ADHD Kid Doing Poorly in School | ADHD Information

We are in the process of rebutting the refusal of an IEP by our school. I have hired an advocate to help me as they are not following the 504. Had they followed it he may not be failing school right now. His teacher says he is doing great (what?) even though he is failing most subjects. I think she got wind of an advocate coming to help me. my son is also on Concerta and we have slowly worked our way from 18mg to 27mg now for 2 weeks I think 36 is the target dose.It just affects my son so much we had to give him a couple of months to get the raise to 27. it will probably be a while before we go to 36mg.

As both an educator and mother, I place a lot of the blame on the No Child Left Behind plan. In the school district where I teach, the students take a 4 week test, an 8 week test, and their regular 9 week tests. This continues every 9 weeks, and the teachers are expected to teach and re-teach everything. My dd struggles with this, especially in Math b/c once she knows it, she's over it and doesn't care anymore. My second graders don't have the 4 week tests, but they do have all the others. It is extremely overwhelming.

If your child is having trouble in school, look at the material. I'm willing to bet that some of what they're learning is material some of us never saw until we were seniors in high school or some of it in college.

Does anybody care what all this testing is doing to our kids? !

I too have a 13yo DS in 7th grade.  I haven't read all of the posts (I'm running out the door this morning) but make sure he is on the right med for him at the right dose.  Talk to the school and get him help (IEP, 504, etc).  Currently I am reading a book called Late, Lost and Unprepared. A Parents Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning by J. Cooper-Kahn and L. Dietzel.  It is very good! Lts of times children with Exec. Func. deficits and ADHD do fine in elem. school (sometimes they aren't even dx'd, especially if they aren't behavior issues) but the demands of middle school cause real problems for them.

Good Luck!

I wonder if his meds are the right doseage. He is also in puberty, which can effect the meds working the way they used to.

It has been awhile since the original posted posted and commented. I wonder how her son is doing now?!

Elgin, I hope things are going well for your son!! Please post and let us know.

Regards!
my 7 year is have a hard time. and she is on concerta. What we did is kinda slow some of her stuff down at school. she dose it at her own speed. it seems to help her. if it dose not. then we have to set up iep for her. she has a support syestem at school that  being helping her. we found out last year that she was adhd. we though so when she was two. i'm glad we know now then later down the road. i was a iep student all though school and it dose help. Resource Rooms worked great for me from the 7th to the 12th. We was also allowed to bring in tapes of music we liked to listen too. The reward was if we completed a assignment we was given, each student either got to play on the computer or listen to our music for 15 minutes before the end of the class.

Also we was worked one on one with the our LD teachers, which worked out great for me and the others.

We also did all our tests in there because I spent 80% of the day in the Resource Center also. I sorted perfered it that way. It helped me out better.   Yes, I would talk to the school and try to get him an IEP or 504 plan if he doesn't already have one. If he does, then talk to the school about whether it is being followed and express your concern about your son's progress in school.
Focus and working independently are big issues for my daughter too, although she is doing much better this year. (She's also in 7th grade.)
Sometimes simple things like remembering to turn work in can have a huge impact on how a kid is doing in school at this age. So sometimes some simple accommodations, like having some sort of reminder system for turning work in, being allowed to turn in assignments late without penalty, being allowed or encourage to take work home if the child wasn't able to complete it in class, sitting at the front of the room near the teacher and away from distractions (as much as possible); these sorts of accommodations can sometimes make a huge difference.
Also, just talking to the teachers. They often have some great suggestions and will put in the effort to keep an extra eye on your child and prompt them along as needed if they're aware of the issues. Some kids can actually concentrate better if they're allowed to listen to music.
Good luck!

Hi,

Can anyone offer ideas please.  My 13 year old 7th grader is ADHD, and is doing poorly in school.  We don't have ANY behavior problems but unfortunately my son is having realy trouble with working independently & staying focus are the big problems.  Currently he's taking Concerta for ADHD.  If anyone can offer any ideas or suggestions I sure would appreciate it.

Elgin

Welcome to the board Elgin :) If your son is not focused despite being on medication then that suggests that the meds are not effective and need to be reasessed. While meds will not make  a person smarter, when they are effecftive the child should be very focused and therefore be able to meet his full potential. I suggest you do more research and learn more about ADHD and the medications for it.

You won't see positive results until you are seeing maximum benefit from the medication  and it can take quite a while before the right med and dose is found for the child. Response to the medication is very indvidual. What type of doctor diagnosed your son and also managing his meds?

Have you talked to the school about his diagnosis and any help he can get?
An IEP or some kind of plan to help him. He could benefit from taking tests
in a separate room where there are less distractions and/or having no time
constraints. Maybe having him sit closer to the teachers in his classrooms.

something like a resource room or extra help so he can get more one on
one help. I knw my son does much better when things are explained to just
him. he can ask questions. I know my son is much younger, but i see a
pattern in him and i am going to have to keep on top of some of these
points as he gets older.