With the comprehension that Charlene is suffering from ADHD and not any other disease, it gets easier to know how to approach her and deal with the inattentiveness. The eventual goal is to ensure that she is up to the same level of life with her peers and not miss out on the important learning tasks in her childhood. Therefore, teaching Charlene requires a lot on the side of the teacher with a simultaneous support system from her parents and friends.
Educating Charlene would require that I fully understand how ADHD affects her in particular. ADHD has unique and different effects on different individuals (Bay & Shapiro, 2017). For example, since placing Charlene in a small group has proved difficult to manage as she not only distracts their participation but also affects the entire group’s performance, it would be recommendable that small groups be minimized mostly. For the class activities that demand group discussions, then a special approach and attention should be placed on Charlene to ensure she captures something from such sessions (Flanagan, 2021). I would need to have an occasional sitting with Charlene’s parents in the presence of their child’s therapist to learn how to improve her behavior for better results. Such regular sittings would sync our efforts in channeling Charlene’s energy to positive learning and, more so, help all the parties to be intentionally involved in her life.
Another aspect to keep in mind while teaching Charlene is that she needs more focus and attention compared to the other kids (Flanagan, 2021). Her troubles of not finishing assignments, having difficulty following instructions, and staying organized call for extra attention to her if at all she is to learn something at the end of the day. Hence, she requires gradual and consistent teaching that is based on learning one thing at a time (Flanagan, 2021). I would try not to force her to learn everything in one sitting. However, I will focus on ascertaining that she completely captures one concept and knows how to apply it perfectly before moving on to a totally different thing. Since she easily gets distracted with what lies in front of her, in this case, her pencils, I would retrieve them from her unless where needed. Everything that affects her focus and attention will have to stay away from her reach during class time. Alternatively, another approach would be to introduce educational indoor extracurricular activities that help her to put all the energy that she possesses into good use.
More often than not, whenever Charlene is reprimanded for her actions, she acts out negatively and even uses negative and abusive language. To tackle this repetitive absurd behavior, I would need to put her side by side with her best friends or kids who are aware of her condition and positively want to assist her. In this case, the chances are that she will restrain herself from being aggressive and angry all the time. When the school regulations call upon me to discipline her, I would do it in a way that is purposeful and warm. A manner that would still appear encouraging and supportive, which has a consequence of her shunning away from repeating her mistakes (Flanagan, 2021). Furthermore, whenever she tackles small assignments brilliantly, I would be sure to celebrate her small winnings in front of the whole class. I would encourage fellow class members to do the same even where her efforts are not that above average. This action would create a positive image around her to also allow other students who have been previously mishandled by her to cheer up.
References
Bay, M. J., & Shapiro, B. K. (2017). Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. Oxford Medicine Online. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199937837.003.0060
Flanagan, C. (2021, May 7). Must-know parenting tips for children with ADHD. Largest Content & Social Networking Platform for Women. https://hercircle.in/hcm/EngageHTML/MustKnow-Parenting-Tips-For-Children-With-ADHD-595.html
