Minimize distractions and the need to abandon a lesson for other activities. Install a study carrel at home or in the classroom that helps the child stay focused. The fewer things your child can see, the more attention he or she can give to a specific lesson. If you are a teacher, move the child to a position at the front of the room near your desk if a study carrel is impractical in the classroom.
Allow time for movement breaks. Schedule time when the child can get up and dance, crawl or wiggle. Check out Action Based Learning as an active classroom model whereby students are encouraged to wiggle, move, rock and remain active. Research on this learning strategy demonstrates that students actually learn better when they move. Readjust your thinking that movement reduces learning and allow constructive ways for the child to move.
Allow your child to jump rope while learning spelling words or math facts. Encourage him or her to bounce on the trampoline or dance with ribbons while reviewing information. Place flash cards on the floor and have your child crawl from one to another, answering them as he or she goes. Instead of conducting seatwork at a traditional desk, try having your child study on a rocking chair or while sitting on a stability ball.
Limit food sensitivities that promote hyperstimulation in the child. Note times when the child seems perpetually in motion and keep a food diary to determine what he or she consumed just prior to the activity. Eliminate the foods if they continue to appear prior to these episodes. Check the additives list for sugars, dyes and excitotoxins such as MSG, aspartame and hydrolyzed yeast.
Offer incentives when the student achieves specific objectives or markers. For example, you might say something like, "Finish your science and you can go outside and play with the dog for 20 minutes" or "Spell all the words correctly and you can (fill-in-the-blank favorite activity) until dinner time."
Maintain consistent standards between home and class. Communicate strategies that work and utilize them in both environments whenever possible. These strategies may focus on expectations and the consequences of incomplete assignments, for example.