9th grade ADHD Honors student

I can relate. My oldest child has ADHD but will not take meds and I will not push him to do so. He is old enough to decide for himself. My youngest does take stimulants for his ADHD and is easily able to handle honors courses and earn high grades. My oldest is in honors classes as well but his grades are not what they might be and he has trouble keeping track of the work. Still, I think he is better served by staying in the honors classes. Part of ADHD is the tendency to be easily bored and to give up quickly on anything that doesn’t seem interesting. Moving down to classes that are less challenging would make school even more boring than it already seems to a smart kid with ADHD. Is there any possibility that your daughter will accept you closely monitoring what she has to do for class and homework, checking her backpack, helping her to schedule her work, etc.? My oldest will permit me to do this because he perceives that it helps him, but I know many teenagers would not. I wouldn’t count on the school to understand that being smart enough for honors is the same thing as being able to produce a lot of work. Would your daughter consider trying a non-stimulant such as Strattera? My kid won’t try it and I’ve heard mixed things about its effectiveness, but perhaps your daughter would feel better about a non-stimulant. Good luck!

Definitely keep your daughter in a class that stimulates her!
You’ve already spoken to the Biology teacher. What’s his/her reaction?
Any empathy or understanding of ADHD? If not, advocate. Bring in pages from here or from ADD.about.com showing how easy classroom accomodations can be made. Perhaps seating her near the teacher, setting up a good partner who can help with note-taking, etc.

Deal with each class as a separate entity.
It’s also been shown that 5-7 minutes of aerobics every hour focuses in a similar way to medication. If your daughter can find a way to jog on the spot or exercise, it might be a good focus.

I had a student who carried a simple wooden flute with him to clear his head between classes - music is a superb brain enhancer.

Never give up!
There are ways to keep her in focus.

Judih

I’d agree with you that this deserves to be looked into and not to leap to easy answers. Why is she doing so poorly on her labs and how long has this been going on? Labs, of course, are the hands on learning you feel she’s better at so it’s a particular puzzle as to why they’re not working for her. What did her teacher say when you asked that?

Could she remain in that class with some support from a tutor? Or from you? Could she work with someone on her labs? Would she allow that?

If not, would you prefer she struggle and possibly fail in honors or do well in non-honors? We all deserve to be challenged but the question is sometimes - is the challenge worth the low grades that sometimes result?

That’s certainly only your question and your daughter’s question to answer.

Good luck with this.

My dd does want to try Strattera, and her Dr is agreed that it is an option, just not during the school year, and I tend to agree. I’m concerned of the lost time if she doesn’t respond well. He talked with the drug rep and specifically asked about adding Strattera while decreasing the stim and was told that it is not recommended, I forgot why- so we are waiting until summer.
Her teacher is very willing to help, and acknowledges the challenges ADHD can present. He had even taken the time to look into her school records before our first conference, so he already knew her history. He feels that my dd is capable of the work, but does need some support, and is willing to give it afterschool or during his open class period time. DD, on the other hand, hates the notion of recieving ‘extra help’. She hated having accomodations through a 504 and tried not to use anything that would bring attention to her as being treated differently. So this is going to be a requirement for her, not an option. Either way- she’ll loose Drill Team if she doesn’t follow through, it’ll be me taking it away- or the school if she doesn’t get that C.
I’ll have to talk to her about finding a way to clear her head before class- and find out what class is right before biology.
Dropping to a lower level class remains an option, I just don’t want it to be the only and first option just b/c she has ADHD. I simply feel that her counselor is wrong, and possibly ill-advised if she thinks that lower the class level is the answer for a struggling ADHD student without looking at other possibilities as well.
I also found out this weekend that her freshman study hall is an informal one- against the “rules” so to speak, so she is in the commons where students gather to talk, not study. I’m calling her counselor Monday as intially we wanted her in a study that was used to teach kids study and classroom skills like note taking- and instead she has no supports what so ever.
Thanks again!

good luck, Roxie
your daughter is fortunate to have you!
The notion of receiving help is abhorrent to many teens, specially special individualists like your daughter- (you’ll have to let it be her idea, perhaps)

thanks for keeping us informed. This is going to be interesting!

Judih

I have two kids with ADD one is a senior and the other a freshman. The senior tried Straterra and it was a huge bust.. He is ADD-Inattentive. After that nightmare…he went without meds for about 1 month but things went from bad to worse. He finally went and had his own pow-wow with the Dr…and they talked about the pros and cons of meds…I wasn’t even there…They came up with a game plan…he would try stimulants but not Stattera anymore…He started out at 5mg of Adderrall and eventually went up to 15 mg of Adderall. His grades went back up…and his self-esteem as well.

