Technology in education is horrible for ADHD students to follow. Horrible. I'm so tired. 🙁

[ChristinaR1967]

Every school year since 8th grade (my son is currently in the 10th) my son has struggled academically. He is 15, has inattentive ADHD. He is not on meds now. He was previously on methylphenidate and Vyvanse. They both caused him bad side effects and made him ill.

He has a 504 plan and I keep serious watch over his grades. I feel like I'm in school as well!

The way education is set up today with technology doesn't help. I go into PowerSchool and see an F and my heart sinks. I'm looking through it for missing assignments, what he needs to do, emailing teachers, etc. I have done this for years and it's help him to pass classes.

PowerSchool is the worst--teachers don't put the additional program grades in and your child grade is F because they haven't put the completed work in the system.

So basically your child isn't failing, they are just behind with grading. 😳

This year is different. More F's. Assignments have so many layers to them, one class can have 3 to 4 different programs!! My son's email inbox usually has 10-15 emails daily!

My son's reaction to handling all this? Don't read his emails.

Sometimes I miss simpler times. School (in particular high school) is structured horribly for our kids.

I feel lost. 😢

Am I the only one??

[Onthemove1971]

Thanks for the message. I am not sure if you are just talking about Powerschool we ( both my husband and I ) use this and get alters on our phone each time anything changes. They just updated the Powerschool App and it takes a while to understand how to use it.

But in general, our 504 plan allows our son to use a chrome book to write notes and they are in every class room. We can also use it for Audiobooks but I have done this on my own ( bookshare.org).

Not sure what other technology he would need..

If I am hearing you right.. it sounds like the assignments that he gets F's on are what is not helpful. One of our sons teacher uses google classroom and once his assignment is finished she puts comments on it. She is also willing to regrade it until it is done right.

I would encourage you ( if you have not already) to write something about re-doing assignments when he gets an F.

For us it is about the learning, when he is not learning he gets F's when he learns there are always A's.

Hope this helps.

[seller]

Christina,

I remember looking at the on-line grades every morning when my son was in high school. They could really ruin your day. My son is now 25 and finally back in college - for good this time! I have to say that I think you should give meds another try. If your son is having this much trouble in high school, even with lots of oversight, it is unlikely that he will be able to do college without medication. Our ADHD boys are great with video gaming technology, but they simply aren't interested in the boring, day-to-day school stuff, like going on-line and checking emails. My son was on meds all through high school and he did graduate, but he could not manage college with no meds. At 24, he finally decided he had to go back on his Vyvanse and he is on track to graduate next summer. (Now he has an almost-adult brain!) I encourage you to do some research, speak with his doctor, and try some different meds. There are a lot more options out there now. The side effects can also be managed and older kids seem not to notice them as much. We see my son's Vyvanse (which works the best for him) as a necessary part of his life - like my need to wear glasses!

[Janice_H]

Hi, Two of my son's teachers allow him to re-take his quizzes and exams if he receives a failing grade. They enter the higher score in the grade book. You might want to ask the teachers to allow him to do re-takes. They also allow him to submit extra credit work to bring his grades up for the quarter.

Although it can be time consuming, I recommend continuing to check the Powershool site regularly to see what assignments are missed and if his tests scores are falling. If there are concerns, e-mail the teacher.

[Happle]

Yes, I REALLY miss text books, lesson plans, written (daily) homework assignments. On-line grade checking is a double-edged sword, especially when they is a time-lag entering grades, missed assignments (ours is about a 1-week delay). Our private school is minimally accomodating. That being said however, we would be in a much worse situation without meds. There are many, many meds to try (focalin for example, with a shorter acting time as compared to concerta, different stimulant class such as adderall, etc.). We finally found a good physician who worked with us to adjust meds. I do not have ADHD, and I had to realize that my "old school" way of "just trying harder, apply myself" was NOT applicable to my ADHD child.

[HMBdancer]

Same! All the same! Except that I decided to change things up. My son has an IEP and we now do a hybrid schedule. At our high school the classes are each an hour and a half which were just too long for him. We found that the teachers are only required to update the system or district uses four times per year which makes staying on top of the work very difficult for parent and child. He held it together in elementary but we started seeing it fall apart in middle school and then his freshman year was a disaster. His anxiety level became a way bigger issue than the ADD as did mine. And he wasn’t learning. He also had mild processing disorders and I just don’t think we realized how much trouble they added to the mix. Now he does two classes at the high school just three days a week because they are on a block schedule. We decided to do the local alternative school for independent studies and he does the remainder of his classes online home and goes to check in once a week at the alernative school. He has A’s and B’s now instead of D’s and apps. He’s learning more than he ever has and he is in complete control. I let him work at his own pace so that he can do the work at times he is inspired. It has been an absolute game changer for our family. He has two sisters that are top performers in school and really struggled with the comparisons he was making of himself. This has allowed himTo take control and learn in the way that he needs to. Even algebra has been totally fine so far and I really never for one second thought he could be doing that independently. If your partner is supportive, I would encourage you to switch it up. It literally has been life-changing for us and my sons confidence has blossomed in his sophomore year.

[ChristinaR1967 in reply to HMBdancer]

Wow, thank you for your reply! We certainly need to do something, as I feel he is overwhelmed now. I get so much anxiety about it all. My son doesn't appear to be worried, he thinks it will be okay. I don't know if that's a coping mechanism or what. I had to take a few days from PowerSchool because it makes me crumble when I see F's. All I know is that his email inbox is full of "to do" assignments from Google classroom and from all the additional programs they use, like Quizlet, Math XL, Duolingo, Quizizz, etc.!!

Also in addition to this, he comes home with old fashioned worksheets too. His 504 plan let's him have two extra days to complete his assignments and I have two teachers holding steadfast to that rule.

He has a tutor/homework coach he meets once a week that helps a little. The reality is that he comes home from school from trying to focus all day and he is spent. He's not doing enough homework to stay caught up. Its too much with his ADD and I agree that traditional school isn't working, so we need to try other avenues.

Thank you for the suggestions and I will keep hope and will never give up! As I told my son, "you must keep going"!

Thank you!

[HMBdancer]

My son always had an overly optimistic view of how he was doing. Like you, I took on the strain and as a single mom with a dad who has Alz, a high tech job and two other kids - I couldn’t do it. The school kept saying they could meet his needs but they really weren’t because I was artificially supporting it all. I agree completely that there are too many sources of incoming assignments - work sheets, some write on the board, some assign work verbally and for some they post it on-line. For us since we are on a block schedule - there is further confusion depending on which day you have the class. An instructor who teaches the class multiple times per week may only post it once for all of his classes and parents never know where to look. For kids that need help managing it, it’s very confusing. My number one tip For you is not to believe that if the school is offering you accommodations they should work for your child. Google list of accommodations available and you may be surprised to see what else they can do. The biggest problem I had is at the school is so overwhelmed already that they really were not able to support what they offered her son. At the end of the day when I need it the most from them was helping my son stay on top of his work and they couldn’t do that. They don’t want to lose each child because they get funding based on that so it motivates them to offer you services that ultimately they can’t support. At least that is what we have found in California. Incredibly well meaning that teachers and staff that are just really not set up to make this work for kids who learn differently. We have found so many wonderful online or alternative programs during the search. I don’t know what your scenario is but feel free to private message me if you ever want more information.