ADHD and Processing Issues - Reading and Math

[Batmanmom]

Hi,

My son is 8 years old and was recently diagnosed with ADHD. His behaviors are fine. He is very good at art and sees details most people miss. He has a lot of trouble with processing reading and doing math. It takes him a long time to finish classwork and we are still trying to figure out ways to help him. He has an IEP and is in an integrated classroom with 2 teachers. We are considering medication and therapy. My question: does anyone out there have experience with the same issues? What have you done that works? I'd love to hear from you. We adopted our son and don't have a lot of history.

Thanks!

[LOATer]

sounds like my 8 year old daughter. I use a visual timer bought on Amazon and try to create a sense of urgency, or deadline to complete the page, etc. This helps But I need more ideas too so I’ll follow.

[Batmanmom in reply to LOATer]

A visual timer! That's a great idea. Thank you so much.

[ELucas13]

I would get him evaluated, through your school or through a private neuropsychologist, for a learning disability. My son has ADHD and something called learning specific disability. The school teaches him Orton Gillingham to read and he gets extra time on tests and other accommodations, such as text to read, to assist him. Having the diagnosis gave us access to more for him.

Medication would likely help once you find the right fit. That may help him focus long enough to process his work.

I'm not sure how therapy would help with his school work, maybe coaching would, but in general, therapy never hurts!

ADHD will never go away, so learning to manage it sooner rather than later will make all the difference in the quality of your child's life.

[Batmanmom in reply to ELucas13]

This is so helpful. Thank you very much. I love your nuance!

[Hidden]

Does he have a diagnosis of dyslexia or is he reading okay but struggles to comprehend? (You know, when they do text comprehension activities). Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty (not IQ issue) and there are strategies for living successfully with it- for example touch typing instead of writing stuff by hand (where spelling matters cos you have no spell check). You can check him for acalculia (or discalculia).

I am so much for medication. Once the child can focus well and has clearer mind you can really see the true assessment of other skills and difficulties. For now it may well be that he is so much not able to focus that it impacts on his memory and what he takes in.

If you say his behaviour is fine then it might be that he has ‘inattentive’ type ADHD.

[Momtrying]

have you read anything about ADHD? It might be a good idea to learn how your child’s brain is working, then you might have a better idea of how to tackle ADHD. You can learn what medication can do for your child, and how it could be a big help to him while sitting through school and trying to process everything he is supposed to. Math and reading take a lot of concentration which is really hard when your brain wants to just jump to the next thing or can get very easily distracted by anything around you. Have you talked to your childs doctor about medication? That would be my next step off I were you, just because it has been so helpful in our family. Good luck!

[HoldingonLou]

I had my child work with a psychologist. She tested him. The school created an IEP based on her recommendations and they were very helpful. As he got older, he was better able to apply himself better and work with things how he was guided. He is well behaved and was diagnosed with attention defecit disorder. The most helpful plan they had was when some teachers broke the classes down into groups of 5. Each group would be rotated every 15 minutes into another study area. This was before covid, so they had plenty of help to do this. They spent 5 minutes learning new topic. 5 minutes working on new topic and then 5 discussing and finishing up. This is the period my child learned and retained the most. It was a fantastic program and filled with alot of boys. The sped teachers would also focus on one/two assignments per standard of learning point. Other classes can assign multiple assignments covering sol requirements. This reduced the workload and allowed us to focus on learning what was necessary instead of completing multiple amounts of coursework.