Help! Homework Meltdowns | ADHD Information

be consistent.

make sure that homework time is always the same.

im gonna insert something from another post .it wasnt meant for your situation so if it sounds critical please dont take it as critical  because thats not my intent.

 

its my understanding that 3rd and 4th grade is when students NEED to become independant learners.

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when my DD was in preschool she had melt downs constantly.

we tried everything .

so  ihad thought.

i was listening to

Parents Journal  a radio program that comes  that i find insightful.

one morning i heard a child psyc talking about a similar situation.

 

he said though not verbatim

" picking up a kid at exactly the same time  eliminated the end of the day melt down a parent was having.

 

my situatin was sometime i would pick up my DD between 2 and 6 pm

thats when she was terrorizing her class mates.

so i tried that

3pm on the dot  and my problem child vanished  in about a month.

i still cant hardly believe thats all it took .

but when i heard the radio interview its very logical about  the anxiety   of wether i was coming or not. so i tried it  - being consistent  and giving reward for good behavior.

try also  the marble system  .

  http://www.adhdnews.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19898& KW=ommas

 

and this post about the marble system

vickie
Senior Member



Joined: 24 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 2260 Posted: 22 June 2006 at 4:35pm | IP Logged

Do not give up if at first things don't seem to work well or even get worse. When first using the token system with my daughter, we had some initial bumps. We kept it up because the psychologist had warned us that there might be initial resistance as she was really held accountable. The psychologist was right .

Things are getting better all the time now.

kids often have some reaction to new things in thier environment. so with consistentcy and patience   and time .

a new system  will become a part of thier routine .

sorry if this isnt worded well  . i cant sleep.

ommas40116.9825810185I'm new and hoping someone has advice. I'll try to keep it short. My 12 year old son was diagnosed with Dyslexia and ADHD in second grade. He has had an IEP ever since and is working with a special ed teacher on a multi-sensory reading approach (Wilson, very successful). The ADHD really started to impede his learning last year - real issue was getting started on tasks, particularly complex ones, and keeping focused on anything that requires sustained mental effort plus he was talking a lot in class. We started him on Metadate in May (8 hour time-release) and it has been VERY helpful, allowing him to be focused in school, but the 8 hours is over about 20 minutes after he gets home. We are challenged with homework. If he has short assignments, he can sit down and do them most of the time. If he has assignments that require a lot of reading, we need to help because he's not completely independant. But if he has an assignment that he percieves is going to take a long time or has a lot of parts, he gets angry, argues about doing it, cries, etc. Sometimes we can cajole him, but often we can not. And his behavior can get so frustrating that my husband or I end up yelling at him which just makes matters worse. Then my husband and I get mad at each other. We need to do something different. Has anyone successfully dealt with this. (PS We have considered changing his meds, but these seem to work so well for school I'm afraid to rock the boat! We also like Metadate because he doesn't have to take it on weekends.)There is no reason he couldn't take another dose late in the afternoon of the short acting type.  Many kids do this.  When my son was on long acting Adderall XR he took a "booster" dose of the short acting type when it wore off in the late afternoon.  The only issue may be problems getting to sleep.  Thankfully my son never had this!  Contact your doctor.  This will probably be an "easy" fix.  Good luck!  

Homework battles - been there, done that!  My son is now 15.  This summer we were seriously considering a military boarding school as the homework/school work had become such an issue at our home.  He was frequently academically ineligible to play sports which fed into his already existing anger.  Home had become a battle field.

This year we hired an aide who works at the school to tutor our son for 2 hours a night, 5 nights a week.  The fact that this aide also has ADHD, has had experience working with ADHD kids, and is currently pursuing a degree in special ed. in addition to the ag journalism degree he already holds, is a big plus! 

I cannot begin to tell you how much better our lives have become.  We do very little if any homework here at home.  The aide also is able to keep him organized, has access to his grades, knows first hand what assignments are due and helps make sure assignments are turned in.  He has been a God send!!!

It is also a big plus my son can get the tutoring after ball practice right there at the school.  It makes for very long evenings.  It is often 8:30 or later before he gets home.  Surprisingly, my son has not objected.  I think he quickly saw how much better his grades are, and the boost to his self esteem has been wonderful.  I honestly think he was scared and was beginning to believe he just couldn't do it.  What a relief for all.    

It does not come free, but it is worth every penny.  We pay a flat per hour fee with bonuses at the end of each 9 weeks for eligibility, and also a graduated bonus for Cs, Bs, & As in the core subjects.  My only fear is how we would replace the tutor should he decide to "move on".

 Hope you are able to find something that works for you too!    

< =text/>_popupControl(); My only suggestion, and it worked for us and continues to work, is to break those big projects down into REALLY small chunks. I mean SMALL. After each small chunk, give a reward and a break. He writes his name and does a few problems or writes down what order he's going to write paragraphs in, he gets a pack of gum (or whatever...15 minutes of a favorite show, etc.) and a break. When we started doing this kind of homework patrol, it could take until bedtime to finish his work, but it didn't happen all at once, so he didn't feel it too badly.  He did begin to complain about not having a lot of time to do one thing (computer, video games, etc.) so I told him that if he did more work at once, he'd get a longer break. We can usually do two subjects' worth of worksheets or three book pages worth of assignments at a time now. He likes the longer period of uninterrupted play. You may have to start out at half a worksheet or 5 math problems. 

Also, ask the teachers if they can let you know about time-intensive projects well in advance. If your purpose is to use more time at home rather than push the issue for more time at school, they may cooperate.

My son is 11 and a half, so I know how they can whine!  Good luck!