Engaging ADHD students in tasks with hand gestures: a pedagogical possibility for teachers

This study examines the effects of teachers' speech and hand gestures on the task performances of students with Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Forty‐five 7½‐year‐old students clinically diagnosed with ADHD participated in the study. The students were asked to solve three sets of puzzles. The teachers supported the students in the tasks by using three different scaffolding modalities: speech‐only, gesture‐only and speech in conjunction with gestures. The results indicate that when the teachers used the scaffolding that contained gesture components (either speech scaffolding in conjunction with gesture scaffolding or gesture‐only scaffolding), the ADHD students were more responsive, focused longer on the tasks and were more successful in completing the tasks. Moreover, teachers' representational and deictic gestures were found to be the most effective gestures in scaffolding. This study suggests that when teachers' hand gestures are used together with speech, they are a powerful pedagogical means to engage ADHD children in tasks.

[1]  R. Barkley,et al.  Therapeutic Effects of Medication on ADHD: Implications for School Psychologists , 2019 .

[2]  L. Farrand.  THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. , 1897, Science.

[3]  K. Gadow.  Relative efficacy of pharmacological, behavioral, and combination treatments for enhancing academic performance , 1985 .

[4]  R. Breckinridge Church,et al.  Using Gesture and Speech to Capture Transitions in Learning , 1999 .

[5]  Sean Neill,et al.  Body Language for Competent Teachers , 1993 .

[6]  S. Neill.  Classroom Nonverbal Communication , 1991 .

[7]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Is gesture-speech mismatch a general index of transitional knowledge? , 1992 .

[8]  W. Pelham,et al.  Separate and combined effects of methylphenidate and behavior modification on boys with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder in the classroom. , 1993, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[9]  R. Barkley,et al.  Effects of age and Ritalin dosage on the mother-child interactions of hyperactive children. , 1984, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[10]  D. Wood,et al.  A STUDY OF ASSISTED PROBLEM‐SOLVING , 1975 .

[11]  Daniel L. Schwartz,et al.  Shuttling Between Depictive Models and Abstract Rules: Induction and Fallback , 1996, Cogn. Sci..

[12]  Douglas M. Brooks,et al.  The Influence of Teachers' Nonverbal Behaviors on Students' Perceptions and Performance , 1985, The Elementary School Journal.

[13]  M. Alibali,et al.  Gesture-Speech Mismatch and Mechanisms of Learning: What the Hands Reveal about a Child′s State of Mind , 1993, Cognitive Psychology.

[14]  S Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Knowledge conveyed in gesture is not tied to the hands. , 1998, Child development.

[15]  R. Mayer,et al.  Multimedia learning: Are we asking the right questions? , 1997 .

[16]  G. Weiss.  Hyperactivity in childhood. , 1990, The New England journal of medicine.

[17]  D. G. Hennings,et al.  The teacher moves : an analysis of non-verbal activity , 1971 .

[18]  E. L. Walden,et al.  A Review of Some Alternative Approaches to Drug Management of Hyperactivity in Children , 1981, Journal of learning disabilities.

[19]  Sandra F. Rief.  How to Reach and Teach ADD/ADHD Children: Practical Techniques, Strategies, and Interventions for Helping Children with Attention Problems and Hyperactivity , 1993 .

[20]  L. Tornatzky,et al.  An Analysis of Verbal and Nonverbal Classroom Teaching Behaviors , 1974 .

[21]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Gestures convey substantive information about a child’s thoughts to ordinary listeners , 1999 .

[22]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  What the teacher's hands tell the student's mind about math. , 1999 .

[23]  Anita E. Woolfolk,et al.  Nonverbal Communication and the Study of Teaching. , 1985 .

[24]  Susan Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Illuminating Mental Representations Through Speech and Gesture , 1999 .

[25]  G. DuPaul,et al.  ADHD in the Schools: Assessment and Intervention Strategies. Second Edition. , 1994 .

[26]  Robert L. Mason,et al.  Statistical Principles in Experimental Design , 2003 .

[27]  P. B. Rosenberger.  Attention deficits and hyperactivity , 1990, Indian journal of pediatrics.

[28]  M. Alibali,et al.  Transitions in concept acquisition: using the hand to read the mind. , 1993, Psychological review.

[29]  W. Mohr.  Interventions for ADHD: Treatment in Developmental Context , 2002 .

[30]  A. Mehrabian,et al.  Inference of attitudes from nonverbal communication in two channels. , 1967, Journal of consulting psychology.

[31]  Michelle Perry,et al.  Knowledge in transition: Adults' developing understanding of a principle of physical causality , 1997 .

[32]  Larry B. Silver,et al.  Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment , 1991 .

[33]  R. B. Church,et al.  A comparison between children's and adults' ability to detect conceptual information conveyed through representational gestures. , 1998, Child development.

[34]  C. Hammen,et al.  Childhood mood disorders , 2003 .

[35]  J. Bruner,et al.  The role of tutoring in problem solving. , 1976, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[36]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  The mismatch between gesture and speech as an index of transitional knowledge , 1986, Cognition.

[37]  Alton J. De Long,et al.  Kinesic Signals at Utterance Boundaries in Preschool Children , 1974 .

[38]  D. McNeill.  Hand and Mind , 1995 .

[39]  L. Frank.  The Society for Research in Child Development , 1935 .