PowerPoint is an excellent app for practicing Organization, Flexibility, and Writing. Try some of the suggested ideas below, or submit your own in the comment field at the bottom of the page.

Organization Activity

When making a PowerPoint presentation on any subject, it is imperative that your child uses a chronological and linear sensibility when creating his slideshow. A good organizational format follows as such: Slide 1) Title and user(s) name. Slides 2-3) Background information on topic. Introduce purpose of presentation. Slides 4-8) Notable quotations and main points of argument. Pictures, videos, and interactive media should supplement text material. Slide 9) Concluding statements and observations that relate by to thesis or purpose. Slide 10) Discussion questions. Slide 11) Works cited page. Above is a good formula for a ten to fifteen minute presentation, and generally works for book reviews, science projects, historical figure research, and many other areas of study.

Flexibility Activity

With your child, explore the various color schemes and themes that PowerPoint has to offer. A brighter color, or different layout can change the dynamic of the slideshow. Experiment with transitions and clip art, for a more cartoonist feel, or choose an office theme for something more professional. By exploring the different ways to showcase the same content, your child will be exercising flexibility skills to discover and utilize new strategies that can captivate an audience, without changing the core content.

Writing Activity

The content that appears on each slide should be different from what the presenter is saying. While the text on each slide should, in a general sense, parallel what your child says when while presenting, it should not be word for word. With your child, work to create a script for the oral presentation using flashcards, then transfer a more concise, but informative, textual version of the note-cards that highlight key ideas, then place them within the appropriate PowerPoint slides.

PowerPoint & ADHD

For children with ADHD who struggle organizing tasks and materials, or who seem to have trouble trying new approaches to solve problems, PowerPoint is a particularly helpful service. PowerPoint gives structure and direction, helping those who are often disorganized an easy way to gather and present information. In the classroom setting, unpreparedness often stems from disorganization. PowerPoint can help children with ADHD order class material and develop ideas in a immersive and interactive environment. It is a great tool for teachers to use for alternative learners, as well, as it offers an engaging way to present key ideas to students.

How to Use PowerPoint for Children with ADHD

• Some children with ADHD don't always prepare properly when presenting material to the class. Often they claim to "wing it," a careless strategy that requires little work. ADHD makes it difficult for children to organize their thoughts, so PowerPoint helps these children to create projects that present data in a way that helps scaffold their learning. There is a beginning  a middle, and an end to every good presentation, a necessary rhetoric tool that PowerPoint helps bring to light.

• For teachers, Powerpoint, can be a powerful method to engage the more visual learner. Children with ADHD tend to be visual or tactile learners, as their hyperactivity necessitates the appetite for stimuli. Teachers who choose PowerPoint as a way of presenting material should utilize video clips, animations, custom text, and filmic techniques, which will enhance the overall reception from students. Children with ADHD will probably find Powerpoint presentations more engaging than a dry lecture, or from silent reading, because they are able to focus on more visual material that attracts their attention.

• Children with ADHD sometimes struggle fully absorbing relevant material with text-based assignments, making it tough to put together book reports once the reading is done. However, using PowerPoint to create a linear, visual representation of significant ideas can help drive ideas about plot and characterization home. Work with your child to create a 10 to 15 slide-length PowerPoint presentation every few chapters of the book. Reconstructing a novel this way will give them direction to conceptualize the entirety of a narrative once the book is completed, making it easier to create a report or prepare for a test thanks to PowerPoint's linear format.

Powerpoint is one of many options for creating visual presentations, and each program offers some unique features. Try some of the alternatives below, then let us know what you think in the comment field at the bottom of the page.

QuickOffice Pro HD

QuickOffice Pro allows users to create and edit any Microsoft Office document, like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, on an iPad. Set up is very similar to the full versions, but made for usage on the iPad tablet. Find out more on iTunes.

Power Presenter

Power Presenter allows users to project PowerPoint or Keynote presentations that are saved as PDF files. Users can also use the blackboard feature to make and share notes on the slides as they present. Find more about this app on iTunes.

Keynote Keynote is Apple's presentation software program. PowerPoint has comparable features to Keynote, and is also easy to convert and share. Find out more here.