Homework Tips Please

If I was going to give anyone a tip about homework it would be to not have it.
Oops only kidding.
ADHD kids can not handle dull,montenous,drill and kill kind of homework.
Give lots of hand on types of assignments.
What wrong with measuring ten objects at home,to learn measurements?
or taking a box and finding the diameter of it?
Going to the store and buying something that is 20 % off?
Okay enough on Math.

What about sending a postcard with their picture on it to someone they know,who sends it someone they know and around the country they go,until it get’s mail back to them,only to find out all the States they have been in?

Hmm,okay what about reading a comic book? Is it not reading? Gee,my youngins will spend hours reading Natiional geographic,okay so they look at the pictures too,but there are still captions.

I guess my point is try a little unschooling sometime.

Thanks for the great tips. I feel like you do. I think these children who work so hard all day long at school should have a homework assignment that is fun and laid back, but reinforce what they have learned at school that day. I think it is so unfair to the students who have given their all and then have to come home and write 38 sentences and do 25 math problems. I sure would like to ask the teacher if she has had any training or education with special education, but I know it is not my place. I can just learn from this lab. Socks you would’nt happen to be a teacher would you? I would love some tips on assistive technology. Thank You

I am even better than a teacher! Oops,just kidding:-) I am adult LD parent of two very dysgraphic boys with ADHD. Do I have tips for assistive technology? Definitely:-)
I believe assistive technology saved my two. They use HP laptops,but started with an Alphasmart keyboard. Alphasmarts is a durable,inexpensive keyboard. It has larger keys, for the fine motor trouble kiddo. It is a great way for a young student to learn keyboarding skills.

Once the assistive tech is needed to produce written language,it isn’t as effective. The screen is small and the student has to scroll up and down to review what was written.

Inspiration software was a good program for helping to build written work. It gives visuals to use for the framework. Good for me and my own,because being dyslexic I see is picture form, not words.
Write Outloud is another good one.

The thing that hepled my oldest with keyboarding skills was chatting to other kids online. He was motivated to use the keys to keep up with the conversation,this made him fast. Again,if he was forced to use the keys the way all teachers wanted him to,he would still be here typing,same as his Mom. I use forefingers and thumbs,I get me point across,so does he.

Another neat thing their school does is a program where they speak to a class in Peru,or other countries. My son,oldest,currently has a penpal who knows no english and my kid knows no spanish,they are teaching each other their own language. What’s the old saying? Necessity is the father of invention? He has learned a lot of Spanish words,not because the teacher told him to,but because he desires to speak to this person.

There are SOO many really good puter program out there to use anymore,it doesn’t necessarily have to be from an education company.
The thing is learning is fun. My oldest loves playing chess online with other people. He learns problem solving skills,Math,and keyboarding all in a one hour session.

The internet gets a bad rap,but truth is,there is so much out there about our world to learn that can be easily accessed by a teacher.

Good Luck :-)

Socks you are a great help. Thanks for the great information. I have two questions. Did the school pay for the H P laptops for your sons? What web site does your son go to for the chats with other children? You sure do sound like you got it together. Was it hard for you to work with the school with the modification your children needed? Thanks for all your help.

I bet their are a few people reading this post and laughing.

1. Hmm,how do I explain this? Indirectly the school is paying for my boys laptops. I am a participating parent in a Statewide voucher for disabled children.The State funds follow the boys,the funding paid for them.
I fought tooth and nail since my two boys were in Kindergarten,literally.

