A supportive school environment

Teachers who understand about ADHD can make an enormous difference to ADHD children they teach and help them to have a really positive experience of school. It’s easy to assume that teachers should know all about ADHD – but the reality is that some know much more than others. When a child is first diagnosed, it’s important to let the school know about the diagnosis and encourage them to find out more about the condition. The CAMHS team or educational psychologist may be able to help. Our quick guide can be printed and taken into school for teachers to read.

We also have a study guide for teens which offers tips and ideas.

Some of the most helpful things teachers can do to help children with ADHD children are:

• Allow children to move around and learn in different ways – sitting still and listening for long periods can be really difficult

• Break tasks up into small chunks with steps which are easy to achieve

• Give children regular breaks to go out and run around, or even do a push-up or two.    Some teachers will send a child with ADHD on a special errand when they are finding it difficult to focus, and this kind of thing can be really helpful

• If children are irritating others by tapping or fiddling, give them something which they can play with – like a piece of putty or bluetac or a squeezy ball.  Wobble cushions really help some kids.  

• Give clear and direct instructions and face students when talking to them

• Offer lots of immediate praise for tasks well done

• Create a working environment where the child won’t have lots of distractions – perhaps an area away from others, or allowing headphones to listen to music which drowns out other noises.  Some kids with ADHD work better with low level background noise than in silence- ask them what works for them. 

• Be realistic about how much homework can be achieved – this can be a real flashpoint between children and parents.  Simple things to help with organisation, like writing down the child’s homework for them in a notebook, can also help.   

Useful websites for teachers include HumansNotRobots which has a great presentation on ADHD Friendly Classrooms, and the ADHD Together website has helpful tips and resources about classroom strategies in ADHD. 

You can find out more about your rights as a parent in getting additional help for your child via our Useful Links page.

Reliable information sources about ADHD  

There is lots of information out there on the internet, some great and some less so, and with something like ADHD it’s really important to get the facts.  The information on these pages has mainly come from these reliable sources:

• Verkuijl N et al, Childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Clinical Review, British Medical Journal 2015; 350:h2168

• National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE): ADHD - diagnosis and management, Clinical Guideline 87 updated 2019.

• The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) National Guideline on Management of attention deficit and hyperkinetic disorders in children and young people (Guideline 112) 2009

• Brown, T, A new understanding of ADHD in Children and adults, Routledge 2013

ADHD Medication

Not all children with ADHD will be prescribed medication, but many research studies have shown that drugs can improve all three core symptoms of ADHD – inattention, overactivity and impulsivity.

There are two main types of clinically effective drugs for ADHD:

• Psychostimulants – these work by increasing the availability of certain chemicals in the brain, noradrenaline and dopamine.   They are the most commonly used medications for ADHD.   The ones available on the NHS in Scotland are methylphenidate (brand names Ritalin, Concerta, Medikinet and Equasym) and dexamfetamine (brand name Elvanse). 

• Non-stimulant medications – these work in other ways, for example by preventing noradrenaline by being taken up again by the brain (noradrenergic reuptake inhibitors).   They are generally used in children who can't take or tolerate stimulant medications.   Atomoxetine (brand name Strattera) and guanfacine (brand name Intuniv) are the two non-stimulant medications which are available on the NHS in Scotland. 

There is a range of different medications available including short-acting and long-acting ones.  Which one to choose will depend on the specific needs of the young person, and medicines may need to be adjusted as they grow and depending on their experience with them.   

ADHD medications are only prescribed on the recommendation of a child psychiatrist in Glasgow – though repeat prescriptions will come from your GP.   It’s really important to have regular medicines reviews with the child psychiatrist or ADHD nurse specialist during treatment to check for side effects and see how well the medicine is working.   Talk through any worries or concerns you have with them – if one medicine doesn’t work well for your child, there may be other options.

Further information:

• There is a fuller explanation of ADHD medicines on the Netdoctor website and a good explanation of how they are thought to work on the Understood website (some of the brandnames mentioned here are the American ones).

• Read the results of our parent survey about ADHD medications in November 2015.

• The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) – who recommend how NHS care should be delivered in Scotland – have produced a parent leaflet on ADHD medication.