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13 No-Excuses Homework Rules for Students with ADHD

Help your child succeed with tried-and-true rules, like taking away the cell phone and encouraging study breaks. make nightly homework a little more pleasant with these tips..

Sit with your child and talk through what needs to be done. Once she starts to work, you may fold laundry, knit, or read in the same room. At some point, she may ask you to leave. If so, go.

Get him moving.

Physical activity — walking on a treadmill or fiddling with pipe cleaners — increases alertness for mental activity. Encourage your student to walk around the house reading aloud from a book. Chances are, she will soon settle down and be able to focus on her work.

Use medication.

Talk with your doctor about prescribing a short-acting medication for after school. When medication is working, students stay focused and complete homework more quickly. They also tend to remember the material they studied.

Set the stage.

Make your child feel comfortable as he starts his homework. Have him wear comfortable clothes, and make the sure the environment doesn’t distract him. Some kids need a quiet room with no distractions, while others need a little background noise.

Make it fun.

Writing the definitions of 25 vocabulary words is boring. Turn it into a game. Post words and definitions around the house for your child to match. Have him jump on the trampoline while learning multiplication facts. Talk with his teacher about ways to make homework active.

[ Free Resource: Solve Your Child’s Homework Problems ]

Avoid interruptions.

Once the student begins homework, hold his telephone calls until break time or until homework is completed. You may have to take his cell phone away to keep him from texting.

Spice things up.

If a homework assignment is boring, play music or TV at low volume. For reading, break assignments into segments marked by colored paper clips. When the student reads as far as the clip, he can take a well-deserved break.

Skip missing information.

Students with ADHD often look for excuses to stop doing their homework. So if he needs information to answer a question, have him work around it, leaving a blank that can be filled in later that night or the next day.

Nag no more.

Ask your child how many reminders she’ll need to stay on task in order to finish an assignment. If she says she’ll need two reminders, stick to that number. When she’s off track, state that you are giving a friendly reminder and then walk away. At any point when you see that she’s doing the right thing, praise her diligence.

[ 10 Secrets to Studying Smarter with ADHD ]

Check for completion.

Rather than arguing with your child over the quality of the work he’s producing, hold him accountable only for completing the homework thoroughly. Leave the quality check to the teacher.

Help the right way.

If your child gets “stuck” from time to time when doing homework — solving a math problem, say — don’t do it for him. Ask your child if there are similar problems in his notes or if there’s an example in his textbook. This encourages problem-solving and self-reliance, and takes you out of the equation.

Take a break if no homework has been assigned.

Don’t require your child to study on those rare days when he doesn’t have anything to do. Use the time to have fun with your child. You will deepen family relationships and build his self-esteem.

Find a tutor.

If you find it hard to help your child with schoolwork, find someone who can. A junior or senior high school student may be ideal — and charge a modest fee — depending on the need and age of your child.

[ Scripts to End Every Homework Fight ]

Readers’ Choice: Best Tips For Homework

• Physical activity breaks
• Accommodation for reduced homework
• A reminder note or a timer to let the child know when it’s time to start
•  Limiting homework time to an hour total, doing it in 10-minute bursts.
• Parent writes down child’s responses to questions
• Having a snack before starting homework
• A homework club/program with peers
• Breaking homework assignments into small pieces
• A reward after finishing homework
• Doing homework in the morning

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Homework Hacks for ADHD

• September 21, 2021

A hallmark symptom of ADHD can be the inability to focus on one task for an extended period of time. In the classroom, there is usually some structure and an end in sight with the sound of the bell. But bringing those same elements home can be more challenging. As your student, and maybe even you, settle into the school year, here are some quick tips for focusing when it comes time to complete homework. 

