ADHD Resources
For Teachers
An interview with an educator who has spent 25 years reaching neurodivergent students.
For this section, Tucker Bayly interviewed Jeneille Branen, a teacher with years of experience in a school following an Expeditionary Learning model — a model shown to be especially effective for neurodivergent children. Across her years as a teacher and administrator, she has worked with many neurodivergent students, including Tucker himself, and did a fantastic job reaching them and keeping them engaged in her classrooms.
My name is Jeneille Branen, and I have been in education serving students and families and supporting teachers and educators over the past 25 years. I started my career teaching kindergarten through 3rd grade in Arizona and Illinois while my husband pursued his master's degree. We moved back to his hometown in 2002, where we both continued advanced degrees at the University of Idaho. I then taught several education courses for the University while raising my two daughters. In 2009, Palouse Prairie Charter School was opening, and I fell in love with the model and took the kindergarten position. After teaching three years, there was leadership turnover, and I moved into a co-leadership role as Director of Curriculum and Instruction for three years, then shifted into the full Executive Director role when my co-leader moved on — a position I held for six years. I was profoundly impacted by the dedication of the staff and the impact this model of education can have on students and staff, including my own two daughters.
1. Alternative forms of education seem incredibly effective for increasing engagement and learning outcomes, especially in non-neurotypical children, but they seem underutilized in the classroom. Why do you think that is, or what makes these things so hard to integrate?
Alternative schools operate with a different approach or model of education, and it takes time to fully implement a new model of learning for teachers. New teachers often don't have all the tools to fully engage all learners immediately, and they don't receive this type of training in their undergraduate education. As a result, this training falls on the school by which they're employed, requiring additional professional development. Schools also only focus on a few work-plan goals a year, and all professional development centers on those goals — so new staff, or staff who missed training related to total participation techniques and differentiation, need to "catch up," which can be very challenging. Bottom line: it takes time to master these skills.
2. Even if curriculums can't be changed due to state or school requirements, what strategies have you found effective in reaching students, especially those with a learning disorder?
Building strong relationships with students and deeply understanding them is the most effective strategy for supporting them in the classroom. Students need to feel safe and understood in order to succeed. Differentiating curriculum so all students have an access point to the learning is vital for their success as well, regardless of the adopted curriculum.
3. When you had a student with ADHD who wasn't learning well, or was in some way struggling in the classroom, how did you approach that?
First, I build a strong classroom culture so students feel safe to work in collaborative groups, share their thinking, and seek support when needed. I also use a variety of assessment tools to fully understand a student's readiness for the content. When planning lessons, I consider their learning profile and interests, and modify lessons by differentiating the content and process and offering flexible grouping. Other approaches include providing frequent physical and mental breaks in the learning.
4. There are programs like IEPs and 504s that create learning or behavioral plans for students who need them — have you found these effective, and are there any issues with them?
I find these to be very effective for a child. Those plans include lower student-to-teacher ratios, modifications for greater success in learning, alternative settings, adapted timelines and materials, and supplemental interventions — all of which help a child get an equitable education. The biggest challenge educators face in implementing 504s is remembering all the modifications while managing a full class size, and applying them consistently.
5. Research shows play to be extremely effective in engaging students — have you personally seen the benefit of allowing children free play time throughout the day?
There's quite a bit of research supporting this idea, and I firmly believe it's crucial for all learners of all ages. It has been very challenging, though, to provide enough time given state guidelines around instructional minutes throughout the day — teachers are very limited in providing breaks, especially as students get older, to stay in compliance with state law. Teachers try to mitigate this with strategies to get moving while learning; at my school, we worked hard to mitigate it with physical education four days a week and a full day of outdoor, adventure-based learning. The students who struggled most in the classroom truly thrived in these elements, and it helped them feel more successful as learners.
6. How have you seen alternative styles of learning be effective in reaching students with learning disorders, or who struggled in more standardized curriculums?
Based on my experience, I can only speak to the EL Education model. It employs several research-based practices that support all students in accessing the learning, engaging students through different protocols and student-engaged assessments. For example: in a traditional classroom, students seated at desks are asked questions and only a few are called on to answer, so many disengage. In an EL Education classroom, a teacher might use a "Back to Back, Face to Face" protocol — all students stand, find a partner, and stand back to back; the teacher asks a question, and students turn face to face to share their thoughts, while the teacher listens in and reinforces their thinking, then repeats the process. That's just one example among many. This kind of approach lets all students engage, hear the learning in a few different ways, and reinforce what's just been taught. Teachers also intentionally build a strong classroom culture around "sharing our similarities and celebrating our differences," so all students feel safe sharing their thinking in whole-class, partner, or small-group settings.