taxidermycoffeebeans
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[h=6] Hi! Thanks for welcoming me to the page. Intro: Son is 8 yrs old, ADHD/ODD, Concerta 27mg. Long history pointing to problem, but wasn't until his 7 yr old check up I finally got a Dr. to recognize the issue and questioned me on his behavior in front of her (finally displayed in front of a Dr, who also actually spent more than 5 minutes in the room with us! YEAH! I was soooo excited someone was going to finally listen and help!). All Dr. trips until then told us he was just all boy all the time. We were very lucky to have teachers that knew how to work with these wonderfully challenging kids. He was never sent home for his behavior, I did get daily updates, and he did spend some time in buddy rooms, and was sent to the principal only twice in the 3 years of public school. The first time he was sent was rather harmless, kindergarten coloring...repeatedly...on his desk and the teachers' desks...lesson learned: should never write HIS name on the teachers' desks...lol. (In their defense, it was in the first week of school, and previous behaviors unknown and no diagnosis yet. After our conference with teachers, they had figured out the whys and adjusted how they dealt with him on a day to day basis.) His "More at Four" teacher said he displayed symptoms they are told to watch for in ADHD children, and she knew how to work with it, Kindergarten teacher said many similar things and had same abilities (she even sent a very motherly note home with the perfectly engineered paper airplane that flew across the room for me to put in his "memoir box".) I've been fortunate and count my blessings for these wonderful educators (they do exist and are not figments of our imagination). First grade we moved to another state, our teacher was very patient with us as we were going through the diagnosis process that involved many observation periods, Dr. visits, and so many questionnaires for her, his previous teachers, and both my husband and myself. It was a very grueling process but worth every moment and I feel very confident that we got the correct diagnosis. We even were followed up for 4 months of parenting classes for the ADHD child. Oh, so helpful! It really shocked me how just a few minor tweeks in parenting and teaching made such a huge difference, and then combine it with the medication. I just want to cry at how much better everyday has become! I am even able to home school him! We chose to home school due to our travels not conforming to the traditional school holiday schedules, and he needs consistency...especially in the education area. The only part I struggle most daily with is the ODD combined with the ADHD. Meltdowns/tantrums (sometimes very violent ones) occur at various other times with multiple triggers. [/h] [h=6]
Writing seems to be his biggest struggle when it comes to school work. It often takes an hour or more to get him to write one sentence, even if the sentence is started for him. This is why I ventured to find any input on how to get him to overcome this writing issue. I've been dealing with it all year (this is also the issue that resulted in buddy rooms in 1st grade) I'm out of ideas, and my patience are frayed. I don't like the teacher that I become while battling this issue. What techniques can I try to help get him past this issue? He is very capable and smart. His handwriting is very good. I can tell (you can literally see him genuinely trying to focus and do the work correctly, but it just isn't happening for him) when he's having a rough day when he reads and writes his b's and d's backwards, and I back off the assignments requiring too much writing on those days, but most days he's fine with the letters. I have noticed an almost monthly pattern of good and bad weeks as well...but the writing as a whole is a real issue everyday. We even tried typing instead, but he often won't come up with a single word towards a sentence for more than an hour (way too long to be trying, but he's not trying during that time, he's fidgeting and scribbling, humming and, well anything BUT the assignment), even if we had just gone over a sentence verbally, he won't write it down, he "forgets" what he says and can't get the words back. How can we get the working memory to work better and help him to over come the writing avoidance? I know he can do it. He has done it on several occasions without a fuss or fight. (Example, last week we wrote a 2 paragraph biography on President Lincoln. Thirteen sentences! Day 1 research and take notes from books (done together) Day 2 write sentences from notes, one sentence on each note card. Day 3 organize the note cards to make the paragraphs, make sure they read and make sense together, make new ones or corrections as necessary on the cards, then copy the cards into paragraphs in his writing journal. Day 4 type and check for corrections and add details to the biography as necessary. Most days that he has to write a sentence on his own he has to use spelling or vocabulary words, I'll try to get it started for him after about 10 minutes. I'll tell him something that might make the word interesting to him, relating it to say lizards or soccer or basketball, and he'll just sit there and fidget or anything but try to write the sentence. Very frustrating. [/h]
Writing seems to be his biggest struggle when it comes to school work. It often takes an hour or more to get him to write one sentence, even if the sentence is started for him. This is why I ventured to find any input on how to get him to overcome this writing issue. I've been dealing with it all year (this is also the issue that resulted in buddy rooms in 1st grade) I'm out of ideas, and my patience are frayed. I don't like the teacher that I become while battling this issue. What techniques can I try to help get him past this issue? He is very capable and smart. His handwriting is very good. I can tell (you can literally see him genuinely trying to focus and do the work correctly, but it just isn't happening for him) when he's having a rough day when he reads and writes his b's and d's backwards, and I back off the assignments requiring too much writing on those days, but most days he's fine with the letters. I have noticed an almost monthly pattern of good and bad weeks as well...but the writing as a whole is a real issue everyday. We even tried typing instead, but he often won't come up with a single word towards a sentence for more than an hour (way too long to be trying, but he's not trying during that time, he's fidgeting and scribbling, humming and, well anything BUT the assignment), even if we had just gone over a sentence verbally, he won't write it down, he "forgets" what he says and can't get the words back. How can we get the working memory to work better and help him to over come the writing avoidance? I know he can do it. He has done it on several occasions without a fuss or fight. (Example, last week we wrote a 2 paragraph biography on President Lincoln. Thirteen sentences! Day 1 research and take notes from books (done together) Day 2 write sentences from notes, one sentence on each note card. Day 3 organize the note cards to make the paragraphs, make sure they read and make sense together, make new ones or corrections as necessary on the cards, then copy the cards into paragraphs in his writing journal. Day 4 type and check for corrections and add details to the biography as necessary. Most days that he has to write a sentence on his own he has to use spelling or vocabulary words, I'll try to get it started for him after about 10 minutes. I'll tell him something that might make the word interesting to him, relating it to say lizards or soccer or basketball, and he'll just sit there and fidget or anything but try to write the sentence. Very frustrating. [/h]