ADHD

The most useful question is not "does this child have ADHD?" — that is not yours to answer — but "what is this task asking of attention, memory and impulse control, and how much of that could I take off?" Most of the practical wins in a classroom come from redesigning the demand.

The EEF's SEND guidance makes the same argument in general terms: high-quality, well-scaffolded teaching for the whole class is the strongest lever schools have, and it usually outperforms a bolt-on strategy attached to a label.

• Slow or absent task initiation, even when the child clearly understands the work.
• Work that starts strongly and thins out, or that stops at the point where the next step was needed.
• Only the final part of a multi-step instruction is carried out.
• Calling out, interrupting, or answering before the question lands.
• Movement out of seat, fidgeting, or an urgent need to be doing something.
• Quiet drift — the child who is never a problem and never gets going.
• Equipment missing, book lost, page not found.
• Very variable performance across lessons, days and topics.
• Rapid, intense reactions to frustration or to perceived unfairness.

DfE behaviour guidance expects clear, consistently applied expectations and, at the same time, consideration of whether behaviour is linked to SEND, with reasonable adjustments made. Those are not in tension. The expectation stays; the route to meeting it changes.

• Separate the incident from the child, out loud and reliably.
• Respond privately and briefly rather than publicly and at length.
• Prefer repair over accumulation — a child who is already several sanctions down has nothing left to protect.
• Watch the ratio. Aim for far more positive interactions than corrections, and count for a day if you are not sure.
• Be explicit with the class about fair meaning "what each person needs", because they will notice.
• Notice the child who is compliant and invisible as carefully as the one who is not.

• Fidget tools: mixed evidence, and genuinely distracting for some children. Try, review, keep or drop.
• Sensory equipment issued as a default because of a label rather than because of an observed need.
• Movement breaks used as a substitute for adapting the task itself.
• Reward charts that are public, long-range or easily lost — they tend to punish the child who most needs them.
• Brain-training or working-memory training software: little evidence of transfer to classroom learning.
• Assuming a diagnosis tells you which adjustments to use. It does not.

Ask the child. Primary-aged children can very often tell you which part of a lesson is hardest, where they would rather sit, and what an adult does that helps or makes it worse. That is pupil voice in its most usable form, and the 2026 DfE neurodivergence report puts identifying strengths and needs early — with the child and family involved — at the front of its recommendations.

• Contact home with something good at least as often as with a problem.
• Ask parents what works at home before designing something new.
• Be specific with the SENDCO: what you tried, for how long, and what happened.
• Keep a light record of when things go well — the pattern is as informative as the incidents.

1. National Institute for Health and Care ExcellenceProfessional guidance
   Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87) (2018, last updated 2019)

   The NHS reference point for recognition, referral, diagnosis and management. Diagnosis requires a specialist assessment; NICE also sets out when environmental adjustments should be tried first.

2. NHSProfessional guidance
   ADHD in children and young people

   Plain-English NHS information for families on characteristics, assessment routes and what support looks like. The right first link to give a parent.

3. Department for EducationResearch summary
   Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group: report — recommendations for mainstream education (February 2026)

   Independent report to DfE. Recommendations, not statutory duties. Its four priorities — timely identification of strengths and needs, workforce development, learning environments and curriculum, and funding and accountability — describe the direction of travel.

4. Department for Education / University College LondonResearch summary
   Identifying and supporting the needs of children with SEND in mainstream settings — rapid evidence assessments (September 2025)

   A series of DfE-commissioned reviews. Explicitly not government policy. Useful for what the evidence does and does not support in mainstream identification and provision.

5. Department for EducationStatutory guidance
   SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (2015)

   Current statutory guidance. Sets out the graduated approach and makes clear that support follows identified need — a diagnosis is not a prerequisite for provision.

6. Education Endowment FoundationResearch summary
   Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools — guidance report (2020, updated 2021)

   The five-a-day principles and the argument that high-quality teaching, not a separate strategy for each label, is the strongest lever available to schools.

7. Education Endowment FoundationResearch summary
   Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning — guidance report (2018, updated 2021)

   Explicit teaching of planning, monitoring and evaluating. Relevant to organisation and task management, though the evidence is about teaching approaches generally rather than about ADHD specifically.

8. Department for EducationProfessional guidance
   Behaviour in schools: advice for headteachers and school staff (2024)

   Expects schools to consider whether behaviour is linked to SEND and to make reasonable adjustments, alongside clear and consistently applied expectations.