Pre-written Letter to Teacher about ADHD

Tired of writing a novel to your child's teacher each year to fill them in on your child's ADHD? Feel free to copy, paste, personalize, and print this pre-written letter about ADHD:

Dear _________________,

Hello. I wanted to inform you of my child's diagnosis of ADHD. I imagine you already have some experience with ADHD, but, since this disorder affects learning and behavior, I wanted to be sure to fill you in on behaviors you may see from my child throughout the school year.

My child may have trouble responding to multiple-step directions and may get distracted easily by noise and visual stimuli, so, it might help to place my child's desk near the front of the room, provide visual step-by-step routine or assignment guides, and break big tasks into small steps. My child responds well to praise, leadership opportunities, one-on-one interactions and visual or kinesthetic learning.

My child may become fidgety, impulsive, forgetful, absent-minded, disorganized, restless, distracted, frustrated, unusually zoned in or zoned out, and overwhelmed easily. Basically, because my child's brain has a deficit of dopamine, it is constantly on the lookout for stimulation and avoids tasks that do not provide enough dopamine. This stimulation can be found through daydreaming, exploring personal interests, fidgeting, doodling, risk-taking, and, unfortunately, misbehaving.

Another complication is that my child is unlikely to respond well to normal incentives and punishments. This, too, is because of ADHD. The average nervous system is wired to get dopamine from rewards and avoid punishment while the ADHD nervous system gets dopamine from pursuing personal interests and avoids dopamine-depleting, low-stimulation tasks. In the classroom, this might show up as my child fully participating in one activity yet tuning out of the next or excelling in one subject and struggling considerably in another. It might also mean rewards and punishments that motivate others may not always be as effective for my child.

As such, you might find that small adjustments to a task can go a long way toward switching my child from an exasperated or disruptive state to an engaged state. Basically, if a task includes novelty, competition, personal interest, or urgency, it is more likely to engage the ADHD brain. This could be as simple as adding a timer, allowing work to be written on the whiteboard or completed while sitting in an unusual spot, or assigning a leadership role. Even so, I expect my child to respect teachers, participate, and follow classroom rules no matter the task and will be available to talk about behavioral strategies if behavior becomes an issue.

I appreciate your dedication as a teacher and am happy to discuss my child's condition and behaviors with you at any time. Please keep me informed of any concerns you may have.

Thank you,