Tutoring for ADHD
ADHD tutoring at BTA
ADHD changes how a student learns, not how much they can learn
ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) affects how a person regulates attention, activity and impulses. It has nothing to do with intelligence or effort; what it changes is how well a typical classroom fits the way a student learns.
ADHD shows up differently in every student, so we start with the student in front of us rather than with a label.
In a class of thirty, a student with ADHD is asked to hold attention on somebody else's pace for an hour at a time. One-on-one, the pace is theirs. A tutor sitting beside them can see the exact moment attention goes and change what is in front of the student — a different kind of question, a stand-up break, the same idea drawn instead of written — before the rest of the lesson is lost.
That is most of what we change. Work is broken into blocks with a visible finish line, so there is always something about to be completed rather than an hour to be endured. Movement is built into the lesson rather than apologised for; several of our academies have standing desks and fidget tools, and a tutor will use them. And progress is written down where the student can see it, because "you did nine of these last week and eleven today" does more than "good work" ever does.
How ADHD shows up in a lesson
We are tutors, not clinicians. We do not assess, diagnose or treat anything, and we would not want to. Nothing on this page is a checklist to measure your child against — if you are worried about how they are learning, that conversation belongs with your GP, paediatrician, psychologist or occupational therapist. What we can do is teach in a way that works with what you already know about your child.
Attention that comes and goes
Some students with ADHD mostly find attention hard to hold, some mostly find stillness hard, and many find both, on different days. What we pay attention to is what that changes in an hour of tutoring.
Attention arrives and leaves on its own schedule, so the hard work goes where there is the most of it left
A long instruction loses its second half, so instructions come one at a time
Sitting still costs effort that then is not available for the maths, so movement is built into the lesson rather than argued about
Starting is harder than continuing, so the first question is always one your child can already do
What it does not mean
It is not a measure of ability, and it is not a behaviour problem. A student whose attention wanders is not choosing to, and the things that look like carelessness — the lost worksheet, the half-read question — are part of how ADHD shows up, not a lack of effort.
Students with ADHD sit the same exams and can reach the same marks as anyone else in the class
Interest changes everything — the attention that will not come for one task arrives completely for another, and that is worth building a lesson around
Quick, lateral connections that a more methodical student would not have made
Once something is genuinely understood it tends to stay understood
How do we support students in their lessons?
What a BTA tutor must not do
Scold or penalise a student for inattention, fidgeting, or needing a break. These are part of how ADHD shows up, not misbehaviour, and treating them as misbehaviour is the fastest way to lose a student.
Hold a student back from moving on because they have not finished at somebody else's pace.
Offer an opinion on whether a child has ADHD, or on their medication. We are tutors.
What our tutors are trained to do
Be flexible about how much gets done, and consistent about how the lesson runs — the structure is what is predictable, not the quantity
Build movement into the lesson rather than apologise for it
Know when it is time to move to another task, and move
Track progress where the student can see it, and say what has improved
Recognise and work with the individual student in front of them
Some ways BTA tutors are taught to conduct lessons for students with ADHD (including but not limited to):
Keep a chart that tracks a student's progress with spelling, times tables or any other skill
Incorporate movement breaks during lessons. BTA has fidget tools and standing desks at some of our academies.
For younger students, it can help to agree a short set of tutoring expectations together, so the lesson is predictable
Use multisensory learning activities
Structure lesson content around the student's own interests
For more information, we encourage you to visit ADHD Australia.
Starting out
What the first few weeks look like
Families often arrive here having had a difficult year, and the question underneath the enquiry is usually how long this will take before anyone can tell whether it is working. This is the honest answer.
A phone call, before anything is booked
We talk first. What school is like at the moment, what has already been tried, what has gone wrong before, and what you actually want out of this. Nothing is booked on that call and it costs nothing.
What you tell us goes to the tutor
Tell us about your child when we call you back: how they learn best, and what has and hasn't helped. Whatever you share is passed to your child's tutor before the first lesson, so the first hour is not spent repeating a history you have already given four times this year.
The first lessons are mostly finding out
Where your child actually is, rather than where the report card says — and which settings work. Pen, texta or iPad. Read aloud or read silently. Notes drawn or notes written. Where the break goes. Homework stays light until that has settled.
Then a plan, and something to measure it against
Once the pattern is clear, the tutor and the Student Success Manager set what the term is aiming at, and the Lesson Reports & Summaries start measuring against it — so a change we make in week five can be checked in week nine.
Right Tutor Guarantee
If the first tutor is not the right one
Matching matters here. A tutor who reads a wandering eye as rudeness will lose your child in a fortnight; one who reads it as a signal to change task will not.
We have more than 80 tutors across eight academies in five locations — Belrose, Brookvale, Forestville, Mona Vale and Gordon — which means we can match on more than who happens to be free on a Tuesday. Tutors sit in three tiers — Professional, Specialist and Expert — and every one of them completes our onboarding and induction program before their first lesson, which covers approaches that work for neurodiverse learners.
The Right Tutor Guarantee
If the first tutor match isn’t right and you tell us within your first three lessons, we keep tutoring free until it is. You should not be paying while we work out who your child ought to be sitting next to, and you should not have to justify the request. This is in addition to your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
A Student Success Manager
Every student has one, and they are not the tutor. They watch how the match is going and how the student is tracking across the term, and they are who you speak to when something needs to change — so the question of whether a lesson is working is never left to the person teaching it.
Before the first lesson
What helps us most is what you already know
You have watched your child learn for years and we have not met them yet. None of the following is required, and there is nothing to write down — tell us when we call you, and each of these saves us weeks of finding it out the slow way.
- What has already been assessed, and by whom. We do not need the report itself — knowing it exists and what it recommended is usually enough.
- What school has put in place. Extra time, a reader, a laptop, a separate room. We can teach to the same arrangements so nothing has to be relearned under exam conditions.
- The times of day your child has anything left. A 5pm lesson at the end of a hard week is not a fair test of a tutor or of your child.
- What has gone badly before — which subject, which kind of task, which approach. It is more useful to us than a list of strengths.
- If medication is part of your child's day, roughly when it tends to wear off. We are not asking why — only so the hardest work goes where there is the most attention for it.
Beyond the lesson
Resources you can use today
Tutoring is one half of what we do. The other is writing the material, and the English half of it you can read right now without booking anything.
Guides to the set novels, plays and films from Year 7 to Year 12, the HSC modules taken one at a time, and the Years 7-10 English assets. Written by the tutors who teach the subject, free to read, with no account to make and no email address to hand over.
Looking for more information
Contact Us
Ready to get started, or have a question about tutoring?
Reach our team on 1800 002 085 (free to call) or send us an enquiry through our contact page.