HANDLING HYPERACTIVE STUDENTS

The challenge in working with hyperactive children is to balance their needs with the needs of your other students. You want to create an optimal learning environment for the hyperactive student, mindful of the issues of peer rejection and low self-esteem. At the same time, you want to minimize the disruption to your other students. That requires considerable structure, support, and consistency. It also demands patience and restraint in the face of often difficult and frustrating behavior.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Identify the source of the student's high activity level. Although hyperactivity might stem from an attention deficit disorder that has a physiological basis, it also might result from other causes. It might be, for example, that the work is too hard for the student, causing her to feel frustrated, or too easy, causing her to become bored.

Also, you need to determine whether the student is confused about the directions or lacks the materials needed to complete the task.

In addition, consider whether her high activity level reflects agitation or distress.


Adjust your classroom standards. You might have to rethink your assumption that all students must be seated at their desks, facing forward, feet on the floor, and backs straight.

For example, you might allow a hyperactive student to stand up near her desk, walk around with a clipboard, or read while standing as long as she doesn't disrupt other students.

Some teachers even allow their more active students to work in the hall (under a watchful eye), so they can walk around when they're feeling antsy.

Give the student a break. A hyperactive student tends to get restless sooner than other students. If so, give her a breather. For example, you might have her work for 20 minutes on a math assignment, then take a break for five minutes, and then begin work on a reading task.

Have the student engage in some movement during the break, going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water, for example.

Provide opportunities for the student to release excess energy.

Allow her to redirect her seemingly boundless energy by engaging in constructive activities rather than moving around aimlessly. In that way, she learns to be responsible and contribute to the class while releasing energy that might otherwise disturb other students.

Feeling a sense of belonging is especially important to the hyperactive student. The following are some examples of activities you might ask her to do: decorate a bulletin board, collect or distribute papers, feed the classroom pets, or deliver a message to another teacher.

Allow the student to manipulate objects at her desk. Some hyperactive students are able to play with small items and still stay on task and remain in their seats. Indeed, doing so might help them pay attention. Consider letting an active student play with such items as a paper clip or a pipe cleaner as long as she can remain on task. Or you might let her squeeze a stress ball to release tension while sitting in her seat.

Establish a signal to cue a student that she is out of her seat. Just as you might with a student with an attention problem, arrange a subtle signal with a hyperactive student to alert her that she needs to return to her seat. That might be a wink of your eye, a touch on your shoulder, or a pull on your ear.

You might need to quietly say her name to get her attention. If necessary, follow up the signal with a verbal reminder to the student to return to her seat.


Ticket, please. If the student gets out of her seat often to do such things as sharpen her pencil or ask a question, you might give her a limited number of tickets and require that she give you one when she wants to leave her seat. When she runs out of tickets, she is not allowed to leave her seat. If she does, take away three minutes of her recess. That will help teach her self-control while lessening her out-of-seat behavior.