I am probably going to give you a lot more information then you really wanted to know. I wound up having to file a civl rights complaint in 1996,because they were making me wait,and every other potential special education parent,up to 18 months to have their child tested. My insurance company would not pay for testing,they would however, pay for testing on ADHD,and medication,but only ritalin. Although I did however get them evaluated and diagnosed ADHD,and placed on medication,I still could not get the school to recognize their learning disability,until tested,and until they were tested, they wouldn’t get any help.They continued to be very disruptive and a general pain in the Neck for their teachers. My youngest was now in first grade,for two weeks I think. The 1st grade teacher called me in and said,you know he isn’t ready for first grade,right? No,kidding? Of course he isn’t,for god sakes he still couldn’t recognized letters.So anyway I filed on behalf of all the kids waiting,OCR,investigated,cited the district,and demanded everyone be tested. This only took 12 months instead. My youngest got moved back to kindergarten,my oldest was in 2nd grade,1st grade was such a nightmare. The teacher literally called me evryday.He is on his desk,he is under his desk,he broke the keyboard,he locked himself in the bathroom,etc.They want to retain him,but I refused. If 1st grade was such a nightmare,why repeat it? Glad I made that decision,sort of. He had an AWSOME teacher. A teacher he will never forget. He still has her picture on his desk,in his room. Why? She allowed him to stand at his desk,instead of made to sit.When he asked why? She helped him look it up in the dictionary.He gave her a personal invitation to his birthday party,she came! Her and her husband. My son had his picture taken with him and her and her husband at the party.I remember this picture. He had just came out of the lake swimming,he insisted that he put his shirt on and brush his hair.She was a very important person in his life. She was the first one who respected him,and his differences.I had a teacher like that.So they were tested,ready for this? My youngest became eligible only because I allowed him to be retained. My oldest? Yup,you guessed it,he didn’t qualify. Would I trade that year with Mrs. Summers? In someways,in others, not a chance.
So,my youngest went into resource room,and speech. My oldest was sent to a Mrs. Summers, hand picked, third grade teacher. Another great teacher. She,I found out much later, fought for my kid.She requested observation after observation,of him. She was told,as I was,that we couldn’t get him re-evaluated for three years.. I found out much later still,that this was not true. I worked over time and saved the money to have him tested privately,I had addedum testing done. Ironicly the school didn’t even test the biggest area of concern, written language. So I had the evaluation the school already did,completed. The testing came back blaringly obviously qualified for sepcail ed under a written language disability.The third grade teacher called me after I had my first,okay guys,I am finding out my kid has rights, meetings ,getting him an IEP,and told me how she has drove her husband crazy talking about my son,and how he is obviously dyslexic,and how she doesn’t even know how I kept my composure,but how lucky my kid was.We went on to 4th and 2nd. My youngest had an AWSOME teacher! One who helped him become more self confident. He started taking off in reading and wound up above grade level in it.My oldest treaded water. He now had resource room,but went through three resource room teachers that year. Everyone kept telling me that he was progressing nicely,I got a break. 5th grade came and 3rd grade. My oldest son was having breakdowns in the car when I would pick him up from school? He would cry all the way home,until it was time to do home work. I started looking at his educational records. Already knew I better get prepared. Something wasn’t right here,and I had learned the ropes by now on how to access help for your kids.
Okay,both of my kids,had illegible handwriting. You could not read it. They would get answers marked off because,they would reverse numbers,or transpose them,they would write 21 when they really meant 12. My youngest seemed,not even with the program. Quiet and in his on little world. my oldest was showing major anxiety issues. I brought in the previous report cards for my oldest. If placed in chronological order according to teacher reporting he regressed two years in MATH! In the begining of 4th grade he was on a 4th grade level ,by the end of the year he was on a 2nd grade level. Now,I started frequenting boards like this,and reading the laws. I requested more evaluation,I requested assistive technology evaluation,and OT evaluations.The schools evals showed not only was my 5th grade son on a 1.6 grade level in writing,but he was a 1.8 grade level in Math. He was in reg ed for Math and language arts,and in resource room for writing. They wanted to classify him as emotionally handicapped,and I went off the deep end,and went to war. No way,over my dead body,would they throw him away,because of what they did? I found an advocacy group and had the very best volunteer parent advocate any parent could have. We got alphasmart keyboards,into the IEP,along with other programs. There is much more to this story,falsification of legal documents etc. but I won’t get into it right now. This will be my second chapter of the book.
I requested participation into a statewide voucher,I enrolled both into a school specificly for ADHD/LD kids. They were eventually also privately tested at the districts expense,of course. They were also gifted,my youngest also has ADHD/GIFTED/CAPD/DYSGRAPHIC,and SID. My oldest has ADHD/LD/GIFTED/Math disordered,dysgraphia. Quite an array of labels. Anyway the state funding is sent to the school,I endorse it and we privately contract for services,as well as the specific LD curriculum.
They are both currently doing IM,they did Fastforword this summer,and my youngest had 7 months of OT. The school is small,only 20 kids in the whole school. Mostly boys,and most are also gifted. They range in age from 2nd to 12th. They have an accelerated program,they were doing high school level science for example. Dr Stark is their teacher. He is AWSOME,and also ADHD/LD. My kids frequently say,well “Dr Stark says”,they are happy,well adjusted,and doing so well,SO well,My oldest is quite the self advocate.Both will freely discuss their disabilities,they are not ashamed,they are okay with it,because everyone in their lives for the most part are also okay with it. Dr Stark ,and the State funding got the the HP laptops. I am quite sure I would of had to fight for them in public ,but they would of gotten them. I did wind up having to file against the state to get their funding adequate to cover the costs,but this will be chapter 3 of the book.

