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Post by specialedmomsf on Mar 2, 2015 16:26:44 GMT -5
We have an upcoming IEP meeting and I was going over the teacher updates and again the consistent theme was - attention or the lack of from my child. Distractions, talking in class etc. She's diagnosed with ADD, takes strattera but we are limited to non narcotic intervention due to health reasons. What occurred to me was they want her to STOP this behavior and I am always on her about this, she always being talked to by the teachers about her "behavior" but can she actually stop? Would we be telling a deaf child to listen better?
Just a thought
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Post by kewpie on Mar 2, 2015 17:21:20 GMT -5
I hear you sista!! I have been thru the same thing. I remind everyone that if my child could do these things (focus, be perfectly organized and turn in everything on time) we would not be sitting at her IEP because she would not have one. We are here becuase they are to develop a plan to support and help her succeed NOT fail. Letting her fail will not "teach" her how to succeed. When she fails, the IEP team fails. www.examiner.com/article/my-child-does-not-learn-by-failure
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Post by bros on Mar 2, 2015 17:33:02 GMT -5
We have an upcoming IEP meeting and I was going over the teacher updates and again the consistent theme was - attention or the lack of from my child. Distractions, talking in class etc. She's diagnosed with ADD, takes strattera but we are limited to non narcotic intervention due to health reasons. What occurred to me was they want her to STOP this behavior and I am always on her about this, she always being talked to by the teachers about her "behavior" but can she actually stop? Would we be telling a deaf child to listen better? Just a thought She cannot control her behaviors. Have you looked into other non-stimulants approved in children, such as Kapvay (generic name is Clonidine) or Intuniv (No generic currently available, one should be available in a few years)
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Post by michellea on Mar 2, 2015 17:52:46 GMT -5
I am a parent advocate and just talked about this in an IEP meeting. The student is becoming very distressed when the teacher or aid tells him to focus, pay attention etc.
We suggested that the teacher instead help him learn to self regulate. for example When he is getting distracted, ask him if he is having a hard time concentrating. This will help him to be more self aware. Suggest a self regulation strategy - ie stretch, get a cold drink of water etc. We also are helping him to learn to pace himself at the beginning of a task. To do this, his teachers will help him set goals - ie complete the first page then get up and move. Not sure if these ideas will help, but the parent and I realize that he needs help learning strategies. We also realize that if he is feeling anxious or bad about his difficulty staying focused, that this will make it harder to focus.
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Post by specialedmomsf on Mar 2, 2015 18:05:30 GMT -5
She is a 10th grader and they seem to feel she should be able to just pay attention. Additionally it's reported she uses her cell phone all the time in class.
It's just a bummer, I feel like we are always coming down on her and never actually celebrate her wins. They are also upset that she does not ask for help ever. Which is true.
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Post by michellea on Mar 5, 2015 8:38:10 GMT -5
I am not sure if she is on an IEP, but it seems that she needs help learning how to self advocate so she can learn how and when to ask for help. Additionally, the school climate must be positive so that she feels safe asking for help. Maybe to start, she needs teaches to acknowledge when she seems confused/ lost and prompt her to engage in a conversation about getting help. When she does ask for help, they should give her positive feedback so that she realizes that this is the right thing to do.
Her phone could be an avoidance behavior - somehow you need to work with her so that she does not use it during class. She is not getting any brownie points from the teacher and it is dividing her attention - not good given that attention is a difficulty in the first place. If she cannot resist looking at her phone, you may have to take the drastic step of taking it away from her at school. I had to do this with my daughter during homework time. She was very angry - but she could not stop herself from looking at the phone and this distraction was a real problem with getting her work done in a quality way.
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Post by hope4all on Mar 5, 2015 23:12:47 GMT -5
If a child has hard time focusing just tell them to stop getting distracted. Just Watch Bob Newharts video. "Stop It" ? Hope this clears things up. LOL
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Post by hope4all on Mar 6, 2015 11:32:10 GMT -5
I hope people know that the above post is meant sarcastically. Of course telling a child with ADD or ADHD to focus or pay attention is Not a solution to the problem. Just trying to bring hummor to a difficult situation.
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Post by aterry on Mar 6, 2015 18:33:30 GMT -5
Hope4all, I took your post as humor. I'd never seen the "Stop It" bit and I did find it funny. The amazing thing is, that many educators are not much gentler than that. My son, who is dyslexic, was told hundreds of times that he would be able to read if he would "just concentrate." Also, I've been thinking a lot lately about how few students are taught coping skills that would help them handle their ADHD and/or LDs. By 10th grade it would be great if students knew techniques that would help them refocus but I think few do. This semester I have quite a number of students (in a college course) who have retention problems. I work with students one to one (mostly) so I can be quite patient and try to help them identify strategies but it's sad that they've gotten all the way to young adulthood without gaining valuable insights as to what techniques are helpful and which techniques are not. Mostly they are just embarrassed that they have to ask for explanations over and over.
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Post by healthy11 on Mar 6, 2015 22:31:20 GMT -5
Aterry, can you share some retention techniques that seem to be most helpful to the students you work with? Are there any good resources/online links to strategies that parents might try to share with kids?
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Post by hope4all on Mar 7, 2015 0:28:25 GMT -5
Afterry, it's amazing how so many teachers don't have common sense. I would also like to have some techniques to use with my son.
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Post by aterry on Mar 12, 2015 14:48:01 GMT -5
I wouldn't say that I have a list of what works--I wish I had such a list or some links. And I haven't gotten much feedback from our Learning Disabilities program in that regard--they want the students to "advocate for themselves" which most of the time they can't because they don't truly understand their strengths and weaknesses and what works for them and what doesn't. That kind of self awareness needs to be developed much, much earlier. Our cookie-cutter approach to education does a lot of damage.
In general there are a few things that I have found helpful: breaking the material down into small--very small--units. Making sure that each student succeeds at something each session. Staying alert to what each student is good at and then trying to tie everything else to that. All instruction is within context--no make work, ever. The thing that works best is to have the students teach each other--even if they haven't completely mastered the task yet. I give lots of autonomy but I'm always within ear-shot and I swing over if I need to do a correction. I only do corrections within current context. Giving a student a correction for something they did yesterday is completely useless. Likewise, I only correct one thing at a time. Giving two corrections means that neither will be absorbed. Much of what the students are learning is hands-on, less written. I do my best to focus on students as individuals. For one young woman nothing worked--I tried all kinds of things. Eventually I asked her to put her hand over mine as I manipulated the camera, or tripod, or light, and explained the steps. Amazingly, one time through and she could handle each piece of equipment perfectly. Most students would recoil at that much touching.
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