The first part of my product was a presentation to my mentor's Girl Scout troop about ADHD. I wanted to get the girls to understand the basics of ADHD so they would be more understanding and accepting of their peers who may have disorders.
I made a large poster for a visual aid that listed the three main symptoms of ADHD: impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity.
Then I drew up a quick interactive activity that would give the girls an idea of what a student with ADHD has to go through on a day to day basis in school. I told my mentor about my plans, and after Mrs.Nease's approval it was time to deliver!
On Monday, April 28th, I dropped by during one of the troop's meetings to give my presentation.
I decided to read them the book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. I chose three girls from the group to represent the three different symptoms of ADHD:
For inattention, I made one girl stand behind another and tap a tambourine softly by her ear to represent auditory distractions.
For impulsivity, I had a ziplock bag full of slips of papers with commands such as "hide under the table" or "tell me your favorite kind of cake" that one girl would choose from and have to perform before thinking.
To represent hyperactivity, I told one girl scout to jump up and down, run around the room, tap her pencil against the desk constantly, and other fidgety activities of that nature.
As those girls acted out the different symptoms of ADHD, I read a story to the entire group- telling them to try to pay extra close attention so they could fill out the worksheet I made later.
As you can imagine, there was total chaos (which, of course, was a good representation of what a class would be like if three out of the six or so students present had ADHD)!
Of course, they did eventually all have to complete my worksheets and calm down before we could continue the rest of the activity.
Once everyone was done with their worksheets, I asked the each of the girls how they felt during the activity. Olivia, the girl I chose to act out 'hyperactivity', said she felt bad, because I was constantly calling her down for fidgeting although she could not help it. Breanna said she could not concentrate because the students with ADHD were making it hard for her to focus on the teacher (me).
By the end of the meeting, I believe the girls had a better appreciation for their ability to concentrate in class and a better understanding of their peers who may have ADHD or other disorders that make working in the school environment challenging.
As you can probably tell by the pictures, these girls were a whole lot of fun to work with!
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