ADHD 101 for Junior School Teachers

As junior school teachers shaping minds from Grade 1 through to Grade 7, our classrooms are beautifully diverse ecosystems. On any given Tuesday, you are balancing a foundational phase learner who is still figuring out how to hold a pencil properly alongside a senior primary learner navigating the emotional complexities of early puberty.

Amongst them are your neurodivergent learners. In an average classroom of 30 pupils in South Africa – up to 6 will have some form of neurodivergence. So, let’s face it, this is the norm, rather than the exception.

But let’s talk about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) specifically.

Managing a classroom while ensuring an inclusive environment can feel like an impossible balancing act. However, supporting an ADHD learner does not mean rewriting your entire curriculum. It means shifting our perspective from viewing their behaviour as a “disruption” to recognising it as a unique neurological blueprint.

What to Look Out For: Moving Beyond the “Hyperactive” Stereotype

When many people think of ADHD, they picture a Grade 3 boy jumping out of his desk or running down the corridor. While that hyperactive-impulsive presentation exists, ADHD shows up in far more subtle, nuanced ways across its three main presentations.

Also, as a side note – diagnostically, ADD no longer exists and we call all presentations ADHD. There are however 3 different types.

Inattentive ADHD

These learners are often missed entirely because they do not disrupt the lesson. Instead, they are the daydreamers. (Also the most common in girls)

• The “Lost” Learner: They constantly lose their stationery, forget their homework diaries, or stare blankly out of the window during a maths explanation.
• The Executive Dysfunction Slump: Working memory is a massive hurdle. You might give a clear three-step instruction (“Open your textbook to page 42, copy the first two sentences into your exercise book, and answer question one”), only to find them five minutes later still looking for their ruler. They haven’t ignored you—their brain literally dropped the data.

Hyperactive-Impulsive Type

This is the classic presentation, though it shifts as children grow.

• Fidgeting & Body Focus (BFRBs): In Grades 1 to 3, it looks like physical restlessness—swaying, tapping pencils, or rocking on chairs. However, it often shows up as Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviours. Watch out for the child who is constantly picking at their skin or cuticles, biting their nails all the time, or absently chewing on their school shirt collars and sleeves. These are sensory self-regulatory behaviours used to keep an under-stimulated brain awake.

Combined Type ADHD

• These learners display a mixture of both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, riding an emotional and energetic rollercoaster throughout the school day.

The Combined Presentation

These learners display a mixture of both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, riding an emotional and energetic rollercoaster throughout the school day.

The Hidden Presentation: How Girls Mask ADHD

Check out our full article

Girls are chronically underdiagnosed because they tend to present entirely differently to boys. Society frequently conditions girls to be people-pleasers, leading to a phenomenon known as “masking”—where they expend immense cognitive energy hiding their struggles.

• The “Chatty” or Helpful Learner: Hyperactivity in girls rarely looks like running around. Instead, it manifests verbally. This is the girl who is excessively talkative, always whispering to her desk mate, or constantly volunteering to run errands for you just to stay in motion.
• The Perfectionist Mask: To compensate for internal chaos, some girls become hyper-organised or hyper-focused on neatness. They might rewrite their notes three times or take hours to finish a basic colouring task because of intense internal anxiety about failing or making a mistake.
• The Daydreamer: More often than not, girls present with the inattentive type. They are perceived as quiet, sensitive, or just “airheaded”, while internally their minds are spinning at a thousand miles an hour.

An interesting overlap:

Intolerance for Group Work & Social Struggles: A classic, overlooked sign is a deep disliking for group work, which directly ties into broader social difficulties.

An ADHD brain struggles with executive functioning, making it incredibly hard to filter out distractions or pick up on subtle social cues.

Group work demands intense social negotiation, listening without interrupting, and dealing with a lack of structure. For an impulsive brain, waiting for a peer to finish a sentence or compromising on an idea can feel physically painful.

