADHD have numerous organizational difficulties such as not bringing the right books home, sometimes forgetting to complete assignments while at other times working hard on an assignment and then forgetting to turn it in and they also have a tendency to work too quickly on an assignment which leads to simple mistakes that nevertheless bring down grades.  Older students often have difficulty with time management such as knowing how to break down a long assignment into smaller steps or how to approach studying for a test covering multiple units of instruction.

             These difficulties are the result of impairment in what psychologists call executive functioning.  Children with age appropriate skills will be able to master these organization tasks with little or no help from adults.  However, these do not come naturally to kids with ADHD but they can learn these skills and with an appropriate reinforcement program can learn to implement the skills to the point they become a habit. 

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Homework can be challenging for parents and kids when ADHD is in the picture. In order to prevent hassles, the first place to start is at your child’s school.

Try to meet with your child’s teachers and learn what the homework expectations will be for the coming school year. (If the homework assignments seem to be excessive, remember that under 504 plans or an IEP, it is possible for the amount of homework to be modified to accommodate the abilities of the child with ADHD.) At this time, it’s also a good idea to set up regular quarterly meetings or determine a system for communication between parent and teacher to make sure that everybody’s on the same page.

The next step is to set the stage at home. Just prior to the start of school, it’s probably a good idea to have a time to talk about upcoming changes that the start of school will bring. Homework can be presented in the context of “It’s part of the work of a child to do some work at home, just like it is for adults.”  If you or your spouse bring work home from time to time, use that as an example.  (more…)