Read on for a variety of ADHD reading strategies to support your student (or yourself) in becoming a reader who picks up a book and finishes it within a reasonable amount of time.
There are many reasons why a person with ADHD might not finish a book, despite the strong desire to read the content. People with ADHD might struggle to read entire books for many of reasons.
It can be difficult to read long chunks of text while remaining still if they are reading a physical book. Other challenges include the struggle to maintain focus and sustain interest in the book, inattention, poor working memory, as well as challenges with planning and prioritization.
- Struggle to maintain focus while reading can lead to skipping text, losing your place, and reading without processing the meaning of the text
- Poor Working Memory creates the challenge of holding onto newly gained vocabulary and information in your mind
- Planning and prioritizing challenges can be a pattern of obtaining many books about a given topic, starting some and not finishing them
- Restlessness and hyperactivity creates a challenge in sitting still. Excessive fidgeting can lead to losing a spot on the text while increasing the lack of focus on the text despite the desire to read more about the topic.
- Losing interest can happen frequently when a book is acquired impulsively or is no longer a compelling read. Object permanence can about be an issue if a book is sitting untouched for a period of time, a person with ADHD can easily forget about the book, despite it being out in the open.
- Lack of Motivation because reading can feel like a chore. It can be a less stimulating activity than other high dopamine activities, like scrolling social media. This leads to weak follow-through on uninteresting tasks.
With the right ADHD reading strategies, students with ADHD can become successful, independent readers who comprehend a variety of complex texts.
ADHD Reading Strategies- Learn More About Executive Functioning and Its Effect on Learners
FYI: I only endorse things that I've personally used or have come highly recommended from my teacher friends and family and think they may be helpful to you. If you buy anything mentioned using my Amazon referral links, I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Some readers might struggle with reading due to executive functioning issues. These are the students who struggle with fully understanding a text because the impact of executive functioning and reading comprehension. ADHD reading strategies can be as simple as learning more about executive functioning.
The overall goal of reading is to comprehend the author’s message. Unfortunately students with weak executive functioning skills might struggle to comprehend the author’s message because they are confused or focused on the wrong things while they read.
Struggling readers can easily get mixed up when an author uses a pronoun to refer to a character instead of their given name. Students can struggle to comprehend the story because they are rigid thinkers and unable to adjust to new information from the text. These readers can also struggle with flashback if they are inattentively reading the text and do not notice the subtle cues and author gives to signal the text has shifted into a flashback.
Read these posts to learn more about Executive Functioning and ADHD reading strategies.
- Executive Functioning and Teaching Reading
- Watch the Movie First
- Teaching Narrator and Point of View
- Teach Students to Abandon Books They Don’t Enjoy
- You Need to Do a Teacher Read Aloud
ADHD Reading Strategies- Lean in to the Impulsivity
Impulsivity is generally regarded as a negative trait. Use this key feature of ADHD to get a reader excited about a book and provide the resources to help them finish the book. These supports include:
- Build up understanding, interest and excitement in a book by doing a book talk or reading the first chapter (or a highlighted exciting part of the text)
- Read aloud to your class every day. Include a variety of fiction and informational texts.
- Teach story and text structure to support a reader’s understanding of how a text is organized throughout the school year.
- Provide a variety of engaging books that the students actually want to read. Award winning books are great, but a short Jake Maddox, Terrible Two, Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark are often read and reread because they are fun, engaging and easy to jump into.
- Let students know it’s okay to give up a book that hasn’t held their interest. If they aren’t interested by 10% (in general) they are probably not going to get more excited after that.
- Make your classroom library visually appealing and easy to find a book.
- Have the student read the book aloud to you individually to get them started. When you think their understanding of the text is solid and they are interested in the text, release them to read independently.
- Keep novel studies quick. Unless the book is 1,000 pages, try to keep each novel study 3-4 weeks at most. It is hard to sustain attention to any book when you have to identify the similes on every single page. Poor working memory can impact a student’s comprehension of the characters and plot, especially if the main conflict of the book is an internal conflict.
