Resources for working with distracted kids with ADHD, history of trauma

November 15, 2015 8:04 AM

I'm looking for materials, tips, and ideas on working with elementary school kids. Many of them come from economically challenged families, lack stability, and have experienced significant trauma.

This is actually for my wife, who is doing fieldwork in an elementary school but having trouble finding support within her school and program. She's growing frustrated trying to work with kids who are bouncing off the walls all the time. Neither of us has an education background. I thought I'd take this search to the Internet and cast about for ideas. We have looked online and found things like curricula that you can pay to download, and "20 ways to deal with ADHD"-type articles. None of it seems that helpful.

Looking for practical suggestions, but also just directions to research more ideas. She is especially curious about mindfulness/meditation practices with distracted school kids and interested in finding examples that she could make use of.

posted by jeffgerhard to Education (6 answers total)

ERIC is an online library of education research and information, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. A search for "ADHD mindful" leads to a number of results, including:

Mindful Education for ADHD Students: Differentiating Curriculum and Instruction Using Multiple Intelligences, which is a book available in paperback form that claims to present "constructive strategies to help teachers work with ADHD students in ways that honor their strengths and allow for meaningful inclusion in the general education classroom."

A study about mindfulness training for children with ADHD is available at The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for Children with ADHD and Mindful Parenting for their Parents, J Child Fam Stud. 2012 Feb; 21(1): 139–147. Published online 2011 Feb 2. doi: 10.1007/s10826-011-9457-0
posted by Little Dawn at 8:47 AM on November 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I work with trauma and not ADHD, so assume my bias is that way, but trauma in children can often manifest in ways that look like ADHD but really aren't, and techniques that may work with non-traumatized kids with ADHD can often backfire with traumatized kids, because trauma can cause literal brain changes that mean that a child physically can't stay on task because their fight-flight-freeze response is constantly on, which means that any appeal to logic or any sort of punishment/reward system is simply not going to work.

Mindfulness is likely a great place to start. She may have better luck finding useful resources by focusing on the "trauma" side of things, especially as a lot of groups that work with foster and adopted kids have fairly good resources. Searching something like "trauma kids adoption brain" turns up a fair amount of material.

Children of Trauma: What Educators Need to Know (pdf)

It is important to understand that neither hyperarousal nor hypoarousal is the equivalent of inattention, voluntary, or within the individual’s control. They are physiological states and automatic responses to stress, although the behaviors that go with those states are learned. Oftentimes those behaviors were adaptive, and helped keep the child safe in other circumstances. They are now part of the child’s survival system in the same way that a military veteran may flinch when hearing a sound that resembles gunfire. As such, those behaviors are hard to overcome. The place to start is addressing the stressors that trigger the states and the behaviors – not focusing on the behaviors themselves....

Consequences, whether rewards, privileges, or punitive consequences, are ineffective when the behavior is outside the student’s ability to control – and worse than ineffective when the student sabotages himself to drop a level or lose a privilege.

Many children with a trauma history find it difficult to connect with their physical feelings and/or accurately evaluate their own emotional state; training them to do so is an important step toward self-regulation. Daily practice in evaluating emotions, moods, and physical states (e.g., relative heart and respiration rate, depth of breathing, chest tightness/pressure, body position/posture, specific muscle tension/position) helps children to connect emotions with corresponding physical signs. Charting can be done using graphic materials on which the student indicates his current stress or anxiety level where the teacher can see it (e.g., picture of a thermometer, strip of rainbow colors with purple indicating calm up to an “about to blow” red). Not only does this exercise give the child practice in knowing himself, it gives the teacher an opportunity to connect with a student who is struggling, help him identify the source and nature of the stressor, and assist him in returning to a calmer and more regulated state.

ADHD or Hyperarousal? Hyperactivity in Traumatised and Adopted Children (pdf)

Think of him as an anxious and frightened baby who can't self-soothe. Provide a consistent, predictable pattern to the day. Help him to settle by limiting the time he spends at exciting, physical play and by getting him involved in some calming activities - activities such as reading, doing puzzles, playing with playdough. Time with a parent is usually very soothing, holding, touching or just by your side helping, chatting, or even sitting. Keep him quietly with you for as long as you can manage. If you can only manage a couple of minutes of quiet to start with, that's OK - you can work on lengthening the periods. I would say, quite directly, to my son "You need some quiet time now, your brain's having difficulty calming down."

If he flies off the handle over something trivial, don't argue with him. You can't reason with someone who's frightened - do that later, when he's settled. Be sympathetic but firm, and stay calm. A display of anger and strong emotion will escalate the situation.

Learn to read the signs that he's getting out of control, and stop him before he escalates. His environment needs, ideally, to be low on stress and stimulation and high on parental contact and calm.

Understanding the Effects of Maltreatment on Brain Development (pdf) - This one is more background rather than advice for what to do with the information, but she might find it helpful anyway.

She might also try researching "emotional regulation" for more ideas. This page on Coping skills for managing emotions is a decent start. Traumatized kids are basically dealing with a lot of cortisol and other stress hormones that are highjacking their logical brains, and finding ways to reduce the stress and teach coping skills for self-soothing (like mindfulness or meditation) can be helpful.
posted by jaguar at 9:30 AM on November 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

I've seen the coping cat workbook used with a lot of efficacy with kids that have trauma histories. It's meant for children with anxiety issues and is CBT based, but the worksheets are straightforward and easy to implement. Also, coping cat is an adorable critter, and younger kids are usually into it because cartoons.
posted by batbat at 12:20 PM on November 15, 2015

Self regulation tips and strategies from the Centre for Development and Disabilities at the University of New Mexico. It's aimed at childcare providers but would probably also work well for your wife's situation.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:29 PM on November 15, 2015

Maybe some sessions with a therapy dog if you have an organization like Pet Partners in your area. My dog is certified as a reading therapy dog but different dogs do a wide variety of visit types.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:33 PM on November 15, 2015

My primary [elementary] school had the poorest socioeconomic background in the region, where a large number of kids were refugees, English as a second language, and kids talked about getting the bash or the belt a lot.


Anyway, when we were little, every time we came in from playtime, or at the beginning of the school day, we played a calming game like 'Sleeping Lions', or broke into pairs and massaged each others shoulders (I think they might have been doing a study on us for the massage thing, to see if it helped - you might need special sign off for something like that).


Also, our school had the Salvation Army come in and offer soup at lunchtime. A family member of mine currently helps at a similar school, funding a breakfast program there. If there is any chance that the kids do not have good nutrition (a lot of sugary breakfast cereals are really only barely better than nothing), then that will help more than a change in curriculum.


Try looking up 'calming games for children', and take 5 minutes to chill the kids out before progressing with classtime.

If a kid has 'ants in their pants', then, if possible, let them run it out. If the brain is going for a fight or flight response, letting them go 'flight' for a bit can help chill out.

If kids are self-soothing with fidgeting, keep a few stress balls/fidget toys, to throw to them to play with. You can also look up adhd wobble cushions. The actual fidgeting is fine, you just want to fine methods that won't distract everyone else.
posted by Elysum at 7:40 AM on November 16, 2015