Glad that you ' ve found the tips to be useful ! I think you ' d have to do both use the bigger incentive , like the game that they enjoy playing , at the end of the session provide intermittent positive reinforcement via minirewards possibly after each drill task that requires concentration . If you have a visible white board , you may try writing out the schedule and going over it before class . You can talk the kids through the schedule , so they know what to expect to give them a chance to see breaksfun built in . For exampleToday 1 . Drill 2 . Insert 3 minute fun activity 3 . Drill 4 . Insert 3 minute fun activity 5 . Drill 6 . Longer fun activity that correlates with token system Even though learning MMA at that age is , in theory , a pleasurable activity , you ' ll likely want to insert the same kind of ' brain breaks ' that a teacher might employ so that they can ' get the silly out ' every once in a while . I ' m a speech pathologist the ' inner speech ' thing is a huge factor that I see with my kiddos who have executive function deficits like ADHD and LD . Early elementary aged kids use ' private speech ' or a way of talking to themselves to remember info andor get through a multistep task . If I see a kid talking himself through a process , then I know their on the right track . It ' s the kids that don ' t use private speech and that clearly aren ' t using inner speech that I worry about focus hard on teaching subvocal rehearsal , among other things , to . As they get older , beginning around Dylan Corey ' s age and beyond , you can observe a switch from private speech talking to themselves toward inner speech . As I said , not having that inner speech additionally the capacity to use mental imagery , is one thing along with working memory deficits , poor emotional regulation , poor inhibition , etc that keeps our ADHD kiddos from selfregulation in the same way that their typically developing peers can . To speak to your comment about focusing a session on pad skills yes ! If it ' s as an important of a skill as it sounds , then I would absolutely take the time to help them understand that it ' s not just a passive part of the sport . I ' m not sure if you have access to show video clips , but it might be helpful for them to see what a difference having a person with good pad skills vs bad pad skills makes . You can even just do a live demo with your girlfriend . I always try to approach teaching a new skill using the gradual release of responsibility frameworkI do it direct teaching , modeling , focused instructionWe do it guided instruction , working with student to go through process that they were just taughtmodeled You do it independently independent practice You do it together collaborative learning within the group as instructor walks around to provide feedbackThis model may not work for you in every circumstance , but it ' s a good framework to keep in mind when teaching a new skill .