Re: Needing Schoolwork Help

[Guest guest]

I loved how you put it - making the material come more alive for her. Some

people (whether they have AS or not), myself included, learn best by doing.

History and science are great subjects for that. You can reenact historical

events or make simple models for science concepts. It can be fun too - when I

was in middle school, we were learning about the industrial revolution and the

first assembly lines. The teacher set up an assembly line and a single

craftsperson for a hands on experiment of decorating cupcakes. We learned

through doing how much faster the assembly line was, but how much more artistic

the work was from the single craftsperson. And we got to eat the cupcakes at the

end! No one forgot the lesson, and we all had fun learning it.

Hope this helps a little and good luck!

Bridget

>

> Hello everyone. I have a question that I am hoping I can get some direction

on here. A little background follows. My 10 year daughter has AS and we are

just at the beginning of dealing with it. We are so blessed that she has a

teacher this year who is willing to work with us to help her do her best. You

may recall I posted previously that I strive to keep her on a set schedule

during the schoolweek, both morning routine and evening routine. I even leave

her at aftercare until I get off work because I consistently get off at 5 but my

husband's schedule varies. It seemed that when he picked her up at 3:30 it was

just enough that she got home, started playing or watching television and I had

a hard time rounding her mind back up to do homework. So now I pick her up

every day. She completes a lot of her written work in aftercare and I check it

when we get home. Then the studying part is done at home. I am literally not

cooking anymore during the week but we either have crockpot meals, leftovers or

heat-up meals. We arrive home, eat dinner and including breaks work on

schoolwork for about 2 hours total. Then she has time to watch a little

television (I've taught her the joys of DVR so she doesn't feel like she is

missing shows) and get her bath. She has not complained yet and has been very

cooperative.

>

> Her teacher sends me her work for the next week every Friday and I insist that

she brings all of her books home so that I can look at what she will be doing

and we often start on a few of the easier things on the weekend. I use

puzzlemakers to make her spelling and vocabulary words a little more fun and I

look for youtube videos that go along with her science and history.

>

> Here is my question: her teacher and I see a pattern that she can answer

questions verbally and she does well when she writes on the board. She also

handles quizzes fairly well. Tests, when she has to put pencil to paper, is

going badly. History and science are subjects that she has to read material and

then be able to answer questions (mainly in matching or T/F format) about what

she has read. So (1) how can I make the rote reading of the material come

alive more for her – it's not always possible to find videos online – and make

the material " stick " and (2) any suggestions on how to help her with written

tests.

>

> She is in a private school so they are not required to do anything extra to

help her. I am fortunate that her teacher is willing to do some things. She's

not allowed to test her any differently but she does do minor things in the

classroom to help.

>

> Any ideas?

>

[Guest guest]

When you are reading her book, stop and discuss what is going on or have a discussion at various points. I do this with my 2 boys, probably just because I find things interesting. lol. But I think it also helps if they can relate what they are reading to something else, a discussion or just to restate something in another way to help it stick. So often I am thinking outloud when we go over the material. "What can we say to remember that formula - it looks weird!" and so we discuss and come up with it or my ds will say, "I know it already!" and we move on. But by pausing and thinking about it, I either make sure he's got it or we work on how to remember it at that point. In history, we stop all the time to discuss what is going on and that's even fun - "imagine what you would do if you were Napoleon right now, stuck in Russia!" or even just to say, "Wow, I can't believe they killed that many people all at once..." or, "Doesn't that sound like what we have going on today?" etc.

Sounds like she has a problem with written expression. Would the teacher allow her to say her answers verbally? I am not sure from your situation if they will do anything unusual. But some private schools will have support staff for things like this. You can also go on amazon and search for books that discuss problems with written expression. It would be helpful, probably, to have a complete educational evaluation done to figure out where exactly she is having the problem(s). There are so many pieces that fit together to make the whole in these things. It helps to know exactly what the problem is so you can design help for that particular area.

Another option is to work with her on how to read and answer these questions (i.e. how to take a test.) I've worked with my one ds on doing just this. He often didn't even answer the specific question being asked when he had to write. But I have practiced with him repeatedly to re-state the question in the answer. And then it seems he pretty much has to answer the right question. lol. But it works. I still have to sit here and prompt the first part, but I hope it will stick eventually. Figure out what kinds of questions are hard and ways to make them easier. I've bought books before on how to study or how to take tests. Again, you can search on Amazon for a list of this sort. You can then check your library and get the books to look over to see if it might help. That is what I usually do!

Roxanna

"I

predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Jefferson

( ) Needing Schoolwork Help

Hello everyone. I have a question that I am hoping I can get some direction on here. A little background follows. My 10 year daughter has AS and we are just at the beginning of dealing with it. We are so blessed that she has a teacher this year who is willing to work with us to help her do her best. You may recall I posted previously that I strive to keep her on a set schedule during the schoolweek, both morning routine and evening routine. I even leave her at aftercare until I get off work because I consistently get off at 5 but my husband's schedule varies. It seemed that when he picked her up at 3:30 it was just enough that she got home, started playing or watching television and I had a hard time rounding her mind back up to do homework. So now I pick her up every day. She completes a lot of her written work in aftercare and I check it when we get home. Then the studying part is done at home. I am literally not cooking anymore during the week but we either have crockpot meals, leftovers or heat-up meals. We arrive home, eat dinner and including breaks work on schoolwork for about 2 hours total. Then she has time to watch a little television (I've taught her the joys of DVR so she doesn't feel like she is missing shows) and get her bath. She has not complained yet and has been very cooperative.

Her teacher sends me her work for the next week every Friday and I insist that she brings all of her books home so that I can look at what she will be doing and we often start on a few of the easier things on the weekend. I use puzzlemakers to make her spelling and vocabulary words a little more fun and I look for youtube videos that go along with her science and history.

Here is my question: her teacher and I see a pattern that she can answer questions verbally and she does well when she writes on the board. She also handles quizzes fairly well. Tests, when she has to put pencil to paper, is going badly. History and science are subjects that she has to read material and then be able to answer questions (mainly in matching or T/F format) about what she has read. So (1) how can I make the rote reading of the material come alive more for her – it's not always possible to find videos online – and make the material "stick" and (2) any suggestions on how to help her with written tests.

She is in a private school so they are not required to do anything extra to help her. I am fortunate that her teacher is willing to do some things. She's not allowed to test her any differently but she does do minor things in the classroom to help.

Any ideas?