I hope you still think I have it together,I appreciate your kind words. I thought this might give you just a little more insight into what a Sped mom or sped student goes through just to be educated. I am unfortunately the average special ed parent. All of us go through this,I just couldn’t stop fighting.

My kids sometimes go to a chat called LDpride. Shockwave.com has the online interactive chess. And he IM’s with other kids at school.

YOur statement “they don’t want to do their homework” isn’t quite the one you want. ADHD can have trouble doing their homework at the end of a long school day. It’s isn’t about what they want and don’t want. It’s about their learning style and what serves them well.

There is increasing question in our society as to whether homework hurts more kids than it helps. Is homework truly necessary or is it a custom that may not work for all kids and families?

If you really want to serve your ADHD kids and their families well, consider whether the homework you give them is truly necessary of if it would be better done at school giving them their evenings for “down time” and family time.

Many kids and families today, ADHD or not, live with great stress and short hours together.

What you have gone through sound very exhausting!! I am a parent of 3 children. My middle child, 8 yo, 2nd grader with ADHD and CAPD is a challenge. He struggles with reading and has an extremely high activity level. He has been on Concerta 36mg, Adderall 40 mg and was just last week changed to Ritalin 40 mg (just since December 2000). How would you rec’d that I get aid through the state or any type of help with my son’s very costly education?
Thank you for all of your hard work. Both for other parents sake and for your childrens sake. We need more pro-active parents in the world :->

First and foremost,read your child’s civil rights. www.ed.gov/offices/OCR/index.html look at the 504 law,this includes children with ADHD. It might open your eyes to what the school should be providing.
Next read IDEA www.ideapractices.org/law/IDEAMAIN.HTM,this will open your eyes regarding his CAPD. The school system is obligated to provide a proactive approach to his education,and you,the parent,are an equal partner of the team of people who should be meeting to discuss how to best educate your son. Learn your child’s rights. Good Luck:-) And never give up

I have only fought with the school system for one year and it made me tired. I give you a lot of credit. You certainly deserve having your boys in a wonderful setting.

Socks, God has sent you to me You were wrong. You have not given me more information than I need. I am also taking “The Law and Special Education” we are having to research cases that you have just described and I have been having the hardest time finding cases. This is some AWESOME. Could you go on to chapter 3 and tell me more about your civil rights complaint in 1996 and what you went through? If you don’t want to I will understand. I also would like to tell this story in all my special education classes if it is all right with you? Your story is what every mother and teacher needs to hear who has children with special needs. I hear so many stories about how the school systems don’t fight for the rights of children who have special needs. That is the main reason I am going into special education because of what you and other parents go through. I also love children. Ha Ha I probably want be employed very long, after I go into the system, and fight for ALL the rights for children with special needs. Who cares I will just go to the next school system and keep fighting.

Could you explain the Statewide voucher? I haven’t heard of that before. When you said the school would not help your kids until they were tested. I just don’t understand that. I would think that a good teacher would see there were problems and that modification should have been made, until your children were tested. Go figure.

Was this school that is specifically for AD/HD/LD kids in your area? I not only think you have it together, but you are AWESOME!!!!!!!!! You are such an inspiration to me.

1 year is one year too long. My kids ,your kids,all kids deserve the best. :-) You,my friend are the greatest too,always remeber this.

