Behavior plan?

I just had a similar battle with my 11 year old’s teachers. No luck what-so-ever with a behavior plan. I kept getting notes “did nothing today” and so I went and observed in the class & found out “nothing” really meant “NOTHING”. They couldn’t even send me home all of the daily assignments because I said I wanted to track on a chart whether he didn’t do it because he didn’t understand it, or find out why he wasn’t doing it. I finally through a BIG fit and said that their program was not providing my son any “educational benefit” under the IDEA act and that if they could not get him to produce work they would have to do a “functional behavior assessment” to let me know why he was “shutting down” and to address it properly. They have since totally revamped his curriculum, and guess what…..he is now producing more than he has the last couple of years. They are putting him in special ed. 77% of the time and putting much of his curriculum on the computer since he loves the computer. The special ed. teacher tracks how long it takes him to complete things. We are hopefully in the right direction. Many kids don’t want that much time in special ed., but my son is happy because he said he just “couldn’t keep up” in the class…they moved too fast and he just got lost so he stopped trying. I also gave him an incentive chart and said that for every problem he does he gets a point and he can earn stuff. It helped tremendously!! He has a goal now….I figured I don’t go to my job and work for nothing, I have my paycheck to look forward to. His job is to learn. He loves it. Some people may not agree, but it was better than him just sitting there & he actually seems motivated. I am worried about mainstreaming him back though becuase I doubt he will want to be segregated in High School. I have found most regular education teachers are not on the same page as me and think it’s easy to just “make” them do it with no alterations to curriculum or goal setting. They must not have a child with challenges like ours! Good Luck.

Going in and observing is not a bad idea. I can sympathize with the teacher because it’s hard enough for me to get him to do homework and she has 28 other kids to deal with. But even the resource room teacher has not had any success lately, and sending the work home or keeping him from recess and PE is just not the answer.

Why did the pediatrician take him off meds when he was doing so well? That could be the crux of the problem, his lack of medication.

The lack of meds is clearly a main part of the problem, but the ped. saw some behavior that concerned him (too long to go into, but even I was concerned at how he behaved at the last checkup). We’re currently in the middle of a new evaluation with a psychiatrist and psychologist. Unfortunate, but since I can’t write the rx. myself, there’s not much more I can do.

My 4th grade son is going through this right now. The teacher said he has no interest in schoolwork and no motivation to do anything. I realize it’s frustrating to teach a child that does not want to learn. He’s off his meds right now for re-evaluation but will see the pediatrician next week. However, this started before he went off the meds. He’s been sick a lot lately so that doesn’t help matters any. It’s a vicious circle right now of him not motivated enough to do the work, the teacher yells or he gets punished, falling grades and me trying to motivate him to do ANYTHING!! He has no LD and psychological tests were normal. And, to add fuel to the fire, we are moving next month so he will have to change schools and start from square one. Will conference with the new teachers, guidance counselor, etc., before I enroll him so they will know what to expect. Hopefully when he goes back on meds that might help somewhat but don’t think it will be a cure-all. I don’t have a definitive answer for this problem yet. Was he ever diagnosed with ODD?

My son is almost 8 y/o and has had issues in many areas - academics, attention, behavior. We are seeing huge success with Brain Gym. I would suggest going to an instructor as opposed to doing it on your own. The web site is www.braingym.com. It will give you lots of info. and explanations. The philosophy behind this is great. I am a nurse and also have a lot of experience with alternative therapies. This therapy is great stuff. It is helping my son with everything. Good luck

Dear Elaine,
In response to your situation on 2-18-02, we have the following observations and recommendations. It appears the problems with homework and school work has to do with negative behavior interventions that the school has been using to control your son’s impulsivity. They have controlled his behavior around the other students to the deteriment of his self image and desire to participate in his educational activities. It is not legal for the school to take away his PE and it is not adviseable to take away recess from a child who has ADHD. In addition, you may consider getting a second opinion regarding the medication issue. You might check with the Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorders (CHADD) using the national toll-free number (800) 233-4050 to get your local CHADD number. They can help you get in contact with knowledgeable physicans specializing in ADD/ADHD.
We believe that a positive behavior intervention plan should be developed with your input. You need to know what motivates your son to work. He may work harder if he could be assured of getting 15 minutes of computer learning/game time after he completes an assignment. He needs his self esteem reestablished with poistive recognition and focusing on his strenghts instead of his weaknesses. The positive behavioral intervention plan needs to be provided to all personnel who interact with your child and one individual should be identified to handle any problems the other staff is unable to handle. We trust that he is on an Individualized Education Plan or a Section 504 Plan. If not, suggest that you make inquiry of your school adminstrator or specail education teacher.

Thank you for you thoughtful answer to my post. I’ve printed it out so I can remind myself that what I’m asking is reasonable. He has documented sensory integration problems (he’s sensory seeking and his body craves movement) as well as the ADHD, so he needs to have regular breaks during the day.

I’ve checked with the district as to the amount of time in PE per week, and as long as he gets that she can keep him out of it on Fridays, so I haven’t been able to document any way that what they are doing is not legal. Common sense says it’s not a good plan but that doesn’t seem to matter.

We now have custody of our 10 yr old grandson who has been diagnosed with ADHD. We are starting him on Concerta tomorrow and hope that will help some. In the past45 days we have had him on a “points” and “stars” system that has worked very well. I developed a calendar and point work sheet that he is very hapy with.
You can make your own weekly calendar listing items that earn points (making bed, doing homework, reading etc). They use these to earn privileges i.e.: watching an approved TV program, playing computer games, playing with friends. I would also be happy to send a copy of my calendar to give you ideas.
Children with attention/emotional problems need to know that what they do has immediate and future rewards. From someting as simple as a smiley face on the calendar to earning the right to go to a movie.

So what’s the consequence at home?