Have you ever tried to help a distracted child do homework? It is maddening. You finally get him to sit down, hand him the pencil, and the next time you look, he's balancing with the pencil on his nose. You put the pencil back in his hand, pull the paper closer to him, and he tries to blow the paper across the table without touching it. You threaten. You plead. You beg. You scream. You cry. Nothing helps. Why? Because his mind is moving faster than yours and he is not interested in doing the homework.
Here are a few strategies that might help.
- Homework must be worth his time. How? He needs to see the homework as a means to an end. Before he can play his electronic games, he must finish his homework. Before he can watch television, he must finish his homework. (Do not turn program on in background. He will find a way to watch it.)
- If you are helping him gain skills instead of doing homework, make it a game. Make up games using cards, dominoes, or pennies. Involved a sibling so the struggling student doesn't feel targeted.
- Use an old fashioned egg timer. There is something about that tick, tick, tick, that keeps his mind on track.
- Break homework up into bite size pieces. If the project is due in three weeks, work on it a little every day. If the Spelling test is on Friday, work on a few words every night, repeating only the ones that he has trouble spelling.
- Some students get overwhelmed when the work looks too long. If the math page is too long, fold it in half so the child is only looking at half as many problems. If the reading page is long, use an envelope under the line the child is reading. This helps his eyes track the line and hides the rest of the page.
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