Katie Dooley and Professor Daniel Barney, Department of Visual Arts

In accepting this research grant my objective was to better understand the characteristics of ADHD and to regard these characteristics as strengths that could be seen as assets in a classroom. When I began this research I was hopeful that I would find many articles discussing the positive traits of students with ADHD; however, disappointingly, I read far more articles explaining how to control or manage the students so that they would better fit into our ideal traditional classroom. For example, in “Treatment of ADHD in School Settings” the authors state, “The goal of school intervention is to contain and manage the symptoms so as to preclude or minimize the occurrence of secondary harms that befall the child who is not well managed (e.g. grade retention, peer rejection, suspension, expulsion, low achievement skills).”Although these researchers care about the student and have the student’s success in mind I believe that first as an educational system we have to analyze the way we teach and how we can better design curriculum that offers success for these student’s positive characteristics.

After studying the general opinion of researchers and understanding their views concerning ADHD my next step was to compile lists of characteristics that could be categorized as a positive or negative trait. My positive list was composed of traits: multi-tasking, hyperfocus, high energy, brainstorming, noticing the novel, selective attention, and creativity. I did some additional narrowed research on the importance of these characteristics. For example, multi- tasking and hyperfocus together provide a skill that many other students do not have together. Clarification on what ADHD articles mean by multi-tasking, “this does not mean that they can focus on multiple things at once, but simply change focus quickly” – Thinking Positively. With the ability to focus so intently on a subject and then to be constantly bouncing other ideas onto it through multi tasking, society can begin to make big advances in whatever area the student selects. In “The Hyperactive Advantage and Thinking Positively about ADHD,” it suggests that Pablo Picasso, Albert Einsein, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and William Shakespear, displayed characteristics that today would be seen as symptoms of ADHD. All of those men also made an impact on society and in their area of chosen focus. We need students who are willing to go deeper than anyone else has ever studied a subject and also able to change focus quick enough to enhance that focus with different ideas and methods of processing. Finally, I took the list of attributes and came up with a couple ideas in how to teach to help students enhance those skills that are prevalent in students with ADHD. For example, these students are known to be great at brainstorming so I wrote about how teachers can plan activities in which the project is simply to brainstorm. In art this is a simple inclusion, because you can easily bring in the aesthetic discussion of when is something art- can it simply be an idea? Teachers could also put certain students in charge of brainstorming and then the project is given to another student to complete. This lesson is helpful to monitor a student’s ability to communicate ideas clearly.

In addition to the lists of positive attributes I made a list of traits that could be seen as hindering the traditional classroom environment: poor social relations, impulsive hyperactivity, poor organization and time management, difficulty following through, low self esteem, poor sustained attention, and difficulty converting ideas into words. I followed the same process with this list but focusing more on how I might be able to help the students learn to manage themselves. My main area of focus was on teaching students who have a difficult time organizing objects, time, and ideas. I loved studying this subject, because I found as I was trying to help the students with ADHD it actually applied to all of the students. One of the articles I read by Stormont-Spurgin stated, “Although the purpose… is to present strategies for individual students with ADHD… many of the following strategies would be useful for all students.” Something that was interesting in this study was that students with ADHD have an advantage in noticing color and are able to keep track of objects easier if there is a color code to folders or files. I also learned the importance of positive reinforcement when I was studying organization and it has been helpful in the future planning of my classroom.

Finally I used my new knowledge and lists to improve my curriculum I had taught while student teaching. When I created my curriculum I had followed the Utah state standards. These standards helped me to make sure I was teaching what was expected. They taught me what to teach; however, as they are geared to assess the students I did not feel they appropriately pushed me to know how best to teach. I wanted to have a check and balance that assessed me as the teacher to ensure that I was teaching to my full potential. I decided to take the lists of positive and negative characteristics and each lesson plan in one of the units I had taught and analyze how I might adapt the lesson to better meet the needs of the students. For the positive characteristics I assessed how well each lesson allowed the student to achieve success and even lead the learning. On the other hand, when I was analyzing the negative characteristics I tried to figure out how I could better teach the students to manage and motivate themselves. One of the additions I added onto several of my lessons was that I created follow along worksheets that would help reward students for participating in classroom discussion rather than simply how well they could remain seated and quiet. These worksheets I also have planned to have them keep in a binder with their artwork so that they can improve their organizational skills and keep a record of their ideas and concepts.

This project has helped me transition from a student to a stay at home mom, and what a blessing it has been to realize that I can continue learning and studying concepts to help my teaching. Dr. Barney helped me with my research as he informed me about a conference that I was able to apply for in Washington DC that discussed how to better help students with special needs specifically in the art classroom. I applied for that, but unfortunately was not accepted. I hope to apply again once I have a classroom of my own. He also helped direct me to articles and people that could help give me a different perspective on the project. I better know the value of having a mentor. Thank you very much for this opportunity to study in my own area of focus.

• Stormont-Spurgin, Mellissa. “I Lost My Homework: Strategies For Improving Organization..” Intervention In School & Clinic 32.5 (1997): 270. Professional Development Collection. Web. 21 May 2012.
• Sherman, J., C. Rasmussen, and L. Baydala. “Thinking Positively: How some Characteristics of ADHD can be Adaptive and Accepted in the Classroom.” Childhood Education 82.4 (2006): 196. Print.
• Pliffner Linda, George J. DuPaul, and Russel Barkley. “Treatment of ADHD In School Settings.” Dec. 7. 2009. Chapter 15. Print.
• Armstrong, T. Neurodiversity: Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brain Differences. ReadHowYouWant, 2010. Print.