Are you looking for strategies to teach students not to disturb others? If so, keep reading.
1. Connect with the parents to disseminate information about the student’s progress. The parents may reinforce the student at home for waiting their turn to speak at school.
2. Provide sufficient chances to respond (i.e., enthusiastic students need many chances to contribute).
3. Organize the student’s surroundings to limit chances for interrupting the teacher (e.g., keep the student engaged in learning activities, have the student seated near the teacher, etc.).
4. Train the student to carry a notepad with them at all times and to write information down to help them remember.
5. Provide a full schedule of learning activities. Keeping the student occupied should prevent interruptive behavior from happening.
6. Teach yourself and others about ADHD to increase comprehension and accommodation of interruptive behavior.
7. 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?”
8. Teach the student about ADHD and the need for developing skills to self-monitor behavior.
9. Give constant, positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior. Ignore as many unacceptable behaviors as possible.
10. Teach the student to use techniques such as crossing their arms and legs, clinching their fists, and webbing their hands when they feel the urge to interrupt.
11. Inform the student when they are interrupting your conversation with someone else and tell them that they may talk to you in a few moments.
12. Converse with the student before starting a learning experience and remind them of the importance of listening and not interrupting.
13. Praise those students in the classroom who wait for their turn to speak.
14. Give the student an easily grasped list of consequences for unacceptable behavior.
15. Minimize the emphasis on competition. Competitive learning activities may cause the student to become overexcited and interrupt others.
16. Select a peer, paraprofessional, friend, etc., to signal the student when they interrupt others (e.g., the person can touch the student’s hand as a signal that they are interrupting).
17. Talk with the student to explain(a) what they are doing wrong (e.g., interrupting the teacher) and (b) what they must be doing (e.g., waiting until it is appropriate to speak, waiting to be called on, etc.).
18. Make sure that the student’s feelings are considered when it is appropriate to deal with their interruptions (i.e., use remarks that do not diminish the student’s enthusiasm for participation).
19. Praise the student for waiting for a turn to speak 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.
20. Praise the student for waiting for a turn to speak: (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.).
21. Consider using a classroom management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
22. Consider using an adaptive behavior management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
23. Consider using Alexa to help the student learn to behave appropriately. Click here to read an article that we wrote on the subject.
24. Click here to learn about six bonus strategies for challenging problem behaviors and mastering classroom management.