Jeez,okay,you asked for it:-) BTW this is a complaint that you can obtain under the Freedom of Information Act. It was filed in the Atlanta Office.Make sure you request the complaint filed in 1996,because I have an active complaint that isn’t to resolution yet:-) That is chapter 5:-)

Okay I requested formal evaluations on both of my children. Both were having obvious problems learning in the classroom setting. They both had CST meeting. or Child Study Team meeting,both were referred for further evaluation. Both were waiting on the “list”. I spoke to every person in the county I could think of to call,including the school psychologist himself. All told me the wait would be up to 18 months. It took me 4 months to get the freakin CST meeting. By now I am reading the laws,and learning what their rights were. I called the office of civil rights,in atlanta. I live in Florida. In the law it stated the evaluation should be done in a timely manner. I called to find out what a Timely manner was to them?? See here is the problem. The laws are not made for anyone to fully understand,they are made to be interpreted however they see fit. Now,bare in mind in the state of Florida there is no specific timeline for initial evaluation,and this is specificly about the initial evaluation. The BIG difference is, this is a kid not yet identified,therefore not yet covered under IDEA laws.Okay,so the office of civil rights tells me,’well how long did they tell you and what reason did they give?” Well they told me as long as 18 months and they told me it was because of all the other kids,and they didn’t have the staff or the money to buy new testing forms.” Good answer! Even in the “totally,not aware of the Laws yet” state I was in at this point,I said the right thing. You see,I found out,litterally years later,that lack of Funds is a BIG no,NO,and against federal laws.Then the OCR person told me “okay,call them back,tell them that you have spoken to me,and that lack of funds is not a valid reason”. I did.called the director of Psych services,and she got,well,let’s just say,less than polite.

Okay,then I called the school principal,she told me,well this is how long you wait,and if you don’t like it,well file an OCR complaint. Hmm,I did. It came out in the local paper,I sent the article to her personally.

I called the OCR person back,and she got MAD. She faxed me the complaint form I filled it out and sent it back. TA DA,complaint filed. Then she called me back. Told me that if I did not release my name they could investigate all the children in the district waiting for testing.I said,okay,no problem.They cited them on numerous violations,told them they had one school year to get everyone off the list.(There were 1200 students waiting). They would refer the case to the dept of justice and pull federal funding otherwise. Now,this was more like it! They gave them three different dates within this school year were they had to submit their progress with the evaluations. My kids got evaluated,so did my neighbors kid:-) One BIG thing that came out of it,was my county had to formulate a policy on exactly how long the child would wait for testing. The ONLY county to this date, in the whole state of Florida with a specific timeline,thank you very much
:-)They do not have to advertise,most parents don’t even know the timeline exists,I makes sure to tell them otherwise.

Lindy,the school can not provide special educational services until the child is tested. This is to protect children from being,mislabeled. Or it protects the school district from spending money they don’t want to spend. Depends on which side of the fence you are standing on. Unfortunately it prevents kids who needs the help from getting it,unless they fit into the Sped mold. They don’t just help a kid who needs it. They must show that their IQ warrants help. Believe it or not. Always floored me when the person in the know,comes out with,”but you don’t want your kid labeled”. Give me a MAJOR break. The kid is already labeled,it’s just a nameless label,if your lucky,otherwise it’s”he’s lazy,unmotivated,lacking parental involvement,a bad Kid,etc.
My two, reveresed letters,numbers,didn’t read,HELLO!!! And they had to prove they were LD.

Okay,the State voucher. There is a parental choice program that is two years old in the state of Florida,thanks Jeb Bush. This program started out as a program for parents to choose another school or a private school,over their home poor performing school. In July of 2000 they expanded the voucher program to include another program for the disabled student. If your child had an IEP,showed documented lack of progress with IEP goals for two school years,and you found a school,you could request the voucher. The voucher would be the amount of state money the kid would of gotten if they were in the public school. I requested this voucher as resolution to a State complaint I had filed against my district. (I got good at filing complaints after 96:-))
I found a school,and the rest is history. Until my son,one of them,runs for the presidency.

E-Mail me anytime you want,I would love to help anyone wanting to understand how this system works. Please use my posts,clean up the grammar if you don’t mind. Okay,maybe I am not the average,I am LD. I learned a LONG time ago,that A. Life was never easy. B. I would have to work harder then anyone else. C.to NEVER NEVER give up.

Thank you so much socks. You have been a great help. I will not bother you anymore, well not for right now anyway. I know you will be someone I can rely on in the futrue when I get stuck in a situation. Thank you Lindy

your right,you can :-) And Thank you for being one more of those teachers OUR kids so desperately need.