ADD and ADHD students who are often in conflict require some social interaction skills and perhaps some anger management techniques.
Every child has his or her own reasons for being in conflict. Sometimes it is due to academic frustration, issues at home, low self esteem issues, or simply a lack of understanding of social cues and interaction.
You can help your child resolve and avoid conflicts.
Evaluate your child’s conflict resolution techniques. Find out if your child is misreading social cues or has difficulty managing his/her emotions.
Show your child how to solve conflicts. Do some role playing at home. Be a role model by pointing out your conflicts and how you solve them.
Make sure your child understands natural consequences from his/her actions (i.e. if he/she is in conflict, others won’t want to play or interact with your child).
Teach your child how to stop, take a step back, and think about the situation before reacting. Often, students have difficulty with self-monitoring.
Write a behavior contract with your child. You can both decide on rewards and consequences for appropriate and inappropriate conflict resolutions.
Teach your child how to resolve conflicts. Your child may not know how to solve different types of conflicts properly. Explain how different situations require different solutions. Be as specific as you can.
Quite often, we take for granted that our children know how to resolve conflicting issues just because we know how to do it ourselves. You have to show your child how to solve conflicts, reinforce wanted behaviours, and follow up with praise.
Stuart Ackerman is a certified teacher in both the United States and Canada. He has his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from York University in Toronto and his Master’s of Science in Education degree from Canisius College in New York State. Stuart is the author of the “Learn’em Good’ educational book series and he is the founder of the online tutoring web site Tutorgiant.com.