Vickie, I think my gut feeling is hovering around where yours is.
I agree that rewards and consequences might be the key to getting your difficult child to improve her behaviour and academic performance in school. However, I balk at the idea of taking away the one area in which she excels as a form of punishment.
I know that a lot of schools used to insist on maintaining grades in order to stay on a team, but in your difficult child's case I don't think it's the right approach.
I wonder if there's some way of using track as a reward rather than a punishment, or working it into her IEP, as part of her school day.
For example:
If difficult child has too much excess energy, take her down to the gym to run a few laps and then have her sit and do some of her school work.
Once she's reached a small goal, e.g. getting through the first 3 problems on a worksheet, then she gets to do another track activity.
That way, she's not losing out on the one thing she loves. Instead, it's being put to use to motivate her to perform better in other areas.
Don't know if that will work, but I think taking track away altogether would be a serious mistake on the school's part. What would they have to motivate her then?
Sending gentle hugs,
Trinity
