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Post by bros on Jul 4, 2013 18:27:36 GMT -5
AT = Assistive Technology. Is the middle school considered part of the same elementary school district that just did his testing? Did you have any kind of IEP transition meeting with representatives of the elementary and middle school together? Since he's transitioning to a different school, where your son won't have any administrators/support staff around who know him, and he won't have just one homeroom teacher anymore, it will be all the more critical to have an effective IEP plan in place. In order to have an appropriate IEP, one has to have a thorough understanding of what a student's issues are. Clearly, ADHD is a part of his difficulties, but whether he has other LDs is unclear. I know it's not an easy topic to discuss, but one of the sagest pieces of advice that we got was that when a child is known to have ADHD, it really should be addressed first, before spending a lot of time, effort, and money on specialized instruction, etc., because even the best tutors in the world, using the best remediation strategies and methodologies, won't be as effective if a student isn't able to pay attention to what they're trying to teach. Medication can often make a huge difference in an ADHD child's ability to focus, and if you read past postings here at Millermom, you'll see a number of parents who have found that their child's homework can be accomplished more efficiently, handwriting is significantly neater, and even things like remembering to put in punctuation, and noticing sign changes in math problems also improve. ON THE OTHER HAND, medication will NOT "magically make LDs go away." What we found with my son was that he continued to have significant trouble with reading and written expression, and so at that point, we were finally able to convince the school that his problems were more than just ADHD, and they finally did additional testing, which confirmed his exceptionally high IQ, but also the SLDs in reading and written expression. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that you already know your son has significant ADHD issues, that appear to impact him not just at school, but also at home, and so I'd recommend trying to talk to his doctor this summer, and/or have your son working with a psychologist to come up with an approach to better manage his ADHD, so he doesn't continue to have falling self-esteem in school, oppositional behavior regarding homework, and a conviction that he is 'dumb'. (What was your son's reaction to finding out that he has ADHD? Some kids feel a sense of relief, because it affirms that they aren't just stupid or lazy, but other kids may not want to hear about being "different" than their peers. At nearly 12, he's old enough to where he ought to become an active participant in discussing strategies that can help him to deal with it. You might want to look at some of the books/ resources at chrisdendy.com/products.htm and www.amazon.com/Keeping-Head-School-Abilities-Disorders/dp/0838820697?tag=533643275-20)The two schools are part of the same school district. However, there was no transition meeting; we just had meetings (at the elementary school) that served to order evaluations and to set up an IEP from scratch. There was an intention to have a middle school representative at the second meeting, but that didn't work out, due to time constraints. Yes, we do plan to see a doctor over the summer to discuss possible medication for ADHD. I've been hyperfocused on getting the IEP process going before the end of the school year, in order to finally start addressing those concerns (which have been nagging at me for years). I had also hoped to have a more complete picture of DS's difficulties, including possible LDs, before talking to someone about meds for ADHD. Unfortunately, the school testing, so far, hasn't given that complete picture, so I'm frustrated and trying to figure out what to do next. The psychologist who diagnosed ADHD wanted us to gallop off in multiple directions at once -- family therapy, individual therapy for DS, seeing a psychiatrist for possible medication (for DS's sleep issues as well as for his ADHD), and having the school do testing for possible LDs (since she herself didn't do any testing in the educational realm). I don't do that well with doing multiple things simultaneously, so I've been working mainly on getting the school testing going before summer vacation. I'm wondering whether to request additional tests from the school promptly... or to first try ADHD meds, see how things go for a while in the new school, and then request additional testing at that point. Ideally we want more precise information about DS's strengths and weaknesses (all those additional tests that various posters have recommended). Practically, maybe it's best to let things float a bit, address the ADHD alone, and see how the new school situation looks in the fall? DS is actually asking for medication; he has several friends who are on ADHD meds, and has been talking to them about ADHD since hearing about his own diagnosis -- he is hopeful that meds will help him to focus better and to be able to get homework done. He doesn't seem to have any qualms about being 'different' -- in fact, he blurts out comments about ADHD and meds for ADHD with total disregard for his own privacy . Part of me just wants to line up private testing to get these LD questions answered NOW, and to heck with trying to push the process through the schools. However, A) I don't know whom to go to for private testing, so getting recommendations will be another research project; and B) the cost is a problem. Give the district first crack at an evaluation because if you get an outside evaluation, they only have to "consider" the report from the doctor, which means they say they received it, maybe put some of the information reported in it that they like in the IEP, but they do not have to act on it in any way. Thanks. I guess I have seen the abbreviation before -- the context threw me off -- are there specific evaluations that should be done to see if someone would benefit from assistive technology? I don't know. My district screwed me over so I have no idea how an AT evaluation goes. My district went "Here. Use this or write your work, we aren't giving you anything else so don't complain. Figure out how to use it yourself."
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 4, 2013 20:09:48 GMT -5
Some people might disagree with me, but I don't think an AT evaluation should be a high priority right now. You mentioned there is an IEP accommodation of computer access, although there was no middle school rep at the meeting to concur, and they didn't identify when he can use it. (ie, instead of handwriting out answers on in-class worksheets? Just on essay tests? Because different teachers in middle school may not always interpret it the same way, it'll be important to have that clarified.) My feeling is that if your son gets to the new school and having use of a computer with extended time for handwritten work isn't enough, then would be a better time to request an AT eval. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like your son just got his IEP paperwork before school let out for the summer, and didn't receive any remediation or accommodations yet. Do you know who his case manager will be at the middle school? Will your son have any kind of study skills or weekly meeting period with the person?
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Post by ceratops on Jul 4, 2013 22:19:51 GMT -5
Some people might disagree with me, but I don't think an AT evaluation should be a high priority right now. You mentioned there is an IEP accommodation of computer access, although there was no middle school rep at the meeting to concur, and they didn't identify when he can use it. (ie, instead of handwriting out answers on in-class worksheets? Just on essay tests? Because different teachers in middle school may not always interpret it the same way, it'll be important to have that clarified.) My feeling is that if your son gets to the new school and having use of a computer with extended time for handwritten work isn't enough, then would be a better time to request an AT eval. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like your son just got his IEP paperwork before school let out for the summer, and didn't receive any remediation or accommodations yet. Do you know who his case manager will be at the middle school? Will your son have any kind of study skills or weekly meeting period with the person? Yes, exactly right. I have spoken to someone from guidance office at the middle school (a very nice and helpful person), but haven't yet met the case manager. In fact, I don't think it's known yet who the case manager will be, since placement of the kids into classrooms and teams for next year isn't finished yet. The IEP does include a couple of hours weekly in resource room, and, from what I understood, that is for the purpose of working on study skills, and reviewing DS's assignments. DS will be in an inclusion classroom for language arts subjects (as I understand it, a special ed teacher will be in those classrooms, working with DS and other children who need extra help). His regular teachers for other subjects (math, science, social studies) will also be made aware of his issues. I'm told there is good communication between the members of the teaching team... we will see. The IEP also mentions communication with parents, but, again, details haven't been specified yet. I'm not inclined to ask for AT evaluation at this point, but I was curious to hear that such a thing exists (hadn't heard of it, or come across it in reading). School staff seemed very willing to come up with accommodations for DS, although you're right, some of the accommodations have not been precisely defined yet.
