X-post: Homeschooling a child with ADHD

[mountains27]

I'm sure there are some people out here that do this too and can offer advice and support! A little background- My son who is 6 1/2 was first diagnosed with anxiety when he was in pre-K two years ago, on to PS kindergarten and towards the end of the year I got lots of emails and calls from his teacher about him being disruptive and not calming down in class. Now the counselor he sees is observing more ADHD signs and I am too! He is so full of energy and can't focus on much except Legos :/ I do get bits and pieces of his attention in 10-20 minutes spurts and he is able to learn and doing really well as a first grade homeschooler but I worry when the work load has to increase in the years to come and wonder when I need to seriously consider meds, if at all? What is the experience of others? Do you skip medicine since they aren't in a public school building for 7 hour stretches? Is it possible to homeschool ADHD without medicating? I'm not totally against medicating but want to explore other options before jumping right into it.

Thanks!

[Sharpie]

I homeschool my child who has ADHD.  Currently he is not on meds.  I do shorter spurts of learning and it tends to be more kinesthetic.  My child is still young, 4th grade, so I can't speak of the work load that comes in older grades. 

 

I do add in exercise like jumping rope, sprints around the house, etc.  I find that breaking school up with exercise helps.  We have an enormous yard so when "school" is done, he has time to play & explore.  Homeschooling has been a good fit for my ADHD child as I can tailer the learning environment to be ADHD friendly.  :)  If the day comes where medication is needed, we will cross that bridge then.  Until then, we are enjoying the adventure. :)

[mountains27]

Thank you for the reply. We do short spurts mixed with exercise and lego play right now. Amazingly he can focus and sit still for long periods of time when legos are involved but anything else is hard for him. He uses a lot of noise (randomly shouts or makes clucky sounds with his tongue) to "get his energy out" so that's hard to deal with when I have another child to homeschool and he can be disruptive to her when I need to focus on her and not him-he likes attention a lot! positive or negative he doesn't care. I'm trying to find discipline methods that can work well for him as well for day-to-day living and not just school time. I feel like lately he has hit a new level and I'm worried I am losing control of him a bit. I wonder how you discipline a child that can't control the energy of their bodies and the way they act because of it? I'd take tips on that too if anyone has ideas! Timeouts are starting to just not cut it

[jengjohnson]

I have a 9yo ADHD girl who is also a sensory seeker.  She can sit and focus longer when seated on one of those big exercise balls.  Also, chewing gum or munching on pumpkin seeds helps her stay quiet.  Can he focus on what you read to him while building with legos?  My dd will draw, color, or make jewelry for an hour while I read to her.  I just stop every now and then to ask a question to make sure she's following.  If she doesn't have something to do with her hands, her mind seems unable to focus on what she hears.  Someone recently introduced us to brain gym exercises, you can find them on you tube. 

[ForeverFamily]

Listening in.  I have a 6yo (1st grade) Dd whom I greatly suspect has Adhd and I have had the same questions.  As well as the same questions about discipline, as she loves postive or negative attention as well.  OP it's like you read my mind :), thanks for asking.

[PeterPan]

Thank you for the reply. We do short spurts mixed with exercise and lego play right now. Amazingly he can focus and sit still for long periods of time when legos are involved but anything else is hard for him. He uses a lot of noise (randomly shouts or makes clucky sounds with his tongue) to "get his energy out" so that's hard to deal with when I have another child to homeschool and he can be disruptive to her when I need to focus on her and not him-he likes attention a lot! positive or negative he doesn't care. I'm trying to find discipline methods that can work well for him as well for day-to-day living and not just school time. I feel like lately he has hit a new level and I'm worried I am losing control of him a bit. I wonder how you discipline a child that can't control the energy of their bodies and the way they act because of it? I'd take tips on that too if anyone has ideas! Timeouts are starting to just not cut it

You've got a lot there we could talk about!  I'm kinda tired, as we just got our results today.  Maybe tomorrow.  :)  Observations?

 

-not possible to implement school at home without meds (general statement, but just trying to get you thinking)

-energy needs an OUTLET--sports, more mentally intriguing, less busywork, etc.

-evals go beyond the label and give you the precise data you need to problem solve

 

Discipline is too big a topic for a trite statement, so no pith from me.  There are some good books.  (Love, Logic, Magic)  You have heart issues.  You have structure and teaching issues.  You can have OT issues, blood sugar, things that are really the parent's gig to solve because the child, by definition, cannot solve them.

 

When you're having that many issues and into the not fun range, it's time for evals.  Psych yes, but maybe also OT to see if there's sensory going on...

[kathkath]

Our 8yo was just recently diagnosed ADHD via testing by a specialist. His working memory score was so low (82) compared to his other scores (116-148) and the psych said meds would help improve working memory. We have been doing 10 mg methylphenidate just weekday mornings and it has helped tremendously, not just with focus but his confidence and math interest has improved substantially. It's as if the medicine woke up part of his brain that was hidden. He was good at math before but now loves it. We are delighted by the improvements we have seen across the board. I was very resistant to meds and was trying to attack different variables first, but the working memory piece convinced me.

[mountains27]

We are working with a counselor who we see once every 2 weeks. She has mentioned meds but agrees that it would be OK for now to try other options and continue homeschooling. At first his other doctors thought it wrong for me to homeschool him and said "it's OK for now but you can't homeschool him forever". Oh really? The reasoning behind this is his previous diagnose of anxiety and that it would be bad to "isolate" him and keep him from facing his problem. I really disagree with this reasoning as his anxiety in school and his inability to sit still for so long keeps him from learning properly and he is NOT isolated while homeschooling. I make an effort to get both my kids involved in activities and really love homeschooling for the reason they get to socialize with so many different people and not just kids their own age. My son does gymnastics and it really is a great fit for him. He loves it and he does have to practice paying attention to an instructor for an hour a week but also gets to jump, flip, do handstands, and gets to hang out with other boys of various ages with a similar interest.

I got a little of track there but what I was trying to get to was that we do see a specialist to help us out and he does get out in a organized activity weekly that helps him release energy and work on socializing :)

I will try the idea of having him build legos during read aloud time and try out the exercise ball and other ways to keep his body busy while doing school work.

[BlsdMama]

Reading with interest... Our oldest son is hyper but he could handle small blocks of one on one along with tons of physical activity. However, we have a current four year old that makes his activity level look like that of a rock. I admit fear. Following with interest.