ADHD

[finleysmaid]

HI all i have a little chap 3 and a half in my setting who has suspected ADHD (his father is diagnosed) 

He is a delightful boy and we love having him but it is a full time job to ensure he keeps himself safe and the other children .

We have had children with mild ADHD before, often with ASD too, but this little one is a completely different boy. 

Does anyone have any tips that have worked well? He cannot regulate his behaviour and really dislikes being outside ! What activities have worked well? 

So far we find we have to ignore any unwanted behaviours (like climbing on furniture or running away from us or we just get more 

[louby loo]

We had one little boy, and what worked for us was- NOT giving positve praise (think it caused him stress to try to maintain the good behaviour all the time?), and giving him 'adult' jobs to do such as tidying an area (not putting toys away but emptying the bins, sorting pencils and washing up paint pots sort of jobs- then thanking him as you would any adult with a very simple 'thanks mate' kind of thing.  It was still quite hard work finding him 'jobs' to do though!

It is very wearing though.

 

[sunnyday]

Hi fm

He sounds very much like a little boy that I had the pleasure of working with a few years back - the only way that we could 'manage' him and help him was to assign one-to-one...I had to do so without any extra funding so that was far from ideal.

Good luck - it was all very challenging - but I still see him from time to time and I am pleased to be able say that he is doing well - he needed one-to-one at primary school too - he has just left for secondary school (mainstream) and I don't know what the arrangements are there for him...

[finleysmaid]

He definitely needs one to one most of the time. For instance if we leave him to go to the loo on his own he climbs in the toilet, or sticks his head in it. (part of his sensory seeking behaviours ) I have tried to give him jobs but they are either not motivating enough or he cannot remember the instruction, is distracted by a sound/something else in the room.

Getting him outside is proving an enormous challenge, yet he needs to be free to run and climb without danger. 

[louby loo]

On 15/11/2023 at 17:15, finleysmaid said:

He definitely needs one to one most of the time. For instance if we leave him to go to the loo on his own he climbs in the toilet, or sticks his head in it. (part of his sensory seeking behaviours ) I have tried to give him jobs but they are either not motivating enough or he cannot remember the instruction, is distracted by a sound/something else in the room.

Getting him outside is proving an enormous challenge, yet he needs to be free to run and climb without danger. 

He sounds like more than  just ADHD is going on in his little life 😢

This job is getting so much harder for us now.  It really is quite draining for the whole team and I hope you are managing to get outside support with him.

[sunnyday]

On 15/11/2023 at 17:15, finleysmaid said:

 

Getting him outside is proving an enormous challenge, yet he needs to be free to run and climb without danger. 

What is it that he dislikes about going outside?

Is it the clothing required, or weather conditions, or something else?

You have my sympathy I know how difficult this must be for you and your team.

Have you managed to secure any 'outside' help - I have no idea if that is still difficult - certainly was in my day...

[finleysmaid]

The clothes are an issue for outside we are being as flexible as we can He is now accepting of the waterproofs but will not wear boots. We can get him to wear his shoes some of the time! ...he has been at a childminders who does not let the children out if it is raining ...so if it is wet or muddy it's a problem. There isn't any help available except advice (which is not always helpful !) I don't think he has anything else in terms of SEND, he has excellent eye contact, is personable, can make friendships, and has appropriate responses to stimuli (although over the top/extreme} 

Lovely but hard work! the other children understand that he gets away with things that they would get told off for ....i always find this tricky but if you spend your whole morning getting him to stop climbing it just becomes a huge battle ignoring it is the only way forwards!