8 Discipline Strategies for Kids With ADHD

Provide Positive Attention

育儿a child with ADHD can be exhausting. Their never-endingsupply of energyand desire to talk constantly can tire even the most patient parent. However, providing a child with ADHD积极的attentionis a good investment.

Positive playtime reduces attention-seeking behavior. And it will make your consequences more effective. No matter how difficult their behavior has been, set aside one-on-one time with your child every day.

给有效Instructions

Kids with short attention spans need extra help following directions. Quite often, they don't hear the instructions in the first place. Tomake your instructions more effective, start by gaining your child's full attention. Turn off the television, establish eye contact, and place a hand on your child’s shoulder before making a request.

避免链命令,“穿上袜子,蜡烛an your room, and then take out the trash.” A child with ADHD is likely to put on their socks, and then on the way to their room, find something else to do rather than clean it. Give one instruction at a time.

Stay away from broad tasks like "clean your room." Instead, provide a checklist or assign one task a time, such as making the bed, putting dirty clothes in the hamper, replacing books on the shelf, and so on.

Praise Your Child's Effort

Catch your child being good and point it out.Praise motivateschildren with ADHD to behave, and frequent feedback is important.

Make your praise specific. Instead of saying, “Nice job,” say, “Great job putting your dish in the sink right when I asked you to.” Praise your child for following directions, playing quietly, and sitting still and you'll encourage them to keep it up.

Use Time-Out When Necessary

Time-outcan be a good way to help kids with ADHD calm their bodies and their brains. Time-out doesn’t have to be a harshpunishment. Instead, it can be a great life skill that is useful in many situations.

Teach your child to go to a quiet spot to calm down when they are overstimulated or frustrated. Create a comfortable area and calmly guide them there, not as punishment, but as a way to soothe themselves. Eventually, your child will learn to go to this place on their own before they get into trouble.

Ignore Mild Misbehaviors

Kids with ADHD often exhibit attention-seeking behavior. Giving them attention, even when it's negative, encourages those behaviors to continue.

Ignoring mild misbehaviorsteaches them that obnoxious behavior won't get them desired results. Ignorewhining, complaining, loud noises, and attempts to interrupt you. Eventually, your child will stop.

Allow for Natural Consequences

When disciplining a child with ADHD, pick your battles wisely. You don’t want your child to feel as though they can’t do anything right or that they are constantly getting into trouble. Allowing some behaviors to slide can help both of you.

Sometimes,allowing for natural consequencesmakes more sense than trying to convince a child to make a better choice. For example, if your child refuses to take a break from playing to eat lunch, simply put the food away.

The natural consequence is that they will likely be hungry later and will have to wait until dinner to eat. Tomorrow, they will be more motivated to eat lunch when it is served.

Establish a Reward System

Reward systemscan be a great way to help kids with ADHD stay on track. But children with ADHD often get bored with traditional reward systems that require them to wait too long to earn a reward. Consider establishing atoken economy systemthat helps your child earn tokens throughout the day.

Establish a few target token-earning behaviors, such as staying at the table during a meal, using gentle touches with a pet, or putting toys away after using them. Then, allow tokens to be exchanged for bigger rewards, like electronics time or a chance to play a favorite game together.

Work With Your Child's Teacher

When parents work together with a child's teacher, it increases the chances that a child will be successful in school. Some children need modifications to their schoolwork, such as being allowed extra time on tests, to be successful.

Behavior modificationsmay be necessary as well. Forcing a child with ADHD to stay in for recess may worsen behavior problems. So it's important to work together to create abehavior management planthat will support your child's efforts to manage their symptoms.

For example, a child may receive points or tokens at school that can be exchanged for privileges at home.