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Post by bros on Jul 4, 2013 22:26:21 GMT -5
Some people might disagree with me, but I don't think an AT evaluation should be a high priority right now. You mentioned there is an IEP accommodation of computer access, although there was no middle school rep at the meeting to concur, and they didn't identify when he can use it. (ie, instead of handwriting out answers on in-class worksheets? Just on essay tests? Because different teachers in middle school may not always interpret it the same way, it'll be important to have that clarified.) My feeling is that if your son gets to the new school and having use of a computer with extended time for handwritten work isn't enough, then would be a better time to request an AT eval. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like your son just got his IEP paperwork before school let out for the summer, and didn't receive any remediation or accommodations yet. Do you know who his case manager will be at the middle school? Will your son have any kind of study skills or weekly meeting period with the person? Yeah, it shouldn't be a high priority, but the district should do one at their earliest convenience (i.e. within a month or two of the school year starting) I also found the IEP accommodation of computer access to be very poorly worded, as I had a very similarly phrased goal in MS and it turned out... horribly, to say the least.
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Post by SharonF on Jul 5, 2013 7:03:33 GMT -5
Many schools believe that their role is mainly to determine if a child is eligible for an IEP. In my experience, fewer schools have the knowledge or desire to look for the root causes of a child's unique learning issues. But as you have figured out, it's hard to write effective IEP goals and accommodations unless you really understand a child's unique strengths and weaknesses. Just knowing he has been diagnosed with ADHD may not be enough. The IEP needs to spell out how his ADHD and other learning issues affect his ability to learn and show mastery.
My dd has taken meds for ADHD since she was 12. I obviously believe meds are important. And she says she can't think without her meds. But if a person has both ADHD and any type of LDs, ADHD meds are often not enough. If a person has true learning disabilities, ADHD meds will not make the LDs go away.
I agree with those who say you need to have the IEP as solid and complete as possible heading into middle school. My kids did fine in elementary school and to be honest, I had no idea they had any learning issues. It's when each hit middle school that they hit academic brick walls.
The expectations of middle school can be a huge jolt. It's not just that reading and math are harder. There is often a huge jump in the amount of personal responsibility that's expected. That's not a bad thing! But some 12 and 13 year olds simply are not mature enough for that yet. Especially kids with ADHD. Middle school homework often takes longer. If a kid has to work much harder just to concentrate and produce during the school day, they often don't have the academic stamina required to sit through an hour or two of homework (or more) every night.
And hormones start kicking in, which can make for some unpleasant emotional battles. A parent who tries to assist with homework or ask if there are any permission slips buried in the kid's bookbag can get her proverbial head bitten off by a sullen or frustrated pre-teen or early teen.
The IEP is no magic wand. But written well, it can alert all of your son's teachers to his strengths and his unique needs. It is a legal document that ensures that IF your son needs extra time for homework, testing in a separate setting, a calculator or other accommodations, he MUST get them.
Too many middle school teachers think IEP accoms are a misguided way for helicopter parents to coddle their precious darlings. That pervasive attitude drove me crazy! By law, IEP accoms must level the playing field for a child who learns differently or needs additional support to learn and show mastery.
In my experience, it's easier to get the goals and accoms written into an IEP at the start. Then, over time, you and his teachers can agree to experiment to see if your son truly needs each and every accom in every circumstance. Scaffolding back, with the option of putting the supports back into place immediately if need be, worked well for both of my kids.
Letting my kids get Fs in middle school, then battle with their teachers on whether they truly have LDs or are just lazy, did not work. (Yes, that really did happen.)
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Post by ceratops on Jul 5, 2013 8:41:03 GMT -5
... My dd has taken meds for ADHD since she was 12. I obviously believe meds are important. And she says she can't think without her meds. But if a person has both ADHD and any type of LDs, ADHD meds are often not enough. If a person has true learning disabilities, ADHD meds will not make the LDs go away. I agree with those who say you need to have the IEP as solid and complete as possible heading into middle school. My kids did fine in elementary school and to be honest, I had no idea they had any learning issues. It's when each hit middle school that they hit academic brick walls. The expectations of middle school can be a huge jolt. It's not just that reading and math are harder. There is often a huge jump in the amount of personal responsibility that's expected. That's not a bad thing! But some 12 and 13 year olds simply are not mature enough for that yet. Especially kids with ADHD. Middle school homework often takes longer. If a kid has to work much harder just to concentrate and produce during the school day, they often don't have the academic stamina required to sit through an hour or two of homework (or more) every night. And hormones start kicking in, which can make for some unpleasant emotional battles. A parent who tries to assist with homework or ask if there are any permission slips buried in the kid's bookbag can get her proverbial head bitten off by a sullen or frustrated pre-teen or early teen. ... I agree with those who say you need to have the IEP as solid and complete as possible heading into middle school.
Does that mean you would push the school for further testing from the outset? Or just try to work with the people at the middle school to improve the current IEP? Even based on information that has been collected so far, it seems to me that the goals could be improved and individualized... It really is frustrating -- not only doesn't the school feel a need to fully evaluate; they seem dismissive of the information they have already collected via their own testing -- to paraphrase, "So, 32 point difference between VCI and PRI, 53 point difference between VCI and PSI... nah, he's just an average kid with ADHD and a strong vocabulary... nothing more to look at here." I've got to say, everyone at the meeting seemed to view this IEP document as somewhat preliminary -- i.e. that it would need adjustment once the people at the middle school met DS and reviewed his records. The people at the meeting did say it was fairly unusual to be creating an IEP from scratch for an exiting 5th grader -- there was sort of a "what do we do now, we've only got 20 minutes left in this meeting, and we've just decided this kid needs an IEP" response. They were much more accustomed to tweaking an existing IEP at an annual review meeting... Middle school homework often takes longer. If a kid has to work much harder just to concentrate and produce during the school day, they often don't have the academic stamina required to sit through an hour or two of homework (or more) every night.
Homework was already taking much too long (2-3 hours on a bad night). That was one of the triggers for making the referral -- that realization that, "this just can't be right, or typical!" A parent who tries to assist with homework or ask if there are any permission slips buried in the kid's bookbag can get her proverbial head bitten off
And that's already been happening -- not every day, but when he's tired and I remind him to do homework, or when there is an assignment he particularly dreads, DS gets sullen, angry, disrespectful, etc. At school he apparently is polite to adults (thank goodness), but, at home it's a different story.
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 5, 2013 9:36:46 GMT -5
"At school he apparently is polite to adults (thank goodness), but, at home it's a different story."
I hate to say it, but my 20-something still acts that way! Nevertheless, he has made many improvements in other areas, and as people have mentioned over the years, it's probably that he feels safe/secure enough to "let his guard down" when at home, because it does take ADHD/LD kids a lot more effort than for most children to "keep it together" at school, since that's an environment that is really challenging, and it exhausts all the resources they have. As much as I'd like to see my son be less rude to me, I'm grateful he doesn't act the other way around (nice at home, disrespectful away) because then it would really be difficult to have a good relationship with school personnel.
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Post by SharonF on Jul 5, 2013 10:38:55 GMT -5
This makes sense to me. But the devil is in the details. Study Skills/Resource Room for kids with an IEP at the middle and high school levels can be very helpful if the teacher provides individualized assistance. The guidance provided must take into account each student's needs. Sad to say, we found those settings can also be "dumping grounds" for kids who are harder to teach. Or the level of chaos with a group of kids all doing different things at the same time can be very distracting. See how it goes--the Study Skills resource room might be a great thing for him. Might not.