• Find a spot in your home that is solely for homework – this shouldn’t be the dining room table or in front of the television. If possible, keep pets in another room. 
• Play around with noise. Does your child thrive with white noise or music without lyrics or do they prefer silence? Do they need noise-cancelling headphones to tune out distractions? Try a couple options to see which works best. 
• If space allows, provide a variety of seating options. Maybe your student prefers reading on the floor but needs a desk for math homework. 
• Try color-coding each subject that your child studies and get a folder and notebook to match. This way notes and loose papers can stay together. For example, when it’s time to do science homework, your child knows to grab their green materials. This can also keep them organized in the classroom. 
• Similarly, students can organize their thoughts and work by using certain highlighters, pen colors, and page tabs. If it helps, notes taken in class and notes taken at home can also be written in different colors. Try out various techniques and select the colors and styles that work best.
• Teachers may assign homework in different formats, so make it a goal to capture assignments in one, centralized place. This could be a homework-only folder or binder, or a homework notebook with daily checklists. Getting assignments organized before beginning the work can make a big (and positive) difference. 
• Some experts in the study and management of ADHD recommend The Pomodoro Technique which breaks tasks up into manageable chunks of time. Set a timer for 25 minutes and, during that time, focus only on one task. Once the timer is up, take a five-minute break. Repeat this four times for a total of two hours then take a longer break. 
• Homework is hard, with or without ADHD. Praise your child when they accomplish a task and be specific with your language. Replace “Great work” with “I’m proud that you came back to that difficult math problem and worked until you found the answer.” This helps them know what they are doing well and how to continue their success. 
• If you are the student, celebrate yourself! 
• Everyone manages their ADHD differently. Do what makes you or your child the most productive, whether that means hitting the books immediately after school or taking a breather before tackling homework. Once you identify what works and develop a routine, homework will be a breeze.

If you think you have ADHD and want to know more about how to get diagnosed, we are here to help.

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Section 504 Accommodations for Students With ADHD

What Is a 504 Accommodation Plan?

Aron Janssen, MD is board certified in child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry and is the vice chair of child and adolescent psychiatry Northwestern University.

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• Section 504 and IDEA
• Developing a 504 Plan
• Available Accommodations

Students with ADHD are eligible for services and an individual accommodation plan under Section 504 if they have significant difficulty learning in school due to ADHD impairments.

Once it is determined that a student is eligible for services, the next step is to develop a 504 Plan which often includes a written list of specific accommodations, supplementary aids, and related services that will be provided to the student in school.

The purpose of these accommodations is to ensure that the individual educational needs of the student with disabilities are met as adequately as the needs of those students without disabilities.

Section 504 and IDEA for ADHD Students

There are actually two federal laws that address the educational needs of students with disabilities—Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (or simply Section 504) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (also known as IDEA).

Section 504 and IDEAguarantee that students with disabilities have access to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) that is comparable to the education available to non-disabled students.

The definition of a disability is much broader under Section 504 than under IDEA, so more students tend to be eligible for services under Section 504.

Most students with a 504 Plan are served in the general education classroom. Often these are the students who have milder impairments and do not need the intensity of special education but could benefit from extra supports, accommodations, academic and behavioral adjustments, and modifications in the regular educational curriculum. This includes extended times on tests for students with ADHD.

A 504 Plan also tends to be a much faster, easier procedure for obtaining accommodations and supports since IDEA has stricter eligibility criteria and regulations.

Both laws require the placement of a child with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. IDEA requires an individualized educational plan (IEP) with educational goals for the student and specifically designed special education, instruction, and related services that the school is responsible for providing in order to help the student reach those goals.

Section 504 does not require a written IEP, but it does require a plan of reasonable services and accommodations for the student with disabilities.

Developing a 504 Accommodation Plan for ADHD

The first step in developing a 504 Plan is to identify how the student's disability is affecting learning and impairing academic performance and then to determine the specific instruction supports and accommodations that are necessary. These accommodations should significantly reduce or eliminate the effects of a student's disability in the educational setting.

Symptoms of ADHD can affect each person in quite varying ways, and so a 504 Plan must be tailored to her individual strengths, learning style, behavioral challenges, and educational needs. Chris Zeigler Dendy, M.S., is a highly regarded expert in the ADHD and education field. She is also the author of "Teaching Teens With ADD, ADHD, and Executive Function Deficits."

