Do you have help in the classroom? can you give him seperate things to do, like drawing, colouring etc for short periods of time. Can you speak with the parents and get some ideas, like what things does he like and will do. Can/will he help you in the classroom by handing out papers or something when needed? My daughter works with kids like these, I try to get some of her things that she does with them.

I  have lots of help in the classroom but I'm only there for 15 min.  Giving him something else to do would work I believe.  One time he was making a house out of 2 chairs when I entered the room.  The teachers there told me to just ignore him, once I started my activity he looked up and came right over wanting to do it.  I let him, he did well and he shows some promise in the english language if he can focus. When he was finished he went right back to building his house.

Personally I feel fortunate, I remember one story my friend in Canada told me once (the CYW), one child with ADD stood up on his desk and screamed at the top of his lungs.  Just for the attention, any attention good or bad.  Fortunately the child at the private school where I teach is not that bad.  If I can give a really interesting lesson then I have his attention for the entire time.  Of course I can't always get an interesting lesson every time, some days I hit and some  miss.

I only see this kid for 15 min once a week. So really I'm looking for advice I can give the teachers who have to deal with him 5 days a week.  But I will try giving him extra separate things for him to do (just hope his classmates don't get jealous).

I'm glad that you brought this topic topic up because I have just realized that I have never really encountered ADD in China. As a teacher in middle school in the U.S., ADD was all too common but here in China I have never heard it mentioned.

I wonder if there is even such a diagnosis as ADD in China? In America, the label 'ADD' is still controversial with some people saying that this kind of behavior is a result of diet, allergies, or even family environment. 

I can only imagine how the parents would react if you even made the suggestion to them. It could shatter their world, I suppose. After all, especially in China, being even a little 'different' is bad and as you mentioned, causes people to lose face.

I'm glad you see potential in him. Kids with ADD are often very smart but they often need one-on-one time with a teacher/tutor so that they can be trained to focus more. 

I like Agatha's idea about keeping him busy as much as possible. As long as he has something to do (other than just listening to you), you shouldn't have too much trouble, especially if this is a mild condition.

The boy's parents need to be involved in order to help this boy, if you only see him for 15 minutes each week.  Time and patience are the main investments called for here.  I am guessing from my limited experience that if someone could find out how this boy in your class likes to learn (such as visual, touch, etc.), and after properly diagnosing whether he really is ADD or not, or a mix, then perhaps there might be a way to help bring him back to proper learning in the classroom.

My experience is not with a full-blown ADD (ADHD) case but with a "mild" sensory integration disorder -- SID.  The subject boy turns 12 the end of this month.  I tutor him now once a week for 90 minutes.  Though he goes to a primary school (in Grade 5) he can read with understanding English textbooks at the 8th grade,

When I first tutored him I wasn't told of his "difficulties" -- I was only called to help because after learning English since two years old, his then 3rd grade English teacher still called his English "hopelessly bad!"  After the initial thirty minutes I gave a brief report to his mother how he could not sit still, and had a worse time keeping the words he was learning than his hands out of trouble.  She then let on about his "mild condition" of SID (professionally diagnosed).  I had heard of ADD/ADHD, but SID was new to me.

After educating myself briefly on the subject through the Psychological College at University Google, I decided to take a different approach with this boy.  Then I was seeing him twice weekly, 60 minutes and 90 minutes.  My guess was that each individual might be different and this boy seemed a very visual learner.  But I had the luxury of longer than 15 minutes per week with him.  So I tailored the material I used in his sessions and reinforced his knowledge retention -- he liked seeing and doing things, therefore I gave him things to involve his vision and motion abilities, to apply also his vocal and writing skills during our time together.  His mother is an Early-Childhood educator so that helps bunches.  His father was a high government official now a very succesful businessman, which gave me a new challenge of late -- educating him on financial budgets and time-management together.  The boy has been spending hundreds of RMB's unaccounted for in a very short period of time.  I used one episode of "A Shopping Spree" podcast from www.thinkaminute.com (meant for adults, or at least older than 12!) with text and mp3, to that he had no trouble learning in a flash.  This week I took him shopping as my tutoring session, with permission from the mother, and he learned to restrain his spending -- there were things he told me later that he thought of buying, but changed his mind when he couldn't think of what to do with the items after he had bought them.  During the whole shopping trip I said nothing about "Don't buy this; don''t buy that..."  At the end of the shopping trip, he bought some snacks for his mother, and two dinners -- for him and me.

