Parents of Children with ADHD Support Group
This community is designed as an open forum where the parents and guardians of children with ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) can give and receive support, as well as discuss ideas, techniques, concerns, surprises, and challenges they may face with their children.
Well, my son has been doing pretty good at the alternative school and has held a level 3 for about 8 weeks now. It hasn't been easy for him but he's done it. We meet with his old school next week to discuss letting him come back on November 7th but he will have a late start and will only have core classes, no electives such and PE, cooking classes, computers, etc.since those are pretty unstructured and are where he always gets into the most trouble. I personally don't think he's ready to go back but we have to let him try it and if it doesn't work, he can always go back to alternative school. I fear we are setting him up to fail, but this was the deal presented to him last Spring and we can't renig on it. Now that we are getting closer to this day, he seems to be very anxious and has had a couple of melt downs whenever school is discussed, I think a part of him doesn't think he's ready either but he is such a proud (bullheaded) person that he will not ever admit to this. He just wants to be with his friends so badly. I pray that everything will work out okay but also am preparing myself for the worst!
Creating a Positive Learning Environment for ADHD Children
How to create a positive learning environment
It's important for parents to understand that no child is perfect. Learning becomes a negative experience when adults force children to aim for academic achievement while missing the entire point of the exercise. For example, when sitting down with your child to do homework, the experience has the potential to either be a negative or positive one for both of you. When you push your child to complete his homework just for the sake of completing it and becoming the best or getting a high grade, it focuses on the wrong thing. Helping your child master a problem, on the other hand, takes time but yields a more important by-product which is a healthy self-esteem.
For ADHD children, what's more important than being the best is achieving progress.
Here are a few tips parents can use to help their children adjust to school work better:
Make it easy to organize - One of the most common sources of parents' stress towards their children with ADHD is their inability to organize their room and their things. In order to foster a positive learning environment for ADHD children, one must work on setting up an environment that encourages organization. For example, buying a school bag with many compartments to help organize school materials helps. Buying a binder that has divisions for different subjects can be helpful too. Have colorful sticky notes around the house which your child can use to post reminders. There are stores that specialize in selling add-friendly products which parents might want to look into.
A large calendar - Some students find it easier to keep track of their upcoming deadlines by putting up a large calendar on their wall. Parents can help set it up and design it. A large, visually stimulating wall calendar can be a simple but effective way of helping ADHD kids keep track of what they need to turn in for school.
Routines - Being creative with your evening routine can be a good way to get your child ready for doing homework at night. Doing something fun before diving into the task can help your child focus on homework, and doing this consistently every night will be even better.
Have a proper place for everything - Organizing is a lot easier when there's a proper place for everything in the house. It helps to have shelves in the mud room or near the door that's neatly labeled so that children will have a place to put things they need to grab before running out of the house. Establish a routine where your child checks his/her bag every night before going to bed just to make sure everything needed for school is in there. You can help your child sort through his things on the weekend and clear out things that will not be needed next week. Have a place for school correspondences, for homework that are to be turned in, for papers that have been graded and given back.
Praise progress - This is perhaps the most important component to creating a positive learning environment for ADHD children. When parenting children with ADHD, it's sometimes really easy to get critical of all the things they forget to do. However, valuing your child's little victories does more to improve his/her self-esteem than criticisms ever will. Take the time to look for positive improvements and praise the things that your child is doing well.
source: http://www.add-adhd-teen-help.com/add-adhd/parenting-adhd-kids-creating-a-positive-learning-environment-for-adhd-children.html