My son born very premature has been in a program since the age of 3. He is now 9 years old and still cannot read. He is in the LD room with 5 other children and is in the regular classroom for math. I am very frustrated with the school because they refuse to give my son a extended summer school program. Last year I started my fight with them only to be told that we had to test for “loss and recoupment” after the tests were done they told me that since he acheived a 83% that he would not be elidgable for the summer program. When I asked how long it took to get this number, his teacher said that it took 4 days, 10 min per day to get the test done. The sentences were 3-4 word sentences with very simple words. I am in the process of asking the school for another evaluation and at this point I am questioning if he should be in this school at all. He is on ritalin during the day and homework is so difficult and frustrating that we cannot do it with him. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Thanks
Re: ADHD LD Son need help with CST
“He is on ritalin during the day and homework is so difficult and frustrating that we cannot do it with him. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?”
My daughter couldn’t tolerate Ritalin b/c of rebound. She’s on Concerta, a ritalin-based product, which lasts 10-12 hours, depending on the individual. A beneficial side effect is that it lasts thru homework!!!
Re: ADHD LD Son need help with CST
My son takes the 20mg Ritalin SR, it lasts about 6 to 7 hours for him. I give him a 5mg for homework as needed. A side effect of stimulants is sleeplessness however my son has this problem when not taking meds so I blame it on his being a night owl. There are a few adults in his life who have similar difficulties with sleep so I am inclined to think it is genetic. Just an aside because some folks don’t give meds after school because of the sleep thing.
I found when my son was younger, the meds kept him from tantrums and giving up during homework time, before he was taking ritalin, homework time was a nightmare, tears and yelling, the whole 9 yards. Hope this helps.
Re: ADHD LD Son need help with CST
Gayle,
Do you have access to a good reading tutor? I wonder if this is part of the problem, it may not be the meds, it is that he feels overwhelmed because he doesn’t have the skills necessary to do his homework. Perhaps a good tutor would help teach him the skills he needs and take some of the burden off of you.
Your on the right track. I would suggest you request a formal reevaluation of his psychoeducational eval. Once the results are in then I would sit down with the IEP team and see,besides just ESY what else can be done to improve his reading ability.