Educational Highlights, Spring/Summer 1995
Annette Spector, M.S., Ed.

Summer brings relief from the tensions of the school year, but also concern about weeks of unstructured time for the parents of ADHD children. Children get to engage in more free play, with less rules and less need to conform, but that doesn’t make the ADHD disappear. The transition from school to vacation can be critical, since it’s usually a transition from a highly structured environment at school, controlled by the teacher, to a looser one, which parents have to be responsible for. Determining boundaries and setting up activities is essential, making sure some structured learning is included. It is also a good time for short term tutoring, clearing up any academic problems, in a less pressured environment.

Parents deserve to ‘take a break’ as well. The less hectic schedule offers parents the opportunity to engage in activities with their children that everyone can enjoy. Structure can come from assigning household chores, the opportunity to investigate areas of interest through classes, library visits, museum visits, etc., and family vacations. In order to make family vacations more pleasant, especially if they involve long car rides, frequent stops, age appropriate games and activities and lots of unstructured time is important.

Most experts agree that children with ADHD respond to consistency and predictability of structure. As the summer is drawing to a close, it’s a good idea to start re-imposing the structure your child will need to be able to handle school. By about the last half of August, it’s time to put routines in place. Make bedtime consistent again, and at about the time it will be during the school year. Begin reviewing some basic math facts, even setting up specific review sessions every day for 15 minutes to a half hour. Be sure your child has an assortment of interesting fiction and non-fiction literature to be reading; and that reading time occurs every day. Encourage writing stories, letters, and poems. Though there may be some moaning and complaining, come September, things are bound to go more smoothly.

(abstracted from ATTENTION Spring 1995)