My kids had mixed results with Inclusion classes, but generally good. Language Arts Inclusion was probably the best. Math Inclusion was the worst. The SpEd teacher assigned to work in my dd's Inclusion Algebra I class admitted at an IEP meeting that she was "terrible at math." My son's Inclusion Algebra teacher (the SpEd teacher) never said it openly, but I also suspect she didn't have a clue at how to teach math or help students who struggle with algebra.
In 10th grade, no one at the IEP meeting knew how to write Geometry goals for my dd. The Case Manager left the IEP meeting, walked to the teacher's lounge and found a random math teacher *who did not know my daughter* to help write dd's IEP math goals. Sad but true. My point: inclusion is a great concept. But it relies on knowledgeable teachers, and not all SpEd teachers are knowledgeable in the subject they are co-teaching.
Given all that you are dealing with and only a few weeks until school starts, you might be wise to start the ADHD meds now and see how the first 9-weeks go with the IEP. Based on my own experience, I'd try to schedule a brief meeting with each of your son's teachers soon after school starts. Let them know about his new IEP and that you're interested in working with them. Give them some examples of what he is good at and what he has struggled with. Encourage them to contact you if they notice any possible issues--so those issues aren't allowed to turn into problems.
As time goes by, you can gauge whether the IEP is working and whether additional testing would help create better goals and measurables for your son.
Unless your son is showing pretty strong signs of anxiety or depression, I wouldn't rush into counseling yet. But we ended up needing private counseling for both of my kids while they were in middle school.
Empeg mentioned getting a tutor. Of all the things we did for my two kids, hiring a private tutor was probably the most effective. It was not cheap. But I realized the school could not provide the type of instruction that my kids needed to be successful. The tutor helped fill in the gaps. She presented information in ways that made sense to my kids. Both need to learn the big picture first, then the small details. Just the opposite of most classrooms and textbooks. She tutored my kids (separate sessions at her home) until they graduated from high school!
They didn't always like going to the tutor. But she did empower them in ways that the school could not...and we as parents could not.
You mentioned your son is not a good note-taker. That may become a bigger problem in middle school. You may want to keep a close eye on that and, if problems arise, add a goal and service to his IEP.
Many kids have trouble knowing what is most important--and therefore worth writing down. They also have trouble knowing what factoids should be included in their notes to help them study. Tape-recording the lecture, then taking notes from it, is not a good idea. Most kids try to transcribe the entire lecture and don't learn how to identify the teacher's main points.
My dd was a terrible note taker. While in middle school, her IEP called for pull-out sessions with a Speech-Language Pathologist. The small group sessions focused on note-taking: Listening. Deciding what's important and why. Writing it down. Learning how to study from your notes.
It didn't happen overnight. But my dd did learn pretty good note-taking skills, which got better as she moved through high school. My kid who struggled so much to take notes in middle school was selected by faculty to be a scribe (paid note-taker) while in college. So that can be a very beneficial IEP goal!
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Post by pandora on Jul 5, 2013 21:43:19 GMT -5
I wonder whether you (and other posters) have any comments on the wisdom of demanding more tests at this point. I'm wondering if it's worth meeting the people at the new school first, and getting a feel for whether their interactions with DS are helping him? In many ways, the success of the plan may depend on the skills of the teachers and their sensitivity to what a particular student needs help with... Or is it very important to get more information about the nature of his problems first, even at the risk of getting adversarial with these people before we've even met them? Your sense of urgency to get all your ducks in a row for a successful start is quite natural, but look at things from the school's point of view: here comes a new student with a brand new IEP, and an anxious parent who wants (1) a meeting with the IEP case manager before school starts, (2) more assessments in multiple areas for an IEP that hasn't yet been implemented, and (3) an early IEP review meeting. Schools are in a mad scramble in the weeks before and after school starts as they try to get students placed — new kids will be arriving in district daily and some kids who will be no-shows. The school will want to get to know your son before making changes to the IEP. That probably means 4 to 6 weeks after school starts. Likewise, they'll probably want to get to know your son more before agreeing to additional assessments. I can almost hear them saying, "Let's try the things in his I.E.P. first." And I wouldn't be surprised if they also want to wait to see if ADHD meds or sleep therapy solves some of the problems. Accommodations and medical interventions may help (I hope they do), but I doubt they'll be a cure-all. However, you'll be in a stronger position to request additional assessments when those things don't solve the various problems. You will be partnering with this school for the next three years, so I would advise you avoid making demands or getting adversarial. That can come later if it must, but first give them a chance to make you happy, even if it's not quite on your preferred timetable. I am by no means suggesting you should wait in silence. It makes sense to try to meet with your son's counselor and/or special ed teacher (whoever is in charge of planning his daily schedule). I think they should know about the medical sleep issues, the low self-esteem, and ask that they place your son in classrooms with teachers (especially math & language arts?) who have been successful in working with kids like your son. Also, I wouldn't count on the school to initiate an IEP meeting on their own, so after the first week or two of school, make a request, in writing, for an IEP meeting, as recommended by the PPT last spring. I think the most important things you can do to help smooth the first weeks of school would be to get started on ADHD meds asap. It may take a few tries to get a med that works, and the right dose. Talk with the psychiatrist about how long it will take to figure out if the med is working & if the dose is right, and what can be done to speed this along so that meds that do work are ready by the start of the school year. And find a pediatric sleep specialist too.
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Post by ceratops on Jul 5, 2013 22:23:10 GMT -5
Well, my preference actually is to wait and see how things go at the start of the new school year, and it's sort of a relief that a couple of posters have given the opinion that waiting is an acceptable path. There were many recommendations for additional tests earlier in this thread, and I'm now trying to get a feeling for how important it is to do such additional testing sooner rather than later. There have also been comments that it is important to go into middle school with a strong IEP...
Does anyone have any comments on the IEP goals, as I described them earlier in this thread?
A pediatric sleep specialist... really? Does this mean we have to find one professional to talk to about ADHD issues, and then a different professional to talk to about sleep issues? I didn't even know there was this much sub-specialization. This sure is a steep learning curve.
Thank you for your comments.
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Post by bros on Jul 5, 2013 22:54:42 GMT -5
Well, my preference actually is to wait and see how things go at the start of the new school year, and it's sort of a relief that a couple of posters have given the opinion that waiting is an acceptable path. There were many recommendations for additional tests earlier in this thread, and I'm now trying to get a feeling for how important it is to do such additional testing sooner rather than later. There have also been comments that it is important to go into middle school with a strong IEP... Does anyone have any comments on the IEP goals, as I described them earlier in this thread? A pediatric sleep specialist... really? Does this mean we have to find one professional to talk to about ADHD issues, and then a different professional to talk to about sleep issues? I didn't even know there was this much sub-specialization. This sure is a steep learning curve. Thank you for your comments. You could find a developmental/pediatric neurologist who specializes in LDs and they would probably cover both.
