ADHD is one of the most treatable disorders
but is often overlooked. About 5% of children worldwide have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Amongst those who have it, about 40% of children and 90% of adults go undiagnosed and untreated. As a private music instructor, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll encounter students with ADHD.
This post will show you the basics on understanding students with ADHD. I’ll show you how to recognize it, provide you an overview of ADHD and give you some teaching tips. Let’s begin with how to spot ADHD in your students.
Spotting ADHD
During new student interviews (usually towards the end), I always make sure to ask parents if there’s any neurodiversity issues I need to be aware of in their child. Having the parent let you know beforehand will help you immensely in the long run and they can give you key tips on how their child operates. Here’s some common symptoms you will see:
- Interrupting
- Speaking/playing loudly
- Time management difficulty
- Easily distracted by foreign noises
- Itchy nose/body while trying to concentrate
- Fidgeting
- Forgetfulness
- Difficulty explaining concepts cohesively
Be sure to take into account how old your student is, most children proximal to the kindergarten age will display these traits normally.
So what is ADHD exactly?
ADHD is a disorder where an interference between executive functions of the brain occurs. Executive functions (planning, verbal working memory, inhibition, time management, task organization, regulating emotions, memory) enable people to account for short and long term consequences of their actions and to plan for those results. While folks with ADHD can learn skills and gain wisdom just like everyone else, the execution of those skills is where the issue lies. The problem with ADHD is not knowing what to do, but not doing what you know.
Basically, individuals with ADHD aren’t going to process their impulses and thoughts to the same degree that the average person. It’s not due to discipline or negligence, its because their brains are just wired differently. While behavioral therapy coupled with medication seems to be the most effective way to treat ADHD, us music teachers can also be of help because studies indicate that executive function improves in children with ADHD that learn an instrument.
Tips on how to teach students with ADHD
- Set the right expectations for yourself – Be patient. Don’t take anything personally. Go into the lesson with the understanding that things are going to take longer and are going to require more repetitions which is totally ok. Plan to move at a 25 – 50 percent slower pace than usual. You’re going to have to repeat yourself and teach new concepts at a reduced speed.
- Keep the lesson structure consistent – I think everyone can appreciate this, but it’s especially important with folks who have ADHD; they thrive on structure, consistency and breaks.
- Take breaks – Focusing for a half hour lesson is actually doable for someone with ADHD but its very taxing, so allowing them to have a break or even rewarding them with a piece of candy can add momentum to the flow of your lesson.
- Prioritize – Music teachers typically want their students to play the correct notes, realize the right rhythm, use the correct fingering, pay attention to articulations/dynamics and look ahead while sight reading. This is a massive workload for the average person and its near impossible for an ADHD student to do all at once with a new piece of music. I’ll only assign a portion of a new piece the first week and allow for them to ignore the dynamics/fingering/tough rhythms. I’ll slowly incorporate other requirements in the following weeks depending on how well they do. These priorities need to be abundantly clear at all times to the student, both during the lesson and on assignments.
- Assign less – Unless the student has a parent at home coaching through the music I assign, I always make sure to avoid assigning too much. If an average student is doing 3 pieces, technique and a performance piece, the student with ADHD is going to need less.
- Have fun! – ADHD kids are really fun; they typically operate at a maturity level around 30% less than their current age, so you can treat a 5th grader like a 2nd grader and they’ll absolutely love it. You can reward them with simple non-musical activities during breaks and it will mean the world to them.
Benefits of ADHD?
While sight reading, paying attention and sitting still are usually the biggest challenges for ADHD students, I’ve noticed that they have some sort of predisposition to music; being able to “feel” music at an above average level. Their interest level is usually high and they can always tell you the name of a song that they’d like to learn. Strong rhythmic skills, memorization, pitch awareness and ability to focus during performances are other important strengths I’ve seen. Positivity in attitude is another amazing benefit; I rarely see an ADHD student having a bad day or unwilling to put forth an honest effort during lesson. You can use all of these benefits to your advantage and rest easy knowing that your ADHD student has most likely obsessed over their piece enough to be ready for a recital performance.
Conclusion
Working with someone that has ADHD is not too dissimilar to working a regular student, you just have to be more patient and give them more flexibility. Knowing how ADHD works will give you an advantage as a teacher and allows you to set the proper expectations for what can be accomplished in a lesson. Studying an instrument gives the ADHD student the ability to improve control over their executive function and there are some interesting strengths in music that you’ll notice in your ADHD students. Thank you for reading and let me know if these tips help!