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Regular Features
THE
PARENT COACH
Dr.
Steven Richfield provides articles on many different aspects of raising a child
with ADHD.
ASK
THE ADVOCATE
Each
month we our advocate will be answering questions from our visitors about yours
and your children's rights in the educational system.
PARENTS
TALK
A mother is trying to help her teenage son learn anger management.
MOTIVATION
TIPS
Five great ideas for motivation, including The Shoe Race, Trading Places
and more.
ORGANIZATION
TIPS
Organize your child at home, and maybe find some tips that will help you
as well.
ADHD
IN THE NEWS
Headlines about ADHD, Learning Disability and Mental Disorders
Study on ADD and TV
The recent study published on watching television between the ages of one and
three and the possible link to ADD/ADHD did not take many considerations into
account. The author of the study even admits that he cannot conclude that
television watching and ADD/ADHD are linked.
Read the
Article
Back To This Month's Newsletter
Back To This Month's Motivation Tip
Click here for organizational tips
Motivational Games and Ideas
Page 1
The
Shoe Race
In
my house, everyone left their shoes in the middle of the living room floor. It
drove me crazy. I set up a track with cars on it, and any time someone
caught someone else leaving their shoes on the floor, they would get to move up
a space. Every time they put their shoes away they moved up a space.
The whole family got involved in this race and everyone had a lot of fun and
started remembering to pick up after themselves.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
I used this one with my preschooler,
who decided he no longer wanted to dress himself each morning. Using a
poster board, I cut out a "water spout" and a spider. I used 11
pieces of Velcro on the water spout and also put a piece on the back of the
spider. The spider started in the middle of the water spout.
Each morning he dressed himself, the spider moved
up one space. If he refused to dress himself, the spider moved down.
Since my son loves to go to the dollar store, at
the end of the week, if the spider reached the top of the spout, we went to the
dollar store and he could pick out a toy.
The Horse Races
Using construction paper make a race track. Find
some plastic horses in your local dollar store or discount store.
This game can be played in one of two ways:
1) Each person gets a horse and a goal. The
goal is broken down into steps. For example, if the goal is to hand in homework
for a week, then each day is one step toward that goal. When the goal is
met, the horse moves up one space. Each person that reaches the finish
line by the end of the week wins a prize (remember prizes do not necessarily
have to cost money).
2) Your child gets one horse and you get a
different horse. Each time (we will use homework again for sake of simplicity)
your child hands in his homework, his(her) horse moves up one space. Any
day that he(she) doesn't hand it in, your horse moves up.
Trading Places
For an hour or two on a Saturday afternoon, trade
places with your child. Let them be the parent, and you be the child.
This game is to help both parent and child grow closer by understanding each
other a little better.
Before beginning the game, make sure the house is
straightened up and then set some rules. The "parent" must keep
the house in order, get drinks, and whatever else you would do during the
afternoon at home.
You, as the "child" should run around,
take all the toys out or behave as your child does. Do not do it
maliciously, or say, "see what I have to put up with!" but try to
understand their play and their energy level as well as help them to understand
yours.
At the end of the game, go out for ice cream
together and laugh about it and discuss what both of you learned.
Paper Dolls and Tea Parties
Getting ready for school has always been a chore
around our house. To help my young daughter be on time each morning, we
made a simple chart with pictures of the different activities she needed to
complete: Getting Dressed, Making Up The Bed, Brushing Her Teeth, Eating
Breakfast. We also made a cut out of a doll and various clothing parts cut
from construction paper.
Each morning, as the chart is completed, she is
able to put a piece of clothing on the paper doll. When the doll is
completely dressed, we plan and enjoy a tea party together. We have
purchased a tea set just for this purpose and it sits in the china cabinet in
view of our daughter to remind her throughout the week.
So far this has worked great and we have only had a few mornings where she was not ready on time.