Level III Blog 3 Inquiry Checkpoint 2

What have I learned so far about my inquiry student this semester ?

He needs motivation to do his work and strategies to help him focus. I have seen his test scores and they are incredibly high. These are mentioned in my previous blog titled "Wondering." What I noticed in all of the weeks up until this week is that Billy had a better attention span in the morning and it lowered more and more throughout the day. This I assumed was due to the medication wearing off slowly. However, yesterday and today I do not know what has been going on with Billy. For the most part, in the last few weeks that I have been standing by his desk and encouraging him to do his work he has been doing it. I cannot say the same for yesterday and today. He did minimal work both days, regardless of how many times I encouraged. I know of a personal situation going on at home but I do not think it is the cause of his behavior. I tried asking him if there was anything going on at home that was making him act this way but he said no. This might be a temporary thing, but regardless I feel the need now more than ever to figure out some ways I can motivate him and help him focus.

MY WONDERING: What strategies can I find to motivate my student to do his work and engage him in the process?

How can I answer this wondering?

I need to find research done on students with ADHD and strategies that have been proven to work for them.

Research so far..

I found a great article titled "Evaluating Assessment-Based Intervention Strategies for Students with ADHD and Comorbid Disorders within the Natural Classroom Context." This article provided me with very useful information. First off, "several researchers have pointed to the need for a more individualized approach to treatment selection with this population"(Ervin, Kern, Clarke, DuPaul, Dunlap, Friman 345). So this means there is no one strategy or technique that will work for the majority of students with ADHD. This will make it not impossible, but more of a challenge. The article mentions a functional assessment approach that had good results and that I will look further into in order to implement with my student.