The boy in my case still gets into trouble with his teachers -- detention, or extra detention because he chose to bolt out of the classroom despite a detention order.  How about this: last month he managed to cause his teacher's Thinkpad finger-print reader to lockup and became out-of-service for two weeks.  But he is a good learner and gets good marks today.

Something extra I learned about this 12-year-old -- last month when he disabled his teacher's notebook computer he was giving a self-introduction in a school-wide English speaking contest.  He likes small animals and has hundreds of pet fish in an aquarium at home; in a country home where he goes on some weekends there're two turtles, a dog and over one hundred pet rabbits.  Maybe small animals can help his attention span?  He told me he likes getting into the aquarium come cleaning time...

Hope what I have said here can offer some help.

I will pass on this information to the other teachers at my school.  Hopefully it will make teaching this kid less of a nightmare.

One of the reasons we are in China is due to my wife's CRAZY teaching experience back in the US. She taught elementary music right on the Baltimore city/county line.

She had a "screamer" and "crier." The child would just start crying at the top of his lungs and run endlessly around the classroom. It was quite a scene and exhausted my wife's teaching strategies.

I am interested, like RV to see what, if any, is there in China as related to ADD and ADHD. I agree that it is definitely a sensitive topic and as an elementary teacher for 2.5yrs back in the States, and of which I plan on returning to in Aug, I am normally AGAINST medication, as is my wife. We've seen to many drugged children who are basically at the expense of the drug industry for a profit and who give on drug after anther to counter-act each.

HOWEVER, with this child that my wife had, he was completely calm and turned into one of the best students in the class when he finally got medicated. For him, it totally helped him calm down and focus.

Brian, I'm sorry to hear about your problem. At least you are at a private school. We went to a public elementary school in Changsha one time to teach after a teacher got sick and saw kids running around everywhere! I don't know if that is common throughout ALL public elementary schools though.

Since the child is young and seems to be exhibiting those symptoms, I def would try something that interests him. You did say that he came over to you for one of your lessons. You only have 15mins with him. He is with the rest of the class too right? From my experience teaching, all students benefit from consistency. I think this would be esp true for him too since he may be more sensitive to inconsistency and changes.

Do you think you'd be able to assign him a job helping you or use a reward system? I know that students here don't seem to be disciplined in the same way in America. Its both more lax sometimes and more strict. But like a sticker chart where he earns one every couple of minute if he is on track.

Or have a carpet square for him where he knows where to sit and not get up and run around. Maybe have the teachers take him outside and run him around right before your classroom so he can get it out of your system.

These are all just ideas though. You know your situation the best. Let me know if any of these might appeal to you. Hope it helps! Glad to see you want to help as well.

You could also give him something to hold in his hand and squeeze. That could help release tension also, so long as he doesn't throw it or just focus on that instead of you.

Here's how it works.  If the child is good, participates in class and does the work he gets what they call a 'happy sign' or part of a happy face.  3 happy signs equals one Happy face which equals a sticker.  They can turn the stickers in for prizes that they have on display at the front of the school, everything from pens, and erasers to bookbags and dvd's.  It's a good system and really gets the students to focus since they want stickers / prizes.

Unfortunately this kid doesn't seen to care about them, or maybe he does and I just don't know him well enough to recognise that he does.  Normally a teacher just has to erase one happy sign and the child quiets down.

In Canada I had a friend who had ADD as a kid (same one who is a CYW) and his parents gave him medication but he never took them, he gave them to his friends instead and said they were candy. He says he had real boring friends, wonder why lol.

I'm not sure if I see him tomorrow or not but if I do I'll try some of these strategies, better than his house construction project with the 2 chairs.

I told the teachers involved with the child and they were very grateful for your advice. My boss there told me that she also asked some experts while she was away in Beijing and they gave about the same advice that you guys did so it was right on the money.  She also told me she called the parents of the child and told them she had something important to talk to them about.  The parents response was that they could not talk to her.  Translation: "Yes we know our child has a problem but we don't want to deal with it or talk about it or we'll lose face".

She'll talk to the parents when they come to the school.  At least the teachers are better armed now to deal with this problem and the child can get the education he deserves. 

I know I can say this on behalf of the teachers at my school.  Thank You!

I don't know what this child in question looks like or how he really behaves, but I think he is smarter than the rest in that bunch!  Even at this young age, he knows those "rewards" are just "carrots" in reality!  I bet if his life doesn't detour into anything "bad" he could become a leader of sorts oneday.  Might even be the best leader out from all the children in the same classroom.  He knows what HE likes to do is far more important than what the OTHERS, especially the adults, want him to follow.

Give him room, patience and time.  You might get to know his brighter side.  I hope you can survive his acting up long enough to discover him.