Post by jdmom on Apr 20, 2004 14:06:24 GMT -5
Jarrett, DS(7) is in first grade. He is on 54 mg. Concerta.
He has always maintained high A's. He attended a 5 day a week, 1/2 day preschool for 3 year olds, 5 day a week all day preschool for 4 year olds and kindergarten. He was diagnosed in kindergarten.
He is probably gifted, but his school will not evaluate until 3rd grade. This last report card, he brought home low A's, which I was not happy with. He is capable of better. At his 4 week progress report he brought home mid-range B's. So I went to have a talk with his teacher. I like his teacher. She is patient with him and has an ADD foster daughter. She has complained throughout the year of his talking and singing in class. His handwriting is very sloppy because he won't take his time and write neatly. So many of his answers, she marks wrong because she can't read them. Today she told me that sometimes the other children come to her desk and ask her to make Jarrett be quiet because they can't concentrate. She told me that during their SAT 9's, which they took last week, she had to stand over him the entire time to keep him quiet. She said that twice a day, she had to take his answer form and erase all the scribbling that he had done on it. She said some of the scribbling was so dark that she didn't know if the machine that grades them will be able to read it.
The entire time we talk, she just looks at me like she expects me to give her answers on how to control him in the classroom. Short of me going to school with him everyday and standing over him the entire time, I don't know what to tell her.
He is not a discipline problem. He is not mean to her or other kids, and always does what she tells him immediately. He just forgets and 5 minutes later he is doing it again. What can I do about this? I'm at my wit's end. It makes me want to cry, but I know that won't do any good. I just feel helpless.
I know that it is the ADHD that makes him feel the need to keep in motion. The scribbling and the singing are his ways of letting out the energy. At the beginning of the year, she had problems keeping him seated at his desk, and admits that he is doing better at that.
We just increased his meds a couple of months ago and his doctor informed me that he will not increase them anymore any time soon. I know the meds help, because Sunday I didn't give them to him and he was like a child on speed. Bouncing off the walls, talking a mile a minute, totally chaotic.
Do I need to have the school make accommodations for him? He is not failing, he has not trouble learning, he just can't sit still long enough to do his work correctly. Would he qualify?
Maybe he just needs to see a behaivoral psychologist? He has never seen a psychologist. His ped said he was confident enough in his diagnosis of Jarrett's ADHD that he didn't feel it was necessary. He said he was a classic case. I really don't have trouble with him at home. He minds me and respects me. He is just bouncy and we are used to that. The problems are just at school.
He is such a smart kid, with so much potential, that I don't want his grades to suffer because of his ADHD. How do I prevent that? I want to get a jump on it before it really causes him problems, and he falls behind.
I basically get daily complaints, all in writing, of his behaivor. He has been to the principal's office several times, and even suspended from the bus for a week, for his behaivor on the bus (not sitting in his seat and talking and playing too loudly). Is this enough to make them give him accommodations?
He has always maintained high A's. He attended a 5 day a week, 1/2 day preschool for 3 year olds, 5 day a week all day preschool for 4 year olds and kindergarten. He was diagnosed in kindergarten.
He is probably gifted, but his school will not evaluate until 3rd grade. This last report card, he brought home low A's, which I was not happy with. He is capable of better. At his 4 week progress report he brought home mid-range B's. So I went to have a talk with his teacher. I like his teacher. She is patient with him and has an ADD foster daughter. She has complained throughout the year of his talking and singing in class. His handwriting is very sloppy because he won't take his time and write neatly. So many of his answers, she marks wrong because she can't read them. Today she told me that sometimes the other children come to her desk and ask her to make Jarrett be quiet because they can't concentrate. She told me that during their SAT 9's, which they took last week, she had to stand over him the entire time to keep him quiet. She said that twice a day, she had to take his answer form and erase all the scribbling that he had done on it. She said some of the scribbling was so dark that she didn't know if the machine that grades them will be able to read it.
The entire time we talk, she just looks at me like she expects me to give her answers on how to control him in the classroom. Short of me going to school with him everyday and standing over him the entire time, I don't know what to tell her.
He is not a discipline problem. He is not mean to her or other kids, and always does what she tells him immediately. He just forgets and 5 minutes later he is doing it again. What can I do about this? I'm at my wit's end. It makes me want to cry, but I know that won't do any good. I just feel helpless.
I know that it is the ADHD that makes him feel the need to keep in motion. The scribbling and the singing are his ways of letting out the energy. At the beginning of the year, she had problems keeping him seated at his desk, and admits that he is doing better at that.
We just increased his meds a couple of months ago and his doctor informed me that he will not increase them anymore any time soon. I know the meds help, because Sunday I didn't give them to him and he was like a child on speed. Bouncing off the walls, talking a mile a minute, totally chaotic.
Do I need to have the school make accommodations for him? He is not failing, he has not trouble learning, he just can't sit still long enough to do his work correctly. Would he qualify?
Maybe he just needs to see a behaivoral psychologist? He has never seen a psychologist. His ped said he was confident enough in his diagnosis of Jarrett's ADHD that he didn't feel it was necessary. He said he was a classic case. I really don't have trouble with him at home. He minds me and respects me. He is just bouncy and we are used to that. The problems are just at school.
He is such a smart kid, with so much potential, that I don't want his grades to suffer because of his ADHD. How do I prevent that? I want to get a jump on it before it really causes him problems, and he falls behind.
I basically get daily complaints, all in writing, of his behaivor. He has been to the principal's office several times, and even suspended from the bus for a week, for his behaivor on the bus (not sitting in his seat and talking and playing too loudly). Is this enough to make them give him accommodations?
way too complicated for me to understand, but after the ped put oldest son on concerta (from Ritalin) for the 1x/day dose, things started to slide. I took my son to the psychologist who told me it was my fault because this kid needed RITALIN. Damned if he wasn't right. Years later we have had good luck with straterra, but he is much older now.