ADHD Reading Strategies- Hold Your ADHD Student Accountable During Silent Reading (and the rest of school)
People with ADHD are (usually) great at masking and pattern recognition.
What is ADHD Masking?
Masking is a coping mechanism to appear more typical and hide ADHD symptoms like inattentiveness or hyperactivity. Masking can include being:
- Hypervigilant- constantly monitoring oneself to avoid making mistakes and fit in socially
- Over-planning- focusing on organizing desk area so that it is perfect place to read a book
- Mirroring other student behaviors- holding a book, looking at the book every once in a while, but not actually reading the book
- Suppressing emotions- holding in big emotions like anger and frustration, and suppressing boredom and impulsivity
What is ADHD pattern recognition?
Enhanced pattern recognition in ADHD is a cognitive trait that allows for spotting connections and patterns that others might overlook. Enhanced ADHD pattern recognition includes:
- Rapid scanning of the environment due to novelty-seeking stimulation will get these students to notice who is actually reading a book during silent reading in the classroom, who is staring out the window, which student has left for the bathroom and most importantly is aware of every movement the teacher makes during silent reading
- Intuitive, non-linear thinking allows individuals with ADHD to make quick connections between seemingly unrelated concepts that allows the ADHDer to jump to conclusions and create insights much faster than non-ADHD individuals
- Complex social dynamics allows these students to quickly pick up on the unspoken social rules, power dynamics, emotional patterns, and inconsistencies in behaviors that others might miss. These individuals can sense tension in the room, know when the teacher is frustrated and are sensitive to what books might be less socially acceptable in a classroom or grade level.
- Systemic analysis makes it easier for students with ADHD to see how complex systems function. In the classroom this can look like a student knowing what homework the teacher will actually check and what they can get away with skipping. This allows them to know and judge how much effort to put in school, how to behave with a substitute and when to tune out of class.
- If you ever play the audio version of a book for the class to follow along with while you sit at your desk to grade papers or get organized, these are the kids that know and see these behaviors after 45 seconds. This is a pattern recognition signal that allows them to mentally check out of the task because you appear to them to also be checked out of the task.
ADHD masking and enhanced pattern recognition are most likely done automatically and can be exhausting and overwhelming for the student with ADHD. As their parent or teacher, be aware that these things are happening and help the student to problem solve around these behaviors by helping to hold them accountable in as positive of a way as you can.
Have a conversation with the student about masking behaviors. Stating your observations and judgement-free as possible, coming from a place of curiosity and trying to under can help to create a plan with the student.
“I noticed that when it is silent reading time it takes you a few minutes to get your desk in order.”
“Why do you think you notice everyone else’s reading behaviors?” (Keep the ‘when I want you to focus on reading your own book’ quiet in your head for now)
“Why do you think you are struggling to finish that book?”
“I’ve noticed you have had the same book for a few weeks now. How do you like it?”
“When do you think you will finish that book?”
“What do you need to be in a place where you can read silently?” Then go ahead and list a few suggestions because the student will probably have no clue what they can do to help themselves.
- Go for a 30 second walk in the hallway to get the wiggles out
- Swipe the items on your desk into a bin to clean it off immediately
- Noise cancelling headphones
- Quiet music for focus
- Sit in a different spot in the classroom
- Pick a new book
This type of conversation and suggestions signals two things to the students. The first thing is that you are communicating to them, in a positive way, that you see them and are aware of their avoidance behaviors. The second signal it sends is that you are open to helping support them as a reader and learner and their unique needs. This (hopefully) creates buy-in on their end and should help them come to the conclusion that you will get them to read during this time.
What if they still don’t read (or do what they are supposed to) in class?
First off, recognize that having to constantly provide the external support and structure to get kids to ‘independently’ complete a task is frustrating and can be exhausting for you the teacher, especially if you were just hoping to have a moment to grade a few papers, check in with other students in the room, or take a few blessed quiet moments for your self to regroup. As a teacher that can drain your energy.
Plan to provide extra supports for yourself to hold your student with ADHD accountable for learning.
