My nine yr. old has problem with both of those as well. He has dysgraphia (in a nut shell, really bad handwriting) as well as adhd.
The one thing we learned with my son's testing was that his problem is not really with comprehension, it's attention. Sometimes even when he's reading out loud he's only "word calling" and has no idea what he's read.
My friend who is a special ed teacher told me to do this: for reading comp. homework I break it down into chunks. Every few sentences I put a colored dot on the paper. When he gets to the dot he stops and answers a question or tells me about what he read- I record what he says, and when he's done he has a nice little summary- in his own words- of what he read that he can reference to answer questions. It can be a lot of work but it really helps.
I've not done a lot about the handwriting, but I figure if it comes down to a teacher complaining or taking points off his grade because of it we have the dx. He's capable of printing neatly, but it takes him a long time and after a couple words he'll forget what he's writing because he concentrating on forming the letters. I think I'm going to need to bring it up anyway, though, now that I think about it. He brought home a paper the other day that had 1/2 a point taken off for incorrect spelling, and poor spelling is part of dysgraphia. He gets enough points taken off for not completing his thoughts, he doesn't need that too.
My son is 9 and has problems while OFF his meds, he won't take them, with writing period alothough he does cursive well, and comprhension, bus he 1. read so fast he can't remember, 2. He remembers nothing, ever. But if there is wro=iting involved he has a meltdowm. I am requesting I scribe his work he can't do (reports and things) where he tells me what to write and I type it. Part of his 504. This would remove alot of tension in our house.My son is also 9 and diagnosed with dyspgraphia and ADHD - inattentive type. The school gives him extra practice with writing - 2 hrs.wk and OT 1/2 hr/wk. They are also - within that time - teaching him to type properly. I think it is so great because the whole world types these days and it seems to help his flow of ideas. Like some of you said, when writing is hard and taking all your concentration (and you don't concentrate well anyway) it is really hard to get your ideas out. All along my son has had trouble filling up all the required lines in a writing assignment. This year - on meds and with a little tutoring - he fills up all the lines and tries to squeeze it on the sides. And you can actually read most of it - yahoo!! Our difficult now is eating - he is lost weight last month and the doctor is concerned. We see the doctor this Thursday and I have a feeling he will want to change meds - wish us luck - This is very interesting to me. My son is in 2nd grade and his teacher complains so much about his printing. I have to admit it is pretty messy but he is also left handed. I was not aware kids with ADHD have printing problems in general. Our 504 had nothing added about printing. I guess I need to udate that but the teacher now does not even agree to give him reduced homework and I have that in writing in our 504 plan. She told me if he can't finish his homework just send it to school and she will keep him in at recess to finish. I don't want him missing recess. Anyone know where the Daytrana Patch thread is?My 7 yo ds prints worse than some of the kids in kindergarten! He also is absolutely terrible at coloring. He never really enjoyed coloring, and prefers markers over crayons. I just met with the school and they are getting him on the list to work with an OT. The watiting list is huge but hopefully he will get help by next year. They said Grade 3 involves a lot of printing, so he will need the help. They also suggested, strongly. we get him starting to learn keyboard skills. In the higher grades, they are allowed to type work.We just had a thread going on handwriting lots of sugg estions on there. Both my daughters receive (d) OT for handwriting.
http://www.adhdnews.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=29420& PN=0&TPN=1
hi my daughter has just been diagnosed with adhd its frightening for her any tips on meds she hasnt started taking them yet but will be soon because she needs help with her concentration shes 9Joesmom - the Daytrana thread is in the medication section. There are a lot of them. I can't believe that the teacher thinks that missing recess is a good game plan! Especially with a 504. What is she going to do about cursive? If she's so concerned then ask for her help with getting your son OT services. The amount of writing just increases every year so I would try hard to work on it while he's still in second grade.
We went through the writing issues also. She would get so frustrated with writing and her writing was unreadable and the spelling was horrible. In the 4th and 5th grades my youngest was allowed to use a voice to text software so that the teacher could read the homework. At the same time, the school worked to re-teach printing and then cursive (still working on cursive). This year she is writing all of her work and doing well. She can use the software if needed for large projects.
Reading comprehension is also an issue which has been getting much better.
Meds helped in both of these areas. Meds help her get her ideas on paper before she forgets them. She actually takes notes when reading for pleasure (she likes reference materials over stories). She went from reading at 2 years below grade level to reading at grade level because of meds.