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Post by ceratops on Jul 6, 2013 7:03:33 GMT -5
A bit off topic for this thread, but is it common for ADHD kids to have significant reduction in symptoms during summer vacation? DS's diagnosis of ADHD is quite recent, and I realize I have done very little reading about ADHD, and still know very little about this condition from a scientific p.o.v. I was just thinking that, if I filled out the Connors inventory today, I would probably be giving different answers than I did a month ago. DS is generally calmer, appearing more mature and helpful, with fewer outbursts of anger. He focuses for extended times on his own projects, and works quietly. He still interrupts other people's conversations, fidgets at times, and tends to misplace things, but there really is a significant change now that the pressure of school is gone. Is that a very common observation?
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 6, 2013 9:32:57 GMT -5
In a word, YES! " People who are inattentive have a hard time keeping their mind on any one thing and may get bored with a task after only a few minutes. They may give effortless, automatic attention to activities and things they enjoy. But focusing deliberate, conscious attention to organizing and completing a task or learning something new is difficult." In other words, when doing what they want, kids with ADHD can appear quite "neurotypical," but when required to do things that they find boring, or aren't interested in, like schoolwork, it's a completely different story. I'm guessing you aren't requiring your son to wake at an early hour, or keep a set schedule, so he's also feeling less pressure from that, in addition to not having to sit quietly at a desk or do homework. (Exercise is very helpful for ADHD people, in terms of brain function. Going outside to play, swim, bike ride, etc. all can be beneficial. www.webmd.com/add-adhd/guide/adult-adhd-and-exercise ) Unfortunately, the entire year consists of more than summer vacation, so it's best to try and address the issues now, before school resumes. Here's a good site to read, if you haven't already done so: www.chrisdendy.com/abc.htm
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Post by bros on Jul 6, 2013 11:24:24 GMT -5
Also, you seem very willing to learn more about ADHD. Might I suggest signing up for this coursera course? www.coursera.org/course/adhdIt is 100% free. It already finished, but if you sign up, you can view the course archive (i.e. watch the videos) It gets a bit technical at times, but it is very useful.
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Post by pandora on Jul 6, 2013 13:03:46 GMT -5
A bit off topic for this thread, but is it common for ADHD kids to have significant reduction in symptoms during summer vacation? ... DS is generally calmer, appearing more mature and helpful, with fewer outbursts of anger.... there really is a significant change now that the pressure of school is gone. Is that a very common observation? School stress can contribute to ornery behavior, so it wouldn't be surprising if shedding the stress improves your son's behavior improvements. When my older dd entered middle school, her behavior changed. She was scatterwacky, not doing a lot of school work, losing things, forgetting things — and greatly annoying her teachers. Her morning lateness was making it difficult for our carpool. Thinking she might have ADHD (inattentive type), I requested an evaluation for special ed or, more likely, a 504 plan. A team meeting was held, and various assessments were done, and lo and behold, the school psychologist said ADHD was possible — but diagnosis would have to wait until her anxiety was brought under control. (Anxiety???) Yes, she got an IEP for anxiety that I had not even recognized! As it turns out, ADHD has a lot of symptoms in common with various psychiatric diagnoses, including anxiety disorders. Like ADHD, anxiety can also mess with the ability to concentrate, pay attention, think analytically, remember. Anxiety can also cause a kid to become difficult to manage — as in anger outbursts or becoming oppositional about doing difficult school work or anything else that pushes their anxiety buttons. I'm not saying your son has an anxiety disorder, but demands to do the impossible (or so it seems to him) can create a lot of anxiety that will negatively impact his self-confidence, his behavior, and his ability to attempt and succeed at difficult assignments. That your son is now calmer, more helpful (cooperative?), less prone to anger, and able to concentrate on projects of interest when there's no school pressure is valuable information to be shared with the IEP team. In one of your posts, you said your son was spending up to 3 hours on homework in 5th grade. That's inhumane! Did homework help him learn, or did it instead make him more anxious? When you work with the psychiatrist on meds, ask about how long-acting the meds will be: will they be effective at homework time? If meds keep your son able to focus on homework into the evening, will they also interfere with sleep? The IEP team may need to find some creative ways to minimize homework time and difficulty to meet your son's medical needs — such as reduced homework, assistance with difficult homework at school (or after school), assigning only certain kinds of homework that your son can actually do independently at home and leaving other assignments that require help to be done at school with support, etc. If your son cannot do homework pretty much on his own, then it will be a source of frustration and anxiety, and not an opportunity for learning. The more stressed out he becomes over homework, the worse his sleep. The worse his sleep, the harder to get him up and to school on time. And don't let the team say that your son should do homework as soon as he arrives home from school. His brain will have been in overdrive (compared to other kids) during the school day. He needs academic down time to decompress. After the first month or so of school, you'll be getting a pretty good idea of what's working and not working. Being in an inclusion classroom with a sped teacher to help may be very helpful academically and stress-wise. Cross your fingers!
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Post by ceratops on Jul 6, 2013 13:35:01 GMT -5
Also, you seem very willing to learn more about ADHD. Might I suggest signing up for this coursera course? www.coursera.org/course/adhdIt is 100% free. It already finished, but if you sign up, you can view the course archive (i.e. watch the videos) It gets a bit technical at times, but it is very useful. Thank you for the link! I just watched the first lecture, and will continue as I find time. Very interesting material.
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Post by bros on Jul 6, 2013 13:50:26 GMT -5
Also, you seem very willing to learn more about ADHD. Might I suggest signing up for this coursera course? www.coursera.org/course/adhdIt is 100% free. It already finished, but if you sign up, you can view the course archive (i.e. watch the videos) It gets a bit technical at times, but it is very useful. Thank you for the link! I just watched the first lecture, and will continue as I find time. Very interesting material. Yeah, the lectures are interesting. I'd recommend downloading the videos so you can watch them at your convenience (and have them handy in case the class archive closes when they open a new section)
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Post by ceratops on Jul 7, 2013 6:17:33 GMT -5
In a word, YES! " People who are inattentive have a hard time keeping their mind on any one thing and may get bored with a task after only a few minutes. They may give effortless, automatic attention to activities and things they enjoy. But focusing deliberate, conscious attention to organizing and completing a task or learning something new is difficult." In other words, when doing what they want, kids with ADHD can appear quite "neurotypical," but when required to do things that they find boring, or aren't interested in, like schoolwork, it's a completely different story. I'm guessing you aren't requiring your son to wake at an early hour, or keep a set schedule, so he's also feeling less pressure from that, in addition to not having to sit quietly at a desk or do homework. (Exercise is very helpful for ADHD people, in terms of brain function. Going outside to play, swim, bike ride, etc. all can be beneficial. www.webmd.com/add-adhd/guide/adult-adhd-and-exercise ) Unfortunately, the entire year consists of more than summer vacation, so it's best to try and address the issues now, before school resumes. Here's a good site to read, if you haven't already done so: www.chrisdendy.com/abc.htm Thank you... glad to hear that this (change during school vacation), at least, is fairly typical. Thanks for the links! It's interesting -- yesterday I was helping DS get ready for a trip to summer camp (first time for him). I was doing most of the packing and organizing, but was asking him to take care of certain items and details. His behavior went straight downhill -- arguing, refusing, getting fixated on one particular item he couldn't find (an item which was totally unnecessary in the first place, but he insisted he HAD to have it) and seeming totally unable to do any of the necessary tasks until he found the desired item... Perhaps worry about being away from home was part of it too, although he didn't say so. I guess this trip preparation was a requirement to focus "deliberate, conscious attention on organizing and completing a task", to use your words.
