Is it effective for ADHD students?
The December 2011 issue of the journal Learning and Individual Differences published research titled ADHD and academic attainment: Is there an advantage in impulsivity?
Dr. Peter Tymms,DurhamUniversity’s (http://www.dur.ac.uk/) leading education expert, analyzed test scores spanning more than 500 British schools and found that ADHD students who shouted out answers scored better than their quiet peers.
Scores were significantly better; louder ADHD students were about nine months ahead of quieter classmates in reading and math. Tymms says the findings raise questions about how best to teach youngsters with ADHD.
Prof Tymms said: “Children with ADHD symptoms who get excited and shout out answers in class seem to be cognitively engaged and, as a result, learn more.
“Perhaps those children also benefit from receiving additional feedback and attention from their teacher.”
For most teachers, having children shout out answers in a classroom setting is not practical; other children don’t have time to reflect and then think of an answer. Shouting often interrupts the thinking process. However, research tells us that ADHD children who shout out answers in class often learn quicker than their quieter schoolmates.
Is there a middle road? Perhaps setting a game format for review of classroom material in which it is fair to call out answers would assist ADHD children in learning quicker (think Jeopardy). At home, parents could allow their child to call out answers when doing homework.
This also raises the question whether we should teach ADHD children to be able to control their impulsiveness and to think before acting.
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