My son is about to turn seven years old. He is PDD-NOS (but *very* mild), ADHD and Gifted. He is currently getting satisfactory grades in the public traditional school he attends, which is far below his potential given his demonstrated abilities, and even this is probably because they are not yet grading on turning things in on time during school. He is polite and respectful and a sweet boy, but he talks constantly, and he gets up constantly to go to the bathroom and get drinks of water. He comes home with lots of unfinished work, which I make him do at home and send back. The teacher says he’s trying very hard to do his work. He learns very rapidly, but because of the ADHD issues, he makes the typical mistakes on the work he does do. (He’ll take the practice spelling test on day 1 and get all the words right but one, usually the easiest word in the list, get the “challenge words” perfect, and then on day 2 make several mistakes on the easiest words, but still spell the hardest words right. Things like that.) He has some mild language pragmatics issues, and he falls out of his desk, and his typed work is vastly better in quality than his handwritten work. They have begun a Child Study on him, but so far they have found that he is not eligible for services based on gross motor delay. They are going to observe him for fine motor delay — he can’t even tie his shoes yet and is painfully slow in his writing. And his handwriting is improving, but is still below where his peers are.
He does have three friends and his social skills are not completely impaired, and his psychiatrist believes he may even develop out of the PDD-NOS diagnosis. He is in social skills therapy and we just began a medication trial of Strattera, but it is too early to see any results, yet.
I am afraid that as more and more is required of children in school, he is going to have more and more difficulty. I’m concerned that he’s not getting his work done during school, and I know this is only going to get worse. The school is good for him in that it is highly structured.
What kind of things are typically done in schools for children like my son?
I am answering this question out of experience. I am a 21 year old college student with ADHD. He seems to be very similar to me. I allways had an extremely hard time handing in stuff at school and completing the school work during class. However, there are things that can help. I had an IEP (individual education plan) or other wise known as a 504 plan. ADHD is not covered under IDEA (individuals with disabilities act) so all the school is required to do is assess him for an IEP. However, an IEP covers a very broad range of things. In mine the teachers were required to give me extra time on assignments so that I could get them in and I was required to sit at the very front of the class so that the teacher could keep me on track and not let me day dream. However, outside of school I would look into a tutor. I had a tutor that helped me with organization skills and proper study techniques. It also gave me that little bit extra support that all ADHD kids need. If you have any more questions you can email me at [email protected]. I am also studying exceptional children which includes those with learning disabilities and ADHD so I know alot about the subject not to mention I am specializing in education for children with ADHD.