Math Curriculum for ADHD, ODD 10 year old

[wonder3]

Hello,

 

I'm looking for math curriculum suggestions for my almost 11 year old son who has just been diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety and ODD. During his evaluation we were told that he has no learning disabilities but that he is 1-2 years behind his peers in math. We currently have Calvert 3rd grade half way done, Teaching Textbooks 4th grade partially done. He is not retaining what he learned in 3rd and in 4th because of the ADHD. Is there a inexpensive curriculum that could take him back to the basics that does not require to much from me. His ODD makes teaching him stressful for both of us. He'll let me help a little but if it's to complicated right now he gets overwhelmed and refuses to continue. This makes him sound not to bright but the fact is that he is very bright but has gotten use to not exerting himself mentally and gets angry when he can't just speed through. He's always rushed through his work in Public school and now at home. Any suggestions? [emoji851]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kathkath]

Beast academy!! Very engaging!

[kathkath]

And do reflex math online

[gypsymama]

I would suggest Miquon. The visual, hands on approach might be a good change and help math sink in for him. There's also Gattegno which is similar. Gattegno is more teacher intensive than Miquon but it's free. MEP is free as well and teacher intensive but is a great approach. It teaches "advanced concepts" earlier on. It has a mix of problem types in each lesson and short uncluttered 3 section worksheets that my kids love. The teacher intensive part isn't bad once you get use to the program and I found it doesn't take any more of my time than anything else since my kid needed my help in math anyways.

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited May 16 by SilverMoon

[2_girls_mommy]

I agree with R&S for the reasons listed.

[fairy4tmama]

Not terribly inexpensive but I can't say enough good things about Shiller Math for remediation at that age. It can be done in an independent fashion-its scripted in the text for a child who can read it just reads like the text is telling them what to do. My DS 11 was struggling mightily with math and about 6 months ago I switched him to Shiller to remediate math and I am astonished at the progress he has made!

[fairy4tmama]

I would not do Beast Academy with that kid. BA is written for strong math students to expand their horizons and give them more concepts than they normally get. The OP asked for back to basics.

 

 

 Oh and ^^^THIS I had tried BA with my struggling kiddo and while he loved the comic presentation it only made things worse with regard to actual math skills. BA is awesome but for a kid who is struggling it can make things worse!

[Targhee]

Hello,

 

I'm looking for math curriculum suggestions for my almost 11 year old son who has just been diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety and ODD. During his evaluation we were told that he has no learning disabilities but that he is 1-2 years behind his peers in math. We currently have Calvert 3rd grade half way done, Teaching Textbooks 4th grade partially done. He is not retaining what he learned in 3rd and in 4th because of the ADHD. Is there a inexpensive curriculum that could take him back to the basics that does not require to much from me. His ODD makes teaching him stressful for both of us. He'll let me help a little but if it's to complicated right now he gets overwhelmed and refuses to continue. This makes him sound not to bright but the fact is that he is very bright but has gotten use to not exerting himself mentally and gets angry when he can't just speed through. He's always rushed through his work in Public school and now at home. Any suggestions? [emoji851]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm confused by the bolded statement. I would be more apt to attribute retention to a mismatch in learning style/curriculum failings than to ADHD. I have 3 with ADHD (one borderline ODD, one with anxiety issues) and have found that if I can get the teaching to match with their way of learning the retention is very high. However, if I say use read alouds for history my DC who is very much not an auditory or sequential learner will retain none of it while my auditory sequential DC will remember more than I do.

 

If you think he can handle persevering through some hard questions I might try Beast Academy starting with level 3. It is nearly self-teaching, thorough, with interesting problems. I would be quick to correct daily work (remove the solutions from the back of the book - it's a big temptation) and review any missed problems at the start of the next day, not in a punitive way but as additional learning. Also, I would be on hand to help with challenging problems.

 

Another thought, and I don't have experience with this, might be to use MEP. It's free online. Perhaps if you did one of the assessments and inventories what he didn't understand well you could hit those topics directly. Of course it would mean wading through the program to find what you need and some direct teaching.

