Re: evals and school

[Guest guest]

I'm not surprised that your 13-year-old is still struggling with executive

function skills. Keep asking for help until he gets it. In my son's experience,

the gap between his organizational and social skills and those of his peers grew

larger starting in middle school.

Teachers that didn't understand my son's disability wanted my son to snap out of

his learning disability and be more responsible as he got older. They balked at

homework logs or asking him to turn in papers.

It's tricky to help a teenager. Just like his peers, he wanted to be treated

like an adult sometimes and he also wanted his parents to do things for him

sometimes. It wasn't until his senior year of high school that he really took

ownership of his homework and managed to do every homework assignment and to

turn his work in on time.

In 7th grade, to help him keep organized, I set up a binder for him with

different colored folders for each class and matching notebooks in the same

color as the folder, places for his class schedule and locker combination, a

pocket with office supplies, a place for papers to come home, and a place for

papers to turn in to the teacher. Since then every year he has used the same

kind of binder and has set it up on his own exactly the same way.

[Guest guest]

When my sons were in school (older now!), the subsequent evals were more to see

if they still needed the services, where they are now, etc. The only time they

were tested was when I requested. So - are the evals you mentioned (basic

IQ/achievement, etc.) ones you are requesting or does your school just re-do?

(I'm curious)

I would just state what you said here. That the needs change but he still needs

help, figuring out what work needs to be done, organization, etc., to be

successful in school, not get frustrated/lost, etc.

My Aspie/OCD son wasn't organized either. We had no school goals towards this,

I just told the teachers not to expect it! And I didn't want any marks/grades

concerning organization. It was something we (meaning *me*) were always working

towards (and had been since elementary school!). Just to add - in high school

he got organized! all on his own! I don't know if it was just " age " or if he

suddenly " got it " or what. He did start Celexa for his OCD in 9th grade, took

it thru 10th grade. I don't know if it was the Celexa or not. But

papers/schoolwork were in their place. He still lost pencils though, just not

daily!

Hope your meeting goes well!

>

> My 13 year old son's schools offer evaluations every 3 years and I have a

meeting on Wednesday to discuss what evals are needed. Does anyone have

experience with this? I want to ask for as much as I can to gather as much info

as possible. I know the basic IQ/achievement eval and Behavioral Asessment eval

but I am sure there's a lot more that people have found helpful that I am

unaware of.

[Guest guest]

He he.

I've done that with the color-coded notebooks/folders, too.

Didn't help.

Then, got him a binder and has a folder in there for each class. This is to keep his homework, and old work in ther too. Then all he has to do is open up THAT classes folder and "voila".......there's your work.

Problem is,,,,,,he doesn't open his binder. AND,,,,the teachers won't ask to see or ask him to do it.

They say that it's an 8th graders responsibilitiy to turn his work in.

So........that's why we're looking into leaving.....and taking our money with us.

Ugh....

Robin

From: <tamaoki_s@...>Subject: ( ) Re: evals and school Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 1:09 PM

I'm not surprised that your 13-year-old is still struggling with executive function skills. Keep asking for help until he gets it. In my son's experience, the gap between his organizational and social skills and those of his peers grew larger starting in middle school. Teachers that didn't understand my son's disability wanted my son to snap out of his learning disability and be more responsible as he got older. They balked at homework logs or asking him to turn in papers. It's tricky to help a teenager. Just like his peers, he wanted to be treated like an adult sometimes and he also wanted his parents to do things for him sometimes. It wasn't until his senior year of high school that he really took ownership of his homework and managed to do every homework assignment and to turn his work in on time. In 7th grade, to help him keep organized, I set up a binder for him with different colored folders for each class and matching

notebooks in the same color as the folder, places for his class schedule and locker combination, a pocket with office supplies, a place for papers to come home, and a place for papers to turn in to the teacher. Since then every year he has used the same kind of binder and has set it up on his own exactly the same way.

[Guest guest]

Are you in a private school? We tried a private school for middle school and

although they said that they would work with my son, most of the teachers

refused to treat him any differently from anyone else. I tried to explain

executive functioning and I got the speech about my son being old enough that he

should be able to take notes, keep track of his homework, take home

announcements, and so on, even though he had a diagnosis of Aspergers. One of

the teachers told me that he thought that Aspergers was just something that was

made up and that my son was lazy and I should discipline him more. That same

year another teacher told me that maybe I was too strict with my son and I

should ease up so he wouldn't be so anxious.

We then tried the public high school, which was disastrous for him and finally

we moved him to a private high school with small classes that went to ends of

the earth to work with my son. We also had him take some medication to reduce

his anxiety, which really helped him.

Sorry that the color coded folders didn't help, but don't give up! Actually my

son still turned in things late or didn't turn things in at all at first. Now he

sets up the folders for school on his own, using that same color coding system.