Life With ADHD Inattentive Kids
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Help your ADHD Child to SUCCEED!Mom Tested Ideas for your ADHD Child"There are just as many opportunities for success in school as there are failures." Help this cliché become a reality for your child. Say That Backwards~Our children often 'see' words, and many find it difficult to read phonetically. Pick a word with three syllables. Get three different colors of markers, and write the word on the paper, making each syllable a different color. Have your child study the word, and make a picture of it in her brain. When she can 'see' it, have her spell it backwards. Because she's actually seeing the word, it's as easy as reading backwards from a book. I can't do it. My kids can. Operation Color Sign~Give your child a few math problems to do each day. Try having her trace over the operational signs with a colored marker or pencil before beginning the problem. This will help eliminate careless errors. Recipe for Success~Help your child learn to enjoy following directions by following a recipe. Start with something easy like a box of brownies, and progress to something more complicated out of your Julia Child cookbook! We're Going on a Metaphor Hunt~To enrich your child's writing, offer a nickel for each simile or metaphor he hears or reads, and a greater reward if he uses one in speech or in writing. You may end up as poor as a church mouse. Speed Bumps~Does your child have difficulties making letters the correct size? Make a small thin line of glue halfway between the two lines on writing paper. The bumps serve as a tactile spacing guide. On Your Marking...When your child is struggling in a particular subject, suggest that the teacher mark the correct answers rather than the incorrect ones. Checks are a lot more encouraging than x's! Instant Outlines~The internet is a great resource, but there's so much information available, it's often hard to find a basic article about a particular topic. We've found that to start many kids of projects, it really helps to go back to the trusty old encyclopedia. (And in our case, OLD means the 1972 edition of World Book!) We recently began a research paper project with Mike. To get him started, we flipped to the outline in the topic he had chosen. It really helped him to get a broad overview of the subject, to narrow his topic down, and to write his own outline. She's Copying!~When your daughter has a lot to write, let her dictate to you first. Write it down as she says it, then read it back for her to write. This separates the two processes of thinking what to say, and then remembering the spelling, letter formation and punctuation involved in writing. This is helpful for compositions and for answering question. Night Cap~Studying right before sleep is the best time to learn. It seems the brain is better able to process the information during the down time, and more permanently imbed the facts into your child's store of knowledge. Water Writing Weather~On a really hot day, give your child a squirt bottle full of water, and send him outside with a list of spelling words. Have him squirt the words onto the sidewalk. This is a great activity for kids who have writing or spelling difficulties. Preferential Placement~Before the school year starts, contact the principal and try to arrange the best placement for your child. If you know the teacher, and you are allowed to request, count yourself blessed. If not, make a list of the type of teacher and class your child would need. Structured? Quiet? Hands on? Traditional? Are there children who have bullied your child in the past? Would your child benefit or suffer in a two-grade class? Make an appointment, and if possible have both parents attend the conference. There's strength in numbers. Background Checks~If your kids are like mine, they sometimes miss the point of things. Before we go to a museum or to an historical site, we go over what the kids need to notice. We review historical background of a place. We talk about the different architectural features they might see. ("Look, mom! That church is Gothic!") We introduce the kids to the characters they may see on a statue or a street name. And we look the place up on a map! Virtual Academy~If you have a high school student, you know the nightmare of having six or seven teachers, classes, assignments, books, notes, and grades to keep up with. (Just typing this makes my heart race.) Find out if your school offers any classes online. If the school doesn't, ask the school system. If the system doesn't, ask the state. One school system in our state offers classes that are available for students in many counties. Even if only one class is taken online, that's one less set of books and notebooks to cart around. Seeing the Numbers~Right brainers see math problems in their head. I don't see anything much in my head. I think in words and concepts, which my whole family thinks is a sign of brain dysfunction! When the phenomenon of seeing an image of a math problem was presented to me, I began asking everyone how they did mental math. After talking to my brother, who is very right brained, he heard me prompt one of the boys to "drop the zero." He looked at me in amazement, and said, "I just saw the zero fall…and bounce." Find some math problems for your kids to do in their heads. Teachers have books of them, and there are a few pages on the web with a smattering of problems. You can also get a copy of Fast and Fun Mental Math from Amazon. Investigative Reporter~Discuss your child's report card with him. Ask him what he is proud of. What subjects did your daughter like best? Find out what helped get the great grades, and what kept the other grades low. Do your child's grades match test scores? (In 8th grade, one of our sons was in the 95th percentile for the language arts test, but received a - well, we won't tell - for the year.) Talk to your child about how to continue the positives, and improve the negatives. Credit for Trying~When your child is writing and comes to a word that he cannot spell, have him sound it out and then circle the word. This signals that he doesn't know the spelling, but was brave enough to try it anyway. End of Year Grades~Before the school year is over, get with your child's teacher one more time. Ask specific questions about your child's year. "What is Allison's biggest strength?" "What was the best was to keep her attention focused?" "What did not work?" "What skills should we work on this summer?" Encourage your daughter by sharing the positive comments. Use the information to plan summer skills work. Save a copy of your notes for next year's teacher, who will appreciate the insight into their new pupil. Thank You Letter~As school comes to a close for the summer, take the time to write a thank you letter of encouragement to those in your child's school who have made a positive effort toward your child's education. Send a copy of the letter to the principal, and request that it be placed in the personnel folder. We'll send thanks to: ~ The lunch lady - "What do you want to eat, sweetie?" ~ The psychologist - "You do know that a 504 is a LEGAL document." ~ The fourth grade teacher - "Learning is the important thing." ~ The bus driver - "I'll take care of that situation first thing tomorrow, don't you worry." We often fire off complaints. Let's not forget to show appreciation, too. Wiggle Learn~Liz has always had trouble spelling, so her big sister Ginny decided to help. She took Liz outside on the swings and had her swing as she spelled the words, saying one letter per swing. Their mom reported that the physical activity really did help, and Liz made one of the highest grades she has ever made on that week's test. Shake Rattle and Roll?~My son Ash's 4th grade teacher routinely required her class to 'snap, dance, and wiggle' as they spell their spelling words. You're a Square~In France, children learn to do math on graph paper. This helps with aligning numbers, doing geometry and measurement, and keeping problems from 'bleeding' into each other. Notebooks of graph paper are now available at Office Depot. |
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