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Post by michellea on Jul 7, 2013 8:54:57 GMT -5
WJ Age norms – I am glad to hear this. If it had been grade norms, his performance may have been inflated since he is old for his grade. And yes, if a student struggles due to LD, holding them back won’t address the problem. But, when he was K you did the best you could given the prevailing advice and the information you had.
Areas of Struggle: When a student writes, they call on many skills and must orchestrate them to get their thoughts out – motor skills, vocabulary, spelling, content knowledge, organization, memory, grammar, mechanics etc. Given your son’s profile – he has strengths in many of these areas – knowledge and vocabulary for example, but the ADHD and Language based deficits overshadow them.
Keyboarding will be essential for him – it will be easier for him to edit his work, it takes some of the struggle around grammar and spelling, he can easily fix his organization difficulties using the word processing functionality. I believe that it is ESSENTIAL for him to have an accommodation, “use of laptop with word processing, spell and grammar check for any written response one paragraph or more”. He will also require extra time – time to read and re-read his responses and to edit them. It would also be VERY helpful if his laptop (and teachers) utilized on-line graphic organizers such as “Inspiration”. Kids generally hate organizers – they see them as an extra step. If he uses an on-line version, the work he does at the organizer level can be dumped directly into his narrative – this will create buy in from him that the organizer is not just an extra, unneeded step. AND his writing or study skills goals should include objectives (and associated instruction) on skills and strategies for writing. Ie – how to execute the writing process, how to use checklists, developing habits and strategies for editing.
As far as voice to text software such as Dragon – it has it’s limitations. Can’t be used in the general classroom, is often hard to train it until the boy goes through puberty and his voice is changed, does not replace the need for writing instruction so that the student can clearly differentiate the difference between a verbal answer and a written answer. I think it has its place for longer term projects and for home. But it would be great if he became an expert keyboarder and word processor so that he could avoid the limitations of the voice software. My son uses both – but uses Dragon only at home and only for multiple paragraph writing assignments.
Reading: I am concerned about his reading – it seems that he has made some progress but still has some struggles. I would like to see more in depth testing in this area at some point. I am concerned that as the load of reading increases (more of it, more complex information, time constraints), his weaknesses will make it difficult to keep up. It would be great if he had an accommodation for text to speech software for all assigned reading (text books, novels, articles etc). He could “read along”, yet hear the computer voice to lessen the load. Some studies also indicate that this has a side effect of improving reading accuracy and fluency. Ask your school about “Bookshare” which is a source for text books that could be free if your school does the proper paper work. In addition to assistive technology to help him with his reading – I wonder if he needs more help in the areas of decoding and fluency. It’s hard to tell from the RTI numbers if he is or is not where he needs to be. Thus – I’d want a full reading evaluation at some point.
BASC: Thanks for sharing the summary. It sounds like he is quite unorganized and does not have the strategies and skills to overcome. Thus – the objectives and goals. In addition to this, there are flags for withdrawal and atypical behavior. This makes me a bit concerned for his social skills – especially as he heads toward middle school when social scene becomes more intense, and peers become unforgiving. Some of his difficulties might step from ADHD – difficulty styling attuned to conversations, non verbal language, “younger” from a maturity standpoint, feeling a bit stressed about his own difficulties.
I think it is worth keeping a very close eye on this – and encouraging opportunities for social connections. Scouts, after school programs, sports might be possibilities. If you can find hands on activities that match his interests in art and the outdoors, he would be in his comfort zone and be able to team up with kids with similar interests. As an aside, my son LOVES the outdoors and now attends an Agricultural Technical High School that balances traditional academics with hands on learning. Not sure if such a school exists in your area – but these kinds of opportunities can be life saving for non-traditional learners.
Goals –
I agree that home goal is not appropriate. Instead – I think it would be important to focus on managing his materials (agenda, back pack, classroom resources and notebook) and completing assignments, handing them in and bringing his materials home.
Accommodations to help him with this would be ( you have some of these): 1. Single organizational (binder) system that is the same for all classes 2. End of day agenda check to be sure assignments are recorded with sufficient detail. 3. Weekly check in to monitor grades, missing work, upcoming assignments provided to parents. (this can be e-mail – sometimes schools have the student do this so they get the benefit of learning how to self monitor their assignments) 4. Extra set of textbooks for home (online books are often great!)
It looks like there is a goal for writing – in terms of answering questions about text that he has read. This sounds more like an “objective” under an overall writing goal. As you have shared it – the “goal” seems a bit weak.
I agree – he should have a goal for self-advocacy. This could include objectives about understanding his learning style and IEP as well as how to ask for help and solve problems.
I also think any student with executive functioning difficulties would benefit from a study skills goal - How to break down long term assignments and set milestones, different kinds of study skills strategies – flash cards, quizlets, note taking, skills for self monitoring/comprehension in math and reading (pulling out/ highlighting key words, numbering parts of questions and checking to see that all parts are answered, checking/editing work), learning how to write/use study guides, note taking strategies, on line resources.
Reading – Yes, this is an area I am concerned with, as I’ve mentioned before. Schools tend to reduce the amount of reading instruction once a student hits middle school – perhaps this is why they are minimizing your concerns in this area.
I believer that he needs extra time as an accommodation for in class work and tests as well as readings presented in a text to voice format for any reading beyond a page. READING and WRITING affect everything he does in school – and these are his two areas of weakness. More time is need for him to execute the tasks and to take off some of the pressure – you see this on all his fluency scores on the testing.
More testing?
I do wish there was more info in the area of reading. But, I agree with Pandora – I think it would be wise to start the year, monitor and then by mid October revisit the IEP. The fact that there was not a MS person at the IEP meeting tells me that you may want to tweak the IEP based on the MS demands – and to do that they teachers need to know him and you need to see how he does in the environment.
I also think you should give a heads up to your physician about the scores on BASC and the comments from teachers. While it sounds like he has ADHD, Anxiety can cause the same issues – the treatment is different. They can also happen together – and again, it will be important to treat his difficulties from all angles.
Tutoring? If you can afford home tutoring, I found that this was an enormous help for my children. A trained teacher and an outsider that doesn’t carry the relationship baggage that a mom does, can help your son with his school work, provide him with the needed preview and review of information, help him apply study strategies, help him with organization and writing.
Services?
I may have missed it, but what special ed services are included on his IEP. I would suggest that he needs some kind of resource room/ academic support class that is built into his day. This would be taught by a special educator that would preview and review key concepts taught in class, teach the study skills and self-advocacy strategies and support the writing. It seems that he would also benefit from form additional language arts instruction that would include reading and writing direct instruction. I would also like to see him in a co-taught English and Math class that has both a general ed teacher and special ed teacher.
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Post by SharonF on Jul 8, 2013 7:39:42 GMT -5
I sure wish I could have hired michellea as my kids' advocate when they were in school!!
A couple other thoughts:
ADHD meds can be great. But many people go through trial and error finding the right med. Because most ADHD meds are stimulants, they can delay or disrupt sleep. Your son's sleep issues need to be taken into account when a medication is prescribed. And all side effects need to be closely monitored. Even non-stimulant meds have side effects.
