Dd can't handle multiple assignments per night

amother

Tue, Nov 21 2023, 8:10 pm

What can I do to help her? She's in high school. She can do a small assignment like math or a kodesh question sheet, and then needs a big break. She needs a big break before working too. Then, she can handle one more assignment- either something small or an easily isolatable piece of something long term, or study for. Aquiz or test, and that's it.

She's new to high school, but we had this problem in middle school too. Yes, she has adhd. The school is being helpful by trying to help her plan her evenings and chunk up work, but realistically, she makes beautiful plans but then can't do more than two subjects. She ends up leaving large assignments or studying for a big test all for the last night, because she can't bear to start a piece of one earlier after she's already done "enough" work. And they aren't always finishable in one night. And if she's up mate, she can't ask questions.

Advice? Again, planning the time doesn't seem to help. In fact, she feels like a failure when she plans for three subjects and barely gets to two. Doing exercise, etc, helps her to do two, but she needs so much transition time between things (including break activities), and 2 seems to be the max.

TwinsMommy

Tue, Nov 21 2023, 9:03 pm

My daughter has extreme adhd (and autism) and is mainstreamed---- she's in 11th grade now----- and the way she handles homework all through high school is that she NEVER EVER brings it home. That means she works hard during class, part of lunch, on the bus, and occasionally is late with assignments. Her grades aren't where they would be if she would put in ANY effort outside of school, but they are what they are. She has an easy A class which, when need be, can serve as a study hall with permission from the teacher. She also visits her intervention specialist often during her lunch period to check in about what assignments are missing and what is due when. Grades come in at random times during the day and I get notified from the system each time so when a grade is below an 80 I text her immediately about whether she needs to re-do it, meet with the teacher, or sometimes the grade is dropped if it's the lowest grade of the quarter. She simply absolutely refuses to be in school mode outside of school. Her grades aren't terrible, but not wonderful either.

Are there chunks of time during the day that she can knock out some things at school? Does she have an IEP and therefore an intervention specialist who can plan ahead with her and perhaps get deadlines adjusted?

amother

Tue, Nov 21 2023, 9:24 pm

TwinsMommy wrote:

Thanks. She can sometimes knock out something small in school, but there are no study periods. No bus. There's a decent lunch break, but she needs it in it's entirety for crash and social time in order to manage the rest of the day.

As for deadlines, she often ends up with extensions because she can't finish on time, and we've learned that moved deadlines usually make things worse. The new deadlines overlap with other assignments or tests, and there's nobody else in class to complain- they're all finished with it- and nobody to call for help on an assignment they've already forgotten about. And an essay that they had a week to write, they then peer review in class- so she has to have it.

She doesn't have grade dropping. Her biggest problems are usually big essays that should take multiple sessions to write, and big tests that should take multiple study sessions. She also needs a quiet room to do any work that's not easy for her- your dd can work while a teacher talks?

TwinsMommy

Tue, Nov 21 2023, 11:57 pm

absolutely--- her adhd is of the do 63 things at once variety. She literally cannot sit and watch a movie so anytime a movie is shown in class she's knocking out assignments. Anytime it's frontal learning she's knocking out assignments. Guided practice and group work, she's there and focused with everyone but otherwise she's doing her thing--- thankfully her teachers get her. I didn't mean to assume that your daughter with adhd is like mine---- no two diagnoses are the same!

Can her teachers frontload her? Assign the assignment to her a few days in advance of the rest of the class, even if the knowledge needed for the assignment hasn't been practiced in class yet? That way she can start planning ahead, start learning the material in advance of the class and hopefully finish at the same time as everyone else so that she can take advantage of peer support?

On Sundays (does she have school on Sundays?) can she do one assignment in the morning then a big break, then one assignment in the afternoon, then a big break, then one in the evening so she's not so overwhelmed with back to back? Maybe she needs fewer Sunday activities than other teens so that she can accomplish this.