Focus & Following Directions
Children with ADHD sometimes struggle to focus and follow directions, particularly when parents use neurotypical behavior and discipline techniques. Here, find better approaches for improving listening, cooperation, and teamwork.
Popular in Focus & Following Directions
For Teachers
How to Help ADHD Brains Follow Directions the First Time
To follow directions, students with ADHD must hear and understand classroom instructions. Use these...
Mornings
The Secret to No-Nag, Never-Late Mornings
Learn from this mom, who invented a morning routine with this beautiful result: "My morning nagging...
Behavior & Discipline
The Secret to Better Behavior? No Punishment at All
If you’re exhausted and running out of ideas to correct your child’s difficult behaviors, you’re not...
Behavioral Therapy
How Behavioral Therapy Targets Executive Dysfunction — with Positivity and Praise
ADHD is not an excuse. But it is the neurological basis for so many of your child’s greatest...
Types of ADHD & ADD
How ADD (Inattentive Type ADHD) Looks a Lot Like Learning Disabilities
Problems with organization, focus, and time management often point to inattentive-type ADHD (aka...
School Behavior
Following Every Direction, Every Time
Strategies to help children with ADHD hear what you tell them to do — not just "bits a...
Focus & Following Directions
How Boredom, Fatigue, and ADHD Hurt Our Kids' Attention Spans
If your child is not paying attention in class (or at the supermarket, or in the car, or during...
Health, Food & Nutrition
How to Feed Your Child's Focus
Research suggests that artificial food dyes, sugar, and sensitivities may exacerbate symptoms of ADHD...
Focus & Following Directions
The Attention Games: Catching Focus
There's more than one way to teach focus, self-control, concentration, and responsibility. Our...
For Teachers
How to Snag the Attention of Distracted Children
Any teacher or parent knows that the wandering eye — and mind — of a student with ADHD is a serious...
For Teachers
12 Ways to Make Instructions Sink In
How can a child with ADHD follow your instructions if he can't focus long enough to hear them? He...
Guest Blogs
Quiet, Sustained Attention Is Not Natural for Our Kids. Here’s What Is.
It's not always realistic to expect students with ADHD to sit quietly absorbing and processing...
Schedules & Routines
The Trickiest Transitions for Our Kids — and Proven Remedies
Hyperfocus, time blindness, and emotional dysregulation all hijack a child’s ability to transition...
Focus & Following Directions
Say It Once. Know They'll Listen. And Follow.
Use a bell to grab their attention. Establish eye contact or give a gentle tap on the shoulder. Plus...
Focus & Following Directions
A Parent's Secret Weapon for Better Listening with Less Nagging
How can we make it easier for our kids to cooperate the first time we ask? With this one-minute tool...