Consequently, these kids often struggle socially at break time too—they might struggle to share, accidentally dominate games, overreact to minor playground conflicts, or isolate themselves entirely because navigating peer dynamics feels overwhelming.

The Overlap: Co-Existing Conditions, Sensory Needs, and Hormones

An ADHD brain rarely travels alone. In the neurodivergent world, we often talk about comorbidities—co-existing conditions that layer on top of each other. If a learner is struggling, it is essential to look at the whole picture.

• The Puberty Shift (Hormones and ADHD): As learners approach the senior primary years (Grades 5 to 7), hormonal shifts can completely rewrite how their ADHD manifests. For girls, the drop in oestrogen during their monthly cycle causes a significant drop in dopamine production. This means that a girl who managed to mask her ADHD reasonably well in Grade 4 might suddenly face a massive spike in emotional dysregulation, brain fog, and executive dysfunction as she enters puberty. Medication that worked perfectly for years might suddenly seem less effective during certain weeks of the month. READ THIS ARTICLE ON PUBERTY AND ADHD
• Sensory Processing Issues: Sensory processing differences overlap massively with ADHD. A standard South African classroom can be a sensory minefield. For these learners, a noisy room during a group activity isn’t just loud; it is physically painful and disorientating, causing them to completely melt down or shut down. It isn’t just auditory, either—tactile sensitivities are common. This is the child who is constantly distracted because their stiff school shoes feel like concrete blocks, or their uniform tag is scratching them raw.
• Dyslexia and Learning Difficulties: There is a high overlap between ADHD and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia or dyscalculia. When an ADHD learner struggles to read, their focus drops exponentially because the cognitive load is simply too high.

READ THIS ARTICLE ON HOW TO SUPPORT DYSLEXIA

• Anxiety: Many learners develop secondary anxiety as a coping mechanism. They are painfully aware that they forget things or miss instructions, so they become hyper-vigilant. This can present as perfectionism, regular stomach aches, or school refusal. On another note – some ADHD medication can increase anxiety – so if you spot this, let the parent know.

Small Teaching Changes with Massive Impact

You do not need an entirely separate lesson plan to support these kids. By altering a few micro-moments in your teaching day, you create a classroom that benefits everyone—neurotypical and neurodivergent alike.

• Ditch the Multi-Step Verbal Instructions: Write the steps on the whiteboard. Keep them brief. If you say it, display it.
• Introduce Sensory Defenders: Normalise the use of noise-cancelling headphones or ear defenders during independent writing or maths tasks. It allows the learner’s brain to rest from filtering out the hum of the fluorescent lights, passing corridor traffic, or whispering peers.
• Normalise Fidgeting and Movement: Movement is a regulatory mechanism for an ADHD brain; it actually helps them concentrate. Suggest the use of a wobble cushion/disco seat. Allow silent fidget tools (like prestick under the desk or a resistance band around the chair legs). Allow chew necklaces.

Instead of punishing the learner who needs to sharpen their pencil five times a lesson, make them the official classroom helper who hands out worksheets or wipes the board.

HERE’S AN ARTICLE ON SENSORY TOOLS TO USE

• Reframe Group Work: If a project requires collaboration, scaffold it strictly. Assign explicit, highly specific roles to each group member (e.g., the researcher, the scribe, the time-keeper). Alternatively, allow the option for learners to work in pairs or independently if the social overhead of a large group is causing an emotional meltdown. Assign teams – so many ADHD kids with social issues always get picked last – remove this anxiety provoking exercise.
• Brain Breaks: A two-minute stretch break between a heavy English comprehension and a history lesson resets the dopamine levels for the entire class.

What is an Educational Assessment?

When a learner continues to struggle despite classroom interventions, the next logical step is a formal evaluation. In South Africa, this is usually referred to as a Psycho-Educational Assessment. READ THIS ARTICLE FOR A MORE IN-DEPTH VIEW

It is a comprehensive process conducted by an educational psychologist. It typically involves:

1. Cognitive Testing (e.g., WISC-V): Assessing intellectual strengths, processing speed, and working memory.
2. Academic Achievement Testing: Evaluating specific skills in reading, writing, and mathematics to rule out or diagnose learning difficulties like dyslexia.
3. Behavioural Questionnaires: Completed by both parents and you, the teacher, to look for patterns of inattention and hyperactivity across different environments.

