Investigation of teachers' verbal and non-verbal strategies for managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) students' behaviours within a classroom environment

This paper investigated teachers' verbal and non-verbal strategies for managing ADHD students in a classroom environment. It was found that effective verbal and non-verbal strategies included voice control, short phrases, repeated instructions, using students' names, and visual cues and verbal instructions combined. It has been found that teachers' talk is instrumental in gaining the students' attention and that strategic teachers' talk can result in students calming down or communicate better with the ADHD students, however, teachers' non-verbal strategies were found more useful in classroom management. Teachers may find this paper useful in developing more confidence in managing ADHD students' challenging behaviours, implementing positive strategies in the classroom that lead to more time learning and less time managing behaviours, and improving their relationships with students in the classroom environment.