5 activities designed to work with children with ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is characterized by overt symptoms of inattention and/or impulsivity-hyperactivity. It is estimated that in each classroom there is, on average, one child with ADHD. In a previous blog post, we already talked about its symptoms, diagnosis and treatment and today, on the occasion of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness Month and with the aim of raising awareness about this disorder, we propose five NeuronUP activities to work with children with ADHD.

Activities for children with ADHD

Here are five activities to work with children affected by ADHD.

1. Park Obstacles

First of all, we present Park Obstacles, the first of the activities for an ADHD intervention. It is a worksheet that consists of memorizing a series of obstacles and then arriving to your destination successfully while avoiding them.

Levels of difficulty

Like all NeuronUP worksheets, it has five different levels of difficulty that allow the professional to adapt the activity to the capabilities of each patient: basic, easy, medium, difficult and advanced.

In the following video you can see and example of this digital worksheet:

What does this activity work?

The main function of this activity is episodic memory and the secondary function is planning.

2. Space Conquest

This children’s exercise set in space consists of jumping between different moving planets until reaching the final destination.

Various difficulty levels

As in all NeuronUP games, the difficulty levels up and down automatically according to the child’s progress.

In addition, in this type of activities it is possible to create customized levels to adapt them to the specific needs of the child with ADHD.

Thus, we can customize some parameters such as:

• The speed
• The number of rows of planets on the screen
• The number of total rows of planets
• The format
• Distractors

In addition, you can choose other general aspects such as

• The number of exercises
• The maximum time allowed
• Whether or not you want a visible stopwatch for the activity
• If you want to include and inactivity warning or not
• Customized instructions

What does this activity work?

This game works on spatial relationship, sustained attention, inhibition, planning and processing speed.

3. Camouflaged letters

This attention game is an ideal activity to work with children with ADHD. In order to complete the activity, we have to find specific words that include the indicated letters.

Levels of difficulty

This activity has five different levels of difficulty: basic, easy, medium, difficult and advanced.

What does this activity work?

This game works on selective attention.

4. How much times does it take?

This is a worksheet that consists of organizing different activities in an agenda taking into account the time it would take to do them.

Levels of difficulty

There are five levels of difficulty to work on this task: basic, easy, medium, difficult and advanced.

Here’s an example in the following video:

What does this activity work?

This worksheet works on time estimation and, secondarily, planning. With this worksheet children will learn to estimate how long things take them to learn to organize themselves better. They will also learn how to plan to organize their tasks.

Application in daily life

It is ideal to work on common activities in the daily life of children with ADHD such as preparing their backpack, picking up their toys or taking a shower.

5. Search and you will find

Finally, one of the most fun activities to work with children with ADHD. In the game Search and you will find, children have to look for a series of specific elements among a set, as shown in the following video:

Various difficulty levels

The patients moves up and down levels automatically, according to their capabilities.

Personalized phases

• Number of elements
• Number of stimuli to search for
• Maximum errors

In addition, you will be able to choose other general aspects such as:

• The number of exercises
• The maximum time allowed
• Whether or not you want a visible timer for the activity
• If you want to include inactivity warning or not
• Customized instructions

What does this activity work?

This game works on selective attention.

The importance of these activities in the intervention of children with ADHD

These activities increase the motivation of children with ADHD, which has a decisive impact on the intervention, achieving greater control of the symptomatology and therefore better results in the treatment.

Likewise, the possibility of carrying out cognitive stimulation therapy through different devices with activities of a playful nature is an incentive for children with ADHD. Symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity or impulsivity pass to the background, getting to work for a longer period of time without signs of decreased attention or decline of interest in performing the exercises.

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