Many ADHD meds contain the same key ingredient. But the delivery systems are different. Often, a person tolerates one delivery system better than another. For example, my dd does better on Ritalin-LA than on Concerta. Both contain methylphenidate. But when the Concerta wore off each evening, my dd went into what's called "rebound." She does not have rebound on Ritalin-LA.
Dr. Ned Hallowell estimates 20% to 30% of people with ADHD cannot tolerate any ADHD meds (the side effects are worse than living with ADHD) or see no improvement on meds. My advice is to go into the med trials realizing that the first med/dosage may not be the right one.
I also suggest that you find some books by Mel Levine. Despite the serious allegiations against him and then his suicide a few years ago, Dr. Levine was an articulate spokesman for kids who learn differently. He was a tireless advocate for changing the way information is presented in most classrooms. His "All Kinds of Minds" books can help parents understand that our kids are NOT disabled. Their minds are wired to process information differently. It's only when schools cannot or will not adapt their instruction that our kids' innate differences become liabilities. The messenger was definitely flawed but Levine's messages, explained so well in his many books, are excellent. Those books may help you immensely as you advocate for your son.
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Post by ceratops on Jul 8, 2013 10:47:35 GMT -5
Thank for your review of the situation, and for all of the detailed suggestions and comments. It makes me wish we had you, or someone with similar insight/experience, on the planning team... Keyboarding Since you believe access to a laptop, with word processor, will be essential for him for any written work longer than a few sentences -- that brings up some practical issues. Does a student with such an accommodation typically carry a laptop computer back and forth to school with him, and then carry it around the building during the school day? It makes me wonder about problems with theft, and, even more likely, problems with forgetfulness (it will certainly be another thing for DS to keep track of). 'Planner/graphic organizer' was listed as an accommodation in the IEP, but it was very non-specific -- the school staff said they didn't know what exactly the middle school teachers liked to use in that category, so they didn't want to be specific at this point. I'll try to find out more about the Inspiration program. I assume that, strictly speaking, the school is required to pay for such accommodations? However, if we (family) just get a suitable laptop for DS (after speaking to the middle school staff, of course) I assume there wouldn't be an objection... Our school system is struggling financially, and I don't really want to approach this with the mindset of getting as much money out of them as possible at every turn. What we want is help for DS. "...his writing or study skills goals should include objectives (and associated instruction) on skills and strategies for writing. Ie – how to execute the writing process, how to use checklists, developing habits and strategies for editing."Thanks... that's the sort of thing (HOW to write) that I didn't see at all in the goals as currently written. From what you say, those details can and should be in the IEP. "voice to text software such as Dragon – it has it’s limitations."Having worked with Dragon professionally (years ago, before kids), I agree about its limitations... DS has gotten much better at keyboarding during the past year. He dislikes writing by hand so much, and enjoys playing with computers so much, that he has been motivated to keep practicing. The downside of using the computer is that he gets sidetracked so easily, even on apparently non-entertaining activities like reorganizing his files on the computer, fiddling with fonts and colors in word processor documents, etc. Goals "I agree – he should have a goal for self-advocacy. This could include objectives about understanding his learning style and IEP as well as how to ask for help and solve problems."This (understanding what he is having trouble with, and asking for the help he needs) is a huge problem for DS, in my opinion. Judging by our experiences trying to help him with homework, he just shuts down on the whole task when some part of it is too hard for him. It's as if he's closing his eyes and pulling the covers over his head. A very maladaptive approach! I had the opportunity to review the draft IEP with one of the team members (this was after the end of school for the year), and gave my opinion that there should be a goal (or goals) in this category. She didn't disagree, but since it was not an actual meeting of the team, we didn't have authority to add goals at that point. "I also think any student with executive functioning difficulties would benefit from a study skills goal"Part of DS's services under the IEP will be spending about 2 hours weekly in a resource room, for help with study skills, so there is some intent to address this issue. Thank you for the comment that study skills should also be in the goals category (which implies measurement of progress). Overall, what you say tends to confirm my impression that the IEP goals, as written, are not very well thought out, and are not targeting DS's specific weaknesses very well. Again, part of this is probably due to the fact that the team had very little time to work on goals -- the goals were rather hurriedly drafted by the case manager, after the second team meeting. Reading – "Yes, this is an area I am concerned with, as I’ve mentioned before. Schools tend to reduce the amount of reading instruction once a student hits middle school – perhaps this is why they are minimizing your concerns in this area."I'm worried about DS's reading, so it helps to hear some confirmation that there is reason for concern. It's great that the school has intervened over the years, and some of those interventions do appear to have helped DS. My ongoing concern about reading and fluency did at least make it into the IEP as a parent concern. The school staff didn't seem to share my concerns, perhaps because the most recent intervention appeared to be pretty successful. In fact, the draft IEP actually listed reading fluency as one of DS's STRENGTH areas (!!) I objected strenuously, and that language was removed. However, it was troubling to see that someone working on the IEP actually saw this as a strength for DS, when it seems so clear to me that this is an area that he has struggled with for years... "I think it would be wise to start the year, monitor and then by mid October revisit the IEP."
It's good to hear another opinion along these lines. "I also think you should give a heads up to your physician about the scores on BASC and the comments from teachers. While it sounds like he has ADHD, Anxiety can cause the same issues – the treatment is different. They can also happen together – and again, it will be important to treat his difficulties from all angles."
The complexity of helping someone with multiple issues is scary, and it is one of the things that makes it hard to figure out where to start. DS has, in the past, had several extended episodes of school anxiety (not in the past 2 years, though, which is why I didn't mention it before). Also, he has a diagnosis of depression (recurrent) from the same psychologist who diagnosed the ADHD earlier this year. DS was seeing a therapist for while (2+ years ago) after he went into an emotional nosedive that looked like depression to me (it was not diagnosed as such at that time). At the time of the recent evaluation by the psychologist, she described him as 'in partial remission' (I think her depression diagnosis was largely based on the history we gave of the earlier episode, but she never described the details of the testing she herself conducted with DS). As far as treatment priorities, she thought it was most critical to help him with the ADHD and with his sleep issues. Now (by long observation, as well as by the recent school testing) we add the likelihood of some learning disabilities to the mix. As far as I understand it, symptoms of all these issues can overlap and interact. I had been planning to look for a psychiatrist to talk to about possible ADHD meds for DS, but that person should obviously take all these other issues into account also... is a child psychiatrist a reasonable person to start with? Or should we be looking for some other specialty? Getting a prescription from his regular pediatrician (which would be the quickest way to go) doesn't sound like a good idea at all, given all the interacting issues... "I may have missed it, but what special ed services are included on his IEP. I would suggest that he needs some kind of resource room/ academic support class that is built into his day. This would be taught by a special educator that would preview and review key concepts taught in class, teach the study skills and self-advocacy strategies and support the writing. It seems that he would also benefit from form additional language arts instruction that would include reading and writing direct instruction. I would also like to see him in a co-taught English and Math class that has both a general ed teacher and special ed teacher."