In addition to inattention, Dendy identifies several areas that can be challenging for students with ADHD in the educational setting including:

• Deficits in working memory : Memory skills that are essential for writing essays, doing complex math problems, and understanding what they read
• Disorganization : Losing things, disorganized notebooks, backpacks, and lockers, forgetfulness
• Impaired sense of time : Often late, don't manage time well, difficulty getting started and finishing tasks
• Planning deficits : Difficulty analyzing, problem-solving, synthesizing and implementing a plan
• Slow reading and writing : Produce less written work, read less material
• Trouble controlling emotions : More likely to speak impulsively or "blow up," difficulty using "self-talk" to control behavior
• Undiagnosed coexisting conditions : Such as learning disabilities or depression that make it more difficult to learn  

If your child is experiencing any of these learning challenges, it is important that they are addressed in their 504 Plan. Also, keep in mind that approximately 25 to 50% of students with ADHD may also have a specific learning disability. Common learning disabilities seen alongside ADHD include disabilities in reading, math, spelling, and written expression .

Accommodations Available to Qualified Students

These accommodations are often helpful for students with ADHD. Your child's 504 Plan might include some of these.   Depending on a student's individual needs related services may include speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, assistive technology, counseling, as well as training in study strategies, organizational skills, and time management.

Classroom Modifications for ADHD Students

The types of modifications available for students with ADHD include adjustments to testing format and delivery. Students may be permitted the following, for example:

• use of a calculator
• chunking or breaking down tests into smaller sections to complete
• breaks between sections
• a quiet place to complete tests
• multiple-choice, or fill in the blank test format instead of an essay

Modifications in the classroom and homework assignments may include shortened assignments to compensate for the amount of time it takes to complete, extended time to complete assignments, reduced amount of written work, or breaking down assignments and long-term projects into segments with separate due dates for completion of each segment.

Students may also be allowed to dictate or tape-record responses, use a computer for written work, or do oral reports or hands-on projects to demonstrate the learning of the material.

Teaching methods may be modified to provide multisensory instruction, visual cues, and hands- onities, highlight or underline important parts of a task, cue student in on key points of the lesson, or provide guided lecture notes.

Outlines and study guides may be offered, along with reductions in the demands on memory, teaching memory skills such as mnemonics, visualization, oral rehearsal, and repetitive practice, use books on tape, assistance with organization, prioritization, and  problem-solving .

Class schedules may also be adjusted by scheduling those classes that require most mental focus at the beginning of school day, adding in regular breaks for the student throughout the day to allow for physical movement and "brain rest," or adjustments to the nonacademic time.

Adjustments to grading, like modifying weight given to exams, breaking test down into segments, and grading segments separately, partial credit for late homework with full credit for make-up work may also be appropriate.

Added Support for Students with ADHD

Preferential seating that's away from distractions—away from the door, window, pencil sharpener or distracting students, near the teacher, or a quiet place to complete schoolwork or tests can be helpful.

Seating the student by a good role model/classroom "buddy" and appointing "row captains" or "homework buddies" who remind students to write down assignments and who collect work to turn in to the teacher should also be considered.

Students should be offered assistance with note-taking, providing the student with a copy of class notes, peer assistance with note-taking, audio taping of lectures.

For distracted students, one-on-one tutoring and organizational assistance (including teacher/school representative meeting with the student at the end of each class or end day to check that homework assignments are written completely in homework notebook and needed books are in the backpack, providing organizational folders and planners, color coding) can make a big difference.

It's important to note that students with ADHD may require extended time for testing, especially those students who tend to retrieve and process information at a slower speed. The use of positive behavior management strategies (including frequent monitoring, feedback, prompts, redirection, and reinforcement) can help students maintain positive motivation.

Teachers should provide clear and simple directions for homework and class assignments by repeating directions, posting homework assignments on the board, and supplementing verbal instructions with visual/written instructions. An extra set of books for the student to keep at home, along with highlighted textbooks and workbooks will help ADHD students stay on task.

