By Shelah Radke, MD
As the school year is kicking into full swing, many of us parents are facing the daily struggle of getting our children to complete homework on time. Many children and teens put off homework occasionally, but if kids procrastinate on a regular basis, it makes the work harder, can impact sleep, and eventually impacts physical and emotional well-being. This is a battle that many parents face, but when your child has an ADHD diagnosis, it can be that much more difficult. This article seeks to share some tips for managing this daunting task.
While these strategies will work for any student, they’re especially helpful for those who struggle with ADHD or executive functioning concerns. Some of these pointers are from the “Work-Smart Academic Planner” (by Peg Dawson), which I highly recommend, and the “Smart but Scattered, Teen Edition” (also by Peg Dawson, Colin Guare, and Richard Guare).
Here are some key strategies:
1) Same time every day – Schoolwork/homework needs to be done at roughly the same time and same duration every day, no matter what is due when. This enables clients to avoid the trap of forgetting to do schoolwork, and also requires them to work on executive functioning skills by planning when to do various tasks ahead of time. They must open up that task planner and review what was done that day and what’s coming up every afternoon at the same time. This is crucial for ADHD’ers who can’t keep all of that data in their working memory.
2) Second set of textbooks – In order to make the above work best, it is highly recommended that clients request a second set of textbooks (or electronic version of textbooks) for home use from the school. This is an accommodation that we can easily request from the school system due to the ADHD diagnosis. That way every book is at home every day, and if we break up a project into smaller pieces over a few days, the client’s poor back won’t have to pay the price. In addition, we don’t have to deal with the risk that forgetting to bring a book home may impact schoolwork.
3) As early as possible – The best time to do schoolwork is just after the school day has finished. This is because cortisol levels only continue to fall for the rest of the day, and focus medications only decrease later in the day. Doing schoolwork just after school has finished enables us to make the most of our cognitive abilities and reduce the overall amount of time spent doing the work, because it’s more efficient. I encourage patients to grab a snack and get nice and hydrated, then get down to it, as it is much harder to get started on hard tasks after we’ve been doing easier ones. The only exception I’ve ever made to this rule is if clients want to work out just after school. If they are going to do some nice cardio (jogging, rowing, etc.) just after school, this would actually improve their focus and cognitive abilities for starting homework just following that activity.
4) Environmental impact – Since some exhausted ADHD clients (and anxious clients) tend to like to nap just after school (and this is not recommended during the day for more than a 15 or 20 minute “power nap” by sleep neurologists… and let’s face it, how many teens would stop napping after 15-20 minutes?), I would consider choosing an environment to do schoolwork that is not the bedroom. Perhaps they work at a coffee shop, or in a library, or in the kitchen where other family members are occasionally present. The goal is where there’s not much else to do, and it wouldn’t be comfortable to sleep. This location option helps to avoid the temptation of getting off-task. Phones also should be turned to either pomodoro timers or off essentially during work time, as it’s too easy to get caught up in a text chat or social media notification. Once a client is in a more consistent routine, they might be able to handle doing homework in the bedroom, but it still isn’t recommended, because it trains the brain to think of homework when trying to sleep.
5) Hardest work first – Now that we’ve taken out all of the mystery and wiggle room in terms of when and where homework tasks should be done, we have to deal with the possible wiggle room with which homework is done. It is always best for clients to start the hardest tasks first, and avoid the temptation of “well, I’m doing homework” but it’s either not what’s due or what is most difficult to do. Getting more difficult tasks done first makes people feel awesome and accomplished, and more able to get the rest done. Putting off the hard tasks trains the brain that we should fear more difficult work.
6) 5 minute trick – One surprisingly helpful trick is to have a client attempt the dreaded task for “five minutes” – with the plan that if they really don’t want to continue after 5 minutes of work, they can quit and do something else. This is helpful for getting started, because “anyone can do something for 5 minutes…” The amazing thing about this trick is that after doing a task for about 5 minutes, the client has usually settled into doing the new task, and the issue with transitions is over, so they typically don’t want to stop now that they are working successfully. Most of the time they will continue working for the allotted time, and feel great about getting it done. If they are still really miserable after 5 minutes, however, they need to stop as they promised themselves they would do, and then journal about the barriers they came up against when attempting the task. Usually there are important reasons why a client is struggling – an executive functioning issue, a medication issue, sleep issue, etc. that needs to be addressed.
7) Pomodoro technique – The Pomodoro method has clients work for 25 minute periods of time, then take 5 minutes off. This 30 minute segment is considered a “Pomodoro.” (this name originates from the tomato shaped timer originally used by the inventor of this technique) They should start by planning out their “Pomodoros” for the time allotted – usually clients will do 2 or 3 (maybe even 4??) per study period. The reason why we like the Pomodoro is because it helps us to figure out how much clients are getting done in a set period of time. Over time, we can measure if this efficiency improves or worsens based on other interventions we’re adding. We also want the homework done as soon as possible so they can get back to living their lives, and Pomodoro tends to create the most work output in the least amount of time. In addition, clients cannot use the time spent organizing or planning their tasks to count as part of the Pomodoro – and this reduces the risk of another ADHD-ism of spending the whole study period planning how to study rather than actually doing it.
8) Tracking daily homework successes and journaling/reflecting – This is built into the “Work-Smart Academic Planner”, but it’s also helpful on its own. Have the client briefly journal at the end of every work period about how things went. This could be a set of structured questions they answer or just a brief 2-3 sentences of reflection in a homework planner. This is essential for ADHD clients because they won’t learn from their trials and successes unless they’re able to recall them. In addition, some of the barriers they’re facing may be surmountable by someone with strong/excellent executive functioning skills.
9) Rewarding hard work – There need to be immediate (chocolate, ice cream, favorite Netflix show) and longer term (makeup, favorite branded clothes, concert tickets) rewards for hard work well done. This has NOTHING to do with the grades earned on the exams or homework. ADHD clients need an immediate reward for hard work, so giving them something to look forward to occurring just after they complete their study hour is important. Make sure that they take 5 minutes of time to celebrate the completion of the daily homework in some way. Working toward a bigger reward, such as after completing 10 daily homework sessions, is also really important for young ADHD’ers, because they need to begin to stretch their cognitive processing abilities and anticipate the future and future consequences more effectively.
10) Body double – If ALL else fails – then you need to start with a body double. This means that someone needs to be present while the ADHD’er is studying for the full hour to two hours to assist with the studying period. This could be a college-age tutor that parents pay to come two afternoons a week, or a school-representative who works with them one afternoon a week, and then an older brother/sister who works with them the last two days of the week. It is best if the person is not the parent. It’s too emotionally loaded.
Ultimately, it is important to stay patient and give compassion to both your student and yourself. These are challenging things to navigate. Hopefully, these strategies will help you feel more prepared for the school year ahead and give you ideas for how to manage this very real challenge.