Punishment for ADHD other than recess

: I think your school has an antique attitude towards ADHD. Punishing a child for their ADHD by missing two weeks of recess makes no sense. Do they put anything in place to help him not act up? Where does he sit in the classroom? At what points in the day he is likely to act up and where?Punishing him for incomplete assignments also makes no sense. He should need to finish the assignments. Past that, what’s the point? Is it hard for him to get his work done at home? Is he given the same amount of homework as other children? Perhaps he needs some modification to his assignments because of his ADHD. Have they considered that?After much fighting to get my ADHD 10 year old son am IEP, I have
: finally succeeded but have yet to finalize it yet. We are meeting
: again tomorrow. He was being punished for incomplete assignments
: (one time no recess for 2 weeks), I am telling them that an ADHD
: child should not miss recess. They are insisting that if he acts
: up (normal ADHD behavior) that he needs punishment (they accused
: me of not wanting him to have consequences for his actions), I do
: want him to have consequences but just not missing recess. Does
: anyone have any suggestions. We meet again tomorrow. THanks for
: you help

EMAILNOTICES>noPASSWORD>aa.WKuN.MsKscToken economies are often used with kids with ADHD. Instead of punishing him for not finishing work, he is rewarded with tokens (or stickers, stamps, points, etc.) for finished work. When he earns a pre-set number of tokens, he can trade them in for a reward of his choosing. Some kids will work for stickers alone. Some may earn 1/2 hour later bedtime, or a soda, video game time, whatever he chooses. There is no PUNISHMENT. The CONSEQUENCE is not earning the tokens. You can also build in “response cost”, which means he looses tokens for certain behaviors, e.g. getting out of his seat. His work may need to be modified so that he has a reasonable chance of success— a big part of the problem may be the unreasonable expectations. Of course we all would like children to be compliant and self-motivated, but some kids need to be rewarded. You can usually fade the rewards gradually so that eventually the child is earning only one or two tokens per day. Once the child begins to feel successful and feel good about himself and his abilities, he may be able to work for his own sense of accomplishment rather than the rewards. Does your school district have a counselor, behavior specialist, or special ed. teacher who could help the regular classroom teacher set up such a system? Teachers usually think it will be a burden, but if someone helps them set it up and they start using it they often find it takes much less time than whatever unsuccessful strategies they were trying before.

: After much fighting to get my ADHD 10 year old son am IEP, I have
: finally succeeded but have yet to finalize it yet. We are meeting
: again tomorrow. He was being punished for incomplete assignments
: (one time no recess for 2 weeks), I am telling them that an ADHD
: child should not miss recess. They are insisting that if he acts
: up (normal ADHD behavior) that he needs punishment (they accused
: me of not wanting him to have consequences for his actions), I do
: want him to have consequences but just not missing recess. Does
: anyone have any suggestions. We meet again tomorrow. THanks for
: you helpI am going through the same thing my son joshua 7 years old is having a hard time at school his teacher doesn’t like him and treats him awful. she moves him to the back of the room when she is teaching something new so that he doesn’t break her concentration. He has gone days and weeks without playtime for small miss behaviors. We are thinking about removing him and homeschooling him we meet with the principal tomorrow. Does anyone have any advice???

Teresa, I agree that for most ADD/ADHD kids, recess is something they need and should not have taken away as punishment. Reinforcing good behavior, rather than punishing for bad behavior is the better choice. However, I’m wondering if at the time you had your conversation with the school you proposed any alternatives to the recess removal. It is important to let them know what you DO want, and not just what you don’t want. What kind of consequence makes sense to you? Another poster here made a good point in suggesting maybe there is a need for modifications of the work. If you can figure out what is “getting in his way” when it comes to completing his homework, you will be in a better position to figure out what needs to be done so your son can be rewarded, rather than punished. Good luck. JJ: After much fighting to get my ADHD 10 year old son am IEP, I have
: finally succeeded but have yet to finalize it yet. We are meeting
: again tomorrow. He was being punished for incomplete assignments
: (one time no recess for 2 weeks), I am telling them that an ADHD
: child should not miss recess. They are insisting that if he acts
: up (normal ADHD behavior) that he needs punishment (they accused
: me of not wanting him to have consequences for his actions), I do
: want him to have consequences but just not missing recess. Does
: anyone have any suggestions. We meet again tomorrow. THanks for
: you help

EMAILNOTICES>noSomething else to be considered: is the behavior he’s being punished for in his conscious control? Is he failing to complete his written work on schedule because he doesn’t like to work, or because he has a problem with writing quickly?How are his handwriting skills? If he can’t write quickly and legibly, that could well be the reason he can’t finish his work on time. He will need remediation and accommodations if that’s the case, AND a complete cessation of any and all punishments for his slow writing speed. If the reason is simply that he hates to write (i.e., it’s not an enjoyable activity for him), then a behavior modification system could be used to change that. Since keeping him in during recess doesn’t appear to be solving the problem, an alternate means to teach him to focus on his work and complete it will need to be found.Kathy G.

