I asked about how he was doing on his ADHD medication. I don't see any difference in his test scores. He was off of his medication for 6 weeks and nothing dipped. He has been back on them and nothing has improved. They are still not sure. I am giving them 2 more weeks to determine if they see that they are helping. I am pushing this issue because if the medications don't help either they need changing or he doesn't have ADHD. I don't want to medicate him if it isn't helping because the medication takes away his appetite and he is a skinny kid. He needs his appetite.
His biggest problem is he is slow. He doesn't complete his school work. He doesn't complete his homework. He takes forever to do chores. He has no hustle. How do you encourage hustling?
Today I worked on timed activities. I took him and Larissa to the car wash. I showed them the 7 dollars in quarters and showed the timer for washing and vacuuming. We had to hustle if we wanted to get the car washed.
He actually did work faster even though the car didn't get finished. He was surprised at how fast the time went and how quickly the money went.
During the meeting they wanted to discuss Larissa. They would like to get her back into school with a 504 plan. I asked what accommodations would they consider. They talked about her coming in later and then doing the morning work as homework. I said that wouldn't work because after many hours in class she was wiped out and more homework is not an option. A few other ideas were thrown around but nothing that made me interested in putting her back in. I guess if I could tell them what we needed then they would try to accommodate her. However, even I am not sure what to suggest. The public school environment and requirements are just not for her at this time. This is something that I am going to have to mull over. I feel that eventually she needs to be back with her siblings so she can learn how to manage outside of the home. Hopefully we can get her seizures under control and it will help.
In the meantime, I am looking for other opportunities to get some hustle into Anthony. Suggestions?
I wish I knew the answer to the hustle. I have a couple of sluggies in this house, too.
ReplyDeleteI do hand-over-hand with my young kids. I show them the pace that they need to work, my hands over theirs and guiding them. Then I have the opposite problem of them rushing.
ReplyDeleteHistorically, more A-A boys are medicated for ADHD than any other population. They say that being taught systematically by all-Caucasian teachers (and women, at that) is detrimental to motivation, they lack role models in daily life, they aren't taught in a way they identify with. I am White and taught a number of years at a predominately A-A school. My A-A colleagues taught me how to teach, so the A-A boys will listen. Frequent call-and-response, high expectations, minimal teacher(parent)-talk ...the fewer words, the better, frequent "catch and release," intermediate goal posts (smaller tasks with quick praise and move on to building towards the main goal). "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen" is a good book.
if you find anything that works, let me know. I have TWO that need to get a hustle on!!
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