ADHD Awareness Month 2025: Understanding, Supporting and Celebrating Neurodiversity in Schools
Practical Classroom Strategies to Support Children and Young People with ADHD
October marks ADHD Awareness Month, a time to celebrate neurodiversity and deepen our understanding of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD is often misunderstood, yet it’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental conditions affecting both children and adults. By raising awareness, we can move beyond outdated misconceptions and create environments that empower neurodivergent individuals to thrive. At Words First, we’re passionate about promoting awareness, inclusion, and practical strategies that make a real difference in schools. This month, we’re sharing simple, evidence-informed ways teachers and support staff can make classrooms more accessible, regulated, and supportive for learners with ADHD.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, is a neurodivergent condition that affects people of all ages. The term ‘neurodivergent’ is used to acknowledge that there are natural variations in human brain function, but that people with ADHD (and other neurodivergent conditions) have brains that process information, learn and sometimes behave in a way that is different from what is considered ‘typical.’
It is important to remember that a brain functioning differently comes with certain real and significant challenges, but neurodivergent individuals also have unique strengths!
Raising awareness fosters inclusivity, allowing individuals with ADHD to feel seen and heard at home and at school. This is exceptionally important given the history of ADHD, where childhood ADHD wasn’t recognized in the UK until 2000, and ADHD in adults was only officially recognized in 2008.
Today, more people are aware of ADHD and how it affects individuals and families – but there is always room for more awareness and understanding.
For ADHD Awareness Month 2025, we have collated some strategies for schools to support children and young people with ADHD. It’s the perfect time and the perfect platform to explore the unique strengths and challenges associated with ADHD – learning and working together to create supportive, neurodiversity-affirming environments for our children and young people to help them thrive.
Practical strategies that schools can start using tomorrow
Here are our handpicked strategies for schools, aimed to understand and support children and young people with ADHD in their educational journeys:
1. Make visuals accessible
- Walk around the school, paying attention to the visuals from the perspective of children and young people. Ask yourselves if the visuals are accessible, or if there is a chance that children and young people with ADHD might experience this as ‘visual noise.’
- Consider the most important visuals to display around the school – and where to display them. For example, some visuals might be more appropriate to display in the corridors rather than the classrooms, or some visuals can be displayed on specific noticeboards rather than all around the school.
Try this:
- Have an A2 school calendar display near the entrance of the school. Update it each month with the most important dates/deadlines for children and young people. Remind them to review this in the morning upon arrival, and/or in the afternoon before going home.
- Use Now-Next-Then in teaching presentations/materials to break up sections of learning. Include slides that simply say ‘Break’ or ‘Everyone ready?’ to support regulation and to check in with children and young people throughout the lesson before moving on to the next section.
2. Plan regulation
- In the same way lessons are planned to include levels of differentiation, next steps and opportunities to review learnt concepts, we can do the same to support our children and young people with ADHD to manage their energy, sensory differences and language demands throughout the school day.
Try this:
Create a regulation plan for the whole school, consisting of three levels/phases:
- Level 1: In-class, short movement breaks (e.g. seated stretches, quick regulation games).
- Level 2: Short regulation activities outside the classroom (e.g. walk to the end of the corridor and back; do 10 wall push-ups as fast as you can and then do 5 wall push-ups as slow as you can) and then return to the classroom.
- Level 3: Identify where children and young people can go if they need more regulation support (e.g. sensory room, pastoral area, or work outside in the playground supported by an LSA/key adult).
Train staff to identify when children and young people need regulation support according to these three levels.
3. Support sensory differences
- Help students with ADHD to organize themselves and complete tasks by creating set stations within the classroom environment, setting mini-deadlines to check-in on progress with longer tasks, and making sure that the child understands what is expected at each step.
- Having a routine within the classroom to set up, start, finish and pack away materials can be useful in supporting students with ADHD to manage their time and be ready for the transition to the next lesson.
Try this:
Start with basic sensory support for each classroom around the school. Include sensory support for:
- Movement: e.g. Therabands that children and young people can request and put around their chairs during lessons.
- Touch: e.g. fidget tools such as bike chain fidgets.
- Temperature: e.g. access to cold water or allowing students to sit nearer/further from radiators if needed.
These small changes can have a significant impact on children and young people with ADHD – focusing their attention on key visuals around the school and building in reminders to review these regularly, supporting their regulation in a defined way, and managing their sensory differences within the classroom.
Try these strategies out for yourselves in your offices and during the working day to learn about your own regulation and increase your knowledge of ADHD!
How else can you show your support for ADHD Awareness?
- The colour for ADHD Awareness Month is orange. Orange combines the passionate energy of red with the sunny happiness of yellow. It’s a powerful choice as it represents strength and endurance – conveying the resilience of individuals with ADHD.
- Wear an orange ribbon, or add a touch of colour to your wardrobe with orange socks, ties, hair scrunchies, or tops!
Where else can I access information and support?
Follow our Words First Ltd social media accounts for more information on ADHD provided by ADHD Specialist and SaLT, Chevonne.
The following websites also have useful resources and information on ADHD:
About Chevonne:
Chevonne is a highly specialist Speech and Language Therapist with advanced training in neurodevelopmental conditions, including Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Therapy at the University of Stellenbosch, she went on to achieve an MSc in Speech-Language Pathology (cum laude) from the University of Cape Town and a PG Diploma in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology (with distinction) from University College London. A published researcher in neurodevelopmental disorders, Chevonne leads the ADHD Clinical Pathway at Words First, supporting fellow therapists to expand their expertise in this area. She currently works in schools supporting students with social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) needs and is ADOS-trained, contributing to autism assessments within a multidisciplinary team.
