If you have an ADHD Inattentive...

[5LittleMonkeys]

Do you find that giving them their work in small bits works better? I'll explain what I mean...

 

We are about to start back to school for our new year and I was talking to dd12 today about any changes she would like to make in how she does school. Last year we incorporated a lot more hands on, interest project type work which had mixed results so this year I've purchased specific curricula that I know will get us to point x by the end of the year (or there about) and we will adjust how we use it to suit her learning style\preferences.

 

So I'm getting off track...anyway...she asked if, when I give her a subject to work on, I could give her only the particular lesson that we will be doing and not the entire book\workbook. I asked her why and she said because even though she knows she only has to do one lesson, seeing the whole book and knowing that she has all of that work ahead of her makes her panic.

 

Anyone else find this with their dc? If so how do you accomodate things like literature books?

 

As a side note this new information she gave me made me realize why she really liked the Teaching Textbooks lessons. (A friend let me borrow it to see if it would work for dd.) She loved it and did two lessons back to back when I first put it on the computer. It only shows one problem at a time on the computer screen instead of a whole page of problems.

 

So, this post is a little disjointed so I hope you get what I'm asking.:tongue_smilie: I suspect that dd is ADHD Inattentive type and I wonder if what I describe above is due to that or could it just be her VSL at work. Any thoughts?

[ktgrok]

yes, I think so. For instance I always print out my son's list of assgingments for him. He checks them off as he does them. If there are more assignments than usual, even if they are short, he tends to get upset and really grumpy. I finally started making him REALLY look at it, to realize that he often had LESS work than usual, it just looked like more. He admitted that was the case but said it still upset him to see that many things listed. Also, he would get upset if I gave him 3 pages of math to do instead of 2, even though I had crossed out most of the problems. So it was the same amount of work, but over more pages, and he just couldn't handle that.

 

Conversely, he does better with several short assignments, rather than spending a lot of time on one thing. Which means the list is longer, lol. I can't win.

[Renee in NC]

My 13yo makes the exact same request! He likes ACE PACES because it is a small book that he can finish fairly quickly. He hates big books or long lists - they overwhelm him.

 

I've considered taking his Lial's BCM, removing the sections, and having it bound in chapter size books. The same thing could be done in other subjects, too.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Thanks for your responses.

 

Ktgrok, dd had the same problem as your son when we were using MM. I would do the exact same thing, 3 pages but with half the problems on each page marked off...she would fall apart. However, even 1 full page would overwhelm her.

 

I'm using CLE for LA and for Reading so the short Light Unit booklets can be broken down even further if needed, Trail Guide to Learning-POE for history, geography, science, copywork and dictation. Each subject is broken down into a short lesson that I can spread out over the day plus I can adapt the lessons easily to accomodate her learning style. There is no big book or workbook for her to deal with using this. She works with notebook pages, projects and activities. The only thing that has me stumped is what to do about the literature as I'm not tearing all these books down into chapter sections! Maybe this is the area where she will just need to stretch herself a bit and conform to the situation. (?)

 

I have to be so careful how I present lessons to her because as soon as she gets panicked or feels overwhelmed her brain just completley goes into shut down mode and it takes several hours to get her functioning again.

[Tiramisu]

My dd with symptoms of inattentive add gets overwhelmed easily. She does much better when things are broken into small chunks. She also prefers when work is of a certain type because she doesn't transition easily from one type of problem/question to another. However, she does like TT which has various types of problems; it doesn't overwhelm her like Saxon. As far as history and science go, she prefers a textbook approach and does not like switching from one book to another. She needs to know what to expect each day so keeping a regular schedule and approach works better, too.

 

I had dreams of a classical approach and using real books but that hasn't been successful with this dd. I'd also like to do more writing, but the time factor needs to be taken into consideration with her. My other hope was to develop her critical thinking skills and I saw that as reading different books and analyzing them and coming to conclusions, but that was also limited by her needs. Somehow, though, she is maturing (will be 16 soon) and seems to have good REAL LIFE critical thinking skills, so I'm thankful for that despite the limitations we've faced in hsing.

 

Perhaps this is unrelated, but dd has been doing a lot more music in the last year. With various lessons and singing groups, she's got music going on nearly everyday. This has been very soothing for her and the issues she's had in the past with inability to focus and feeling stressed and overwhelmed with work seem to have really been alleviated. She loves sacred music and most of her music isn't rock or pop so that could have something to do with it. She sees the difference in herself and now she's looking at music therapy as a possible career. I'm posting this in the hope that this might help someone else.