: I am going through the same thing my son joshua 7 years old is having
: a hard time at school his teacher doesn’t like him and treats him
: awful. she moves him to the back of the room when she is teaching
: something new so that he doesn’t break her concentration. He has
: gone days and weeks without playtime for small miss behaviors. We
: are thinking about removing him and homeschooling him we meet with
: the principal tomorrow. Does anyone have any advice???The teacher sitting your son in the back of the classroom is something she should never, ever do. She obviously knows nothing about ADHD children. I received a note from my daughter’s MD to put her in front of the classroom. There is a US Federal law in effect since 1997 call IDEA. I am just now reading into it, but basically so far I understand, the school district must provide alternative education for your child. Your child has just as much right to a good education as any other child without ADHD. In San Francisco alone, there are four alternative schools in the SFUSD. I live in the Bay Area & my Unified School district doesn’t even have a web-site. Supposedly, if you have to send your child to a private alternative school, because the school district cannot provide one, you can get the school district to pay for it. On my next Friday off, I am marching into the Unified School District & demanding a 4th & 5th grade teacher for next year, that teaches ADHD with a “Hands-on” style of teaching. Our children will excel in this more alternative/progressive type of teaching. Our children are “left brainers” in a “Right brain” traditional style of teaching. I read that 7% of our population have ADHD & that 50% are failing in our traditional school system. That is a very scary thought. I attached a website to start off with. I hope this helps, good luck.

I came into the forum to post a similar question. In my 9 year old daughter’s case, she WANTS help to stay focused on her work. The consequence for not turning in assignments on time is that they go to study hall instead of recess to complete the work. Her way of dealing with this has been to bring home all the work she doesn’t finish at school. This gives her no time at all to play after school and keeps her up as late as 11 pm (if I try to stop her she just sneaks a flashlight to bed) some nights because we don’t use medication in the evenings and it takes longer to do the work as a result. It keeps her up all night if we do use medication after school. She really does want to do the work, knows there is a problem and wants help to change the behavior, which in her case involves spending her work time visiting with friends. The funny thing is that we have all worked hard to foster these new social skills that are getting in the way during class time. Taking away recess also takes away the opportunity for her to socialize appropriately.One idea I am considering is a device to cue her to check in with herself about whether she is on task. This could potentially help her to get back to work on her own. Some of the team members have been a little hard to convince about this. I suspect that this is due to the cost of assistive technology rather than any question that it might not work. When she was younger we used a simple kitchen timer to remind her how much time she had. It worked really well but has become a problem because it is too visible, too loud and she doesn’t like to have other kids know she is using something like this. Also, for our purpose now it would have to be reset manually every time the bell went off. That makes it too cumbersome for this application. I hear some of the cueing devices are worn like a watch and vibrate rather than make noise.The one thing I know for certain is that positive behavioral interventions should ALWAYS be the first thing tried when a behavior is getting in the way for kids with ADHD. For our daughter, the satisfaction of getting the job done on time and getting a good grade is enough. She just doesn’t have the capacity to redirect herself once she has been distracted without an external reminder of what she should be doing. Once she is reminded, she is willing to get back to work right away. Since the teacher is working with kids individually and in small groups during seat work time, he is not available to monitor her behavior and beside, our main area of focus right now is getting her to work independently. Having someone “babysit” her isn’t really teaching her how to deal with this herself.Reducing her work load just doesn’t seem appropriate since she is capable of doing the work if she stays on task a reasonable amount of the time they are given to do the work. Any other ideas would be appreciatedd.After much fighting to get my ADHD 10 year old son am IEP, I have
: finally succeeded but have yet to finalize it yet. We are meeting
: again tomorrow. He was being punished for incomplete assignments
: (one time no recess for 2 weeks), I am telling them that an ADHD
: child should not miss recess. They are insisting that if he acts
: up (normal ADHD behavior) that he needs punishment (they accused
: me of not wanting him to have consequences for his actions), I do
: want him to have consequences but just not missing recess. Does
: anyone have any suggestions. We meet again tomorrow. THanks for
: you help

