Are you looking for strategies to teach students not to interrupt others? If so, keep reading.
1. Connect with the student’s parents to disseminate information about the student’s appropriate behavior. The parents may reinforce the student at home for not interrupting other students at school.
2. Urge the student to say a mantra to themselves when entering a situation where they may be inclined to interrupt (e.g., do not interrupt, do not interrupt, do not interrupt).
3. Train the student to carry a notepad with him/her at all times and to write information down to help them remember.
4. Teach yourself and others about ADHD to increase comprehension and accommodation of interruptive behavior.
5. Assist the student in realizing that all behavior has negative or positive consequences. Urge the student to practice behaviors that will lead to positive consequences.
6. Urge the student to create an understanding of themselves and those around him/her. Get the student to periodically step back and ask themselves, “Am I interrupting others?”
7. Urge the student to create an understanding of the consequences of their behavior by writing down or talking through problems that may happen due to interrupting others (e.g., perceived as unmannerly, avoided, etc.).
8. Take into account the student’s age and capacity and ability level carefully before expecting them not to interrupt others when they are talking, working, reading, etc.
9. Teach the student about ADHD and the need to self-monitor behavior.
10. Give constant, positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior. Ignore as many unacceptable behaviors as possible.
11. Praise the student for demonstrating appropriate behavior: (a) give the student a concrete reward (e.g., classroom privileges, passing out learning materials, 10 minutes of free time, etc.) or (b) give the student an informal reward (e.g., praise, handshake, smile, etc.).
12. Praise the student for demonstrating appropriate behavior (e.g., waiting for a turn to speak, working quietly, etc.) based on the duration of time the student can be successful. As the student shows success, slowly increase the duration of time required for reinforcement.
13. Select a peer to model appropriate behavior for the student.
14. Urge the student to become aware of the times when they are most impulsive and likely to interrupt others (e.g., in a large group of people, when they are angry, etc.) and limit their interactions with others during these times.
15. Converse with the student before starting a learning experience and remind them of the importance of listening to others.
16. Praise those students in the classroom who wait for their turn to speak, do not interrupt others, work quietly, etc.
17. Give the student an easily grasped list of consequences for unacceptable behavior.
18. Minimize the emphasis on competition. Competitive learning activities may cause the student to become anxious and interrupt others.
19. Teach the student to read signals from others (e.g., if they begin to interrupt a peer and that person continues to talk, realize that they are interrupting and stop talking; when there is silence in a class, it is not appropriate to fill the silence with remarks, etc.).
20. Consider using a classroom management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
21. Consider using an adaptive behavior management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
22. Consider using Alexa to help the student learn to behave appropriately. Click here to read an article that we wrote on the subject.
23. Click here to learn about six bonus strategies for challenging problem behaviors and mastering classroom management.
