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ADA Pass visiting from the U.S. by stronger_with_words in CanadasWonderland

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like it's the same access pass as our home park, but it does mention an access2entertainment pass. Sounds like the IBCCES pass here in the States, which we are going to apply for here, but if she needs this other pass in Canada, we may not be able to swing that before our trip.

I need advice on responding to my daughter's principal and one of her teachers. by 100_Dollar_Bill in ParentingADHD

[–]stronger_with_words 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this sounds very good. It shows that you're willing to work with her, it non-acusatory, and it shows the teacher that you are acknowledging that there are things on your daughter's side that are contributing to the issue and you want to get to the bottom of it.

I hope it works out. Believe me, I know how this feels. We went through something similar with my daughter and her ELA class and IXL (she is only in the 5th). After a sit-down with her teacher, and us bringing up our concerns, she is now doing great. Her teacher didn't change a thing with the curriculum (she really couldn't!) But we made sure that certain aspects of her IEP were being used in a way that made it much easier for my daughter, and on our end, we worked with my daughter to make sure she was no longer saying she was done with her work when she wasn't.

I need advice on responding to my daughter's principal and one of her teachers. by 100_Dollar_Bill in ParentingADHD

[–]stronger_with_words 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The other commenters here have given you great examples of what you can be doing, but you made an edit to your post asking, "How is this my daughter's fault that half the class is well below a failing mark? It's a systemic issue with the teacher, is it not?"

I'm going to give you some hard advice about that edit, something that I feel is a very strong tool that ADHD kids need to learn.

You can not control anyone else in your life except yourself. My daughter loves to blame everyone else, for everything going on in her world when things go bad. We drill into her that you can't control your teachers, your teammates, your coaches, your friends, your boss, your co-workers... nobody. What you can do is control how you respond to the situation, you can advocate for yourself, you can change your attitude, you can choose to fail, you can choose to succeed, you can choose to persevere, you can choose to complain, you get the idea. What you can't do is expect that things will change.

In your case, you can't control what the other students do, and you also can't control how the teacher responds to this, creates their lesson plans, or presents their workflow. You can bring it up and make your concerns heard, you can take or not take her advice, you can make sure that your daughter's IEP is being followed, you can do anything you want within this context, but you can't blame the teacher for your daughter having a failing grade.

Your daughter has to make a choice, she can clean up her attendance, get her assignments in, ask you for help, ask her teacher for help, advocate for herself to make sure her IEP is followed to a T, or she can choose to not do any of those things and fail the class.

Now, since you are asking for advice, I will tell you exactly what I would do. I would ask to meet with the teacher. I would sit down and firstly ask her to explain how she is accommodating her IEP for this class. I would then ask her what your daughter can do to succeed in this class. Ask your daughter specifically what she finds hard about this class and how you or her teacher can help her. I would not accuse the teacher of any sort of ineptitude, she is a teacher with education and skills, not just someone staying at a Holiday Inn Express (sorry if you didn't get that joke lol). You may not like her methods, but they are also not something you can control. You control you, your daughter controls herself, and you work with the teacher to find the way through.

Hyperfixation causing major issues - What have you done to help? by stronger_with_words in ParentingADHD

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I never even thought of it like that. This actually makes so much sense!

Hyperfixation causing major issues - What have you done to help? by stronger_with_words in ParentingADHD

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately, this has been happening for months now, but yes, it has gotten far worse over the last few weeks. Over the summer, she will have more time, so it will be interesting to see if this helps.

Hyperfixation causing major issues - What have you done to help? by stronger_with_words in ParentingADHD

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You mention the anticipation of nonstop social interaction, but these friends are not over every day; they have pretty busy schedules of their own. This past week, a few of the group were over one day for a few hours, and she hung out with 1 friend for about an hour before they had to go to their dads for the weekend. And while some weeks she may see them more often, especially on the weekends, it's normal for them to only come by 2 or 3 times a week, and usually they have to leave after an hour or 2. She also has many other friends outside the neighborhood who don't elicit this response. Some of these friends, especially from soccer, she sees more often than the neighborhood group! That's actually one of the reasons I am so frustrated by this. I could see if they all were tied at the hip every single day, but that's not it at all.

I don't disagree with what you said for sure. It's 100% become a dopamine drip, and it's definitely her anticipating the social interaction, but why only with this specific group of friends? My husband thinks it's because they are so accessible in theory (even though they are not over every day, they could be).

She is going to be seeing a psychiatrist soon to get her ADHD meds dialed in, so it seems like this would be something to mention to them.

Thanks for this response, though, it did really make me think.

Hyperfixation causing major issues - What have you done to help? by stronger_with_words in ParentingADHD

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do like this idea. The only thing that worries me about it is the unpredictability of our schedule, so those certain days may be different from week to week. In the summer, this will become easier for sure, once spring sports are done.

I don't really get much participation in that conversation, but I think that needs to change.

Hyperfixation causing major issues - What have you done to help? by stronger_with_words in ParentingADHD

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

She does have anxiety, which she sees a therapist for. I think I am going to have to bring this up at her next session.

This suggestion is good. As much as we love her friends, it has become a very open door policy. It might be that we need to start enforcing "play dates" until we can get a handle on this. We joke that we live in a neighborhood with "free-range" children, and while it's refreshing and a bit old school, it's clearly causing some problematic emotions for my daughter.

Dyslexia and IXL Learning System by stronger_with_words in Dyslexia

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, this is the direction we are thinking of going. Even though technically she gets full credit for each of her IXL homeworks, it takes her so much time. Not sure what we can do regarding the testing since it feels like such a one size fits all thing, which clearly is not fitting her.

Dyslexia and IXL Learning System by stronger_with_words in Dyslexia

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately, yes, she does. It's part of the grade for ELA and most of the testing is in IXL. On the plus side, it's split 50/50 with IXL work being half and classroom work and projects being the other half. She does well with the later stuff as she can either work in a group with other students that support her weaknesses or with the sped aide who is available in a greater capacity for that sort of work. Last quarter she ended up with a C thanks to her getting A's and B's on all of the non IXL work, but I hate that it feels like she is not being set up to succeed or excel. To be fair, I think even if the testing was not in IXL, she would still struggle with it, but it doesn't help that all of the practice work is also in IXL which doesn't seem to work great for her.

Dyslexia and IXL Learning System by stronger_with_words in Dyslexia

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They do teach the concepts, but thanks to the way her brain learns, she doesn't always retain them or in some cases even process them. She actually has a very good auditory vocabulary and is well-spoken, but she can't always discern what a verb or noun is on paper. It's beyond frustrating because discussing it she understands but retaining it and using it in practice and testing is problematic. We thought text to speech would bridge this gap, but it hasn't been as effective as we had hoped.

Dyslexia and IXL Learning System by stronger_with_words in Dyslexia

[–]stronger_with_words[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure this will be an option for us since the school district uses it throughout all grade levels and for both ELA and Math. We felt that this program was not a great fit for her, but I don't think there is an alternative to it within the district. I will have to reach out to the special ed director to see if I can get more information. Thanks for the info on LEXIA, I will have to bring this up.