Students with ADHD or dyslexia are often bright, curious and highly capable in conversation, and then find that school formats work against them. A worksheet that looks simple to you can be a wall of text to a dyslexic reader. A fifty minute explanation can be impossible to follow for a student whose attention drifts every few minutes through no fault of their own.

Online tutoring can suit these students very well: one-to-one attention, a calm space, no classroom audience and a format you can change in seconds. But it also adds risks, such as a screen full of distractions or a lesson that becomes a stream of reading. This guide covers how to adapt your lessons so the format helps rather than gets in the way.

It is general teaching advice, not clinical advice. ADHD and dyslexia vary hugely between individuals, and they often come with other differences such as dyscalculia, anxiety or autism. Treat each student as an individual.

Start by asking, not assuming

Before the first lesson, ask the parent (or the student, if they are older) a few open questions:

  • What does your child find hardest in lessons or homework?
  • What has helped in the past, at school or with other tutors?
  • How do they feel about reading aloud, writing or being corrected?
  • Do they have a school support plan or access arrangements, such as extra time or a reader in exams?
  • Is there a time of day when they concentrate best?
  • Do they take medication that affects their afternoons or evenings?

This takes five minutes and prevents weeks of trial and error. It also signals to the family that you take it seriously. If the student is a teenager or adult, ask them directly. They are the expert on their own experience, and many have worked out strategies they rarely get asked about.

Do not ask for diagnostic reports. You do not need them to teach well, and families may not want to share them. If they offer, keep them private.

Plan in short blocks

For a student with ADHD, the most effective single change is lesson structure. Instead of explain, practise, review as three long stages, plan a sequence of short blocks:

  1. Two-minute check-in. How was the week? What is the plan today? Give the student a quick sense of the whole lesson.
  2. 10 to 15 minutes of focused work on one thing.
  3. Quick break or change of activity. Stand up, stretch, answer a rapid-fire quiz, or switch from writing to speaking.
  4. Another short block, ideally a different type of task.
  5. Wrap-up. Recap what went well and what comes next.

Write the plan on screen at the start, and tick things off as you go. Many students with ADHD struggle with time and sequencing, so a visible list helps: it shows how much is left and gives satisfaction as items are completed.

Keep a few two-minute fillers ready for dips in attention, such as a mental maths round, five vocabulary cards or a “spot the mistake” puzzle. Using a change of task as the reset is better than telling a student to concentrate harder, which rarely works and often feels like a reprimand.

Be careful with “reward” breaks that run away. A one minute movement break is useful; a five minute chat about games may swallow the lesson. Agree the length in advance and use a visible timer.

Reduce what is on screen

Online lessons can be overwhelming. Every notification, browser tab and chat window competes for attention.

  • Share one window at a time, not your whole desktop. Close email and messaging.
  • Show one question at a time. If you have a worksheet with ten problems, copy one into a slide or whiteboard instead of sharing the entire page.
  • Use a clear, uncluttered whiteboard. Leave space between lines. Use colour sparingly and consistently, for example one colour for the question, another for the working.
  • Turn off or limit self-view if the student finds seeing their own face distracting. Most video tools let participants hide it.
  • Ask the student to close other tabs and silence their phone, and explain why: “so nothing pops up while we are working”.

For the wider setup, how to set up a professional online lesson space covers camera, lighting and sound.

Make reading and writing easier for dyslexia

Dyslexia affects how quickly and accurately a person decodes written words. It says nothing about intelligence or understanding. Your goal is to separate the thing you are teaching from the reading load wherever possible.

Format of text.

  • Use a plain sans-serif font at 14 to 18 point or larger, with line spacing around 1.5.
  • Keep lines short and left aligned. Avoid justified text and long paragraphs.
  • Use an off-white or pale cream background if bright white seems to cause strain. Ask the student.
  • Avoid italics and underlining for emphasis; use bold sparingly.
  • Break instructions into numbered steps, one action per step.

Mix modes.

  • Read instructions aloud as well as showing them. Ask the student to say them back in their own words.
  • Let the student answer verbally when writing is not the skill being taught. In maths, for instance, explain the method aloud and let them type only the final working.
  • Use diagrams, timelines and mind maps alongside text.
  • Share recordings or short audio notes of key explanations if the family agrees. Many students find re-listening easier than re-reading.

Marking and feedback.

  • Mark for the skill you are teaching. If the lesson is about the structure of an argument, do not penalise every spelling slip.
  • When spelling does matter, pick two or three patterns to work on, not every error.
  • Offer built-in tools: spell checkers, text-to-speech and speech-to-text can be a legitimate part of how the student works, particularly if they are allowed in exams.

Pace. Allow extra time and say so. “There is no rush. I would rather you understood it than finished it” lowers pressure and often leads to faster, better work.

Build structure and routine

Predictability helps both groups. A few habits to set early:

  • Start every lesson the same way. The same short opener, such as a review question, makes the beginning of a lesson easy to settle into.
  • Name the goal of each lesson in one sentence. “Today we are going to get fractions of amounts to feel easy.”
  • Give one instruction at a time. If you say three things at once, expect to be asked again. Say it, show it, check it.
  • Use a visible timer for tasks. Students with ADHD often struggle to feel how much time has passed.
  • Send a short summary after each lesson: three bullet points, one task. Keep tasks small and specific. How to support homework between online tutoring sessions gives parents a routine that fits with this.

Give feedback that builds confidence

Many of these students have heard a great deal of correction: “you are not trying”, “read it again”, “concentrate”. By the time they reach you, some are quietly convinced they are not clever. Your feedback matters more than any technique.

  • Be specific about what worked. “You noticed the units were different, and that is exactly the kind of check that avoids mistakes” beats “good job”.
  • Praise effort and strategy, not only results.
  • Frame errors as information. “That answer tells me which step to look at” is better than “wrong”.
  • End on a win. Finish with a task they can do, so they leave the lesson feeling capable.

If a student is frustrated, stop and reset. Name it calmly (“this is a tricky one”), shrink the task, and come back to it later. Pushing through a meltdown teaches the wrong lesson.

Work with parents and school

Parents of students with these differences are often tired, informed and protective. They may have had difficult meetings with schools. Be warm and straightforward.

  • Agree on a communication routine: a short message after each lesson works well.
  • Share observations, not diagnoses. “He worked best in 10 minute bursts and loved the quiz format” is helpful. Do not speculate about conditions.
  • Ask whether you can speak to the school’s SENCo (special educational needs coordinator) or equivalent, if the parent agrees. Knowing what support exists helps you align strategies, particularly for exam access arrangements.
  • Be honest about progress. Set small, measurable goals and report against them. How to communicate with parents as an online tutor has useful message templates.

When things are not working

If a student is checking out or avoiding tasks, look at the task before the student: is it too long, too hard or unclear? Change one thing at a time for three or four lessons (a shorter block, a different format, a different time), ask the student what would make it easier, and bring in the parent if the pattern continues. How to help a struggling student covers diagnosing difficulty more broadly.

Adapting takes preparation, so build reusable tools once: a large-type slide template, a bank of two-minute fillers and a standard post-lesson message. Charge fairly for the expertise; see how to set your tutoring rates.

The reward is real. A student who has been told for years they are bad at something, and then finds the format was the problem, can change quickly. You may be the first person to show them that.