To help the child listen in class, he/she should be placed in an area where there is not much noise or distraction; away from the window or doorways. The best place for the student to sit may not be in the front of the classroom, if it is near an open door or window which may be a constant source of distractions. Two or three times each day, have all of the children stand up at their desks, turn around, jump up and down or do other physical exercises. (NOTE: This works best with elementary children, especially K-3 who think it is funny, and really need to ‘get the wiggles out’. Your high school students may think you are a bit weird if you do this. I would do it once in a while anyway, just to mess with them, but that is me.)

Children with attention problems often lose their books or forget to take them home, so they cannot do their homework. If possible, send a separate set of books and supplies to be kept at the student’s home. All books and school supplies should be kept in one place in the home, so that once the child sits down, he or she can just begin working without getting up again to get a pen, paper or glue. Three such trips to look for some item can easily take an hour because the child gets distracted while walking around searching for the object. At the end of an hour, the child’s homework is not one problem closer to being done, the parent is angry and the child is upset because that is one less hour to watch TV or play with friends and there is just as much homework as ever. All of this could have avoided by having everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING – papers, pens, glue, pencil sharpener, school books, notebook, tape – in one place).

If you have several children and not a lot of room, it is likely you don’t have a desk, bookshelf and perfect study area for each of your children. Here is a simple solution. Get a cardboard box. Put all of the child’s books and school supplies in it. When it is homework time, pull the box out from under the bed or table where you keep it and work can start.