Tired! | ADHD Information

I have a 7th grade son that we have tried him with meds since 4th grade and haven't had much sucess. He has tried adderal, concerta and strattera none have helped much. Our main problem right now is homework and organization which I work very hard trying to help him by thinking of new and creative ideas (I'm an organized nut). He will sometimes do the homework but before it gets turned in he will lose it or will have lost the directions or assignments to be done for homework. He is very bright but his grades don't show it because of missing assignments. We've tried grounding, taking things away and even rewarding him. I feel VERY TIRED nothing seems to work. I hope to find something that he will click with.

I would get him an assignment book for him, have his teacher right down his homework and you sign off that it was done and then the teacher sign off that it was turned in. Each night place his homework in a homework folder and put it in his backpack...We do this for my 7 year old per the teacher is trying to make them more responseable..

Thank you for your idea we may try the homework folder.
He does have an agenda that he fills out and I sign when I see it, however he has several teachers and it is a little hard to get them all to sign. Today I found out that Tues and Thurs he can stay after school to get help or use as a study hall so I hope to see some improvement.

Need help, We have an awsome 8yo that is on adderall 15mg XR once a day and in the 3rd grade. At this stage I don't know what eles to do, he is struggeling in school (the school works with us to help him) he refueses to read and complete his class work, also fights to do his HW,we have tried doing his HW early in the morning before school and have seen some improvment. WE are up at 6:15am to work WO a rush. school starts at 8:15am We have had him tested and he performed very well. The test show he is bright w/ ADD. We don't know what other help to provide him with, he stays after school two days a week for tutoring and we know that he can do the work if it captures his attention. We know that he can do better and he feels that he can also. I don't know how to motivate him to peak performance for him to see that if he only try a little bit it would make all the difference in the world to his grades and how everybody relates to him. We love him very much and allways tell him so and to do his best.

sp2121

You say you have had him tested and he is bright? Well that could be the problem. The work they are having him to do might not be challenging enough. He could just be bored with it.

Just to let everyone know....mid term grades came out on friday and NO F's all but two grades went up, (the other two stayed the same A-PE, B-Band)I really think what has helped my son is the tutoring on tues and thurs. Not that we didn't help him with his homework before he just doesn't want to let the tutor down by not having his work done on the other days.

Congrats to your son

I was also going to recommend a reward system to keep him motivated he is still in the stage were he likes rewards. This works with my 5yo ADHDer as well as my gifted 7 year old for everything good that they do (go to bed without a fight, get dressed without me yelling) they get 5minutes added to bedtime or a half our of tv. if i have to fight to go to bed, or yell in the morning they get the oppisite 5minutes taken away from bedtime and they lose a show.

after the first week of the 5 year old going to bed a half our early (that is how many times i asked him to go to bed) he realized if i am not careful i will go to bed before school gets out.. hehehe it seems to be working

B&B Mom

I would definately create the homework folder. I did this last yr with the teacher signing off on the homework, and it worked pretty well. This yr, I didn't do it in the beginning to see what would happen, and now her grades are falling. I just started yesterday with initialling homework by the teacher (but this teacher is unorganized herself), so we will see what happens. I am also an organizational nut, so I hope to pass this on to my 9 yr old. I also get the "I don't know" answer, which burns me up, but I guess they really don't know.

I'm going to start organizing her notebook tonight, putting it into sections, etc., which I've never done before.

Last year, I put up a schedule on the fridge of her morning duties, take a shower, brush teeth, eat breakfast, etc. and the start and finish times. If she is late, she knows she has to eat a quick breakfast or hurry to get dressed. It has worked pretty good, so I've started one for the evening, homework, shower, dinner, etc.

All of these schedules and timelines certainly tire you out, but they need structure, schedules and the need to be able to see the schedule. That way, they can be held accountable for it. My daughter even says now, look, I'm ahead of schedule. Then she gets to do something fun in the morning like spend extra time with her sister or play a playstation game.

Hope some of this helps! Peace & Blessings!

I had the homework problem also. I got in touch with is teacher and she e-mails me what need to be done. He also has to write it down in his book but when I ask what is for homework and he doesn't know then I do and we can get it done. Most school systems have computer and if the teacher really wants to help then they will do this because they will see that you want your child to succeed.How could I get him to "desire to care" when ever I talk with him about why..... or what..... he ALWAYS says "I don't know" he is also 12 we have a great relationship he will talk to me about almost everything except his problems with not doing or having his homework. I have not went to the classroom because of this problem, but I have been involved at school for many other activities and all of his friends, which he has many, knows me and I'm not sure about the embarressment part but then agian I haven't tried it.

My daughter has a frontal lobe Aquired Brain Injury and therefore short term memory loss.

She invented a system for herself that works. She purchased a small expander file and labelled it from School Notices - Assignments - Homework - Religion - whatever her main topics of the day were. She carries it everywhere with her and throw everything into it.

She also diarises everything and uses her hand to write notes on a Lot.

She is only 12, but she has a desire to succeed at school and I think that is why it works for her, but if your son really doesnt care about school none of this work.

Perhaps working on helping him 'desire to care' - might work. Or does he get upset about already?

But yes I would definately be getting his teachers email or keeping in touch some how with his teacher on a constant basis. Kids will work harder than be embarrssed by their mom showing up at their classroom

I wouldnt worry too much about embarrassing your boy, perhaps the embarrassment may be a motivator for him to try harder.

If my kids are not doing their assigned work, they know I will see the teacher, My second child is a bit like your son, and i always have to see her teacher. But I think she is relieved when I get her homework issues "sorted out" for her.

I go in there periodically and go through her desk making sure she has no overdue library books, food scraps, toys etc that should not be there. I will ask to see her homework books on a weekly basis, to ensure she has not lost them - as this was a big issue once. With this daughter, I have to push push push, but I am hoping when she is grown up she will look back and think, geez thanks mum for making me do that stuff, it really helped me.

OMG! This sounds just like my 9 yr old. He just started taking Stattera 25mg though (we are waiting to see the affects). My son frequently leaves his books at school so I bought several of his textbooks off of e-bay. So now when he forgets, I don't go crazy. That has helped. Also, I have a teenage honor student tutor him in writing for 2 hours a week. It gives me a break and she's a pretty girl and I think he wants to impress her (even though he claims to not like girls)

. He does a lot better writing his weekly essays with her! We have also put in Karate a couple of months ago and he is unbelievably focussed there and I'm hoping that it will carry over to school work. My son, like yours, was tested and is very brightW/ADD-Inattentive Type (he's not hyper or fidety, very well behaved and super friendly; he is disorganized and highly distractible) but it is not shining through in his grades. I'm trying every thing! Our school district is being very supportive, thank God. It seems like it is going to be trial and error....hopefully not so much errors

[QUOTE=sp2121]

[/QUOTE]Iwish you the best, remember to allways give them lots of kisses the future belong to them.

I have just read a great book and highly recommend it.

The Joy of Learning by Don Blackerby .95

You can purchase on www.nlpok.com no I don't get anything for suggesting this.

I have been working through the book with my son and it is great. He is 12.

Shelly

Thank you for your reply. We some times feel the same way, when it comes to simple math like adding and subtracting he just won't do it,but give him algebra with angles and he eats it up. The other thing is that he will try to give an ans. to a question before he finshes reading its like he in a race. We are working with him, but he drives us nuts

This board is helping us find ways to deal with him. to all posters Thank you!!