Recognize that it is frustrating and then plan around the fact that one student, a few students, or all of your students (as is increasingly the case in schools) need these types of external supports and structure.
When you need a moment to grade papers, get another activity ready, or just need some down time yourself, plan an alternate activity that you are okay with the student completely checking out for- watching a movie, independent worksheet etc. It helps to have a variety of expected and unexpected backup plans when teaching.
If you know you are going to have a busier week during the next few school days, anticipate that you and your student with ADHD (and probably the other students) will need some time throughout the week to regroup and have down time. What are the fun, busy-work type activities that you can have the complete.
There are a few resources that I enjoy using from Teachers Pay Teachers for these types of scenarios or when I know I am going to have sub in the classroom. My absolute favorite resources are from Mrs. J’s resource creations.
All of the reading and math mysteries that I have purchased from Mrs. J’s store have been perfect for my 5th grade students. The math mysteries are 5/5 stars, the reading mysteries are pretty good, but closer to a 4.5/5 stars. I think it’s easier to set up a math mystery to solve compared to a reading mystery.
Come up with a focus and accountability schedule for your student
You need to identify the non-negotiable times of day that the students absolutely need to be alert and present for and which times and activities you can be more flexible on. Unfortunately silent reading is a time that many students have learned that as long as they are quiet, they can make it appear as though they are reading, when really they are just mentally checked out.
Hold them accountable for doing their work by checking that they did the work.
In my experience students with ADHD will complete the work when they understand that you expect them to complete the work, know (and actually understand) what work to do, and are provided enough time with support to understand the passage of time.
Warn the student of the lesson’s work expectations just before getting started on the work.
Have a private conversation with the student that you expect them to read during silent reading, quietly tell them that you are going to check their math worksheet in 6 minutes, warn the class that you expect them to complete the packet by the end of class and then privately tell your ADHD student you want them to check in with you in four minutes.
If you signal to the student ahead of the work that you are going to check their work, they are more likely to do the work. If you treat it as a gotcha at the end of class, they are probably going to feel frustrated, shame, disappointed in themselves and most likely will quietly loathe you for the rest of the year. They can be very good at masking their dislike of teachers who make them feel badly about themselves.
Check that the student understands the directions.
After releasing the rest of the class to work, have the ADHD student come to you and tell you in their own words what they are supposed to do. It is crucial that they are the ones telling you what they are supposed to do. This clarifies that they actually understood the directions and are not just masking compliance in front of you.
You can repeat the directions if you feel that they don’t understand each expectation, but it is essential that they do not leave to work until they tell you what they are to do and how much time they have to do it.
Create a goal and timeline for completing a book (or classwork).
After talking to the student about the reasons why they have struggled during silent reading, help them come up with a plan for finishing a book. Come up with a goal to have the book read by a certain date. I generally think it’s fair to read about 20 pages a day as a guide.
If the student wants to read more pages, fantastic! If the book is 187 pages long, the student should finish the book in under 10 days. Check in with them each day about the book and ask for a summary of what they read. Even if you haven’t read the book, it is generally pretty easy to tell who has read a book as they will have a decent amount of details to share.
If the struggle is completing classwork you can keep it problem or time based, but try to gamify it. We have 20 minutes to work, how many problems do you think you can compete in 20 minutes? I am going to time you to see if you can complete these 3 problems in 5 minutes. Do you think you can beat my timer?
Rinse and repeat.
You are going to be a friendly, respectful, working pain in the student’s neck. The more you are in the student’s face about getting work done and checking that it is, in fact, done, the student will quickly pick up on the pattern that you are one that they can’t just check out with and that it is more worthwhile to get the work done and complete the expectation in the first place.
They will also see that you think they are capable, see their strengths as well as their individual challenges and learn to believe in themselves and see themselves as capable.
What if this doesn’t work?
Continue providing all of the extra supports listed above. In addition, reach out to the family to see if they have any helpful tips or suggestions.
