New to CHADD

[Platos_Playdoh]

38 year old female ADHD-combined parent with 9 year old ADHD-combined daughter. We both were diagnosed about two years ago after a trying year of 1st grade.Luckily, she is going to a fantastically supportive school, where she is now on an IEP with accomodations. Quillivant has been a tremendous aid in getting her closer to peer-level academics.

Does anyone have any advice/tips to look out for as we enter the 4th grade?

[Mamamichl]

hi! I’m 41 with my 10 yo daughter going into 5th. Although fidgets have been good for my daughter, they sometimes distract her. We require only one quiet fidget each day, and it works for her.

I also work in special education. I worked with 5th graders, and I know they are doing more adult talk than you think. I had students talking about bending each other over and and doing gestures on sexual things. Luckily there’s not AS MUCH of it in 4th grade, kids are starting to develop (my daughter started pubic hair and breasts in 4th grade, and will probably have her period any day now). Kids are definitely talking about these changes. The summer before 4th grade is when I taught my daughter to put on a pad and have change of clothes in her bag.

It is important to openly talk about these things and how the kids are interacting so you don’t judge but give them the opportunity to learn properly.

My daughter has been on a 504, and this year I will be getting her a rip if possible. She struggles in writing but almost perfect in math. She has emotional deregulation and will snap at me and dad. We have her in counseling and are working on getting meds. We are going to push on the jeep to get her OT and behavior counseling/social skills practice on the iep.

Academics do get harder. Kids are writing a lot more in 4th grade and longer passages. They are learning inference and larger calculations. My daughter also struggles to get homework done. I will probably ask that she gets minimal homework as well.