Summertime Strategies for Your ADHD Child

Most parents of ADHD children wonder, "What am I going to do with my child this summer?" You may be apprehensive about the loss of structure that the school year provides. You may be dreading a repeat of previous summers when your child was either restless and bored or zoned out in front of the TV. Instead of dreading summer, use these ideas for making this the greatest summer ever for your child!

Set One Behavior Change Goal for the Summer

Now is the time to assess your child's strengths and needs. What positive steps has your child taken during the school year? Make a list and share it with your child. Now, think about what areas she needs to make progress in - chores? relationships with peers? self-confidence? anger control? completing tasks? politeness? Discuss the needed changes with your child in the context of the positive progress she has made. Decide together on one specific goal she would like to focus on this summer. Help her see the benefits of learning a new coping skill and reassure her that you will be there to encourage and support her.

Explore Your Options

Look into what is available for your child in your community this summer. Does the local university provide summer enrichment programs for children? What is offered by the community center, churches, Boys and Girls Club? Investigate private lessons in dance, martial arts, art, gymnastics, computers. Many studios offer short summer programs that are perfect for the ADHD child to get a chance to try a new activity without making a major commitment. Make phone calls or visits, pick up brochures to show your child to get him excited about trying something new and fun.

Plan, Plan, Plan

Get out your calendar and mark off all the activities that are already scheduled - family vacations, camp, swimming lessons, baseball games, holidays. Sit down with your spouse first and brainstorm what special activities you want to plan, what you can afford to spend on lessons, camp, vacations, babysitters, etc. Together think of a few special things to do and go ahead and put them on the calendar. Now, get the calendar and brochures and sit down with your child to plan your summer. Let him make some choices about what he will do during the summer, but make sure he chooses something. If you would like for him to take a class, for example, offer him a choice of classes that fit into the family's schedule with the understanding that he must choose at least one.

Structure Your Days and Weeks

This is the key to managing the ADHD child and helping her develop self-discipline. Decide what your family's general daily routine will be with set bedtimes, TV times, outdoor times, mealtimes, quiet times, whatever works for you. If set routines are not your style, I urge you to give them a try. Maintaining structure and routines during the summer can make a big difference in your child's behavior and your sanity.

Build Friendships

Use the summer months as an opportunity to help your child build friendships. Having just one good friend helps her feel more confident and connected. Let her have a friend over several times a week if possible. Offer to pick up the friend, help her plan something to do with the friend - bicycle riding, skating, movie, malling, eating out, cooking in, whatever they like. It's a good idea for parents to supervise the ADD child and her friends closely to head off impulsiveness and arguments. Talk with your child before the friend comes over about specific ways she can be a good hostess. She will really appreciate your guidance in developing her social skills.

Make Time for Yourself

You must take care of yourself and your marriage if you are to have the resources for coping with the constant demands and stress of parenting your ADHD child. Make it a family rule that when Mom or Dad comes home from work they get at least 30 minutes to unwind. Let the children play outside for an hour. Require that chores be completed before 5:00 p.m. or implement consequences (after your quiet time!). Each parent take the children out one evening every week giving the other parent a chance to relax with the house all to themselves. Be sure to set aside one evening each week for you and your spouse to go out together without the children or for the children to go elsewhere while you two stay at home alone.




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Help your children with ADHD develop his learning skills especially his communication skills with other kids. Taking them to summer camps can help them build friendship with other kids and he will learn a lot of things and enjoy summer.

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Educational Rights for Children with Attention Deficit Disorder/ADHD

Because many children with ADHD/ADD experience significant academic difficulties, it is very important for parents to be aware of the special educational services that public schools are required to provide. Unfortunately, many children with ADHD/ADD do not receive the services they are entitled to, and parents are often unaware of the assistance their child should be receiving.

Prior to 1991, children with ADHD/ADD were not eligible to receive special educational services unless they were determined to have some other disability (e.g. a specific learning disability). Lobbying efforts to rectify this situation were successful, however, and children with ADHD/ADD who require special assistance must now receive access to special education and/or related services according to two federal laws.

Children with ADHD/ADD may be eligible for special services under Part B of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This would apply when a child's ADHD/ADD is determined to be a "chronic or acute health problem which adversely affects educational performance." When this condition is true - as it will be for many children with ADHD/ADD - the child can be classified as "Other Health Impaired" (OHI), and the school must develop an Individual Education Plan (IEP) that is designed to meet the child's unique educational needs.

An IEP is a plan to educate your child based on your child's individual needs. Ideally, the IEP should take into account a childish unique abilities and disabilities, and identify specific educational goals for the child, procedures for attaining those goals, and methods to evaluate whether the goals are being met. The IEP is developed after a child has been evaluated and found to require special educational services. In the best circumstances, the plan is developed in a collaborative meeting involving parents, teachers, and other school personnel (e.g. guidance counselor, school psychologist, etc.) Parents are also free to bring along anyone (e.g. child psychologist) that they feel would be helpful to have at the meeting.

Special services for children with ADHD/ADD may also be obtain under Section 504, a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Like IDEA, Section 504 requires schools to provide children who have disabilities with a free and appropriate public education. Unlike IDEA, however, which stipulates that a child has disabilities that require special education services, Section 504 identifies a qualified person as anyone with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, such as learning.  This means that children who do not require special education are still guaranteed access to related services under Section 504 if the child is deemed to have an impairment that "substantially limits one or more major life activities" such as learning, and the school must try to adapt instructional methods to the needs of children with ADHD/ADD.

As learning is considered a major life activity, children diagnosed with AD/HD are entitled to the protections of Section 504 if the disability is substantially limiting their ability to learn. It is up to the local school district to make the determination of whether this condition is met and children who are not eligible for special education may still be guaranteed access to related services if they meet the Section 504 eligibility criteria.

If the child is eligible under Section 504, the school district must develop a Section 504 plan. This plan would include accommodations/adaptations that are designed to meet the child's educational needs and may include things such as the following:

- reducing the length of homework assignments;
- allowing the child extra time on tests;
- simplifying instructions about assignments;
- providing specific assistance with planning and organizational skills;
- or using behavioral management techniques in the classroom;
- use of tape recorders
- computer-aided instructions

In general, Section 504 provides a faster and more flexible procedure for obtaining some accommodations and services for children with disabilities and some children may receive protection who are not eligible for services or protection under IDEA. Thus, Section 504 can provide an efficient way to obtain limited assistance without the stigma and bureaucratic procedures attached to IDEA.

The advantage of obtaining services under IDEA, however, is that it offers a wider range of service options, the procedures for parent participation and procedural safeguards are far more extensive, and the degree of regulation is far more specific than that found in Section 504.

For additional information on IDEA Section 504 visit the CHADD web site.




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Every person has their own rights even those who have special needs. Children with ADHD has the right to live like normal kids do. Parents should make sure that they never feel left out with other kids.

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