The final suggestion I have for holding students accountable is the addition of physical proximity. Some students just need to be near the teacher. This doesn’t have to be the lonely island student desk who is attached to the teacher’s desk (even though this certainly can be the case) it can also be on a subject by subject basis.
If your student has proven that they will do everything to not read a book during silent reading, have them sit next you at your desk and tell them to read aloud to you. Stop them every few paragraphs to check for understanding.
Provide a generous overview of the text and don’t worry about giving way any spoilers. The goal is to get the student to read the entire book, not to keep the special twist surprise a surprise. No one will enjoy a twist ending if they never read the ending.
After a few sessions of this, I find that the student finally gets interested in the book and can then be released to read the text on their own.
ADHD Reading Strategies- What To Do When They Can’t (or Won’t) Stop Reading the Book- Hyperfocused Reading
Hyperfocus can be a gift and a nightmare to an ADHDer.
It is amazing when someone has the talent to zone in on one task without regard for the outside world. ADHD students in school, ones who are expected to follow the directions of others to complete tasks that may be difficult or uninteresting, may struggle to shift tasks from personally interesting ones like reading the latest fantasy in their lap when they should be taking notes on tectonic plates in science class.
ADHD Reading Strategies- What To Do When They Can’t (or Won’t) Stop Reading the Book Teacher Edition
As a reading teacher, I feel like this is a good problem to have, but it is still a problem. It can be a crippling problem when that student becomes an adult and struggles to take care a various life needs when they are hyperfocused on their wants and don’t attend to those less fun, yet more important tasks.
What can a teacher do when they find their students constantly reading a book, like the student is feeding their addiction or they look at you like Gollum and his precious ring?
The teacher should help build awareness of the hyperfocus on reading for the student without a shameful tone.
Have a conversation about the hyeprfocus on reading and the student’s challenge to switch tasks in a timely manner. Try to find out why the student is struggling at this point. Is the student reading the most recent book by an author that came out the day before (and is a one time problem) or is this a daily problem no matter the book?
Discuss the difference between a want (reading a book for fun) and a need (doing school to become a functioning member of society). Let them know that reading is a great activity, but if they were an employed adult who was caught reading on the job, they might get fired.
Your student will probably tell you at this point that they will be their own boss when they are older. You will kindly respond that you want them to leave school with the skills necessary to become their own boss. This conversation creates a teamwork focus with a reference to the future for the student. People with ADHD struggle to think about the future and are more focused on the now, present time.
Support the student by telling them it’s a problem and that it would be better for the student if you, the teacher, held on to the book until the appropriate reading time. If you are a middle or high school teacher that typically does not have time for silent reading in their classroom, identify a drop spot, where the student should automatically place their book at the beginning of class.
Having the student put physical space between themselves and the book (or whatever the hyperfocus fixation is at the moment) provides an external structure of support for the student’s impulsivity. This helps to increase their self-awareness that reading in secret, when they should be doing whatever school task they should be doing, is not a good behavior to develop.
Provide encouragement for the student that you are happy they are reading a book for fun. Because hey, that is a great habit to develop. . . at the appropriate time.
ADHD Reading Strategies- What To Do When They Can’t (or Won’t) Stop Reading the Book Teacher & Parent Edition
When a parent brings reading hyperfocus up as a problem at school, teachers should be mindful that the parent is most likely not looking for praise. Rather, the parent is probably concerned that the student is failing to complete other household tasks and chores for their dopamine hit of reading a book.
As a teacher try to validate the parent’s concern. They’re most likely not bragging that their child reads voraciously, but they are looking for support and suggestions on how to help pull the child away from the reading to take care of their needs.
Suggestions to help parents with hyper focused reading
- Schedule specific reading times for the student to enjoy their reading habit
- Have a drop spot at home to keep the students from grabbing the book
- Provide plentiful warnings that the reading time will be stopping soon. Make sure to have the student look at you and repeat how much time they have left.
- Help the student find natural stopping points int he book.
- Stopping at the end of a chapter is easiest for knowing the location of where to pick up again. Keep in mind many authors have chapters end on cliff hangers, which makes it hard for the reader to switch activities.