: Token economies are often used with kids with ADHD. Instead of
: punishing him for not finishing work, he is rewarded with tokens
: (or stickers, stamps, points, etc.) for finished work. When he
: earns a pre-set number of tokens, he can trade them in for a
: reward of his choosing. Some kids will work for stickers alone.
: Some may earn 1/2 hour later bedtime, or a soda, video game time,
: whatever he chooses. There is no PUNISHMENT. The CONSEQUENCE is
: not earning the tokens. You can also build in “response
: cost”, which means he looses tokens for certain behaviors,
: e.g. getting out of his seat. His work may need to be modified so
: that he has a reasonable chance of success— a big part of the
: problem may be the unreasonable expectations. Of course we all
: would like children to be compliant and self-motivated, but some
: kids need to be rewarded. You can usually fade the rewards
: gradually so that eventually the child is earning only one or two
: tokens per day. Once the child begins to feel successful and feel
: good about himself and his abilities, he may be able to work for
: his own sense of accomplishment rather than the rewards. Does your
: school district have a counselor, behavior specialist, or special
: ed. teacher who could help the regular classroom teacher set up
: such a system? Teachers usually think it will be a burden, but if
: someone helps them set it up and they start using it they often
: find it takes much less time than whatever unsuccessful strategies
: they were trying before. It is odd how differant strategies work for differant kids. My GIRL is ADHD and the hyperactivity is one of her worse enemies along with LDs. Going out at recess was not beneficial for her because she came in off the wall and could not refocus. Doing her homework at recess was her opption because after school all day homework did NOT work at home. I know that some kids blow off steam and some just build up more at recess. Putting the option to the child might be a idea than the child has some input into the problem and giving him or her choices and than the responsibilites lays on them and they may be more receptive. My ADHD has Opposition Disorder also so everthing is a battle. Laying out her opptions and letting her make the choice makes for more compliance and less resistant. This has work since she was 6 and now she is 15 and has learned to make better choices and improves problem solving and yes she take Ritalin and is not a zombie. JA

PASSWORD>aaaghvsKT3iJgSeveral people who responded to the original post on this thread have talked about assignment modification as a first choice. I have always held the opinion that if inability to sustain attention is the primary problem and not inability to write quickly enough or think quickly enough to finish work in a reasonable time, then the behavior needs to be addressed FIRST. In other words, if behavior (not paying attention to directions or not being on-task) is the problem, teaching a child techniques that will help him/her to change the behavior should be the goal.Kids with ADHD are capable of doing the work unless there is a co-existing condition that limits their ability. Their problem is their inability to focus and sustain attention on tasks that are difficult. Many of them will admit that if they were on-task they could get the work done. If they are capable of doing the work, they should be taught techniques that will help them complete the work, not told that they don’t have to do it. In my daughters case, as a 9 year old, anything, including work reduction, that sets her apart from her peers really upsets her.It’s one of the reasons we are going to try using a WatchMinder to help her to be on-task. It is worn like a watch and vibrates to remind the child to be on-task and can be set for a variety of other reminder messages as well. I believe that technology can play an important role in helping kids to learn to pay attention. We began with a simple kitchen timer to help her to eat her meals during the short time they are allowed for lunch. Before using it, she wasn’t able to limit her talking enough to allow her to finish her lunch and was losing a lot of weight. Now, she is able to eat lunch on time without it after 2 years of using it.In the case of the 15 year old who was given the choice to do homework during recess, that’s great that she was able to make that decision. More often and especially with younger kids, they need their recess to practice social skills and to have some freedom to move around and take a break. In my daughter’s case, she works really hard with a short extra break as the reward for on-task behavior. The reverse is NOT true. Taking away her recess for failing to complete work does not help her to learn to be on-task. Positive behavioral techniques are the backbone of helping kids with ADHD, along with medication when appropriate. We will use a reward system by using a checksheet with goals for self-reporting on-task behavior with the new watch. You might consider something similar for your child. The Watchminder is listed on this web site in the Technology area of LDn InDepth

: After much fighting to get my ADHD 10 year old son am IEP, I have
: finally succeeded but have yet to finalize it yet. We are meeting
: again tomorrow. He was being punished for incomplete assignments
: (one time no recess for 2 weeks), I am telling them that an ADHD
: child should not miss recess. They are insisting that if he acts
: up (normal ADHD behavior) that he needs punishment (they accused
: me of not wanting him to have consequences for his actions), I do
: want him to have consequences but just not missing recess. Does
: anyone have any suggestions. We meet again tomorrow. THanks for
: you helpI believe that children should be punished for misbehaving if it results in good behavior. However if a child continues to misbehave after being punished many times then apparently that child is not learning that what they are doing is wrong. So I think instead of punishing children teachers should reinforce good behavior. Many children love attention so punishment for bad behavior gives these children attention. Reinforcing good behavior will give attention to children who are not misbehaving instead of those who are.In speaking of your son, I do not believe that he should be punished for misbehaving. Maybe you should talk with his teacher about rewarding him when he actually does the work so that attention will be off his bad behavior. Another thing that concerns me is the fact that an ADHD child is getting punished for misbehaving. Many times ADHD children have behavior problems. So this brings me back to what I’ve stated earlier, it is more important for ADHD children to be rewarded for good behavior instead of punished for bad behavior. If reinforcing good behavior does not work you may want to check with his teacher to be sure he is actually understanding what he is doing. If he is having problems with his work, this may be the very reason his work is not completed on time. Hope everything works out with your son and I wish him the best of luck. Heather

My 14 year old has ADHD and have been in a constant struggle with the school. He’s on the 504 but I believe he should be on an IEP. How have you been able to get as far as you have so far in getting the school to cooperate?