Setting up a system of communication (such as a notebook for a weekly progress report, regular emails, or phone calls) between the parents and teacher/school representative helps keep everyone informed about the student's progress or difficulties. Parents should also be notified of homework and project assignments and due dates so they can follow-up with the student at home.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. Your rights under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Lipkin PH, Okamoto J. The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for Children With Special Educational Needs . Pediatrics. 2015;136(6):e1650-62. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-3409

U.S. Department of Education Individuals with Disabilities Act. Sec. 300.306 Determination of eligibility .

Schuchardt K, Fischbach A, Balke-melcher C, Mähler C. [ The comorbidity of learning difficulties and ADHD symptoms in primary-school-age children ]. Z Kinder Jugendpsychiatr Psychother. 2015;43(3):185-93. doi:10.1024/1422-4917/a000352

Harrison, JR, Bunford, N, Evans, SW, Owens, JS. Educational accommodations for students with behavioral challenges: A systematic review of the literature. Review Educational Res . 2013; 83(4). doi: 10.3102/0034654313497517 

• Chris A. Zeigler Dendy, Teaching Teens With ADD, ADHD, and Executive Function Deficits: A Quick Reference Guide for Teachers and Parents (Second Edition). Woodbine House. 2011.

By Keath Low  Keath Low, MA, is a therapist and clinical scientist with the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina. She specializes in treatment of ADD/ADHD.

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• Data and Statistics on ADHD
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• Clinical Care and Treatment

Treatment of ADHD

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can often be managed with the right treatment.
• Treatment recommendations vary by age group.
• Types of treatment for ADHD include behavior therapy and medications.

My child has been diagnosed with ADHD — Now what?

When a child is diagnosed with ADHD , parents often have concerns about which treatment is right for their child. ADHD can often be managed with the right treatment. There are many treatment options, and what works best can depend on the person, their family, and their environment.

To find the best options for children, it is recommended that parents work closely with others involved in their child's life— teachers, coaches, and other family members.

Treatment types

Behavior therapy.

• Behavior therapy, including training for parents; and

Medications

• Non-stimulants

Treatment recommendations

By age group.

• For children with ADHD younger than 6 years of age, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends parent training in behavior management as the first line of treatment, before medication is tried.
• For children 6 years of age and older, the recommendations include medication and behavior therapy together—parent training in behavior management for children up to age 12 and other types of behavior therapy and training for adolescents. Schools can be part of the treatment as well. AAP recommendations also include adding behavioral classroom intervention and school supports. Learn more about how the school environment can be part of treatment .

Good treatment plans will include close monitoring of whether and how much the treatment helps the child's behavior, as well as making changes as needed along the way.

ADHD treatment recommendations‎

Behavior therapy, including training for parents.

ADHD affects not only a child’s ability to pay attention or sit still at school, but it also affects relationships with family and other children. Children with ADHD often show behaviors that can be very disruptive to others. Behavior therapy is a treatment option that can help reduce these behaviors and can help increase self-regulation skills. it is often helpful to start behavior therapy as soon as a diagnosis is made.

Behavior therapy overview for parents‎

Behavior therapy is an important part of treatment for children with ADHD.

Behavior therapy for children

The goals of behavior therapy are to learn or strengthen positive behaviors and eliminate unwanted or problem behaviors. Behavior therapy for ADHD can include

• Parent training in behavior management
• Behavior therapy with children
• Behavioral interventions in the classroom

These approaches can also be used together. For children who attend early childhood programs, it is usually most effective if parents and educators work together to help the child.

The following are suggestions that may help with your child's behavior:

Children younger than 6 years of age

For young children with ADHD, behavior therapy is an important first step before trying medication because:

• Parent training in behavior management gives parents the skills and strategies to help their child.
• Parent training in behavior management has been shown to work as well as medication for ADHD in young children.
• Young children have more side effects from ADHD medications than older children.
• The long-term effects of ADHD medications on young children have not been well-studied.

School-age children and adolescents

For children ages 6 years and older, AAP recommends combining medication treatment with behavior therapy. Several types of behavior therapies are considered effective, including:

• Parent training in behavior management;
• Behavioral interventions in the classroom;
• Peer interventions that focus on behavior; and
• Organizational skills training.