As is stands, the IEP has him in inclusion classes for language arts (reading and writing), and in regular classes for math, science, social studies. At the team meeting there was talk of having him in an inclusion classroom for math also, but that didn't make it into the draft IEP that I later reviewed -- they apparently thought his weaknesses in math were limited to difficulties with calculation, and that it was not necessary to have special ed services in math. The plan includes about 2 hours weekly in a resource room, which I was told was mainly to work on study skills. I don't remember any additional language arts instruction (other than what would be done in the inclusion setting)... OK, here's what it says: language arts instruction 4.25 hours weekly in the inclusion setting, reading instruction 4.25 hours in inclusion setting, academic support 3.0 hours in inclusion, structured study 1.75 hours weekly in small group/individual instruction [that's the resource room part]. I was told that all the regular ed teachers would also be informed about his issues, and that there is good communication between all the members of the teaching team. I don't know exactly what that will mean in practice.
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Post by bros on Jul 8, 2013 11:39:57 GMT -5
Thank for your review of the situation, and for all of the detailed suggestions and comments. It makes me wish we had you, or someone with similar insight/experience, on the planning team... Keyboarding Since you believe access to a laptop, with word processor, will be essential for him for any written work longer than a few sentences -- that brings up some practical issues. Does a student with such an accommodation typically carry a laptop computer back and forth to school with him, and then carry it around the building during the school day? It makes me wonder about problems with theft, and, even more likely, problems with forgetfulness (it will certainly be another thing for DS to keep track of). 'Planner/graphic organizer' was listed as an accommodation in the IEP, but it was very non-specific -- the school staff said they didn't know what exactly the middle school teachers liked to use in that category, so they didn't want to be specific at this point. I'll try to find out more about the Inspiration program. I assume that, strictly speaking, the school is required to pay for such accommodations? However, if we (family) just get a suitable laptop for DS (after speaking to the middle school staff, of course) I assume there wouldn't be an objection... Our school system is struggling financially, and I don't really want to approach this with the mindset of getting as much money out of them as possible at every turn. What we want is help for DS. Don't purchase a laptop. It doesn't matter if your school is the richest in your state or the poorest in your state - because no matter what, once your son as an IEP, they get money from the federal government - known as an IDEA Grant. Districts spend these funds on a variety of things - out of district placements, related services (OT, PT, SLP), Special Needs Bussing, etc. So the district can afford to use their educational institution discount and get a $400 laptop. They aren't as strapped for cash as they want you to believe. They did the same stuff with me in HS. Told me I either had to use the worst piece of AT I have ever encountered - the Alphasmart - or my parents would have to purchase a laptop - which they did. Sure, it was my laptop, but whenever a problem arose, it was on us to fix it, not the district.
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Post by pandora on Jul 8, 2013 12:37:37 GMT -5
If possible, choose a child-adolescent psychiatrist. with emphasis on "adolescent" — someone who truly enjoys working with kids of this age. Counselors or social workers at your school may be able to give you recommendations on psychiatrists who are good with kids of this age.
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 8, 2013 13:06:29 GMT -5
I concur about the benefits of finding a child-adolescent psychiatrist, but I'd like to suggest that instead of asking anyone at the school for referrals, either ask his former therapist (if you thought that person was reputable) OR I'd suggest trying to find a local CHADD chapter, and network with other parents in your local area to get recommendations. In my area, CHADD meetings provided excellent speakers and literature, along with opportunities to learn from other parents dealing with many of the same issues and questions I had. www.help4adhd.org/faq.cfm?fid=3&tid=25&varLang=enOn a separate note, I don't think an inclusion class for math would be the best placement for your son. I realize there can be variations from school to school, but generally the "pace and depth" of material covered in an inclusion class may not be as fast or deep as in a regular class. I mentioned it before, but your statement about your son loving science, etc. says to me that he's probably very capable, but likely making "impulsive" errors in calculations, rushing through, perhaps not reading every word in a problem closely, missing sign changes, etc. My son, also a "2e" hands-on learner, was the same way when not taking ADHD medication, and he just graduated with an electrical engineering degree. I'm glad the school didn't try to hold him back in his areas of high interest when he was younger, even though he sometimes made "sloppy errors."
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Post by michellea on Jul 8, 2013 13:55:22 GMT -5
Regarding the Laptop - I think there are advantages and disadvantages of using a school laptop or using his own. In middle school, my son used a school issued laptop as an overall program that provided laptops to each student. It was loaded with all the software my son needed and was maintained by the school. They also put on controls such as limited internet access and it automatically shut down every night at 10:00. He was allowed to bring it home.
Now, in HS, he uses his own laptop. The school had Windows laptops and were willing to give him one - but he wanted to stay on the Apple Platform since this is what he was accustomed to. To minimize change (going from MS to HS was enough change!), we purchased the MACbook. DS is fine carrying it around all day and had developed good habits while in Middle school - he is a rising Junior and has had no issues with theft. His school has been outstanding at helping with technical issues and buying the MAC version of software such as Kurzweil for his computer. If you decide to buy your own, check with the school to make sure there are no limitations regarding their network, if they require certain software etc. Also - from what my son says, long battery life is an important consideration. If you are choosing between two models, go with the longer life - your son won't want to be constrained by having access to a charger if he needs to recharge the laptop.
Things for you to think about - will your son feel comfortable using a laptop if nobody else is? Some of my clients refuse to use laptops in school because they do not want to be different. Will your son be comfortable telling a teacher he needs to use the Laptop for an assignment? Can he remember to fully charge the laptop each night, save his work, remember to print out work if the teacher won't accept e-mails etc? If your school will provide the laptop, will they let him take it home, manage all his files on it etc? If not, would he be able to use a memory stick and "remember" to bring it back and forth to school? When my son began using the laptop - some of the skills were part of his IEP.
Regarding his services - 2 hours a week in a resource room sounds like about 3 periods - one period every other day. This may be sufficient, it may not be. Much depends upon the teacher, grouping and how much "instruction" rather than homework assistance is actually given. Keep an eye on things and if he struggles with managing his materials, getting his work done, with tests, you might want to up this to daily. (Keep in mind he would have to give something up, usually an elective, to do this).
I thought I read that he sometimes struggles with math. If this is true, I do think a math inclusion class would be good for him. This is usually the same level as other math classes, just co-taught with a special educator with a mix of general ed and special ed students. It is not necessarily a lower level class - at least this is not what I have found in the districts I have worked with. But, the extra teacher can help re-inforce skills, clarify and help with classwork to be sure that your son is using the skills and techniques he has been taught. My daughter was in an inclusion math class, and went through Calculus in HS. Her Math SAT score was above a 650. She's not a math genius, but she does not have a math disability. However, she does have concentration issues and needed the extra support to ensure that she was solid in what was being taught. Typically, in middle school, inclusion classes are at the same level as other classes - they are very different from a special ed classroom that is made up of only special ed students.
Regarding organizational systems - some middle schools allow their teachers to dictate the organizational system. This could result in 5 different systems - one for each subject. This could be a DISASTER. I suggest finding one system that works for all classes. (and putting an accommodation in the IEP that he gets to use the organizational structure of his choosing) My son's HS mandates a single binder system for all classes. It is very similar to the system he learned in MS (he attended a school specifically for students with language based learning disabilities - it was highly structured and focused on helping kids to develop the strategies to stay organized). Basically, he has one 4 inch binder that has a tab for each academic class. There is pocket at the front of each tab that is for homework in/ out. Then there is a section for resources (handouts, study guides, notes) and a section for returned assignments. I still have to help/encourage him to purge - but he rarely misses assignments or loses things. On the cover he has his schedule with the room numbers and he keeps his agenda calendar in the front. He also uses his phone to record assignments (takes pictures of the board if he can). He uses iCal, usually. But has a pretty good memory and isn't as good at writing things down as he should be. Your son will have to figure out what works for him. Many of my MS and HS clients use their phone to record assignments. (this is in their IEP), and I know my daughter (now in college) uses her phone to take a picture of the weekly schedule at work.
