The Application of Mutual Story Telling Technique for Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to Improve Their Problem Solving Abilities

Abstract

Childhood is the best period for someone to learn about skills which can immensely help them support their own lives. Since there are many limitations which hold back children in mastering those skills and each individual have their own conditions, each child would end up having different levels of skill mastery, including children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Children suffering from ADHD tend to have difficulties in putting and keeping their focus on one matter. They also tend to move constantly and find that it is difficult to stay put. 2 to 5% of elementary students suffer from ADHD, which means in there are 2 to 10 Indonesian elementary students are suffering from ADHD. Adults and parents would label these poor kids as “bad kids” for their inability to focus their attention and their tendency in making errors in their daily activities. Children who suffer from ADHD are more likely to be left alone by their peers, slow to learn, tend to ignore conversations, and they would go fend off people who attempt to converse with them. Thus, a directive problem-solving strategy would not work for them. But there is an effective alternative method by telling them a story with “moral value” which they accept into their psychic structure while inserting understanding and problem solving for the problems they are facing positively. So, counselors and teachers can apply this technique to help them solve their problems.