Getting on with Friends and Other Pupils at School
Useful tips for children with ADHD on how to maintain friendships and develop new ones.
Educational resource for patients provided as a service by Flynn Pharma Ltd.
It can sometimes be difficult for your peers to understand that when you have ADHD, you may react differently to some situations. The following tips might be useful to think about to help make and keep friends.
Do
1. Join a club or activity that you are good at and enjoy. This will help you meet friends with similar interests to you.
2. Remember your true friends will like you for who you are, so don’t be afraid to be yourself; you are a great person.
3. Ask your teacher to sit you in areas that do not have a lot of distractions, such as away from windows or doors. This will help you to be able to concentrate as well as your peers do.
4. Make sure you and your friends agree where and when to meet before and after school, at lunch and break times.
5. Try to be as organised as you can in terms of your uniform, sports kit and equipment.
Don’t
1. Butt into conversations, but try and wait your turn. Try to watch and listen to how some of your peers do this – especially when
meeting someone new.
2. Lash out if some of your peers try to ‘wind you up’ because they know you have ADHD. Walk away. If it persists, talk to your teacher.
3. Buy or sell stuff such as computer games in school, even to friends, as this often causes problems and arguments.
4. Be led into doing things that will get you into trouble just to stay in the crowd.
5. Be afraid to explain to your peers that taking ADHD medication is similar to using an inhaler if you had asthma. An inhaler helps you breath; ADHD medication helps the brain to concentrate better. It is just the same.
This article has been adapted from an original resource by Fintan O’Regan – (MA, PGCE, BSc Hons)
Behaviour and Management Consultant and former Headmaster of the Centre Academy School, Battersea, London
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