How to Motivate Students with ADHD

Motivation is one of the key areas where students with ADHD may struggle. Some experts have even concluded that people with ADHD find it more difficult to stay motivated than to pay attention. Students with ADHD have a significant deficit in academic motivation when compared with students without ADHD. 

The reason why it’s so hard for people with ADHD to get motivated is because of executive functioning. ADHD causes deficits in executive functioning, which are a set of advanced brain skills like self-control, emotion regulation, and cognitive flexibility. All of these things contribute to low motivation in students with ADHD in different ways.

In this article, I’ll walk you through 6 strategies you can use to motivate students with ADHD and set them up for success.

6 Ways to Motivate Students with ADHD

Motivating a student with ADHD largely has to do with adjusting their learning environment so that they can be confident and productive. ADHD is a type of neurodivergence; medication can help control some symptoms of ADHD, but kids with ADHD will never have neurotypical brains.

The role of teachers and parents is to build environments where kids with ADHD can thrive. Experts say that two key elements in helping students with ADHD feel more motivated are autonomy and adequacy. Kids with ADHD tend to have low self-esteem, and may not feel confident in their abilities to achieve the tasks set before them. Understandably, this leads to low learning motivation.

Here are 6 things you can do to motivate students with ADHD and help them feel more confident.

Give Clear Instructions

If students can’t understand instructions, then it’s not likely that they’ll feel motivated to complete the task. Kids with ADHD have deficits in executive functioning; this may mean that they have a harder time understanding complex or multi-step instructions.

Give clear and specific instructions, one step at a time. 

For example, instead of: “Get out your textbooks from your desks and start reading silently on Chapter 6 which starts on page 95.”

Try: “Get out your biology textbook from your desk. It’s the green one with the picture of the frog on the cover.” Make sure they’ve followed that instruction before giving the next one: “Turn to page 95.” Before you give any instructions, make sure the child is paying attention to you. You might consider using a hand signal.

It also may be a good idea to check in with students with ADHD after you’ve given instructions to make sure they’ve understood – and followed up without getting distracted. When students know what they’re supposed to be doing, they’re more likely to stay motivated.

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Allow for Breaks

Expecting students with ADHD to work on tasks for a long period of time with no breaks is unrealistic, and sets them up for failure. If you want your ADHD child to focus in school, let them take more breaks.

Students with ADHD may need breaks even when your other students don’t. Forcing them to work through with no breaks will only make them feel frustrated and discouraged. They may lose the little motivation they had.

Breaks can be even more helpful if you teach students with ADHD how to maximize their benefits. For example, instead of spending a break simply scrolling through their phone, taking a movement break may help students get out any hyperactive energy and help them focus better when their break is over.

Build a Relationship With the Student

Building a relationship with the student won’t make their ADHD go away. But it may make them more motivated to please you and decrease defiant behaviors.

No one likes being nagged, and this includes students with ADHD. But nagging isn’t the only way to motivate a child with ADHD to complete tasks.

Build a strong relationship with the child by including them in decision-making and giving them choices. Learn about their personal interests (many children with ADHD have very specific interests), and connect learning activities to them. Praise good behavior whenever you see it. The more the student trusts you, the easier things will be for everyone involved.

Provide Rewards After a Difficult Activity

Stacking one difficult task after another is a strategy that’s doomed to fail for most students, especially those with ADHD. Kids with ADHD have less dopamine in their brains. Dopamine is responsible for feelings of pleasure and reward. Kids with ADHD may need more external rewards to make up for the lack of dopamine.

It’s unlikely that a student with ADHD will feel motivated to complete a difficult task if all that’s waiting for them at the end of it is another difficult task.

Make sure to provide rewards after difficult activities. Rewards are most effective when they’re delivered in the present moment; students with ADHD may have a hard time looking forward to future rewards. For example, being able to take a 10-minute break now may be a more effective reward than getting an extra 15 minutes of playtime after recess.

Tie rewards in with the child’s interests. For example, you might let a student go feed the classroom snake after they’ve finished solving a math problem.

Don’t Discipline Behaviors They Can’t Control

Learn about ADHD and how it affects behavior. Understand that there are certain behaviors that your students with ADHD will exhibit that are part of their neurodivergence, and simply can’t be controlled. 

Furthermore, many of these behaviors shouldn’t be controlled – for example, shaking their leg or tapping their pencil while working is a way for them to release hyperactive energy and stay focused. Trying to “fix” these behaviors will only make students with ADHD even less motivated.

Don’t discipline ADHD children/students for these behaviors. And find ways to celebrate them when you can. One of the benefits of ADHD is the ability to view situations and solve problems in innovative ways. Try to catch yourself when you feel tempted to discipline these differences because they’re outside your usual expectations.

Allowing students with ADHD to do things “their way” can help them feel more motivated.

Discover more modifications for students with ADHD.

Communicate With Parents

There are many advantages to communicating with the parents of your students with ADHD. 

Maintaining close communication with students’ parents can ensure that any strategy that you’re using in the classroom is also being used at home. Consistency is key. For example, it isn’t helpful for your student to be punished for pencil-tapping at home, but not in the classroom. Provide parents with information about ADHD, and allow them to teach you about what’s worked for their child.

Communicating with parents can also help you make needed adjustments. If your student’s parents tell you that the homework you assign is too lengthy for them and is causing frustration and meltdowns at home, you may want to consider shortening the assignments or extending the deadline. There are many tips if your ADHD child is overwhelmed from homework.

Lastly, communication with parents can help you build a solid relationship with your student. What are their personal interests? How do they like to spend their time? Use this information to tie “boring” tasks in with areas that interest your student.

Takeaway

Students with ADHD often have a difficult time maintaining motivation at school. This doesn’t mean that they don’t like to learn – on the contrary, kids with ADHD often express heightened interest in learning about things that have captured their attention. However, executive functioning deficits that come along with ADHD may make it difficult for them to sustain motivation in traditional classroom settings.

But there are things that teachers and parents can do to set students with ADHD up for success. Allowing them to be themselves, taking many breaks, and building up their sense of reward can help students with ADHD feel more motivated.