Gratification Deferred
It is just as important to make tasks enjoyable now as it is to extoll their long term benefits
Russell Barkley writes, “The inability to persist with a boring task is a sign of immaturity.” That is, normal young children have trouble deferring gratification.1
We’re using the term “deferred” when you’re likely more used to hearing “delayed” to emphasize the agency component of the delay. We are talking about when people choose to selecting longer-term rewards over shorter-term rewards.
Children with ADHD do get better at deferring their gratification as they mature. They just don’t improve at it on pace with their non-ADHD peers. They are more likely than other children to choose a lesser, but immediate reward (Rapport, et al. 1986).2
I see many teachers working on this by deliberately delaying rewards for positive actions taken or telling children to “be patient” and scolding them when they cannot be.
In Taking Charge of ADHD, Barkley offers a few other ways to frame this weakness of ADHD. He suggests, effectively, steering into these difficulties.
Immediate Reward
Include immediate rewards and consequences for memorizing math facts. The long-term benefits (learning the math facts) will still be there, but now you’ve actually motivated a student to try and learn them.
Rewards can be points in a game. One teacher I work with has a yearlong competition in his math class: getting above 90% on a section of a practice packet earns a student 2 points, while doing above 80% earns them one point. The points are tallied and students can jockey with one another for top spot. They get their points as soon as class starts. This part is important.3
I use “Marie Curie Points” in my class. Science homework done on time results in one Marie Curie Point (a piece of paper with Curie’s face on it). Two can be exchanged to turn in an assignment a day late with no penalty. Ten can be turned in for a homework pass. This practice has noticeably increased homework timeliness in my classroom.
“Increasing the attractiveness or fun of a task or making the consequences associated with it more enjoyable can be just as important.”
Russell Barkley
Rewards can also be privileges (get one right and you can come up here and strike the “math master gong”), or stickers, etc. Get creative.
Immediate Penalty
Our school recently implemented consequences for homework completion besides grade penalties (these seem to barely motivate our students).
Late work? Miss ten minutes of morning recess (our awesome school has 2 periods of recess every day, totaling more than an hour).
One student, K, never turned in assignments. Once we instituted this policy, that turned around immediately. K’s father said, “now that there are consequences he cares about, he’s willing to put in the work.” Months of harping on “homework will help you do well in high school,” did not move the needle the way one ten-minute penalty did.
Conclusion
Sure, deffering gratification is an important lifelong skill. But ADHDers have a disability—a physiological difference which makes delaying gratification much harder for them. Instead of working against this, and making every lesson a battle, allow the long-term benefits to grow while helping ADHDers have short-term benefits.
Barkley, R. A. (2020). Taking charge of ADHD, fourth edition: The complete, authoritative guide for parents. Guilford Publications.
Rapport, M. D., Tucker, S. B., DuPaul, G. J., Merlo, M. & Stoner, G. (1986). Hyperactivity and frustration: The influence of control over and size of rewards in delaying gratification. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 14, 181-204.
This works well with a group of kids who have been longtime friends and all seem to love competition, but I wouldn’t work with just any group of kids.