Communicating With Teachers? | ADHD Information
A individual education. Modifications for that child in a classroom.check out the following links. i am not sure what state you are in, but these should help.
http://www.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html?e xp=0
http://www.ieponline.net/products/index.cfm
do a search on iep and your state, and you will find all kinds of good laws that will help you and your child.
we started with just a notebook that we passed back and forth, but my son's teacher found that to be too time consuming.then she would give my son tickets - three tickets a day and she would take one away if he misbehaved (once he accumulated 10 and then 20 tickets he would win a "prize")
then when we found that not working, the vice principal recommended the day tracker.
its a book they made at school with 5 areas jason has trouble with day to day - keeping calm body in the hall, keeping track of his materials, getting ready for dismissal etc... and the teacher takes the book at the end of each day and puts a check mark in either the sunny smile column, the cloudly column, or the frowny column.
she also has room for notes if need be.
this seems to be working well, it doesnt require her to write anything if there's no time, but I also get to see how things went day to day.
we keep track of his smiles and frowns and jason gets rewards for all smile days, and when he gets 20 smiles built up over many days.
we've recently moved to monitary rewards because jase wants to attend day camp at the museum this summer and it costs 100.00 per week.
Now he's not only learning to control his behavior, but he's also learning to save money.
oh yeah, I forgot that I also email back and forth with the teacher about once a week, or if there's an issue that either of us needs to expand upon.
when jason got his special cushion at school she emailed me a photo.
when jason did well on his spelling test for the first time, she emailed me a scanned copy of the test that afternoon.
we're very fortunate in that his teacher takes the time to do these little extra things.
I don't have to deal with teachers yet, but I have a friend who's daughters all have misc learning problems. She says that she tried all that stuff with the teachers, and it didn't work so well. What really works is to call them, or drop by, weekly and talk to them. Cause then they can't put it off, or ignore it, or whatever. In regards to a journal with the teachers, we have that with my sons teacher. He is in grade 2 and the teacher will either write her comments or just put a face(happy, medium or sad) to tell us how his day went. I am there everyday to pick him up so if it is something urgent we usually just talk after school. I find keeping in contact with the teacher is nice so we dont get a big surprise at parent teacher conferences.
Thanks everyone... you know I hear parents talk about their child and an IEP program... but what is it? How do I go about inquiring if my teacher has this program?
Thanks again for your responses,
Jenn
My son's teacher writes me a quick note on how he did that day, if it was a "good note" , my son gets to stay up 15 minutes later that night. If there was no note it means that he wasn't great that day and will try harder the next day... Positive reinforcement
I have found that my 12 year old teachers make me feel like the adhd is a cop out!!! I have really found that unless there is a real problem, I just ask for grades and have found with our teachers this particular year, that the less communication I have, the less they look for wrong with her!!! Also, I would like to know what a IEP is also! i JUST EMAIL WITH ASKING FOR A RESPONSE IN WRITING BACK. My daughter also has a daily tacker. It has been the best help to our teacher/parent communication. It is just a chart at the bottom of her weekly homework assignment sheet. It lists the days of the week and the avaiable conduct grades and the teacher just has to circle the letter received that day. I know daily if she has had a good day or bad day and I can adjust our afterschool return accordingly. My daughter is a staight "A" student with an "F" in conduct. Since we began this tracker and rewards for good conduct grades the last report card she received a "S+". It has been a long road but the reward has been great. Keep trying to improve communication it is vital to help any child succeed!Was just wondering how everyone kept in close communication with your child's teacher regarding your ADHDers behavior/etc??I started a communication journal to pass back and forth, but not sure if that is asking too much of the teacher. I know she's got enough to do, but just said if she could put in brief comments related to 'non-normal' behavior, so we can work more closely together!!
Any suggestions are welcome!
Thanks, JennI wouldn't think that would be too much for the teacher, after all it should definitely help cut back on the bad stuff if it helps the child.. but I don't know. I can't seem to get ds teacher to communicate with me as I feel is needed... maybe I am asking too much also?i have that with our teachers. they have no problem telling me all the silly things he does. it keeps us on the same page as the school. funny how a two line "your son did this...." takes a minute, but the teachers still find it hard, thank God my ds's teacher does it. I'll bet money that if you decided to go to her conference on a daily or even weekly basis, she would be more than happy to write in the notebook. lol
IMac38946.4481944444