My DS is also starting middle school (I'm so stressed that I haven't slept good at night for quite awhile and I'm not letting DS see my stress) and he seems okay with the whole thing. TO make matters worse the school DS is going to soesn't give them their schedules until they get to school so I can't walk through the school with him. The reason this has me so stressed is (1) we had a terrible year last year - we are in a new school district that I am finding isn't very good.(2) if his head wasn't connected he'd lose it (and that is on meds) - he has no concept of time. (3) He developed some anxiety issues last year due to the abusive situation he was in. HE has been fine over the summer but I worry that he will become anxious if he finds getting around the middle school, juggling books, etc difficult.
Anxious to hear everyone's thoughts!
you can still ask to walk through the school with them ahead of time (which I strongly suggest if you have time this week). Your best advantage is that at first this new for EVERYONE. That's good. When my daughter started middle school we went there the week before and did a tour and she got to practice opening a locker (still took FOREVER to get that one down), but at least she had tried it. I bought a padlock that she practiced at home too, lockers alone can be a stressor! Try to get a second set of books if possible. I got it in my daughters IEP, but our school allows anyone to rent a set of books for home. .00 per book for the year.....worth it IMO. No forgetting either at school or at home! Another Mom I know bought all her daughters text books used on Amazon then passed them along or resold them on EBAY.
I agree with Diane V suggestion about a 2nd set of books, it really helped. Our guy had a real challege making it from one class to another on time and stopping at his locker to change books didn't work. When he got to class, trying to setup and get started was also a problem to the point of distraction. So, we leaned down his backpack as much as possible so that his setup time was minimal.
We made sure that in math class that his IEP enabled him to do every other question instead of all of them. He was given extra time to turn in homework and was given partial credit instead of zero on incomplete homework. Also, we made sure that he was not graded nor penalized for his lack of note taking ability in the classroom. Finally, we had test scores count considerably more than homework and note taking since the main thing we were interested in was if our guy was accessing the circulum; not how many work sheets he could complete or how well he focused and copied the board during class. We discovered that most of his stress was self induced based upon trying to complete and keep up with the homework.
Most important, is to keep in contact with the teachers (most are on line now).
Paul
Well I'm starting to get a bit nervous and my son is a little too.
My dear son is starting middle school. That means changing classes and teachers all day long.
Does anyone have any tips/tricks for ADHD kids and middle school school schedules?
Thanks
My son is in the 7th grade and it's taken me a long time to come around to the idea of telling the teachers directly at the beginning of the year that he has adhd in a more formal way. That is, I used to wait and see how things were going or if there was going to be trouble before calling attention to my son. Now I've come to realize that the letter to the child's advisor, copied to the principal -- or one sent to each teacher directly -- is the best way to go. The letter can say "My son has adhd, here are the things he does well, here are the skills he is still developing. Please realize that adhd kids sometimes are as much as 2 years behind their peers in terms of organizational abilities, etc. " This is really a way of saying don't yell at him, cut him some slack on keeping track of papers and deadlines, etc. All done in the nicest way of course. Meeting with each teacher, while a pain, is not a bad idea either because you can get an understanding of who they are, what they expect in the class. They will tell you a lot and recognize that you are parent who is very involved. Plus, you can help your child to better develop the important skills learned in middle school if you know the material. At this age, I am finding the difficulties lie mostly in my son not being able to determine what's important in order to take notes, not picking up on nuances and different lecture styles, not even fully understanding what the 7th grade is (he thought his grades would determine his college acceptances...) So while the issues of getting the homework assignments and bringing home the books are better, there's always more!
That may be a really good idea. Have you done it?
Also, I was thinking of trying the SR3Q method of reading I read about here: http://www.ptc.edu/SSC/SR3Q_Method.htm The school he is in is high academic but he is doing well although the process/organization related stuff is just way harder for him and he needs a lot of help from me. I wish I had an adhd tutor but just can't find anyone here. Is there some source you know of for parents who are trying to do this themselves?
My child's in 3rd grade, so he's not doing notetaking yet. However, I've heard other people mention that audio recording classes is in their children's IEPs.
I don't know anything about ADHD tutors. I think they're called life coaches and help you organize, but I"m not sure if that also applies to schoolwork.
williemom, do you think your ds would do better if he recorded the classes w/ a tape recorder? Then, you could work w/ him on his notetaking skills and figuring out what's important (or, at the least, you could write down the important stuff and make sure that he has a good set of notes to study).Using an agenda book really helps in middle school. Thanks for the input!
You've gotten a lot of good suggestions. One more thing that I would like to add is if he needs a folder for each class, get one of those expandable files for it- my son brought this to each class and home every night. It was one less thing to remember which folder he needed for each class.
Schedule a teacher meeting right away. Your ds can introduce himself, tell about what he thinks his greatest challenges are and what his greatest strengths are. You can ask questions and make sure you've covered all the pertinent points about what accommodations he gets and what you've found was the biggest problem in the past. I did this before ds started 7th grade and he had a terrific year. In 8th we didn't do it before school started but a week or so after. If you can't meet with all of them together, try to talk to each individually. Good luck!The expandable folder is a good idea. My son ripped them up getting in out of them the first couple of months. I now get (we are starting high school this year I am in denial and hopefull wishing right now) the binders that have the expandable folders built in. They are a little more expensive, but worth it. Instead of using tabbed dividers for organizing he uses trapper folders for each subject. One side for homework to do, one for turn in. If you can tour the school this week or just go walk in and ask if you can take a look around. The staff should be there preparing. They might let you take a look. Find out if the teachers use the website to post homework. Some do, some don't. I wish they all would, it would be so much easier for us. If your son has an iep already, contact the school's sped counselor or the school counselor and let them know you would like to schedule a meeting to see how your son is progressing and if he needs his iep adjusted to work with middle school. The only thing I noticed is that not all the teacher's followed the iep, they decided to change things or not do things on it without my permission. I complained to the sped counselor, the school counselor each time with some improvements.
Thanks for the input.
Anyone else?