Regarding the ADHD - Given the history of depression, anxiety and other difficulties, if you can get into a child adolescent psychiatrist this is the route I would take. In my area, the lead time is quite long - so I used a developmental neurologist. But, my DS's situation (at least on the mental health side - not on the LD side!) was a bit less complicated.
Throwing a lot at you - but luckily you have the entire summer to process it and can start laying the ground work!!
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Post by bros on Jul 8, 2013 14:10:10 GMT -5
Long battery life is a very good point. I like getting the bigger batteries. or you could get two batteries.
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Post by ceratops on Jul 8, 2013 17:14:56 GMT -5
School stress can contribute to ornery behavior, so it wouldn't be surprising if shedding the stress improves your son's behavior improvements. When my older dd entered middle school, her behavior changed. She was scatterwacky, not doing a lot of school work, losing things, forgetting things — and greatly annoying her teachers. Her morning lateness was making it difficult for our carpool. Thinking she might have ADHD (inattentive type), I requested an evaluation for special ed or, more likely, a 504 plan. A team meeting was held, and various assessments were done, and lo and behold, the school psychologist said ADHD was possible — but diagnosis would have to wait until her anxiety was brought under control. (Anxiety???) Yes, she got an IEP for anxiety that I had not even recognized! As it turns out, ADHD has a lot of symptoms in common with various psychiatric diagnoses, including anxiety disorders. Like ADHD, anxiety can also mess with the ability to concentrate, pay attention, think analytically, remember. Anxiety can also cause a kid to become difficult to manage — as in anger outbursts or becoming oppositional about doing difficult school work or anything else that pushes their anxiety buttons. I'm not saying your son has an anxiety disorder, but demands to do the impossible (or so it seems to him) can create a lot of anxiety that will negatively impact his self-confidence, his behavior, and his ability to attempt and succeed at difficult assignments. That your son is now calmer, more helpful (cooperative?), less prone to anger, and able to concentrate on projects of interest when there's no school pressure is valuable information to be shared with the IEP team. In one of your posts, you said your son was spending up to 3 hours on homework in 5th grade. That's inhumane! Did homework help him learn, or did it instead make him more anxious? When you work with the psychiatrist on meds, ask about how long-acting the meds will be: will they be effective at homework time? If meds keep your son able to focus on homework into the evening, will they also interfere with sleep? The IEP team may need to find some creative ways to minimize homework time and difficulty to meet your son's medical needs — such as reduced homework, assistance with difficult homework at school (or after school), assigning only certain kinds of homework that your son can actually do independently at home and leaving other assignments that require help to be done at school with support, etc. If your son cannot do homework pretty much on his own, then it will be a source of frustration and anxiety, and not an opportunity for learning. The more stressed out he becomes over homework, the worse his sleep. The worse his sleep, the harder to get him up and to school on time. And don't let the team say that your son should do homework as soon as he arrives home from school. His brain will have been in overdrive (compared to other kids) during the school day. He needs academic down time to decompress. After the first month or so of school, you'll be getting a pretty good idea of what's working and not working. Being in an inclusion classroom with a sped teacher to help may be very helpful academically and stress-wise. Cross your fingers! Your mention of anxiety is interesting. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, DS actually has had several lengthy (several months duration) episodes of school anxiety, although the last time this cropped up was back during third grade. The psychologist who diagnosed him with ADHD earlier this year also said he met diagnostic criteria for depression (I think this was based mainly on history of past behavior and mood, not that he was in the middle of a depressive episode when she evaluated him). So, even though DS did not seem overtly anxious or depressed during this past school year, he does have a history of such difficulties. It's certainly possible that school work and homework were sources of anxiety for him. As far as the time on homework, yes, the elapsed time sometimes went well over 2 hours. That might include time spent gathering materials, searching for parts of the assignment that were misplaced, arguing over doing the homework at all, sitting doing nothing, tearing up a worksheet in anger and frustration and then having to start over, getting sidetracked on some other issue (this was particularly common when doing work on the computer), as well as actually working on the homework itself. The self-defeating inefficiency of the process was painful to watch, once I started paying close attention to what DS was doing and how long it was taking him to do it. It was certainly a source of great stress to him, as well as a stress in the family -- my husband and I are sick and tired of fighting with DS over doing his homework. We all need a more sane approach. Even when DS was not fighting the homework, it was sometimes very time-consuming, particularly when a more complex long term project had been assigned. Spending the better part of a weekend helping him, step by step, through a social studies project (a fairly lengthy research and writing assignment) was one of the things that convinced me to make the referral -- DS just was so dramatically unable to deal with the organizational aspects of this assignment -- it was an eye opener. I've read a bit about the symptom overlap you mention (ADHD, mood disorders, learning disabilities), and it really makes me wonder how the diagnostic process works. Hopefully the ADHD diagnosis can be relied on, even if DS has other things going on at the same time... Thank you so much for your comments, and for the perspective from your own experience with your DD. (I actually thought I responded to this post yesterday, but I guess I goofed somewhere along the way...)
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Post by ceratops on Jul 8, 2013 17:32:05 GMT -5
Child adolescent psychiatrist
Several posters have suggested this -- nice to see a consensus laptop computersThank you to all who commented on the home-provided vs. school-provided issue. For one thing, I see I have a lot to learn about the funding/legal aspects of this whole process (bros' comments about how schools actually pay for AT). The mention of the Alphasmart ("worst piece of AT I have ever encountered") was funny -- this device was actually suggested by one of the people at our planning team meeting -- the suggestion was promptly shot down by the administrator present, who shook his head and described the device as clunky and outdated.
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Post by bros on Jul 8, 2013 18:14:09 GMT -5
Child adolescent psychiatrist
Several posters have suggested this -- nice to see a consensus laptop computersThank you to all who commented on the home-provided vs. school-provided issue. For one thing, I see I have a lot to learn about the funding/legal aspects of this whole process (bros' comments about how schools actually pay for AT). The mention of the Alphasmart ("worst piece of AT I have ever encountered") was funny -- this device was actually suggested by one of the people at our planning team meeting -- the suggestion was promptly shot down by the administrator present, who shook his head and described the device as clunky and outdated. The alphasmart can only hold 120 lines of text per "file" and there are only 10 "files" on the device. you pretty much have to download your notes to a computer daily and delete them from the alphasmart after download
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Post by empeg1 on Jul 9, 2013 0:19:15 GMT -5
I have to admit I was in the midst of "homework wars" with my oldest when she was in school. And, I regret doing this. Ask for a set of textbooks for home. Make sure your ds has a homework folder for all assignments and a staff person to check for assignments. Make a homework station with all supplies needed. Set a homework time. And, then step back. If your ds asks for help, great, help him. If he wants to watch TV, etc during homework time, no. But, fight with him about getting his homework done? No to that as well. Your ds is not in HS yet. Grades do not count yet. Let the school deal with the homework issue if the work is not done. Your relationship with your son is more important than homework!
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