[Targhee]

One more thought, ADHD, ODD, and anxiety all do best with consistency. Adhd likes novelty. I think sticking with a program that is interesting (like BA or MEP) vs changing between programs is to your child's advantage. Best wishes!

[wonder3]

Thank you for your responses! I think I will look into his learning style and then all your suggestions. Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Momto4inSoCal]

We are using MM and BA for my ADHD daughter but she is very good with math. I don't think their is a specific curriculum that would work across the board for an ADHD child. I have to stay with my daughter while she works to make sure she stays on task. I will often do other things in the room keeping an eye on her to remind her to work she I notice she has gotten distracted. I've also recently started using an app that has a timer on it. I read a suggestion to use a Time Timer and I found an app that used the same concept. I set the timer for the amount of time I have allotted for a particular subject and put it where she can easily see it. I have found computer classes don't work well with ADHD children (at least my children). They need more of a hands on approach which is time consuming but in our house it's the only thing that has worked. My daughter did not advance at all in math at pubic school but with one on one instruction at home she has really soared.

[mamamoose]

My son has all those things and dyslexia and right start is great, but it's far from inexpensive.

[deerforest]

We are using MM and BA for my ADHD daughter but she is very good with math. I don't think their is a specific curriculum that would work across the board for an ADHD child. I have to stay with my daughter while she works to make sure she stays on task. I will often do other things in the room keeping an eye on her to remind her to work she I notice she has gotten distracted. I've also recently started using an app that has a timer on it. I read a suggestion to use a Time Timer and I found an app that used the same concept. I set the timer for the amount of time I have allotted for a particular subject and put it where she can easily see it. I have found computer classes don't work well with ADHD children (at least my children). They need more of a hands on approach which is time consuming but in our house it's the only thing that has worked. My daughter did not advance at all in math at pubic school but with one on one instruction at home she has really soared.

Wow. I feel like our DD's should be set up for a virtual playdate! Another ADHD inattentive (or it might really be working memory/processing speed 2e) gal here. She thrived in BA but she was very math intuitive.

 

DD also hates anything computer based. We have thrived since limiting each class to a max of 40 minutes, and we use a timer now too. I changed the focus of the timer. She used to think "timer means I have to finish in this amount of time." Now she knows that the timer means "we are finished at this time." Seems subtle but it makes the world of difference to her. We have gotten much better at judging what is reasonable in 40 minutes, and she is actually more productive now because it's removed the anxiety. 

 

I think whether to use BA or not has little to do with the ADHD portion of OP's question. Like someone else said, the key to retention is finding the right curriculum match. In our case, DD is a rapid learner unless she gets stuck, and then I nearly have to throw spaghetti at the walls to see what's going to get her unstuck. Luckily (or not), she is fairly evenly visual/auditory/kinetic learner so I have a large toolbox to choose from. However, that means I have to always have the large toolbox available. So, what looks like a curriculum junkie's schoolroom to some, is our saving grace. 

 

I'm mentioning this because we have never used a single curriculum for math. BA is the only one we've used completely, and DD still insists on us buying it and using it for review even though she's in algebra now. But, I've used materials from just about everything out there--textbooks, videos, games, books, manipulatives. She makes HUGE leaps of knowledge whenever she gets un-stuck too which makes it tricky.

 

So, I'm probably not the best person to give advice, but I don't think ADHD necessarily dictates the exact program that will work for your son. It's just part of his learning picture. Maybe he's bored? I know my DD wouldn't have survived either of those programs and would definitely be behind instead of advanced in math.

[PeterPan]

I'll be the lone dissenter and ask why you're changing.  His math achievement scores sound like they match the level he's working at, therefore they make sense.  He's 5th grade by age, doing 3rd and 4th gr math curricula, testing at 3rd/4th gr level on achievement tests.  Therefore, rather than bouncing around again, when you have perfectly fine curricula, you need to get him some strategies for his behavior, some supports, and get him through it.  Calvert is done with a teacher, not alone, yes?  He's going to need some behavioral supports and strategies.  

 

You might consider getting behavioral help and having them connect you with a tutor as well.  In our case ds has an ABA tutor who can work on some academics and reinforce the behavioral goals.  If you can get your insurance to pay for behavioral interventions, then it might be a way to improve both.