These approaches are often most effective if they are used together, depending on the needs of the individual child and the family. Parents, healthcare providers, and the school can work together on developing the right treatment plan.

Medication can help children manage their ADHD symptoms in their everyday life and can help them control the behaviors that cause difficulties with family, friends, and at school.

Several different types of medications are FDA-approved to treat ADHD in children as young as 6 years of age :

• Stimulants are the best-known and most widely used ADHD medications. Between 70-80% of children with ADHD have fewer ADHD symptoms when taking these fast-acting medications.
• Nonstimulants were approved for the treatment of ADHD in 2003. They do not work as quickly as stimulants, but their effect can last up to 24 hours.

Medications can affect children differently and can have side effects such as decreased appetite or sleep problems. One child may respond well to one medication, but not to another.

Reminder‎

Healthcare providers who prescribe medication may need to try different medications and doses. The AAP recommends that healthcare providers observe and adjust the dose of medication to find the right balance between benefits and side effects. It is important for parents to work with their child’s healthcare providers to find the medication that works best for their child.

Education and support

Parents of children with adhd.

CDC funds the National Resource Center on ADHD (NRC), a program of Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD).

The NRC provides resources, information, and advice for parents on how to help their child .

ADHD in Adults

ADHD lasts into adulthood for at least one-third of children with ADHD. 1 Treatments for adults can include medication, psychotherapy, education or training, or a combination of treatments. For more information about diagnosis and treatment throughout the lifespan, please visit the websites of the NRC on ADHD and the National Institutes of Mental Health .

Get information and support from the National Resource Center on ADHD.

For more information on ADHD treatments, please visit:

• National Institute of Mental Health
• Information for parents from the American Academy of Pediatrics
• Clinical Care of ADHD | CDC
• Barbaresi WJ, Colligan RC, Weaver AL, Voigt RG, Killian JM, Katusic SK. Mortality, ADHD, and psychosocial adversity in adults with childhood ADHD: a prospective study. Pediatrics. 2013 Apr;131(4):637-44.

Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

CDC's Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) site includes information on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, data, research, and free resources.

For Everyone

Health care providers.

Living With and Learning From Inconsistent Behavior in ADHD

Variability can feel confusing and frustrating but is an expected part of adhd..

Posted May 13, 2024 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

• What Is ADHD?
• Find a therapist to help with ADHD
• Inconsistency in ADHD can feel befuddling and lead to conflict.
• Inconsistent performance is a marker for any of us of a skill that isn't fully formed yet.
• When a child with ADHD seems unusually inconsistent, that frequently reveals a skill that needs building.
• If inconsistency is persistently disruptive, consider an objective review of possible ADHD interventions.

What surprises me is there is so much variability, I don’t know what to expect day to day, cooperation or resistance.

I don’t get it. We don’t have any problems at all at home. How come he struggles so much to behave in school?

With ADHD , inconsistency can feel like a puzzle to solve, as the quotes throughout this article reflect. It can seem confusing—and can be misleading.

Variability in behavior gets misinterpreted, for example, as meaning a child doesn’t actually need support. If you are capable sometimes why wouldn’t you be capable always ? It feels like a befuddling contradiction when life looks so up and down.

Another common example is focus . If you can pay attention in your favorite class, why not your hardest? That pattern suggests either, you don’t need help, or, you need to care more . Yet that kind of uneven focus is routine ADHD—it’s frustrating but expected.

What Accounts for the Variability in ADHD Behavior?

The underlying cause of that unevenness in academics or behavior or mood is often straight-forward with ADHD. ADHD impacts executive function, which includes skills such as focus, impulse control, time management , and emotional regulation . As with any new skill in life, a child will remain inconsistent until their underlying abilities improve. Their inconsistency represents an accurate reflection—difficult as it is to live with—of various ADHD symptoms to address.

When someone has been diagnosed with ADHD, it’s not only that they are imperfect (like us all!) but that some aspect of ADHD significantly impacts their well-being. Their symptoms must reach that level to consider a diagnosis.

