• Babies
• Building a Family
• Children
• General Parenting
• Newborns
• Teenagers
• Toddlers
• Pregnancy

Effective Behavior Strategies for Kids with ADHD

Helpful tips

Effective Behavior Strategies for Kids with ADHD

These strategies are designed to help you better cope with and manage the more challenging behaviors exhibited by children and teens with ADHD.

Establish a few specific, important rules/expectations that are clearly understood by all members of the household.

Praise and positively reinforce your child for following rules/expectations.

Establish clear-cut consequences (that are logical, reasonable, and fair) in advance with your child for breaking the rules.

Enforce with consistency.

Provide structure, routine, and predictability.

Set limits and let your child know you mean business.

Catch your child behaving appropriately (as frequently as possible). Immediately reinforce that good behavior with a positive consequence. This means something your child likes (e.g., praise, smiles, hugs, privileges, activities, points/tokens earned towards a reward). Use the smallest reinforcers necessary. Don't overdo it. Keep rewards reasonable -- no big-ticket items.

Establish rewards and punishments that are easy to do and as simple as possible.

Use a system of rewarding with stickers, stars, points, etc., on a chart (for one or more specific behaviors), working towards earning a prize, privilege, or other reward once he's earned enough to "cash in."

Realize that children with ADHD can't wait very long for reinforcers. Working toward a long-range goal or "pay-off" is not going to be effective. It is better to use more frequent, smaller reinforcers, but ones that are still motivating.

Change reinforcers frequently. Children with ADHD won't stay interested in the same reinforcers; they respond best to novelty.

Consequences should be enforced as immediately following the infraction of rules as possible -- usually one warning, not several.

Keep in mind to always reward or give positive attention to the behaviors you want to increase or continue to occur.

Negative consequences or punishments are also effective in changing behavior. (Use, however, far more positives than negatives.)

Punishment should not be harsh. The purpose is to teach your child through its use and enforcement.

Tips continued

Some effective punishments include: ignoring (particularly attention-getting behaviors), removal of privileges, response costs (receiving a "fine" or penalty such as removal of some points, stars, tokens earned), time-out (isolation for a brief amount of time), and verbal reprimands (not yelling and screaming).

If using a "time-out," find a location that is boring for your child, safe, but away from the reinforcement of other people and activity. It should be clear to your child what behaviors will result in time-out. Typically, a reasonable amount of time is one minute per year of age (6-year-old = 6 minutes). Set a timer.

Punishments must have a clear beginning and ending that you are able to control.

Anticipate and plan in advance (with your spouse) how to handle challenging behaviors. Avoid responding and punishing when you are very angry. You don't want to dole out a punishment you will regret later because it is too harsh, inappropriate, or impossible to enforce.

Avoid getting pulled into a power struggle or a shouting match with your child. Disengage. Don't be afraid to say, "I'm too angry to talk about this right now. We will discuss this later." Take time to step back, calm down, and think before you act.

When punishing, be careful to focus on the behavior that is inappropriate. Don't attack your child as "being bad" or criticize his character.

Prioritize and focus on what's important. You can't make an issue out of everything.

Use "do" statements rather than "don't" statements. ("Walk in the house," rather than "Don't run in the house.")

When delivering consequences, do so in a calm but firm voice. State the consequence without lecturing. Be direct and to the point.

Try lowering your voice rather than raising it.

Talk about, acknowledge, and label feelings -- your child's and your own.

No matter how exhausted or frustrated you are, maintain your authority as a parent and follow through on what you need to do.

It is far more difficult to manage the behaviors of children with ADHD than most other children. Be willing to seek professional help to find more effective strategies and guidance. Get referrals from other parents of children with similar needs. Find a mental health professional who is very familiar with ADHD and experienced in dealing with hyperactive/impulsive behaviors.

Excerpted from The ADD/ADHD Checklist by Sandra Rief, M.A.