This assessment isn’t about slapping a label on a child; it is a diagnostic roadmap that explains exactly how their brain processes information and what support they need to thrive.

Accommodating Through Official Channels in South Africa

Once an assessment is complete, you can look at official accommodations to level the playing field. In South Africa, these accommodations must be formalised through your school’s SBST (School-Based Support Team) and, for older learners, registered with the provincial Department of Basic Education (DBE) or the IEB.

Common official accommodations for junior school learners include:

• Additional Time: Usually an extra 5 to 15 minutes per hour during cycle tests and exams to assist with slow processing speed or poor time management.
• A Separate Venue: Writing tests in a small, quiet room to minimise visual and auditory distractions.
• A Prompter: A designated adult who gently nudges the learner back to the task when their attention wanders, without assisting with the actual answers.
• A Scribe or Reader: If the learner has a severe co-existing writing or reading difficulty.

HERE’S A COMPLETE GUIDE TO ACCOMMODATIONS

The Parent Partnership: How to Approach the Conversation

Broaching the topic of potential neurodivergence with parents is one of the trickiest parts of teaching. It can evoke denial, guilt, or defensiveness. The key is to shift the narrative away from “deficit” and focus entirely on collaboration and support.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Parent Meetings

What to Avoid Doing	What to Do Instead
Don’t diagnose. Saying “I’m convinced Sipho has ADHD” will immediately alienate the parent.	Stick to observable behaviours. “I’ve noticed Sipho really struggles to get his thoughts down on paper, and he becomes very restless after 10 minutes of sitting.”
Don’t meet without data. Avoid vague statements like “He’s always distracted.”	Bring concrete evidence. Show their exercise books. Point out where the work trails off or show the dates where homework wasn’t written down.
Don’t make it a lecture. Don’t dominate the meeting with a list of complaints.	Ask curious questions. “How does homework time look at home? Does he struggle to focus on tasks there too, or have you found any tricks that work well?”

End the conversation by framing an assessment not as a punishment, but as a tool to unlock their child’s obvious potential.

Working with Parents of a Child with an ADHD Diagnosis

When a child comes into your classroom with an existing diagnosis, you are partnering with parents who are likely already working hard to support them. In this scenario, open, continuous loops of feedback are vital.

• Tracking the Medication Journey: Finding the right balance with ADHD medication is an ongoing puzzle for families. Paediatricians frequently tweak dosages, change release timings, or trial entirely different molecules. As their teacher, you are the parents’ eyes and ears on the ground. They need to know if a child is experiencing a mid-morning “crash”, showing unexpected irritability, or if their focus suddenly sharpness at a specific hour. Accurate classroom feedback helps doctors fine-tune treatments.
• Proactive Weekly Updates: Don’t wait until a child has fallen hopelessly behind with their Grade 6 history project or completely run out of energy to contact home. A quick, regular Friday afternoon check-in keeps everyone aligned. Celebrate the wins (“Thabo did brilliantly in his pairs work today”) alongside the hurdles (“We noticed his focus dipped heavily by final period this week”).
• Leveraging Digital Tools: Standard school communicator apps often lose the fine details. Dedicated platforms can bridge this gap beautifully. Recommending or integrating apps like Dalza.com allows teachers, therapists, and parents to easily share real-time updates, log tracking notes, and monitor behaviour or medication changes cohesively without clogging up a parent’s email inbox.

Moving Forward Together

When we adapt our junior school classrooms to accommodate ADHD learners, we aren’t lowering the bar. We are simply building a more accessible ladder.

By catching these presentation signs early, adjusting our daily micro-moments, and partnering openly with parents, we ensure that our neurodivergent learners don’t just survive their primary school years—they thrive in them.