It’s not a total absence of skill, however. By nature, in some moments, things come together—and then with ADHD, there are likely too many moments where they do not.

Inconsistency as a Measure of Skill

It’s so simple—why can’t you remember to hand in your homework every day?

I don’t understand—you treat your friends nicely, why not your sister?

I’m a decidedly average tennis player. On any random day, if my serve happens to go in a bunch, I’ll beat a better player. If I play that same person several times, my maddeningly unreliable serve undermines me. More consistency makes my opponent better at tennis. My game will remain unchanged unless I put the time and effort into forging a reliable serve.

When a child seems to have life figured out one day but not the next, parents can tie themselves in knots trying to understand "why." And yet, those behaviors are akin to my tennis. Executive function relates to basically anything requiring management , coordination, and planning in life. When skills aren’t yet solid enough, that creates exhaustingly inconsistent performance.

The practical solution for inconsistency is not overthinking the roller coaster itself but seeking its cause. Let go of judgment, consider ADHD and executive function, and identify where skills might be lacking. A child’s performance will remain up and down until that underlying ability fully forms.

Motivation and Inconsistency

I don’t even know if we need to change anything; she gets her work done when she cares enough.

How come you behaved for dinner when I promised you ice cream, but not the rest of the weekend?

The relationship of inconsistency to motivation adds more confusion. Maybe a student gets a huge paper done on time, for the first time, because they don’t want to miss a ski trip.

Consider though, stories of people accomplishing super-human feats when panicked, like lifting a heavy object off a child. Pushing someone to an extreme creates a window of intensity that ramps up immediate performance.

When pushed hard enough, we all do amazing things briefly that we could never maintain day to day. Pressure and rewards lead to over-performance only for a short sprint. But that unsustainable pattern may falsely imply, If you can manage under crisis, you should be able to all the time .

Inconsistency can get misattributed to either bad choices or lack of effort. Children end up feeling judged or blamed even though it’s not something they can control until their ADHD symptoms become less impactful.

Kids with ADHD typically do care about school or other goals. It can seem like they don’t when they struggle with their impulsivity, persistence, or organization.

Even the ability to develop, sustain, and problem-solve plans is affected by ADHD. What we call "motivation" requires caring combined with any specific skills needed to accomplish a goal.

Replace any rumination or judgment with a basic ADHD-related question instead. Working hard matters, but what skills are also involved and what should we do to strengthen them? It’s a freeing perspective for both parents and kids.

How to Build Skills

It’s like there’s conflicting evidence; the data doesn’t line up.

I don’t understand—you’re clearly capable. Don’t you care how you do?

Overthinking inconsistency not only confuses people; it can delay treatment. When someone focuses (but not in their hard classes), or usually hands in homework (but larger projects fall apart), it’s easy to rationalize away help. But inconsistency is not a sign a child could do better if they wanted; it indicates a need to increase their ADHD support.

How do we build ADHD-related skills? It is estimated that ADHD represents up to a one-third delay in executive functioning , a framework that presents countless opportunities for intervention. We start by reframing difficulties as ADHD-related, instead of effort-related. With that renewed clarity, we can then choose new plans that build consistency.

Which kind of plan will work depends on the specific challenge. For focus and impulse control, medication tends to be most effective. Early academic habits grow through routines that parents and teachers create and sustain. Numerous other cognitive, academic, and emotional skills develop through work with therapists and coaches.

Instead of feeling confused by inconsistency, see it as a signpost pointing at the next step in ADHD care. A strong tennis player lands most of their serves even when not at their best. A student with ADHD taking a well-adjusted medication focuses better when pushed by harder classes. An exhausted child with a well-structured morning routine makes the bus even on an off day.

It’s not “personal” or willful that a child acts inconsistently. It typically means the right plan has not been implemented yet.

Mark Bertin, M.D., is a developmental pediatrician and author of Mindful Parenting for ADHD and Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for Teen ADHD.

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At any moment, someone’s aggravating behavior or our own bad luck can set us off on an emotional spiral that threatens to derail our entire day. Here’s how we can face our triggers with less reactivity so that we can get on with our lives.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience