ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a behavioral disorder diagnosed in children who exhibit a lack of attention, Hyperactivity, or impulsivity, as well as other behaviors.
The definition above highlights the disorder and makes it easy to understand why kids with ADHD tend to enjoy playing ball and running around, but struggle when it comes to tasks that require some level of concentration for long periods of time, for example reading.
A recent study revealed that about 50% of children diagnosed with ADHD will exhibit some reading problems.
This is one of the most frustrating aspects of the disorder for most parents of ADHD kids who really want them to learn to read.
Another frustrating issue is getting kids with ADHD to sit still – they just want to be all over the place running, never still.
Reading is important in most areas of a child’s development.
It influences who they might become and what they are around to contribute to society in their adult life.
It becomes important to give kids with ADHD an equal opportunity by helping them to learn how to read.
In this article, we will discuss some methods that can help parents with ADHD kids to tech then to read.
Make it fun
First, you have to connect with your ADHD child in order to build trust, then try to make him see that reading is a positive activity and can be fun.
Engage him in a friendly and playful atmosphere. You can sit him on your lap if it will make him settle a little bit till you can win his attention.
Try to reduce distractions. Kids with ADHD can be distracted quite easily so you might want to read in a quiet space – away from other family members.
Underline the words with your finger as you read the words out loud. Doing this can help him learn new words and their meanings.
Encourage him to turn the pages so he knows that you turn pages to the left.
Encourage your child to read what interests them
Some ADHD kids tend to find interests in sports so you might want to have them read books that have sports illustrations.
They can be interested in anything from animals to cars, even tools – ensure that they are interested in the book you are reading with them.
The last thing you want is for your toddler to get bored, which can make him restless and not want to continue reading.
A child will develop interests in new things, so you should observe close so you can know what books to buy read next.
Let them use up some of their energy before reading
ADHD Kids have a lot of excess energy, they never seem to be tired of running about.
But it is more important to recognize this and find a way to work around it.
You can let them burn out some of that energy, maybe till they have had “enough” then you can proceed to teach them to read.
When they are a bit worn out and less energetic, they can be calmer and more mentally and physically prepared to read.