Perhaps your daughter can have her own pow-wow with the Dr. without you there so that she feels like she has more control over her meds and life. This was the best thing I did let the pediatrician talk with my son as I couldn’t reason or get through to him.

My Freshman daughter had an F in science…because she wasn’t getting accomodations she was failing all the multiple choice tests…everything else was stellar, labs, homework, but her test taking skills are awful because she isn’t really careful when she reads the multiple choice tests. Once she started having the tests read to her, her grades went up now she has a C- but hey…she gets to stay on the Water Polo team and that is what she lives for..

There really are some great caring educators that are willing to go that extra mile. :D It turns out that the labs my dd is having so much trouble in aren’t necessarily ‘hands on’ type labs. They are packets, and the kids need to be gathering information and/or interpreting data or information they have. My dd’s bio teacher is meeting with her during her studyhall (they both have the same free period- stroke of luck) to discuss the chapters when they begin one. AND, he has also gone back to help her in areas she has struggled since the semester final is cummulative. He even brought in tinker toys to help her build some cells and understand some of the concepts of how cells breakdown. She came home and tells me, “he made me build it, but now I understand it, it was so easy!” Needless to say, I am thrilled, and the school principal, superintendent, and school board are going to hear about this teachers dedication.

We did also add Ritalin LA to my dd’s meds at the end of the school day. It’s not so great her having to go to the nurses office before hopping on the bus or heading off to practice, but it does help with her focus when she is doing homework later in the evening and the Concerta has worn off. It wasn’t what we wanted to have to do, but it’s working, and that’s what is important.
Thank you to everyone for sharing with me your thoughts and experiences, it really has helped.

Roxie,

Great news. So glad the Lab Teacher is open and generous with his time.
Question: What is ritalin LA?
How is the combination with concerta? And, how long does the combination last altogether?

Thanks for sharing this all,

Judih

[quote=”judih”]Roxie,

Great news. So glad the Lab Teacher is open and generous with his time.
Question: What is ritalin LA?
How is the combination with concerta? And, how long does the combination last altogether?

Thanks for sharing this all,

Judih[/quote]

Ritalin LA is an extended release version of Ritalin. My dd took Ritalin SR several years ago, and it wasn’t so great. The Ritalin did it’s job, but the delivery system for the extended release (SR=sustained release), was inconsistent, leaving my dd with peaks and valleys in the effectiveness, and terrible rebound. The LA is supposed to have a smoother delivery. We will see, but so far, it has been good. She has been a bit more irritable, but it’s so hard to figure out what is causing it; the pressure of having to bring up her biology grade, the hormones of a 14 y/o girl, a teenage attitude not wanting mom poking in on her business…..so I’m going to watch it since it isn’t horrendous and I think it’s a combination of everything, including the addition of the new med. Historically, she has needed an adjustment period with each med change. Adding the Ritalin LA to the Concerta (36mgs) doesn’t seem to be causing any problems with overmedication that I can see, her sleep patterns are the same, her eating hasn’t changed- and that was a concern of mine since Ritalin and Ritalin SR severely decreased her appetite, and she only complained of a stomach ache the first day. The purpose for adding it was the evening homework, and so far, it seems to be good. She is keeping on track fairly well. Sometimes I think I expect too much, so I have to remind myself that ALL teens like MTV and the reality shows, the phone, instant messaging and music. What I do see though is that she seems to be more in control of the follow through of homework. It is ceasing to be my job to ensure that she starts homework, stays on task, and completes it. Only gentler reminders now.
My goal was always to get her to a point of managing her ADHD without meds, but so far that has not come to fruitition.

Hi again. Many thanks.
Here in Israel, we get only certain meds. SR is available, but LA isn’t. Interesting that it exists.

I understand what you’re saying here. Your daughter is becoming self-starting and that’s glorious.
Eventually, the habits will start to ‘take’ and perhaps she’ll be able to pick and choose her times for medications.

In addition, techniques for self-regulation take time and are for the long term. It takes a certain knowledge of what she’s aiming for in order to know if behaviour modification is working.

For your information, I use music, or meditation to focus myself. I believe in chi cong exercises which are based on combinations of breathing and movement and work almost within seconds to focus me.

Techniques are personal. Perhaps she would enjoy taking a run before doing homework. Or perhaps using IM or writing letters for a certain number of minutes before doing homework will enable her to concentrate.

It’s truly a matter of trial and error. I’ve surveyed many people who’ve tried meds and stopped when other methods were found to work better. There are literally hundreds of methods that work!

Patience.
If you want to read my research, let me know.

Judih