Give the AESH the strategies that really work with a child who has ADHD, without weeks of trial and error
A QR filed in the AESH (a teaching assistant for students with disabilities, in France) support folder, and the assistant knows from the very first hour the attention, organisation and impulse-management strategies that work with your child with ADHD. No more weeks of trial and error to find what works.
This case involves an 11-year-old child with ADHD supported by an AESH, whose parents want to avoid every new assistant, or their substitute, starting from scratch to understand how to help him channel his energy.
The moment as it happens
First day with the new AESH. She is discovering your child at the same time as the rest of the class. She does not yet know that a long instruction gets lost along the way, that a visual reminder works better than a spoken reminder repeated over and over, and that spending some energy at the start of the morning helps him stay seated afterwards.
In the support folder she opens to record her observations, one sheet carries a QR. She scans it. Within minutes, she has the strategies already tested by the parents and the previous year: breaking instructions into steps, using a visible timer, allowing a stress-relief object, valuing what has been started rather than penalising what is left undone.
She did not have to spend three weeks testing things at random. When she is away for a day, her substitute opens the same folder, scans the same QR, and holds the same course. No extra meeting called, no setback for the child each time an adult changes.
- You write it
- The QR is in place
- The reader scans
- Understood, without explaining again
Where to place the QR for this case
The goal: that the strategies follow the child and not the adult, so that the regular AESH and the substitute have the same set of instructions without a new meeting.
- AESH support folder: sheet with QR filed on the first page, where each assistant records their observations.
- A4 label sheet (standard model) printed at home, to stick the QR on the planner, the pencil case and the document holder.
- Laminated card given to the AESH at the first meeting, to keep in the home-school notebook.
- Welcome sheet passed on to the lead teacher, so that the AESH and the teacher share the same reference points.
The QR does not replace the PPS (an individualised schooling plan for a student with a disability, in France): it puts the concrete strategies within reach, before and beyond the official documents.
Pre-written text templates
Three outlines to help the AESH channel energy without punishing, and to understand what lies behind the restlessness. Adjust them to your child, do not copy them word for word.
For the "Introduction" section
"[First name] is [age], he has ADHD. His attention drops quickly, especially with long instructions, and impulsiveness can make him answer or move before thinking. It is not bad will: his brain has trouble filtering and waiting."
For the "How to help" section
"You can: break instructions into one step at a time, use a visible timer to frame the time, let him move or handle a discreet object, value what he has started, remind him of transitions a few minutes in advance."
For the "What to avoid" section
"What to avoid: giving him five instructions in a row, punishing him for an impulsive answer, taking away his break to catch up on work (movement helps him concentrate afterwards), commenting on his restlessness in front of the class, waiting for him to calm down on his own with no structure."
Conditions involved
ADHD is central to this case. When it comes with dyslexia, dyspraxia or a working-memory difficulty, the strategies passed on to the AESH often complement one another.
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Three texts (introduction, how to help, what to avoid), one shared QR code. When they scan it, the person reads what they need to know, in their own language.