Needing Schoolwork Help

[Guest guest]

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?