- Stopping in the middle of a passage might be easier for a clean break, as there is probably not a cliffhanger in the middle of the third sentence in the second paragraph of a book.
While too much reading can be seen as a ‘good problem to have,’ it can be a good skill to work on a variety of Executive Functioning skills and other related ADHD behaviors.
ADHD Reading Strategies- Read a Book to Learn More About ADHD
Finding the time to read and getting an actual copy of books about ADHD can be a challenge. Over the years, I have developed a few methods that have helped me remember the name of a books to possibly read at later date and evaluate if a book is worth my time an effort.
I will go into more detail about the specifics of this ADHD strategy, but for those of you that like to get to the point right away, my suggestions include:
- Add all books to a specific Amazon Wish List
- Check out books from your library or sign up for Kindle Unlimited to save money
- Download audio books from your library’s digital app (My library uses Libby) or sign up for an Amazon Audible subscription
- Use Google AI to get an overall idea for the key ideas covered in the book
- Search for YouTube book summaries of books that you aren’t sure about reading, want an overview of the content or would like summarized before you dive into reading the whole thing.
- Use paid programs like Blinkist, Shortform, Headway,Story Shots and Summize It that summarize the content of books into shorter snippets. (I haven’t used these services, but know that they exists)
Amazon Wish Lists
Use multiple Amazon Wish Lists to curate books you want to read and books you might read.
I currently have five Amazon wish lists dedicated to books and reading. This helps me keep track of every book I have ever had an interest in possibly reading.
When a book is recommended to me, I pull out my phone, open up my Amazon app and add the book to the most appropriate list. I don’t have to buy the book on Amazon, but this helps me (and my weak working memory) to remember the author and title of the book to checkout at a later date.
No one needs five book wish lists, but these lists help me sort and identify the correct time, place and way to pay for the book when I am ready to consider each book.
My Amazon book wish lists include:
- Books to Read
- YouTube Summary Books
- Audible Book List
- Teaching/School Stories
- Holiday Fun
Books to Read and Holiday Fun are my personal ‘for fun’ reading lists. My ‘Books to Read’ list is my main spot for personal reading fun as well as my catch all for any book that I need to quickly add and am not sure what list or where to add the book. Holiday fun are the books that I don’t want to think about until Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas. I will struggle with object permanence if I constantly see a Thanksgiving themed romance in the middle of March.
YouTube Summary books are for the books I am unsure about committing to reading and want to think about, research reviews and see if the YouTube summary of the book is enough.
Teaching/ School Stories are the books I want to purchase for my classroom or ask my principal or school district to pay for.
Never be shy about asking admin to pay for a professional development book. I typically send a quick email to my principal with the book link asking if they would be interested in purchasing the book for the school. Typically my principal will purchase the book. The worst thing is that they say no, but you are communicating to them that you are staying on top of professional development and are interested in learning more. Administrators love that!
Finally my audible book list consists mostly of books that I want to listen to for fun. This is a nice way of providing extra support and entertainment when I work out on my treadmill. There have been many times where I extend my workout time just to hear a good part of a book (usually a romance) that I was listening to while working out.
Audible or any audio device is also another way to ‘read’ a book that might be less interesting to physically read. I have managed to complete quite a few hefty books that I know I would NEVER have sat to read, but didn’t mind listening to while I was out driving my car, grocery shopping and taking care of other mundane tasks that need to get done.
Kindle Unlimited
I have a Kindle Unlimited account that gives me access to millions of books for $12 a month. I am a voracious romance reader and find this quite valuable. I am able to download up to 20 books that are part of the Kindle Unlimited program onto my kindle at a time. If I try to download 21 books, I will be asked to return a book to Kindle Unlimited. There are over 10,000 books with ADHD in the title currently available on Kindle Unlimited.
Amazon Audible
If audiobooks and podcasts are more your style check out your local library’s audio offerings. My library has access to Libby, which I absolutely love and find user friendly.
