[size=12][/size]I need some advise from others about how to help my daughter. She has shown signs of learning problems for years, and had a screening in 2002 which indicated likely ADD. The school put it off as stress from a divorce (I’d been separated since the end of 2000). Since she began in school, she would have much unfinished work, she’d forget to bring things home, or take completed assignments to school. Each year, it has gotten worse. She is now in 6th grade, and I have finally had her tested at my expense, but it will be some weeks to get the report and results. In the meanwhile, I don’t know what to do. She is failing classes because she forgets to turn in work that she has done. When I pick her up from school, she has no idea frequently what was done in class. The teachers went from saying I wasn’t helping her enough, to I was enabling her, and downhill from there. They now say her problems are all due to her attendance (she was out of school for two weeks in December plus most of her holiday break with the flu, then missed another day here and there with a sinus infection and a gastrointestinal virus). I have seen her frustration, and it’s not from attendance. She finally realizes and admits she has problems, but her teachers say she can’t have learning disabilities if she’s gifted.
My problems are two fold. One, I don’t know how to help her to remember to turn in work, get missing work or find out what to do when she doesn’t understand. We’ve organized her binder so that there is a turn in slanted folder on the first page of each subject, we’ve tried red sticky flag post-its, reminder notes in her daily planner (which she often forgets to fill out—she’s supposed to show it to the teachers to sign, but the only signature there is mine), notes of various forms, and more. Pretty much each day she comes home with the work still not turned in. What can I do? She is shy and also after how the school has handled things so far this year, she feels like the teachers hate her.
Secondly, the school doesn’t want to recognize a problem since they’d have to pay for services. My ex for the first time has gotten involved in her school and also says there is nothing wrong with her (that it’s living with me that causes the problems), and the school is so defensive it’s like a nightmare that gets worse daily. Any advice on dealing with a school system that is beyond communicating with? If I knew a good attorney, I’d get one to deal with how this school has handled so many things.
Please help!
Thank you.[/i][/list]
where are you in OC?
I live and work in the OC…maybe I can help you with your kiddo…I am really good at working with ADD kids.
ideas
Thank you for the suggestion of the one folder. We may try that. I’ve had her go to one binder as the spiral notebook for each subject plus a binder plus a reminder binder was too much. She’s in 6th grade now. Some of the teachers still want her to have individual binders even though they know she’s having problems with organizing. The classes all have different ways to turn in work, and the teachers expect her to ask or get notes from another child, even though they know she isn’t comfortable doing so and so slow at writing that this hasn’t been feasible. It’s all so very frustrating, and the school doesn’t want to make any accomodations.
I’d love any help we could get.
you still didn't say where in OC
you reside. Honestly, contact me through this BB and leave me a message. I work successfully with kids in middle school with these same issues.
This is all I got...
[b]Maybe your youngster can have one file folder for her homework.[/b]
[i] It would go a little something like this…[/i]
[b]#1[/b] one file folder that has the word homework written on it in big letters (like maybe in those cute gel pens the youngsters like in a pretty color or something)
[b]the following is an example…[/b]
[b]#2[/b] and then you get your math homework and put that in there…but have a piece of paper identifying that this is my math homework that I did for two hours on 1 apr 05… stuck to the actual math homework with a binder clip.
[b]#3[/b] I reckon you can put this in order of your child’s school schedule because it is important for a youngster like yours to do their homework in order
[b]#4[/b] And then you can have your child go through all of the homework she did to completion and make a little table of contents for ther file folder and she can write that in pencil like on the file folder itself.
[i]…then[/i]
you can do this for all subjects and have a big ‘ole binder clip keep everything together…I really think that it is important for things to be tangible as well as really well identified.
But like I say, this is all I got:)
Maybe only one folder for the things she needs to turn back in would work better and could put what she needs to do for homework in there also. Does she know where to turn it in when she is done? Our teacher has bins for when work is completed and won’t accept work done early.I had to go in and find those bins so I could explain to my daughter where they were at the beginning of the year. I basically have to check with my child every night to make sure she has homework and that she turns it in. My child had another child that was suppose to help her fill in her binder with homework messages and such ( teacher’s idea) But that child was writing in all the messages instead of my child ,so I had that stopped and my child is writing own messages. Hard to read but better than what was happening before. Find the best way to communicate with the teacher,some like e-mail,some voice-mail ,or call. Maybe even writing a note in the binder. My child also has a homework buddy she can call if she doesn’t know what homework she is to do. Try to communicate with the teacher about working out a plan to resolve the situation and hopefully your child will get in the habit. If she will be going to middle school next year you might even see how they set things up, so your child will have an easier transition.