Amazon Audible provides easy access to audiobooks, podcasts and Amazon originals for $15 a month. You get one audiobook a month as well as access to a variety of ‘free’ audible books with the membership. I was also able to pick up a ton of Audible books during Prime Days for less than $3 each. Sign up for a trial membership to see if you like the benefits.
I like the easy to use search features on Audible and they have a separate wish list you can keep on the Audible app. This is a nice way to save any books that are narrated by authors that you like or to track the price of an audio book when it goes on sale.
Outsource Your Reading
Save time by eliminating books that don’t hold any time value for you. I look through the Amazon and Good Reads reviews of books to see if a specific book is a good fit.
I find that the 2-3 star reviews will be the ones that are the most helpful. I pick the 2-3 star ratings because these consist of people who don’t. find the book overly amazing as well as overly negative. Some value was found by the reviewer and I look to see what those themes of ‘complaint’ are for the reviewer and to see if those complaints are repeated by others.
Use Google AI to get an overall idea for the key ideas covered in the book. When I find a book that I am considering using my professional development teaching time to read (a scientific leaning textbook for example), I want to get a good feel for the content that will be covered in the book.
Using AI as a key idea book summary is another of my many personal ADHD reading strategies that helps me to get a feel for the expertise of the author as well as the dryness of the concepts. This allows me to think in my head if I want to actually read the book, if now is a good time, or if the book is of a depth that I should wait for a better time to process and read the book.
Once I am ready to decide to read a book, put off the reading or skip the book altogether, I search for YouTube book summaries of books that I am not sure about reading, want an overview of the content or would like summarized before you dive into reading the whole thing.
This was really helpful when thinking about reading The Anxious Generation. That book has been really powerful, but was a cognitively heavy book for me to consider reading at a particularly challenging personal time in my life. Watching a YouTube Summary helped me get the gist of the book, without the cognitive load that actually reading the book would have had.
You can also get a summarizing book service to highlight the important parts of a text. Use paid programs like Blinkist, Shortform, Headway,Story Shots and Summize It that summarize the content of books into shorter snippets. (I haven’t used these services, but know that they exists)
Work with an ADHD Coach to Problem Solve Your Reading Challenges (and other ADHD needs)
Shimmer is an online ADHD coaching service with a variety of helpful resources and tools rolled into the monthly fee. You can sign up to meet with a coach online for 15-30 minutes a session each week or every other week, depending on the price of the subscription. Each subscription currently ranges from $140 a month to $250 a month, depending on how much time you want to check in with your coach.
I have really enjoyed and benefitted from the personalization and focus on my own individual ADHD challenges when working with my coach. My coach is resourceful and understanding when I tell her that I struggle with leaving the public library with less than 30 books, am struggling to maintain order of the multitude of teaching supplies I need to keep on or near my desk at school or the sensory overload I felt when I went to a concert.
My ADHD Coach validates my feelings and comes up with helpful ways for me to problem solve around my own ADHD challenges like a weak working memory or my impulsivity that I struggle with in a variety of areas like bookstores, libraries and the best use of my extra time instead of it going entirely to reading for pleasure.
Shimmer has some great resources that you can check out. They also offer coaching for teens, but I can’t speak to the benefit for this age group as I have only used their services for myself. I would be open to using their coaching services with my own kids in the future.
- What if I can’t afford an ADHD Coach?
- Shimmer Brainwaves Podcast
- It’s Okay to Be Suspicious of ADHD Coaching
- ADHD and Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (Shimmer Blog)
- What is the ADHD Tax (Shimmer Blog)
If you sign up with Shimmer using my referral link you can save $100 off on your first month. Here is my Shimmer referral link.
Interested in reading more about ADHD and other student behaviors?
- Supporting Families to Diagnose and Treat Students with ADHD in the Classroom
- Teaching Students With Difficult Behaviors In The Classroom
- Teaching Students with OCD in the Classroom
- Report Card Comments for Struggling Students
- A Teacher’s Guide for Students Returning to School After Psychiatric Hospitalization and a Mental Health Crisis
